Venti Adventures

2006-06-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

So close but yet so far

2006-06-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

So, my trip was suppost to end in Greensboro yesterday around 8pm. Well, during a stop in Charlotte, NC to get gas and quick coffee with Sarah, Gwen decided to over heat again. Long story short, there was windshield wiper fluid somehow (ether Wal Mart in California who changed my oil or the New Mexico Honda dealership) where my coolant was suppost to be! After another tow to the dealership and very comforting friends letting me stay at their house, Im waiting for a call back from Scott at Honda here in Charlotte. Id like to hope it will be like New Mexico, its a quick fix and on my way I go. But my hopes don't seem to be able to rise very quickly today, because I have heard this all before. So once again, prayers would be great. Be nice to settle in my new home for a little bit before work at 7am rolls around tomorrow morning.

I've also uploaded the rest of the photos from the trip on my flickr. I guess it was just road weary but I didn't think to take photos on Alabama with all my great friends! Katie took some in Tuscaloosa and Im waiting for those, but none from Bham which is very sad. But take a look at flickr for the moments of the trip with Carla and me.

I also want to thank everyone whos been calling, leaving comments and praying for us. It means so much to know there is a community of people all over the states praying for our journey. As much as all the car problems suck, things could be much worse. Knowing there's people praying and caring comforts me a lot. So this is my thank you, which seems so small in all that yall have done for the trip.

2006-06-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

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2006-06-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

2006-06-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

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2006-06-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

I can still be found taking the long way around

2006-06-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

When it comes to road trips, adventure is far more important than efficiency.

We clearly illustrated that today, as we left Williams, Ariz., at 9 a.m. and arrived in Santa Fe, N.M., around 8:30 p.m. Clearly we weren't on the direct route.

Instead, we turned onto U.S. 89 in Flagstaff, headed north to the Four Corners. We both thought that standing in four states at once was a novelty that we HAD to experience in our lifetimes -- so why not now?

It was a long drive there, though, through a lot of desert. We traveled through the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in northeastern Arizona, as well as the painted desert. It was gorgeous but HOT -- taxed poor Gwen a bit, and it also meant her air was blowing a bit warm for quite a while.

We were SO excited to finally arrive at the Four Corners, partly so we could each add a new state to our lists (Utah for Carla, Colorado for Alisa), but also because our AAA TripTik promised greener vistas in Colorado.

Carla sits in four states at one time

And after half an hour or so of gray desert, we finally saw grass and -- gasp! -- trees (for the first time in days!). The temperatures were milder, the scenery a bit easier on the eyes, and we were content for several hours of driving.

A little footage from the Colorado road

As we passed through Durango and headed on to Pas... Pas-something Springs (I'm sorry, it's late, if you want to know, get out a map!), we realized we were a bit sleepy and ready for some coffee (and gas!). So the coffee queens honed their coffee-dar in on a small shop in that Spring town and managed to slip in just before closing. We felt refreshed as we continued out of what surely must've been a ski resort town (population 1,591) and continued toward New Mexico.

Now, the part of New Mexico we drove through in 2003 was very different from what we saw today. Along I-40, there are way more plateaus (yay plateaus!) and desert. Headed south into New Mexico, we saw more lakes, mountains and pretty green things. But we also saw a LOT of road construction. We're talking, we spent at least 45 minutes driving 40 mph or slower.

Where did our road go?!?!

But eventually, after an amazing sunset and a LOT of driving, we arrived at our hotel in Santa Fe. We threw our bags down and drove straight to IHOP -- our last meal was 11 a.m. Pacific time, and by this point it was almost 9 p.m. Mountain time. WE WERE HUNGRY.

Back in the hotel, Alisa checked her e-mail and then crawled into bed -- it's my turn to upload the pictures and blog. Although I've been the first to bed every night of this trip so far, Alisa has been asleep for at least 45 minutes as I've uploaded these pictures and written this for y'all. :) Now I'm about exhausted myself. Tomorrow we're off to Texas (not our favorite state -- sorry, Texans!) for our last stop before ALABAMA! Naturally, we love road tripping, but I'm also excited to get back to a little humidity and maybe even some high heels. (I should tell y'all sometime about how reasonable I've been, fashion-wise, on this excursion. :) I know I'm high maintenance, but I'm not stupid!) I love adventure and hiking, but I will also enjoy dressing up this weekend.

