Day Three - Should have been easy!!!

Today was started on a rough foot, just for the simple fact that it came after yesterday. We were exhausted waking up and knew we had to get on the road to make it to our final destination, The Hart Family house. Instead of battling the cold, this morning we had wind. This was a bit of a challenge when loading the roof bag for yet another time but of course we did succeed :). 

-Side note- I would not recommend staying at the Howard Johnson hotel in Oklahoma City. It was located in an interesting neighborhood for 1, does not have an elevator for 2, and most items in the room did not work for 3!

Anyways, we left the the city at 6:30 am and were scheduled to arrive just outside of Nashville, TN at 4:30 pm! The rest of Oklahoma came and went without any big wows in my opinion. OK was the most boring state we have driven through thus far (not to mention we were driving in the dark 75% of the time.)

Another shot of the Oklahoma City sign going west bound, because we were in the dark last night!

 After Oklahoma, came Arkansas and the state was filled with the most gorgeous, lush, tree lined freeway. This was absolutely the most perfect time of year to drive across country. The trees were all full of leaves and had just started changing to the beautiful autumn color palette. Most of the state line signs for this leg of the trip were unavailable to pose in front of due to construction, traffic, etc. But the traffic was so light when we pass AR that she was able to literally stop on the freeway and I climbed into the construction area and returned into the car before another car even got close!

AR state line!

AR state line!

Most of today consisted of continuous driving and we were unable to stop to visit any landmarks. One of my favorite points of the trip was our random conversation we had comparing/filling in the blank about our two era's that we grew up in. This is how it went!

(Please excuse the inappropriateness in the below dialogue, I was delirious and running on 4+ hours of sleep)

Show me your........

Mom's Response - Under Alls!  Kelsey's Response - Titties!

Where's the......

Mom's Response - Beef!    Kelsey's Response - Party!

Shake and Bake is......

Mom's Response - a meat coating.   Kelsey's Response - Ricky Bobby's slogan in Talladega Nights

Mom and I in the car - Please note our really awesome Route 66 shirts purchased on Day 1

While stuck in first traffic jam of the day, along highway I-40 we saw our first celebrity in the state of Arkansas! Bret Michaels was driving through town and ended up right next to us! I guess we never actually saw him but I believe he was in there and saw us.

Eventually, we made it to our last state of the day Tennessee. I was very excited for TN because of a few things, Adam's family is from Memphis, TN and I am absolutely, positively obsessed with country music and have always wanted to visit Nashville!

State Line - was unable to get out and pose due the fact it was dead smack in the middle of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

Memphis Skyline

The best sign yet! How could one state be filled with so much greatness!

TN was where we hit the second of the two major traffic jams where we were literally stopped on the freeway for 1 hour and the next exit was not for another 25 miles! After a long drooling final leg to our Day 3 drive we arrived at our destination, Brentwood, TN at 7:00 pm...2 and 1/2 hours after the initial arrival time. We were invited to state with my Mom's fraternity brother and friend from college! There house was stunning (just down the street from Dolly Parton and Carrie Underwood), dinner was delicious and conversation was hilarious. We reminisced about there college days, compared greek stories from then and now, caught up on children and jobs, and just all together had a great time! We decided to wait to take a picture of us until tomorrow, we had a rough day of driving and you could tell!

When sitting back and thinking about today there was definitely a "greek life" theme. When driving through Arkansas we ran across a sign that said "Delta Zeta (chapter name I forgot...oops) adopted the section of this freeway". When chatting with the Hart's in TN we talked about being a little sister to a fraternity, looked back on old photos, and conversed about the many aspects of greek life. I am so proud to be a Delta Zeta and I really do believe that once you pledge a house, you will have sisters for life. Thank you DZ for teaching me how to be confidant, classy, and passionate woman and I strive to live by our ideals each and every day. I am looking forward to joining the Greater Philadelphia Alumnae chapter and can not wait for my Delta Alpha girls to come visit!!

XO, KB

Day Two - The drive that never ended

Because we ended our drive yesterday at the Grand Canyon, this meant we had to push really far today to stay on schedule. Our plan was to eat in the car, rotate driving in 2 hour shifts and drive through 4 states. What a plan that was!!!

Our day started at 6 am when we checked out of our hotel in the Grand Canyon and proceeded to repack the roofbag. We thought the best idea was to unpack the roofbag every night to keep the contents safe, but didn’t realize how hard it would be in the morning. We went outside and found our biggest surprise yet, it was 24 degrees!!!! I have never been so unprepared, cold, and miserable in my life, but we did succeed (because we are Beauregard’s :) duhh!) and left on time at 6:30 am.

Everything that we unload/reload every night/morning for the roof bag! Ugh!

Our trip was scheduled to take 13 hours and 45 minutes. We knew we had to be committed to driving so we decided to take quick stops at few interesting spots to keep the drive interesting.

Random Teepee off I-40 :)

  

Shopping stop! Beautiful turquoise jewelry that we just couldn't resist!

Sign said it was the world's largest petrified tree....I highly doubt that...but it was still a great photo op!

And, finally we entered NEW MEXICO. It was quite a grand entrance! Lining I-40 was beautiful mountains, rock formations and stunning colors. New Mexico was a state that my mom was really looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. Most of the drive consisted of the most stunning landscape we had seen yet.

Hello New Mexico!

New Mexico scenery at State Line

By the end of New Mexico, we were so sick of driving. Oklahoma City seemed farther than ever and we started rethinking our decision to drive this route. Eventually we made it to Texas and to our surprise we only saw 1 cop in NM! We competed to shave the most time off of our arrival time on GPS for each leg of the drive, with the running joke that you had to stay “in the red.”  Referring to the GPS when you went over the speed limit your speed turned “red”. Who would of thought that my mom was telling me to speed :)

Texas baby!

