Vegas Baby, Vegas

Today we got up and continued west. Yesterday made our second casualty, we had to replace a tire that we had been nursing for a day or so and the only place we could find was a mostly Spanish speaking tire shop- but we managed. We are now rolling on almost all mismatched tires- awesome! But at least we are still rolling right? The other Causalty was my computer, it just stopped working. Tech support said it was either the mother board or the power cable, but since I bought an extra warranty after I ran my last computer over (like you never made a mistake) it is going to be free. :) I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog two things that I thought were funny. One, the name of a park that I thought was hilarious, I tried to take a picture but the sign came up too quickly. http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/parks/toadsuck/, you might respond like I did, "Uhm... no thanks." Two, the other thing I thought was funny was that Capo has been a great traveler. Mostly sleeping during the trip and generally disinterested in the scenery (I'm mean he's a dog, what do you expect?) Except two days ago when we were passing through Texas he perked up and got very interested in a big pasture of cows, barking and all; it occurred to me that he had never seen a cow before, he must of thought they were giant dogs or something. I told him that everything is bigger in Texas, but not that big :) We drove for a while this morning and hit the Hoover Dam. I guess you'd expect a couple of Dam jokes from me at this point, but why be predictable? Instead here are a few pics of us being silly on the road:
We have continued to have a good time today too. Bekah was saying to her mom on the phone today and it's true: It's been a lot of driving, but we are not sick of driving, not sick of eachother, we are just having a great time. Today we pulled into Vegas and we are going to go see the Cirque De Soleil Show "O" If you've never seen a Cirque show, you need to, it's incredible. We haven't seen Elvis here yet, although I'm told this is now where he lives. On the way here at the Hoover Dam, they had pretty inexpesive helicopter rides and I have never been on a helicopter but always wanted to so... I went for it. Here are some pics. Notice the shot of the "beloved" civic with it's Carolina girl lisence plate. Bekah stayed back- being afraid of heights but I could've stayed up there all day. I would one day like to get my pilots liscence so this was awesome for me! I got to sit up with the pilot! Tomorrow we pull into our new home which should take us about 8 1/2 hours. We are excited and a little nervous because now the vacation is over but we are ready to see the place where we are going to live. We will be updating this blog when we get there so you guys can see where we live and all. I hope you've enjoyed reading these posts as much as we've enjoyed leaving them. Thanks for all your prayers. Here is that video for the Grand Canyon Bekah promised, pictures and video do not do it justice.
We're off to find one of those famous "Vegas $5.99 all you can eat, prime rib buffets. Catch you tomorrow! Archie

The Desert (Day 4)

So, sorry this is a little late, but we have had some computer issues, and we stayed in a small town that I don't think had a computer in it. It was super cute though - reminded us of Radiator Springs from the movie Cars, and it was even located on Route 66. We left Albuquerque, headed toward the Grand Canyon this morning and have really just been enjoying the scenery. We saw the sign for the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest which was really cool! it was about a 45 minute drive to go through the park but the veiws were breathtaking. We are really enjoying God's creation. here are some pictures.






Then we kept driving to gas up in this ancient city! seriously, I think some of the original buildings were still there. we were just waiting to find the saloon.



After a pretty long, but beatiful drive we made it to the Grand Canyon. I don't know if you have ever been, but talk about witnessing the glory and beauty of God. this was breathtaking. If you have not seen it, you MUST! Okay, I'll show you some pictures instead of talking about it... I have a great little video about it, but this computer I'm using won't let me load it, so I will post it in a futre blog!





Since we're from the South we have found that we have had a lot of "Bless their heart" moments! :) In these small towns, there are alot of country type folks who we just want to say Bless their hearts - or idiots! haha just joking.
We did find another Starbucks to Archie's content, and savored every last sip of it since we have only seen about 4 the entire trip. You would think, hey! It's Starbucks. But thanks Jessica for the yummy starbucks!
So, an update on the bumper stickers! We are currently even - four for McCain, four for Obama. Pretty surprising. but both sides have something going for it. In Albuquerque, we saw a huge McCain rally (gotta count for something), and on the road to the grand Canyon, I saw a highway cleaning sign that said this portion of the road maintained by Grand Canyon democrats - that I guess counts too! :) We have fourty eight states and counting on the license plates - only missing Hawaii (we may not get that one) and Vermont -surely some Vermont people want to come to the West Coast!
We are officially on Pacific time - 3 hours behind our Charleston friends and family. It feels wierd, and the sleeping part is catching up.Last night we were asleep by 9 and up before 7 - so weird.
Archie mentioned in a previous blog (as if you didn't already know) how he felt about the civic...

but over the past few days, I think he's created a slight bond with it (the 33-37 miles to the gallon has helped)

and even made friends with it...