Love y'all!
Carla Jean

2006-06-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Arizona has caught me by suprise

2006-06-13T23:23:00.000-07:00

In a very very short recap of the day becasue we are very tired (Carla is already a slee) and I just spent a long time uploading photos for yall. Our friend, Katey, is working there this summer so we got in for free becasue we spent the day visiting her. She was a lot of fun to hang out with, as where her friends and worship service on the rim. Little sunburnt and really tired but a good day. Check out the photos:

Venti Adventures

The lack of audio posts where due to lack of cell service in the area. Tommorow we have a long drive to 4 Corners then to New Mexico so hopefully some more fun audio blogs will be coming you way. Im glad yall get to come along for the adventure with us!

Howdy from Arizona

2006-06-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

We are tired, but have uploaded some pictures on flickr for your viewing pleasure. Also below you shall find some videos from our travels this afternoon. Otherwise, I think all that really happened today is on our audio blogs so check those out if you haven't already. Also, please play along with question of the day, is much more fun that way. We are off to bed in our very fun bed and breakfast in downtown Williams for some good rest for our full day at the Grand Canyon and seeing Katey. Yay!

Carla and the slots:

More of Carla and the slots:

Us dancing to John Mayer (though you can hardly hear):

2006-06-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

2006-06-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

I guess this is growing up

2006-06-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

It's nearly 11 p.m. Pacific (which means 1 a.m. real time) the night before Alisa and I set off on our second cross-country road trip. I know I should be asleep but I just haven't done enough writing lately. Lying in bed with a notebook and pen is worth defying sleep, even for this jet lagged girl. (Heck, I get jet lag flying from Jacksonville, Fla., to New York City!)

I think your early- and mid-twenties must be full of crossroads, becasue I think both Alisa and I are at such points again. As we set off on our 2003 trip, she was out of school and seeking adventure. That came in the form of an Alabama apartment, a roommate she barely knew in advance and a host of new foods and phrases. (I'm fixin' to fix me some grits. J'eat yet?)

I was also at a new point: weeks away from starting graduate study in a field I feared I wasn't cutthroat or talented enough for. We had few strings attached as we drove west to east, pausing only for friends and photographs.

Now Alisa's got a job and (more importantly) a loving boyfriend at the end of her drive. (HI JASON!) And though the trip was initially planned around my work schedule, I've found myself between jobs and succeeding (even if not financially!) in the very industry that scared me so.

Maybe I'm a little spoiled, but I feel like this is what my twenties should be all about. We're allowing ourselves freedom to take chances, but there's also an awful lot of space for fun.

All my bags are packed and Im ready to go...

2006-06-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

Day 2:

Being Sunday, we went to church. Hayley sat with Carla and I for my last service. Said goodbye to my Jr High friends and Mark. Little did I know my first tears would come in saying good bye to Mark, but they did in which he said that meant I wasn't really wanting to go. After church us girls went the lovely Panninkin for brunch. Carla really liked it there despite the fact they put a hot pepper on her quiche plate.

After a little adventure in downtown in finding postcards and getting gas we headed back to the house to load Gwen. My parents and I started loading Gwen with all my last minute or too fragile to ship items. Amazing how much less stuff I am moving this time across the country. So much less in fact that we don't even really have to fold the seats down. We have room for one more person if we wanted (say Rhonda?). [There is no picture of loaded Gwen, my apologizes for no visual play by play.]

We sat around with my parents for a bit over mojitos before heading over to In N Out for dinner. Hoping my little brother would join us, he was contained by car troubles. We think that Hope (my old car) might have finally died which is very sad because she was a good car. Besides Carla of course needing In N Out in California (once every three years) its only appropriate for it to be my last supper.

With last minute packing and running around we surely are to get to bed at a more decent hour than last night for our am departure (9ish is the plan). Keep posted on our adventures via audio posts starting tomorrow and always more photos on my flickr (see that link on the side).

Make it feel like a Sunday morning

2006-06-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

So, last night after a very big and filling meal from Cheesecake Factory we (my parents, Carla and I.) were very sleepy. But then my neighbor, Sarah's, birthday was still in progress so they came over for some drinks. Little did we know that these drinks would be SHOTS OF TEQUILA. My stomach had yet to really settle from dinner so I wasn't going to challenge it with shots. But Carla on the other hand stepped right up and had a few. This is a video for yall of her first one. Id like to note that the screaming in the background is my dad and not me.

Take a photograph if you're wanting this to last

2006-06-10T15:34:00.000-07:00

Day one:

I woke up way before Alisa (because my friends in the south seemed to have forgotten that I was on PACIFIC TIME! THANKS GUYS!), so I went running and was showered and made up before she got out of bed. I played online while she got ready, and then ...