Because we were only driving through the north tip of Texas we knew this one leg was going to be very quick. With signs for Amarillo in the distance we kept to our routine of switching drivers and trying to stay entertained when we happened to stumble over my favorite picture spot thus far!

Cadillac Ranch

Mother and Daughter

Beautiful Sunset on the Cadillac's

The Cadillacs were right off I-40 and were so impressive. We walked about 50 yards  on a dirt path to see 10 spray painted Cadillacs, in the ground nose first. From the outside looking in this spot seems so trivial but it was something special and right then I realized how lucky I am. I am 24 years old and driving across country. I am able to see the country in a way I never thought I would be able to. It put a lot of things in my life into perspective. Every road I have taken, every decision I have made (whether bad or good), every person I have met has led me to where I am today and for that I am eternally grateful.

A Texas Sunset

The rest of Texas was driven in the dark and went by at a blink of an eye. We entered Oklahoma at 9:04 pm and still had 2 more hours until we reached our hotel in Oklahoma City. What a day!

Last State of the Day!

XO, KB

Day One of Moving! Oh Joy!

So I am going to start by saying I have some of the best friends in the entire world. I knew that moving across country was going to be hard but I never knew it would be this hard. The women I have been so lucky to befriend in my last 5 years in Long Beach are the most amazing friends a girl could ask for. The Friday after I arrived home from my initial trip to PA, my old roomies, Katie and Kelso threw me a congratulations bar crawl! We had so much fun! Getting all these amazing women under one roof became a very memorable night. The only one who I was missing was my best friend Marge :(. 

Thank you to Kelso, Katie, Heather, Courtney, Zwack, Toni, Laura, and Margaret for making my last week in California the best week ever!

Friday October 21st, Bar Crawl

 And before I knew it, the day had come. I woke up at 6 am this morning with my Mother by my side to start one of the biggest journeys of my life. Even my boyfriend rolled out of bed to see me off! I don't think it has hit us yet that after 6 years of dating, we are, yet again, going to be long distance :(. Hopefully not for long!

Adam and Me this morning :)

One of my biggest fears of this trip was the preparation! Fitting everything I owned in to the trunk, back seat and roof of my car, to then drive across country was an extremely daunting task! With my mother's help and my boyfriend's strong muscles :), we space bagged, shoved, layered and squeezed everything in with no room to spare!

The car and me at the first gas fill up! 

My mom and I decided to switch off driving every 2 hours to eliminate either of us getting too tired. This made our first leg of the trip really easy and painless. We passed beautiful scenery, flat terrain, random rock piles and the historic Route 66! (At our first gas station stop we purchased the signature Route 66 t-shirts! Us shopping girls just couldn't resist :) Look for them on Day 2 or 3!)

 After about 4 hours (give or take) we passed our first State Line! Arizona!!!!!! Land of the Grand Canyon, extremely boring scenery, Havasu and a leg of the Colorado River. It may not seem that exciting to you but we were excited to see something new for the small town Benicia natives :)

Pulled over at the side of the freeway to take picture :) Not too safe but definitely necessary!

 After about 7 hours of driving, we finally were able to take an exit off I-40, and to our surprise, we ended up in Bearizona! Bearizona is a "drive through, natural, wild life park." We didn't go through (to excited to get to our final destination) but we had to take a photo at the unique entrance!

Myself at the entrance of Bearizona!

 After 55 miles of driving north of I-40, we arrived at the most spectacular, stunning national landmark that I have ever seen! It went for miles, the textures of the exposed rock formations were spectacular, the colors of the natural sediment at sunset were unreal! This took us an hour off our route but was completely worth it.  **Please note that the pictures do not do the Grand Canyon justice!

My Mom and I at the Grand Canyon

 Letting the view soak in

This view went for days!

 Day 1 was a great start to this road trip. My Mom said it best when she first saw the Grand Canyon, she exclaimed "This is living proof that there is a higher power". All I can believe is that this journey is fate. This new opportunity is allowing me to see the world in a way I could have never imagined. I cannot wait to see what new marvels we will uncover!

XO, KB

Recap of 1st Trip to Pennsylvania

After flying over 6 hours, my amazing mother, Amy and I arrived in Pennsylvania. We were ready to experience something completely different than our California lives, and it was just that. Life is slower, people are genuinely nicer and the amount of greenery/trees is shocking. 

First item on the agenda was a series of in-person interviews with the women of David's Bridal. It was a 3 hour process that I left feeling educated, expressive and most importantly very confidant!

David's Bridal Corporate, PA

After the interview, our goal was to get acclimated with the environment, social scene, and living options.

At the top of the DB parking garage

View from David's Bridal offices

After 2 days of apartment searching, we found a perfect place to call home. I will be living in a borough outside of Philly in a stunning, classic east coast house with a young single mother with 3 kids. She will only be at the house during the week and the weekends I will be on my own. This will give me the comfort of home but the ability to discover the PA way of life/social scene on my own!

Hilarious Happenings of the trip-

"I don't even know what side of the street I am supposed to drive on!"- Mom, when exiting the airport and trying to find our hotel at 2 am in the morning!

Once checked-in to the hotel, sitting in the car with my mom for 30 minutes trying to figure out how to put the key in the ignition of the mini van that we rented!!!!! (We were delirious at this point)

After seeing some not so lovely apartment options with unusual smells/personnel, we decided to make a code to express our hatred without being rude.
"Do you think we can change that light fixture?" = This place smells like a**!!

XO, KB