Day 11

"Wish I was on good Ole Rocky Top, Rocky Top Tennessee."  For all of you who don't know this is the song that is blasted at every Tennessee game.  It's there fight song.  Now if you know my dad, you know that he LOVES this song.  And if you know me, you know that I can't stand this song.  It's one of those songs that just get stuck in your head and it's so annoying.  But to each their own I guess.  Oh BIG THANKS to Rachel for putting 4 versions of the Rocky Top Song on the ipod, that was real great when dad found ALL 4 VERSIONS!!!!!!!  Rachel, does cruel and unusual punishment mean anything to you?? Yeah you will be hearing from my lawyer when I get back!!  

So we visited the University of Tennessee.  Now if you ever want to see team spirit go to UT because it's the middle of June and people all along the streets were wearing Orange.  Dude you're in summer school and there are no sports over summer but hey representin' their school team.  Go Volunteers!!

We looked at the campus and then there is this big field with dancing waters and then across the street is this tower you can ride an elevator up to the top and it over looks the city.  Well Dad and I decide that we want to go up the elevator to the top.  We've been up before a long time ago, so I didn't think much of the elevator situation until we arrived at the top of the ramp that lead us to the elevator.  There are about 5 elevators surrounding the tower that are suppose to lead you up.  Dad presses the button of the first elevator.  No response.  "Oh it must be broken", Dad says.  My least favorite words when it comes to elevators unless that means I don't have to get on one.  So we try another one on the other side and it dings and the button lights up.  Part of me is already freaking out because the other elevator didn't work and the other part wants to see the city.  The doors open up and we step in.  Thump thump thump thump x 12 and you have my heartbeat.  Let me remind you that we are the ONLY people around.  There is no line to go up the tower, no admission.  It's go at your own risk.  We're in the elevator and Dad and I assume that we wanna push the highest floor leave cause we want to get to the top.  Level 8 was pushed, it was pushed but the light didn't go on.  Weird.  The elevator slowly starts to move.  thump thump thump thump x 18 is my heart now.  Is it just me or whenever you want something to end quickly it seems to take 3 times as long?  So we started on level 3 and then the number jumps to 4.  We stay on level 4 for a while and nothing.  The doors don't open and we don't even go to 8.  When we finally stopped and those doors didn't open by heart was thump thump thump thump x 37!!  Oh great I thought, the one time no one else is around and we get stuck in an elevator which is pretty hot inside might I add.  Then Dad presses the open door button and the doors come open.  Don't laugh, it's not funny.  It was scary!  We walk out into the circular ball thing that is on top of the tower.  That view was amazing.  You could see just about everything.  Then it was time to go down the elevator.  I looked for the stair exit and it said emergency exit only.  Secretly I was thinking this is an emergency.  But we had to go down.  The ride down wasn't bad at all actually.  The doors opened and everything, that's always a good sign.  We looked at the fountains, sat on a lounge chair in the middle of the rapids :) now that was cool.  Not many people can get away with that without getting yelled at by the cops but we made it happen.  You gotta do what you gotta do!!

After seeing the University we headed out.  We were actually a day ahead of schedule so we thought we'd try and make it home.  Drove up through the mountains of Asheville and the scenery was definitely way better than Kansas, or Missouri, or eastern Colorado, or Illinois. 

We figured out that we were going to make it home and Dad and I had decided earlier that at some point we were jumping in a lake, we didn't care where but it just had to be done.  So about 20 minutes away from our house we put our bathing suits on and jumped in Jordan Lake.  It felt so nice.  It was about 6ish so it wasn't too crowded.  After our swimming adventure we asked mom to meet us at the Salem Street Pub.  Now if you haven't been there make sure to swing in by and get some wings.  They are rockingly awesome!  Mom didn't believe us that we were home.  So after much time and lots of convincing she finally met us down at the pub!! 

Calibound has reached North Carolina.  We had a VERY successful trip and it was lots of fun!  Now if you ever get the chance to go cross country I highly recommend it.  Make sure you bring a variety of music and a camera.  And remember you are only allowed to go as fast as your car can go in Texas, unless you are 6'3" and know a lot of police officers.   

Song of Today: Barefoot and Crazy by Jack Ingram

Total milage of today: 470.2

Total milage of the WHOLE trip: 5830.6

Talk about a numb butt.  Now the fun doesn't end here...there are many adventures that we still are set out to do, such as well keep reading to find out more ;) 

And the Grammy goes to....haha just kidding but now I would like to thank my mom and sister for letting us go on this adventure.  Nana for hooking us up with that emergency care package (that carried us for a while), the Serrao family for their entertainment and hospitalities, the Outhouses for an awesome lunch, our lawyer who got us out of having to spend the night in a jai...uh forget that last one, but thanks to everyone that helped us out!!