Y'all would be SO PROUD -- I only brought two pairs of shoes to California, and NEITHER ARE HEELS! But my flops suck and I haven't been able to find a decent selection of Reefs in Alabama. So first thing this morning, we were off to Encinitas for a shopping adventure.

After declaring my then-current flops "gnarly" (we're not in Bama anymore!), the salesman tried to sell me on these beauties with built in bottle openers on the bottom:

VERY Spring Break. and, um, VERY I haven't been in college for years and I don't HAVE a Spring Break.

(And very $45.)

Two pairs of Reefs later, we were off in search of road trip shirts.

(For the record, I definitely admired the camo flops. But Alisa hated them. And let's face it, they're not practical. But they're FUNNY!)

(I post this as Clinton on What Not to Wear says, "The message tees: a little young, a little stupid.)

We eventually found shirts we liked in Sears, but first we had a little Forever 21 adventure. Alisa picked out an Alisa-style outfit for ME, and I picked out a Carla Jean-style outfit for HER.

We were clearly a little happier after we traded. :) (And we didn't buy them. But I REALLY liked the two shirts I was wearing! SUPER cute!)

More to come ...

California dreamin'

2006-06-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

I AM HERE!

Incoming (for both Cali and NC)

2006-06-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

Carla is on her way here! My boxes are on thier way to NC! So exciting!

The week before the adventure

2006-06-06T23:37:00.000-07:00

It's 1:34 a.m. (central), and I'm at work. Work work work. But it's OK, because I've got California on the mind.

We're all pulling overtime this week because it's election day (YAY! I LOVE election day), and I'm following that with a long shift on Thursday. I'm going to stay late Thursday night so I can leave early Friday to hop on that plane to CALIFORNIA!

I have nothing of substance to say ... but it's 1:30 a.m.

Crunch and a question everytime!

2006-06-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

While I was at Wal-Mart on the photo with Carla finding out what snacks we’d like to have on our trip, I found the most awesome thing ever. Well, for a road trip at least! Ran McNally has become one of my most favorite companies between their lovely maps and them teaming up with Pringles to bring us Pringles Trivia chips! A snack and something fun to do while on the road in one? What a great idea.

ONE WEEK!

Boxes have landed

2006-06-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend four of the eight boxes arrived in NC. Media mail is SO the way to go, they got there quick!

Post office visit, round one.

2006-05-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

You know a good way to learn your new address? Write it out on index cards to place on boxes to ship. This is what I did for a little bit this morning to send out 8 boxes. 6 of which are books, one cds and one photo albums. The guy at the post office informed me that since they are going media mail that they can open them at any time to make sure they are actually media. I understood with agreement and then he said he was going to open one of them - luckily it wasn't the photo album one (the only one I question - they are books...). We (my mom and I) got a basket with wheels to carry the boxes in from the truck. I forgot to bring my camera along to take a picture of the basket with wheels but this isn't my only trip to the post office. Since they are going media it will take 10 days or so for them to get there. Plus, I don't want a ton of boxes showing up all at once at Brian and Sarah's. So their index cards are marked shipped and its a nice feeling to be a big step in the moving direction.

Look what I got...

2006-05-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what Im gonna use them for but they were on sale. And who really could pass up index cards that are restickable becasue they are post it notes?!

TWO WEEKS!

3 more boxes down

2006-05-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Okay the fun of packing is over. I mean, the whole organizing things and filing them onto index cards is still more than fine by me. I was reminded a few times today that I'm taking off two weeks from tomorrow. All the things that still need to be done and packed in that time ran through my head. So the hype of packing boxes is gone or maybe, I just have too much stuff. I'm still weeding through things I just done need, but really I'm a girl who lives in a 10x10 room, how much stuff can I really have?

Packing photos

2006-05-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, my book shelve is empty, hope you all are happy. No, not all those boxes are books, but I think 3 of them are. I packed 6 boxes today aren't ya proud of me? 17 days.

whew.

2006-05-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

For about 2 minutes I didn't know where my index card files where. Panic came over me, but then I saw their red edging sticking out in a box full of magazines. All is right with the world again. Now back to packing.

We are in the teens!

2006-05-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

19 days till I leave California. Only crap. SO MUCH TO DO!

A Friends moment, brought you by Monica and Ross

2006-05-18T16:18:00.000-07:00

Confirmation for stay at B&B in Grand Canyon? Check!

Confirmation of hotel in Santa Fe? Check!

Returned email of friends in Dallas that has a roof for us to stay under? Check!

I like it when things just come together. (Check)

How much will I spent on gas?