Well, that's about all from today... we'll have more to post in a little while about more fun! Thanks for all the prayers and encouragement you all have sent our way. We love and miss everyone!!

Coffee at 75 MPH

Hello everyone. We are in the third day of our not so small journey across the US. Late last night we pulled into Oklahoma City- it was late and I felt like I was in one of those Twilight Zone episodes where the further I drove, the further Oklahoma City got and I was stuck for an eternity just driving to Oklahoma City! Ever been there? We stayed at a 70's style HOJO and got up this morning and started what has become a routine for us since day 1. We get up and take Capo for a couple mile run,

have breakfast, and then hit the road listening to the devotionals people had recorded for us. Then we dip into the "cup 'o' memories" that some of our dearest friends made for us- we do 5 memories in the morning and 2 after lunch. They're just little pieces of paper that have a sentence or two about something that we had done with some friends or funny sayings or whatever, but they have brought a welcome smile and some familiarity to a constantly changing landscape. Can I just vent here for a sec- we have passed through i don't know how many states now and you know how many starbucks we have seen? 2!!!! Arkansas and Oklahoma you need to get your junk together!! I got some Mcdonalds coffee and Bekah was driving this morning and just as we were getting on the highway Bekah says "oh look there's a starbucks" drives right by and gets on the ramp. And I was like "what are you doing?!?!" She said "well you just got coffee, I figured you'd want to wait and find another one later." I said " Are you kidding!? You know I would pour this crap out as a drink offering to get some starbucks." The next one was 400 miles away. My computer died today in the car- it just didn't power back on- so I called tech support and they told me it's going to be a mother board a or power cable- lets hope its the power cable!

Today was nice, we spent some time together just talking and just sitting. I think we both really needed this trip. Yes it's a lot of driving but it has been great (except for the trying to get to OK City last night!) I gave Rebekah this necklace that I have been holding on to for about a month. She saw it down at the farmers market downtown Charleston and would never buy it for herself so "I" did. It's from the 30's and she was admiring it for about 2 months. The last time we were down there she went to go look at it again and she thought they had sold but it was just moved and she was really sad. So it was cool to give her one more little piece of Charleston. We stopped at the Famous Cadillac Ranch today and took some pics. It's this ranch where Cadillac's are stuck in the ground and it's dedicated to the fins on the back of a caddy- the first one is real small and then they gradually get bigger. here are a few pics.









Tonight we pulled into Albuqureque and enjoyed a little local place for brick oven pizza. Tomorrow we have to get a tie pixed that we have been nursing for a day or so that keeps losing air and then we will be off to the Grand Canyon. We have changed our plans a little for the end of this trip though- we are going to go through Vegas and catch a show Cirque de Soleil, called "O" it's all done with water- sounds good. We went to a Cirque show on our honeymoon, so it will be a nice revist for that too. We plan to pull into SAn Jose on Sunday.




Here are a few pics from this evening, a weird house that we saw on the way to dinner, a restraunt that both Bekah and I went to as children with our families that we both thought was out of business and an awesome speed limit sign- "that's what I'm talking about!" Tomorrow we should have lots of Grand Canyon shots for you and a story of how I'm getting along with the Civic, I have made no secret of how I feel about it. Until next time- Archie

Blue Suede Shoes

So we're still on the road and probably will be for about another 3 1/2 hours. It's getting late, and we're tired, but have had a great day! It was filled with alot of fun things. We were talking and realized that this is our first real vacation since our honeymoon - pretty sad huh? Here are a few pictures of the day and some fun things we have done.



Had to have barbecue in Memphis! This was the fun pink pig mobile outside Marlowe's barbecue restaurant. Now this is what you call classy! So fun we had to take a picture.




That's a whole lot of b-b-q! :) Notice the sauce on Archie's face... it was lip smacking good!!!



This is for my dad, he always tells me to clean the bones, suck out the marrow, and get messy, and you're not done till you do all three!







Here are some pics from Graceland... First is the big front living room with the infamous 15 ft white couch. Looks the same as the 70's. Next is Elvis and Priscilla's wedding clothes, a few of Elvis' jumpsuits, the monument to Elvis (kind of creepy), and Graceland itself - not quite as impressive from the front as I originally thought. Just so you know, it's kind of expensive to go to Graceland, and when you get there, they don't let you go upstairs.. something about it's Elvis' private quarters and they are going to maintain his privacy - hey he's dead people. Sorry Elvis fans!