Fun Fact: Dad and I set a new record of the amount of states visited within 11 days, our record is 18!

More to come... 

Day 10

Wow, eastern Colorado, Kansas, and now Missouri. They're all the same only the names have changed. There's a reason they call it the flat lands. Then enter St. Louis and oh how the tables have turned. From john deere riding to urban city. We got to explore the St. Louis area for a while late yesterday. The gateway to the west is what they are known for and when you see the arch it speaks for itself. Right below the arch is a spot marked to let you know that you are standing directly below and rigth smack in the middle. Now remember USE CAUTION when looking up at the arch from that spot. As soon as you look up your balance gets knocked off and you fall straight backward; trust me on this one. Look up at your own risk.
There's an underground museum you can check out. It's super cool, cause it's a tunnel to connect the bottom of the arch way. They are pretty high tech with their security here because they make you go through security like in the airport, it was kind of wild for a museum. Now you can go up to the top in this small tiny barrel which rides like an elevator & it takes an hour to go all the way around. Again: I HATE ELEVATORS, so no thank you. Plus your packed in with 5 people with NO air conditioning for an HOUR!! But I bet it looks pretty cool once you get to the top.
After St. Louis we jetted out to Illinois. Ever been to Illinois?? Well there is only one thing in Illinois, Metropolis. Oh yeah where Superman lives!! You think I'm joking, try again. We stopped by the one place in the United States where there is a gigantic statue of Superman. Now this whole town is based around Superman. There are little shops full of Superman stuff and little statues everywhere. It is so funny. But hey there's gotta be one place in the U.S. where they can praise Superman and who would of thought that it would be in Illinois. It was awesome.
So we left Superman to go to Tennessee. We made great time. We stayed in a town called Cookeville. Pronounce at your own risk!! Before Cookeville we went and say the Grand Ole Opry. We were totally bummed because we just missed a country concert. We didn't get there until about 10:30 p.m. and the concert was over at 9 p.m. Must of been pretty lame if it was only 2 hours and there were about 7 people performing. Cookeville was pretty interesting. Actually not at all. Once you enter flat lands that is pretty much it for about 3 states.
Song of the Day: Out Tonight by Kenny Chesney
More to come...

Night #9

No more roadkill the whole night. But as we continued to drive into Kansas the hot air and humidity continued to rise. Now if you know Dad and I well enough you know that we are smokin' hot people ;) We are always hot no matter what, so camping in that heat was looking absolutely horrible. We saw one campsite that overlooked a dirt field, a flat dirt field, VERY FLAT. And there were very few campers in their nice air conditioned RVs. It was starting to get dark so we opted to drive into the night. We ended up staying somewhere in Kansas. Now Kansas is...well there's really nothing in Kansas. Nothing worth putting on your must see list. There is the Russell Stovers Candy headquarters in Kansas so I guess that's something worth bragging about.
We got to our cheapo hotel late last night and woke up this morning to play some basketball with a flatter than a pancake basketball. Now we know why it was so cheap cause the breakfast was pratically shut down by the time we got back from basketball. That's a different story.
Showered than made our way through Kansas city. Shout out goes to Nana because we finally used up our Subway gift cards for lunch today!! Fun fact #2: A typical pencil can write 45,000 words or draw a line 35 miles long!! Wow.
More to come...