2006-05-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Fuel Cost Calculator is really neat. It asks for you starting and ending cities. Your car make, year, and model. And then it tells you about how much gas will cost you as you go through out the country. This helps me budget how much to spend for the road trip (why yes, there is a spread sheet).

2006-05-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

Thoughts after box 21

2006-05-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

I packed up three boxes of books today (small boxes but still 15-20 books in each). The sight of the bottom two shelves empty still made me a little sad. So I put the packed boxes of books in its place, less depressing. I also packed a box full of clothes - formal things (bridesmaids dress, prom dress, etc). All the while combing through again to what doesn't need to move across the country (again).

I have been trying to figure out a new system for my CDs. I love having CDs but once I put them into my iTunes I don't tend to use them. I had bought some cute Pier One baskets to hold my cds, which my collection out grew long ago. So I thought a storage system for my CDs would be the best idea. Have many google searches I have found the Rubbermaid media storage box. I'm really excited about these guys, even if to me its kinda pricey way to store my CDs - they will be packed well for the move and neatly organized (I think Id get mocked at my system of how my cds are kept) for when they are put into my closet in NC.

I went and got Carla and I's trip tick from AAA. I think the lady who made it for me thought I had a very odd way of getting from Cali to NC. But who can blame her with a 2 hour detour to Nevada so one Carla's lifes dreams can come true? Now I need to look for audio books for us to have on my iPod to listen to -any suggestions? Lastly, its only a month and a day till Carla and I drive Gwen off into the open road. I will try not to think about that too much.

2006-05-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

Road trip planner

2006-05-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

If your thinking about taking a road trip, Rand McNally (creators of one the best things ever, maps as books) has made it real easy for you. Thier Road Trip Planner is easy to use, gives you miles, hours and places to stay and see along the way.

We have a plan!

2006-05-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm going to post our where abouts on here, its the internet, how safe is it really? But Carla is getting her 25th state in, Nevada with only a two hour detour (its going to fun explaining that to the AAA folks making the trip tiks). I'm going to get to see the Four Corners (who doesn't want to be in four places at once?). From Ca to Nc I will in about a weeks time travel through 12 states - that's pretty crazy. But I'm very happy to have a plan and being its May, its time to get to some serious packing.

It's official

2006-05-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

The 2006 adventures of the Tuscaloosa Twosome will begin June 9.

It looks like I'll be landing in San Diego at 9:15 p.m. that day, and we'll start the drive in the days that follow. That means Alisa can start planning on when to leave her current job and begin her next one. It also means we can work on nailing down our route.

I am SO excited. :)

Brian took care of our route for us.

2006-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Isn't it perfect?

Get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down

2006-04-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

So right now, this is what we know.

Our tentative dates for travel are June 4-10 (ish ... I'll fly out June 2 or 3, and we'll leave shortly thereafter). We're driving from San Diego, Calif., to Birmingham, Ala. (Well, Alisa's not stopping in Birmingham. But I am.)

I'd like to pick up a state I haven't already visited, which means veering off the I-40 route we took last time. Whether we take a completely different route or we make a side trip is yet to be determined. (For the record, states I have already been to that are north of I-40 are Colorado and Kentucky.)

So ... we're open to suggestions. I might have to give up my goal of visiting 25 states before I turn 25, but I'm hoping we can come up with something to hold the dream together. The tricky part is we need to maximize our free places to stay and minimize hotels. Anyone have ideas? Must see stops between Cali and Bama? Other pointless things to add? Coffee shop recommendations?

Roadside America

2006-04-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

I found a site called Roadside America . It has every single road side thing you could think of to stop at on a road trip. Which by the way I think is so fun! I wish I had the for sure route to look up random cities in the middle of whatever state and find strange and interesting things to stop and take pictures at. I think all of you should check out the site and find your favorite road side attraction (to each their own).

I have a problem

2006-04-17T18:27:00.000-07:00

Packing things you are not going to use till you move is the most practical things to pack. I believe I established that in my last post with my "decor" items now in boxes. I cleaned through my books one last time and then decided to pack all but the ones I have not yet read or ones I know Id want to read before June. So I started packing them, writing down the titles. Two shelves down. I looked at my book shelf and it was so sad. So sad in fact that I took all the books out of the box and put them back onto the shelf. Just too depressing of an image to look at for two months. I already have four boxes done, that's good enough. May will be the major packing time. I think April is just a good spring cleaning of things I really don't need to move across the country. I'm happy and the book shelf is happy.

Packing Day 1

2006-04-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

oreopack
Originally uploaded by coffeestainedpages.