Archie even remembered his blue suede sneaks!




We stopped by the Hotel Lorraine, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.




Passing into the next state - Arkansas, and the Mississippi river

Just a few fun facts. So far, we have spent 17 hours driving, and have gone about 1,020 miles. We'll rack in more by the end of the night.
Hurricane Gustav has sent us, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma PLENTY of rain. It's rained all day.

We got word that Filipe and Mandy Santos, part of our South Bay team, arrived safely to San Jose airport today!! They are home. They flew from Charleston today and got to California in the same day. whew, how nice! :) just joking, we are having a GREAT time and soaking up all the relaxation.

Tonight we'll land in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and try to get a good night's rest. Tomorrow will probably be a boring day of mostly driving, so we'll try to tap into our creative side to keep you entertained! We're praying for all of you that you will be blessed.

Rain Rain Go Away

So it's the beginning of day 2. We are on the road as I type. Gotta love the mobile broadband stuff. We are doing good, encouraged, and feeling God's peace as we travel. Archie surprised me by recording a Bible study and having several people read some scriptures for us. This was over the top! It was nice to have some familiar voices hundreds of miles away. My dad did the first one with a great verse for us to cling to, and my mom wrote her part (she "doesn't do microphones ;) ). This morning our good friend Staci Mclain started off our day in the right direction. So encouraging. We really enjoyed staying with Scott and Rachel last night in Nashville. I put a few more pictures of our stay last night and a few other good ones from yesterday, as well as the Nashville sky line. We had breakfast with them this morning before hitting the road again.

It's funny how things like car trips make you spend much needed and desired time with the one you love! :) Doesn't mean that every single second in the car has to be filled with conversation, but sitting next to each other, reflecting on God's grace and provision, enjoying the beautiful landscape and holding hands makes you feel closer to each other. So far we really haven't done anything but sit. Yesterday we even kind of enjoyed the silence. We drove most of the day without music or anything. (Save for the new coldplay and john mayer albums we've been holding out to listen to for the trip). It's been a good trip. I think the time is good for our souls! Pray for us today if you think about it, we will be hitting the remnants of hurricane Gustav, and we've tried to find another route around it, but the thing is huge! so I think we will end up driving through alot of it. Pray against our little engine that could from flooding too! Okay, here are the pictures, we'll update later.




More of dopey Capo








Courtney, Hailey, and Scott and Rachel Parker, and the Nashville skyline

Road Trip Day 1

Well we are at the end of the first day of traveling to California and we are a mix of so many things: excited, tired, sad to leave friends and family, and optimistic about what our new future holds for us. We left this morning at around 10:30 after having breakfast with our families, and hit the road to Nashville. We passed through South Carolina (obviously), North Carolina, and Tennessee. Capo did a pretty good job sitting in the car for the trip, after getting some meds from the vet, he was a little dopey! :) We were thinking, that this was the first time that Capo had left South Carolina. Since we were going to have so much time on our hands, we decided to have a little fun. So we played the license plate game to see how many states we could find, and we already have 22, hopefully we'll find all of them before we get there. Then we decided to see if we could single-handedly take the political survey of the country (you know how they do the polls and you say, they never asked me what I was thinking), to see how many bumper stickers we could find for each political candidate - we found two stickers for each! :) so far the country is even. Archie decided he needed to have a last fix of Krystal. So, let's just say that the GPS is good, but not great - it found several krystal's that were closed, and then took us to some girl named Krystal's house (ha), it was really a high school. so we wasted a good 45 minutes or so looking for a Krystal, but alas - we did succeed (that's for you Rick). We finally arrived in Nashville and are staying with our good friends Scott and Rachel. Can't believe how big the girls are! It makes you forget how fast time goes by. We have spent the evening having some good conversation and trying a new game for the Wii called Wii fit. It has been fun to watch each other make idiots of ourselves playing these games! (Notice in all the pictures Capo is like Capo-the-drug-dog, except he's the kind that takes them, not finds them) But it has been fun. We made good time, passed through 2 states and amazingly enough got 37 Miles to the gallon today! Tomorrow we head out for Memphis in the morning and Oklahoma City tomorrow night. For your enjoyment, here are some pictures of the day - the states we passed, Capo the drug dog, Archie's krysal obsession, and some Wii fit action.