Day 9

If you ever plan on traveling coast to coast I reccomend going through Utah and then Colorado. You will be blown away by the majestic beauty of Utah but Colorado will take it to a higher level. Ice cold rapids of the Colorado river to the snow capped mountains in the Rockies. Can you believe it snow still sitting on the mountains? Doesn't the weather man know it's June? We drove through the "watch for falling rock" roads and saw even MORE wildlife, this time not so close :) we saw a long horned sheep, a bison, some elk, and our first rattle snake crossing (Let's just say that one ended badly). Driving through the mountains in Colorado are just unbelievable, add that to your must see before you die list. Also if you are a big hot chocolate fan, like myself, you should stop by the Eagle Diner in Eagle County, Colorado. It's a 50s style diner where Sandy would be more than happy to take care of you! Big shout out for lunch today, we went to our long time friends the Outhouses, Carol & Purdy, in Firestone, Colorado. BLT's are always great. With home grown tomatoes from their beautiful garden. It was great to see them after long time no see. [Little history lesson: Purdy taught me to swim when I was 4 at the Velvet Cloak Inn on Hillsbrough St.in Raleigh. He apparently did a great job because I have now been on the Raleigh Charter swim team for 2 years]. Now whenever you end lunch with warm, homemade, chocolate pudding you just know it's going to be a great day and that you've been taken care of by people who truly love ya. Big thanks!! We said our goodbyes to the outhouses and hit the road. And that's when we entered flat, cow country. Those beautiful mountains were in our rearview mirror & then suddenly gone altogether :( we've been staring at flat, grassy patches in Kansas for hours now. We can see at least 25 miles down the road. Saw some roadkill as we drove through farmland, we saw a dead deer. Now when I say that I could see for miles I mean it. There are no forests ANYWHERE so seeing a deer on the side of the road was bizzare. I guess when he tried to find what was on the other side it didn't turn out so good. Then the sadest roadkill of all. So you know when you first start driving and whenever you see a squirrel or bird you swerve or slam on the brakes to make sure you don't hit them? Well birds especially, I was told not to worry about them because they will always move, they can always spread their wings and then they're gone. So we're driving down the road when we see this bird trying to take flight. Then it looks like it's having a little trouble, it's in the air but this bird looks like it is doing flips. Then all of a sudden BAM! We got hit by this bird. No we didn't hit the bird, we got hit BY the bird. And now he was really doing flips. It was a sad encounter. We're going to continue to drive tonight and see how far we can get. One thing to remember when traveling cross country make sure to pack all sorts of different clothes because we hit humidity again and let's just say it's one of your worst nightmares if you only have jeans & a sweatshirt.
Song of the day: Thank You by Led Zeppelin
Fun fact: when triggered, a Venus flytrap closes in less than 100 milliseconds. It takes about 10 days for the trap to digest an insect. Surprised you didn't know that, huh?
More to come...

Night #8

Have you ever thought about Colorado?? If not you totally should more often because it's awesome. The weather alone is unbelievable. It's June and it was probably 60 degrees out last night. It was our first camping adventure of the trip and it turned out way better than our last attempt at camping in Texas. We drove up into this state park and first we thought it was closed and we were a little sad. But then our luck changed when we saw a small sign that said something about signing yourself in. Everything was on the honor system, that's how you can tell it's a small town, so we took our deposit envelopes and dropped them in the mailbox. We found our spot number and started pulling out the tent. Dad started to set up the tent while I was trying to get some things out of the trunk. Now I turn around about to bring some stuff over to the site when all of a sudden there was this cat looking thing running across the parking lot. I'm not sure what the heck it was. It had a longish tail like a cat but it's body was bigger more like a mountain lion or a coyote. And it's fur was a dirty yellow but it had brown spots blended into the fur. Dude, it was weird. But whatever it was we did not see it again and for that I was extremely grateful. We set up our "two men" tent, Thanks OPA!! Started unpacking some other stuff and that's when Dad got attacked by a pack of killer mosquitoes. I rushed to the near gas station and purchased the only bug spray in the entire place (turning out to be the most expensive bug spray I have ever bought, it's just the man keepin' us down). Apparently it was worth every penny cause after spraying some of that we didn't see another mosquito. After setting up camp we made a fire and roasted marshmellows! The campsite was so beautiful. The mountains were in the background with a lake in full view. No other state park can ever compare. We watched the sun set over the lake and it was gorgeous reflecting off the water. We didn't see much wildlife after the coyote/mountain lion/bobcat/U.W.O. (Unidentified Walking Object). Saw a couple rabbits and a frog. We out partied all of our other campsite friends by shutting down around 10:00 p.m. WOAH!!! haha It was a little chilly last night but we had some comfy sleeping bags to help us through. We woke up this morning around 6ish. The campsite truly was AWESOME. We didn't only have flushing toliets about 40 yds. away from us but there was also 2 playgrounds, showers, and a place to do laundry. Talk about da bomb :) We packed up camp and set off to the showers. This is a pretty clean shower place for a campsite, it was probably cleaner than half the bathrooms we've stopped at throughout this whole trip so far. So to work the showers you have to insert coins so they can conserve water. Well you must insert a dollar for 4 minutes and then every minute after that you have to insert another quarter. So I put my 4 quarters in and I put in another quarter thinking 5 minutes should be fine. Turns out 5 minutes was way too long. As soon as I inserted coins it turned on and I noticed the water was a little frigid. I turn the knob to go to hot...nothing happens it's still FREEZING COLD!! I knew something had to be wrong with this place it was just too awesome. So I suck it up and take the fastest shower of my life and get out of there. When I get outside, let me remind you we're in Colorado and it's still a little chilly, my wet hair feels like it is going to turn to iclicles any second. Not to mention I am locked out of the car cause Dad is still in his shower. So I'm waiting outside for him to come trying to air dry my hair, doing hair flips and trying to wrap it in my towel. He finally comes out and he's like "oh man, that was nice!" WhAt?!?! He says, "that was almost a little too hot." He had nice, hot running water. Argghh!! Oh well it happens. More to come...

