Welcome to Monterey, California!!!

After we left the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, we spent the rest of Thanksgiving driving. Now, Mike drove almost the entire trip, but don't let him fool you, I drove some too!

 Proof

I think Mike would have rather written this particular post. Events occurred that I could choose to leave out, or "forget," but that would be doing my journalism degree no justice. So, here we go.

Mike drove from Fayetteville, N.C. to Asheville, N.C. to Columbus, Ga. to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to Memphis, Tenn. to Oklahoma City, Okla. to Albuquerque, N.M. through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest across most of Arizona. 

Mike's Drive

I started driving about 30 minutes outside of California. The sun had set, and we were in the middle of nowhere.

My Drive

As soon as we entered California, we had to stop for an inspection. My heart was pounding. I didn't know what the inspection was for, Mike was asleep, and I was nervous. I get nervous whenever I see a cop car behind me, even if I'm going the speed limit, wearing my seat belt and properly using my blinkers. I don't know why I do this, but I do. I pulled into the inspection station, Mike was sleeping, the inspector informed me that it was an agricultural inspection. Whew! I certainly was not worried. He used his flashlight to search our jam-packed Yukon and camry towed behind it. He spent extra time at the camry and then asked if I was bringing any fruit. Nooo. And if I was, it would be up here in the car we're in, not stuffed in the back of the car we're towing. We'd be eating it. I, with my nice southern manners, offered to open the cars and let him search. He did not take me up on it, but boy, oh boy, did my husband jump up as soon as we pulled off and told me to NEVER OFFER TO OPEN THE CAR. NEVER!!! Okay. Lesson 1.

When I started driving, my instructions were to wake up Mike when we got to Barstow (about 2 hours into my leg of the drive). However, he was sleeping so soundly that I chose to let him continue to sleep. The gas gauge was getting low, so I was aware and looking for gas exit signs. The next thing I know, I found us on the other side of Barstow, not having gotten gas, and continued to drive. This is when I pulled out my trusty iPhone and searched for gas. Aha! There was a gas station about 4 miles away (already 10 miles outside of Barstow, gas light has been on for all 10 of those miles). So I followed the map, and pulled into the gas station. CLOSED. Of course it was! It was, afterall, Thanksgiving Day night and this was a mom-and-pop gas station. This is where I began to sweat, my heart pounding. I didn't want to wake up Mike. Now I really didn't want to wake up Mike. I REALLLLYYY DID NOT WANT to wake up Mike and have to tell him that I did not do what he asked. I did not wake him up in Barstow. Now we're in the middle of the Mojave Desert and iPhone says the nearest gas station is 30 MILES AWAY! I did not want to wake him up. 

Then it happened. As I'm praying to God, about to head back to Barstow, exactly what I did not want to happen, happened. He woke up. Needless to say I got an earful of everything I knew I would get an earful of, should he wake. 

"There's a reason I told you to wake me up in Barstow." 

"We're in the middle of the Mojave Desert, there ARE NO gas stations." 

"Why didn't you wake me up?" 

"Rebekah!" 

and so on. 

(Let me stop here and say that my husband is a great man! His patience with me is astounding. When most people would fly off their rocker, Mike keeps his cool, but still lets me know that I messed up. He's a very good man.)

So, I moved over, he drove back to Barstow, on fumes, and we found a gas station. For the record, if you're ever driving through Barstow, Calif., THERE ARE NO GAS EXIT SIGNS. Don't even bother looking for one. THERE ARE NONE! The one exit with gas stations creeps up on you quickly. You're going to pass it. When you do, TURN AROUND. Lesson 2 learned.

So we survived Barstow. Mike even let me get back in the car and didn't leave me at the gas station, which I'm sure he wanted. He drove for about 30 minutes, and then I started driving again. Driving through the Mojave Desert is miserable. I'm sure it's gorgeous during the day, but at night, late at night, it's quite boring and miserable. The rest of the trip was quite uneventful, thankfully. I gave us enough excitement during my first two hours. I continued to drive until about 30 minutes outside of Monterey. 

We pulled into Monterey, just as the sun was coming up. We did it! We drove through the night, no stopping except for gas and potty breaks.

Our first stop? 

The Dog Park!!! Our puppies were so good all the way from North Carolina to Monterey, they needed to stretch their legs and use the facilities. 

It was between 7 and 8 a.m., we couldn't get into our temporary housing until 3 p.m.! I was exhausted! ALL I wanted to do was sleep. I've never felt so homeless as I did at that very moment. Nowhere to go, and I wanted out of the car. We went to the lodge, took the car of the dolly, returned the dolly, and then walked around. Here are a few pics of our first hours in Monterey. 

We finally got into our temporary housing (which I forgot to take a picture of). The next day we went to lunch where I ate sardines for the first time! They were delish!

Finally, after the weekend, we were able to get the keys to our home for the next year and a half!

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