2400 Miles Later..

I MADE IT! Thanks to my future sister-in-law Pamela who drove out with me, my little Ford Focus that trucked through nine states, and a decent amount of caffeine, I am finally sitting in my new apartment for the summer! Google maps predicted the trip would take 38 hours, but even with some rainy weather slowing us down at times, we made it in about 35 hours including stops! And no Mom(s), we didn't speed too much. At least neither of us got a ticket :)

The road trip ended up being a ton of fun, although I think it will be a few weeks before I eat any more fast food. On the first day, we left Rochester around 9am with the intention of taking the day easy. We took a detour into Naperville, IL, to have lunch with my good friend Jessica. The conversation mainly focused around Seattle since Jessica is moving there shortly to work at Microsoft and Pamela, of course, lives there! We drove for a few more hours and then stopped in North Liberty, IA, to stay for the night at one of Pamela's high school friend's houses. They were so gracious and made us a delicious taco dinner, a nice break from fast food!

Day 2 was all driving, 1100 miles of it. We got through Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming before we finally stopped for the night. We did run into some rainy weather, but the drive itself was so easy. No traffic, a speed limit of 75, and only one highway the whole time! We saw lots of grass, fields, cows, horses, and even a truckload of the cutest baby pigs. Nebraska was probably my favorite to drive through because we had gorgeous blue skies the whole time. We got to the hotel around 9:30 and after watching a couple episodes of Say Yes to the Dress, we rested up for Day 3!

The next day we drove from Evanston, WY to Walnut Creek, where my other future sister-in-law lives. We made it in 12 hours and along the way saw the salt flats, a lot of Nevada casinos, and the Tahoe National Forest. We got to Kimberly's just in time for a real dinner! I am so grateful to both Pamela and Kimberly for all their help in getting me out here and making the trip so much easier. Today, on my first full day in California, I spent the day at the pool and then finally met up with my new roommate Abbey to get into my apartment. So far so good! I will post more details about that and photos of the place over the next few days. For now, I'm going to get some rest.