Exit Interviews

We both had the chance to sit down with each other and talk about the past two weeks.  Let's listen in...

Mike: So, Katie, what is your favorite state?

Katie: Ohio.

Mike: Weeeeee didn't go to that one.

Katie: I still like it.  How about Iowa?

Mike: Done.

Mike: What is your favorite state of mind?

Katie: The last hour of every stretch on the road.  It feels like crazy with a little delirium on the side.

Mike: If you could get a chigger rash anywhere, where would it be?

Katie: My forearm.  I would have easy access for scratching.

Mike: If Coke cost as much as gas, would you still drink it?

Katie: Yes.

Mike:  Can we still eat PB&J for every lunch now that the trip is over?

Katie: Not so much.

Katie: If you could count, maybe give us an average of how many times your booty fell asleep?

Mike: While driving, twice a day. And while sleeping, i can't remember.

Katie: What was your favorite CD to pop in when you needed a "pick me up"?

Mike: Lord of the Rings, disc 5.

Katie: What was your favorite state?

Mike: Not Illinois. And probably not Wisconsin. 

Katie: Do you or do you not like truckers? And do you think it would be necessary for them to have their own freeway?

Mike: I only like truckers who deliver food for WinCo. The rest of them, should either walk or take public transportation. If they had their own freeway, I hope it would be made of sand... and glass. 

Join in next year, or whenever gasoline is this cheap, for another road adventure with the Young's.

The Journey Home

Pretend for a second that we aren't in California right now..

Highlights from the journey home:

Memphis to Dallas

- Arkansas is not as ugly as you may think...

- Mike reserved a camp site at Cedar Hill State Park ahead of time; however, he did this without knowing it was "chigger season". We arrived to many a warning sign letting us know about the season of chigger. If you don't know what chiggers are, look on wikipedia, they should say something about it. They are like ticks. So, we decided camping in a tent with microscopic burrowing bugs was not for us. We are proud to have donated $33 to the Texas State Park society.

- Alternative plan: Stayed at the home of Matthew Watson's parents in Dallas. They took us in on short notice and entertained us, to say the least. Wayne and Deonne are gems, we had a blast.

Dallas to Artesia, NM

- West Texas is no country for old men.

- Andy Neumann is a hero. He is our friend in Artesia. The only New Mexican we know. He makes the best hot wings ever and we enjoyed hanging out in the DRY heat with him. Keeping with tradition, Andy is mastering another instrument, the dobro. My favorite dough bro. He went on a crazy adeventure last year (http://journeyoutward.blogspot.com/), check it, but don't wreck it. He also is an airplane pilot and plans are already in place for him to fly us around the country next year so as to avoid truck stops, truckers, and everything pertaining to semi-trucks.

Artesia to Grand Canyon

- 11 hours, no stops (okay we stopped a few times to fill one tank and empty another).

- Grand Canyon is worth every hour spent driving.

- Witnessed both a sunset and a sunrise at the Canyon (not simultaneously).

Grand Canyon to Anaheim

- The best thing about California is that truckers aren't allowed to drive as fast as the rest of us. It makes us feel funny when a hundred tons of cargo barrels past us at 77 mph.

- Angels game with brother Rob and sister Darcie and co-worker Nate.

- Witnessed an altercation between two disgruntled Angels fans...it must have been something they were drinking...Moral of the story: don't double cross a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim fan or you will get beer tossed in your face.

Now that we are back in the same time zone, we will be sleeping in, for good measure. Can't wait to see everyone's faces...

So long Memphis...

One of Wayne Watson's bucks. This one was old, but according to Wayne, "he was smart". Not smart enough to escape Wayne Watson, however.

Artesians. Andy is the one winking at you.

Proof that we are taller than the Grand Canyon. Ha!

Proof that Mike is afraid of the Grand Canyon.

None of us are Angels fans.

Memphis.

Memphis has been good to us.


Amazing food, great friends, frequent cat naps, lots of shark trivia (thanks to Nathan Watson), back yard BBQ and amazing food. Our hosts, the Watsons have only lived here since March and they are Memphis pros already...they know the fun neighborhoods, the good eats, the cool coffee shops and the good eats. Fresno misses them and Memphis is lucky to have them. Catch up on everything Watson at their blog (www.watsonopolis.com), this may be the best blog in Tennessee. Make sure you leave a comment too and mention you found your way there via Memphamous and they will give you 20% off your next comment. It will be hard to leave here on Tuesday morning. It has been a full and rich visit with our good friends.


Tomorrow we head to Dallas to camp. According to Matthew Watson (Dallas native), this should be an interesting experience. Awesome. All we need is more 'interesting' on this trip.


California here we come. We're going to take our time, however.

Elder Watson and his apprentice.

Beale Street. The Blues started here.

The Loraine Motel. This is the balcony where Dr. King was assassinated 40 years ago.

Katie and Mike have decided to stay in Memphis and become State Farm agents. Here is our glam shot for all our propaganda.

Mempheast

We completed the journey to Memphis this morning in grand fashion. Only 2 stops, no tornados, three states, cheap gasolinera.