Packing day one happened yesterday. Nothing really that makes a whole of lot of dent in the scheme of things. All my nick-naks and the likes fitted into two small boxes. I'm pretty proud that's all after many years of having a problem with too many nick-naks around. Even the two boxes (small ones) are made up mostly of tissue to protect the items since they are mostly fragile. I also cleaned out my closet getting rid of more clothes (this is the third time this year of doing that). Putting photos into photo albums so they will be ready to be boxed up next. I'm allowed to store some things here if I need to, and the first thing that I cant decided on is four photo boxes. These photos start from my grade school years to current - mostly doubles or negatives. Nothing I looked at as often as a photo album, so they might stay in storage or be sent later.

My mom said I should start with my books since I don't need to have those for two months till the move. She's right, I don't need all of them out till June. But I just can bring myself to do it yet. It would be depressing to go for two months with an empty book shelf. And when books where the first to get packed in Alabama I just opened half of them up because I wanted to read something in them. Books are not hard to pack, so it wont take me long if I put them off a bit more. I have put myself on a no more book buying rule till after I move. Which is probably for the better since I think I counted 30 books I own which I have yet to read. And I have two library books out right now. I know I have issues, but I'm okay with that.

Oreo and Rizzo like packing, well, more so all the materials of packing. They like hoping from box to box playing. Making a new bed of the tissue and ripping it to pieces during play time. Now if only they knew how to help pack things we'd be set.

I'm so not Type A.

2006-04-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

I had to laugh when I read Alisa's first post. I just had to. I realize that she's the one making the big, dramatic, life-changing move -- but I'm the crazy half of the Tuscaloosa Twosome, and the notion of me keeping her calm is just a bit comical.

Oh, sure, I can do my best to encourage her as she moves from one coast to the other (or at least, rather near it). And I can discuss packing strategies and how to ship things until we're both blue in the face. But being laid-back is beyond me. It's just not the way I am.

You see, although the purpose of this trip is to move Alisa from Cali to Carolina, I'm already freaking out. I finally called her yesterday to establish (still tentative) dates for the drive, but that was only after plenty of worry about my job and where I'll be with that come June.

Now I've moved on to freaking out about planning the drive. We've talked about a couple different routes, and though I really don't want to believe it, I think taking a route similiar to our 2003 trek makes the most sense.

The problem here is that I set a goal of visiting 25 states before I turn 25. I'm at 24. My birthday is in July. I'm running out of time, and fast. I've already visited the southernmost states in the country ... so wouldn't it make more sense to drive from San Diego up the California coast into Oregon and Washington before turning for the south east?

You don't think so? Yeah, I don't think I could convince Alisa to go for it either. (But come on! It'd be fun. And think of all the coffee in Seattle.)

Method to the madness

2006-04-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Who here likes packing? I do! But then again I love the orderly system I have for my packing than the actually packing part. Assigning each packed box a number, and that same number going onto the back of an index card. On the front of the index card writing down each item in the box. Now, why go through all this trouble you ask? Well, its not really that timely as most of you must be thinking. Its more timely to not know where something is and open many packed boxes. This is important when moving across country because you have to preplan much more than just moving across town. I would know. I sort had this system when I moved to Alabama, but just more general "bedroom" or "bathroom" or "kitchen" with numbers to those boxes. Still wasn't sure where as certain item was I was looking to use. So lets say I want my Ashley Stockingdale books because I just really need a good Ashley fix. But I have already packed my books (sadly, they are going to be one of the first things to be packed because I can live without them for a long period of time). Which box of books is it in? I look at my index card, find the number and wa-la! I have found it. Don't mock the system! And this is just the start of how useful index cards can be.

I heart these photos Little messy, but lots of index cards to get the job done. I will have to post my index cards tools (yes there are tools!) that I use to help the index cards to keep me even more organized than they do.

I said index card a lot in this post. Scott is gonna love it.

Blast from the past

2006-04-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

A photo of Carla from '03 in the back of my dad's truck with a load of boxes to be taken to the post office to mail to Alabama. Funny feeling there will be similar photos this time around too.

It's alive!

2006-04-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the official moving, preplanning and road trip blog of Alisa and Carla. We firstly would like to thank Jamie, for the lovely blog title that she created for us.

I will be posting my packing updated along with my thoughts on leaving San Diego. Carla will have her thoughts as well of keeping me calm and excited all at the same time. Along with her planning of the trip. We will have an audio blog going on this as well, which will be our main way of posting while on the open road.

We hope to have you along on this adventure with us, not only in reading and listen to our blog. But in encouragement by leaving comments and keeps us in your prayers. Thanks for reading, check back often.