I made it

With a minor change of plans, today was the last leg of my trip. Shortly after leaving my sister's house I saw a sign that I hadn't seen since leaving NC, QT my favorite gas station/rest stop. So I has to stop in and get a frozen drink, sadly since I wasn't in the South, there was no Cheerwine slushie, but it was still refreshing as I drove thru the desert. So I headed north toward Flagstaff where I spent an extended rest stop because the car was struggling again, after I spent a while at O'Reillys trying to find a mechanic that was open on a Saturday afternoon I gave up and decided to risk it.
Even though it was mostly bare rock driving thru the reservation was quite beautiful. But the most beautiful part of my entire trip was driving thru Southern Utah, the trees and mountains were breath taking. Since I decided to finish the trip without the last planned stop, I ended up driving after dark which I was a little worried over, but didn't become a problem. Armed with a bag of doritos and a Coke I continued on with a short stop in Beaver to stretch my legs I managed to get in around midnight.
And so ends my trip across the country.

On the 6th day there were dinosaurs

Albuquerque to Arizona, I knew it would be hot so I tried to get on the road early so after a guck stop at O'Reillys for some fuel cleaner I headed out. I stopped for breakfast at cracker barrel, because I have been wanting protein and biscuits and I have left the land of Bojangles. Well I have no place to put left overs, and eyes were a little bigger than my stomach, so I ate too much and got a stomach ache, oh well. Once I got off of i40 to head thru rural Arizona I found Dinosaurs, the little Shop was closed so I could only take pictures from outside the fence. Then I got an A&W root beer float, because there were signs all over the store that the restrooms were for paying customers only. So with float in hand I trekked across the desert to Mesa, where I wondered around for a bit, until my sister got off work. For dinner we got Sushi. I got a crazy monkey roll, which had salmon, mango, avocado and more, it was quite tasty. While wa l in around old Scottsdale, which has a lot of really cool stores, I saw the 2 tshirt hanging,and thoughts the cats reaction to the hotdog shirt was great. We finished off the evening with frozen yogurt. With the exception of the hive like rash which developed on my arms things are going well.

The longest day

I knew this was my longest scheduled day of driving, so I was up and our the door by 6:45. Having repaired my cargo carrier by sewing instead of duct tape, which didn't hold the day before. I headed into the rolling hills west of San Antonio, a beautiful area with a 80 mph speed limit. The most interesting thing to me about that speed limit is that many people were driving under it and not seeing if they can get away with going over/how fast can they go, which many times seems to be the standard/norm in NC.
So I discovered that Texas is not truly part of the South, they have no Bojangles, which I really wanted a good Sausage egg and cheese biscuit with bo rounds, but no luck, and I just could not bring myself to stop at McDonald's,  so after a couple hours of driving I settled for a Walmart. Where I got some nectarines. Which was a bad idea because they made my mouth feel weird. But onward and upward.  Another thing I have discovered is regional menus at fast food places,  apparently taco bell only has the loaded taco burrito in our region at home and Dairy Queen has has Tacos in Texas. But enough about the junk I have eaten.
Once I got to New Mexico I realized if I took about a 5 mile detour I could stop in Roswell, so I did. Yes Alien stuff is there but not as much as I thought there would be, overall it looked like a normal town. But after I left there is when things got interesting,  I managed to get myself thoroughly into the Middle of nowhere,  about 73 miles south of i40, by what the GPS said, when my car decides to loose power and cut off, the only explanation was the engine light came on, so I am stuck on the side of the road in rattlesnake country with no cell phone and people changing lanes to avoid me but no one stopped. So after several prayers I got back in the car it started right up and I kept driving, once I made the next gas stop and filled up, the engine light went off. So not really sure what happened but I was definitely being watched out for. But I plan on getting the car checked out this morning before I head to Arizona. And my cargo carrier is struggling it is not going to have another trip after I get to Utah.

The 4th with me

Not alot to say today, left beautiful New Orleans and headed west to San Antonio TX. It was a rather flat and boring drive, I felt like I was on a bridge for most of Louisiana then flat Texas, one thing of interest was the 75 mph speed limit.
In other random news, watched Zootopia and there is a Moana easter egg, when the weasel is selling the bootleg movies, thought it was funny.

Day 3 NOLA

So today was all about the sights and resting. Once we got up and motivated, we went down to the French Quarter, we walked around and saw the sights, the open air market, Mississippi river, cafe Du Monde for beignets, several stores, cemeteries #2 and #3, Charles st. To see the fancy houses and the Columns Hotel (which is said to be haunted) then we went back and took a nap. The local missionaries came over for dinner, whichwas followed by a discussion on the restoration. Tomorrow I'm on the road again, so goodnight and sweet dreams to all.

And the second day

So day 2 consisted of driving thru 4 states to reach my destination of New Orleans, there was Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The driving wasn't very exciting for me but apparently it was for others, I passed at least 5 different accidents, 2 dead deer and several other squished animals. In Alabama I passed thru an area where the side of the road was burning, see the pictures below, there were no visible flames but lots of smoke. I did have a bit of a nervous moment when I was low on gas and no exits had stations. Luckily I had gas buddy and was able to find a station about 5 miles from an exit. Once I got to New Orleans it started raining, so some of my stuff got wet, I will have to do some laundry when I get to Utah, hopefully nothing molds. For dinner my friends fixed crawfish etouffee, a very New Orleans dish they said. And bonus I got to play with their dog and baby which was fun. Tomorrow we are exploring New Orleans. Well goodnight for now.

And so it begins

Made it to my friends house in Nashville, and I am writing before I fall asleep because I said I would make daily post about my journey. I am starting off this trip tired but happy, I didn't get much sleep last night, which is a bad idea before distance driving, because I got home late after attending the beautiful wedding of my friends Stephen and Lindsey. But it was worth it to spend time with friends who I will not see for a while. So back to today, I went to the first hour of church so I could say bye to people. And got asked to bear my testimony because I was leaving, I got a little emotional which made it difficult to speak but I got thru it. Then I left so I could finish packing,  because life got in the way, I was no where near ready. After lots of cramming, shoving and rigging things where I hope they don't fall off, I got on the road around 3:30 and started my drive thru the beautiful Smokey Mountains. With the exception of a bout of hiccups which was extremely painful the ride was rather uneventful. When I got here. I did knock on the wrong persons door, because gps got me to the neighborhood  but didn't give directions to the building, luckily the lady who answered was nice and helped me find the right place. And that's it for daddy one.