Day 8

Haha did you guys really think I’d leave you hanging like that with no details on our Vegas trip?? Vegas, wow. It still feels like a dream. So last night we went to the pool for a little while and big shout out goes to Oma & Opa for their $25.00 chip to the Rio. While Aunt Donna, Jake, Amber, and I were poolside Dad did some gambling and number one rule when gambling: ALWAYS quit when you’re ahead. Dad took the initial $25 chip and turned it into a huge jackpot winning of $42.00!! Thanks Oma & Opa for sponsoring our lunch at Hooters, Vegas style. After poolside and gambling we hit the strip. Oh my goodness. Bright lights, big city! The first thing we did was ride the tram to all the major hotels in Vegas. Including the Luxor, Mandalin Bay, Excalibur, New York New York, and Paris (with crepes at midnight or as we say those really thin pancakes). The Casino’s were on the bottom floors of almost every hotel. It was unbelievable to see all the machines and tables. I can’t wait to turn 21 and be able to play some poker, Texas Hold ‘em is my game ;) The displays were remarkable; it’s all showy, showy. The more lights and statues, the better. And the water show at the Belagio…words can’t even describe. Music played and the water danced along to the beat. The patterns it made were so cool. People were lined all in front of the hotel for what seemed like a mile down. When it started everyone jumped because it was so loud but it was so amazing. Visiting all the hotels was awesome because you saw all the different displays. Throughout our hotel touring we acquired a guitar which was the conservation starter of the night and made us a lot of friends along the way. The streets were crowded with people, we saw a few bachorlette parties being taken place and one wedding procession happening right in front of a restaurant. Hey whatever floats your boat I guess. We got to ride a head banging roller coaster ride while in New York New York, no really it was head banging cause it slammed your head against the headrest around every turn. There were a few cork screws, a couple loops, and some pretty steep hills with some barrels to thrash your head around. The Paris hotel was pretty cool with the Eiffel Tower sticking out of it and you could take an elevator all the way to the top. Haha sorry Jake you will never get me to ride that elevator ride, give me any roller coaster no problem but elevators uh no thanks. The walkways in the hotel were fake cobblestone to make it look like the real thing; there were little shops and cafés with small tables in front so you could get the feel of the Paris life. We made a crepe run while in Paris, we downed FOUR crepes. Oh man, can you say delicious?? After Paris we attempted to find our way back to the hotel. Now remember this: shortcuts are not always shorter if you don’t know where they are going to lead you. Our adventure started by trying to cut through the mile shop mall which actually ended up leading us near our hotel but we just wanted to walk around the WHOLE mall twice before finding an exit. I’m not gunna mention any names but someone had a genius idea; instead of going the way we went after lunch back to our hotel we should try this “shortcut”. Famous last words haha well big plus we did walk off those really thin pancakes. Once at the hotel we all crashed. We were wiped, I guess Vegas has that affect on people. This morning we called the valet (oh yeah did I forget to mention the hotel had a valet?) and said our goodbyes to the Serrao’s (minus one) clan. Big thanks goes to Uncle Frank and his company for putting us up in that magnificent hotel, it rocked! Another big thanks goes to the whole Serrao family for putting us up for two nights and hosting us mucho appreciado!! Any one up for a burrito?!?
Left Nevada for the beautiful mountains of Utah. Talk about breath taking, I’ve never seen anything like it. The way the mountains are carved out, it just makes you feel so small. How did the settlers bring wagons over them and what convinced them to keep going? I mean how did they know that water was going to be on the other side of those mountains? That’s been the big debate so far, that and how long do we think it’ll take to climb one of those mountains. We stopped in Hurricane, Utah to go see Riley. That was awesome. He seems to be doing really good and it was great to see him. Thanks Aunt Suzie for setting it up for us and also the directions were perfect, our personal favorite was the “pass truck lane 500 ft., ½ way down truck lane dirt road on right by pile of rocks about 3 ft high” we totally knew what you were talking about.
We’re driving through the mountains right now and there are truck runaway areas about every 6 miles and a “test brake area” about every 15 miles. Apparently it gets pretty intense out here.
Day 7 mileage: 274.5 miles
Total driving as of today at 7:11 p.m. eastern time: 3515.4 miles
Song of today: Barefoot and Crazy by Jack Ingram
Were not sure about our plans for the night but it’s sure to be interesting. More to come…

Day 8

We hit vegas. 7 words for ya, What happens in vegas stays in vegas. Going to Utah today. More to come...