We are so happy to be here....we can feel our shoulders relaxing after a week on the road. Here we will settle for three nights with the good ol' Watsons of Fresno lore.

Tonight, we ate BBQ, Memphis style. It was a feast. Ribs (wet and dry), slaw, beans, rolls and sweet tea. We think we will have it again for breakfast and lunch and maybe three more dinners. If we drove 3,000 miles for tonight's dinner, it was worth it.


Before.













After.













The Watson home on Avalon Street. (tilt your head to the right slightly to view correctly)

She Cag Oh!

After the Timber Rattler victory, we hit the road for Chicago. Three short hours later, we were met with luxury. Here's the thing: Mike went on Priceline.com and bought a 4-star hotel for $90...well, not the whole hotel, just one room for one night. It was awesome. We woke up early and explored the little village of Chicago. It was really humid and windy and so we had sweaty faces and sweaty legs.

We left Chicago at noon to make the trek to Memphis, the great destination of this road trip.

This is when the insanity began.

While driving to Memphis we noticed some forboding clouds on the horizon. It looked far enough off, but we were driving right into it. Wee were in the middle of flat, Illinois plains. As we got closer, the air was eerily still and we could begin to notice an apparent wall of streaky clouds ahead. We hit that wall. Immediately, we had zero visibility. 60 mph wind blew the rain directly at us. Debris was all over the road and cars were hitting their brakes. Mike tried to pull off the road, but we couldn't even see the lines on the road. This was the scariest thing we have ever been through. Miraculously we found other cars and fell in line with them, creeping along in these hurricane-like winds. At each overpass, cars and semi-trucks were huddled underneath. We kept moving. We pulled off and went to a gas station for some cover. Then we realized the absurdity of hanging out on top of gallons and gallons of gasoline in a lightning storm. We moved to a nearby freeway overpass. We turned on the radio and heard the National Weather Service issue a tornado warning for the area we were sitting in. They also said to not seek shelter under overpasses. Silly Californians. The rain was letting up slightly (which was still a downpour, but we could see) so we got onto the freeway to try and make it to the next town. We made it to Effingham. We hung out at a Hilton hotel with a bunch of Harley Davidson bikers. Lucky for us, the Harley convention of Illinois was about to begin. The tornado warning didn't lift until 6 p.m. and we had been there for a couple hours. The skies looked clear in the direction we were heading, so back on the road we went. Only to be met by CRAZY lightning. It is unnerving to see lightning hitting the ground within a mile of where you are driving. This combined with more rain caused us to head back to Effingham. At this point we were exhausted, so we settled in with the Harley-loving community of Illinois and bought a room at the local Holiday Inn.

We will press on in the morning to Memphis. We shall overcome.

That short kid in the background is looking at us funny.

Fools. If you only knew the storm that awaits you.

Wisconsinning

Up we went to the thawed tundra of Wisconsin. Katie's brother, Jake, plays baseball in the Mariners organization for their single-A affiliate, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (http://www.timberrattlers.com/). Lucky for us, his fiancee was visiting him as well, so the four of us got to hang out and get some dinner and watch a movie. On Thursday night we witnessed the Timber Rattlers take on the River Bandits of Quad Cities. Here's the thing. Jake is a relief pitcher, which means you never know when he will get to play. We were optimistic that we would luck out and see him pitch. When a different relief pitcher went into the game, we got sad. Especially since Jake's team was losing, the chances that we would see Jake play were getting slim. His team tied the game in the eighth inning and Jake began warming up. He pitched in the 10th inning and made each batter look silly. It was awesome. Then, in the bottom of the tenth, the first batter hit a pitch over the left field wall to end the game! The T-Rats got a victory and Jake was credited with the win. We were quite happy to be there. It was also Thirsty Thursday...$1 beverages. We drank 6.

Earlier in the day, we visited Lambeau Field. For those of you who have been living in Antartica and are not aware of this historic site, it is where the Green Bay Packers play football on Sundays. The crazy thing is Green Bay is about the size of Visalia (100,000 people). So just imagine an NFL football team playing games in Visalia. It is pandamonium.

Interesting (and false) facts about Wisconsin:

- cheese grows on trees there

- they are the top dairy producer in America (ha!)

- they use milk-based products as currency, so you have to trade in dollars for cottage cheese and yogurt at the border. A gallon of gas costs 13 quarts of vanilla yogurt. I know, it's nuts!

- they are negotiating with Canada to become a Canadian province. The only hang-up is Canada doesn't want to share a border with Iowa. Lots of hoodlums in Iowa.

Lambeau is behind us.

Our favorite Timber Rattler.

Team Young in our Wisconsin red and a flash light for good measure.

Kansas City here we came (and went)

We were able to spend a couple nights in Kansas City (which is actually is Missouri...now that's some fun trivia). Daniel and Autumn Katz are good and decent people and they have a young baby named Samuel who can almost walk. Dan and Mike met in high school and have helped each other graduate, helped each other get married and helped each other laugh. These people are so close to our hearts and we desperately needed this extended time with them after the first few legs of our journey. We were also treated to our first taste of Midwest insanity (our name for the weather) with Daniel and Autumn on Tuesday night. Some of the most incredible lightning we have ever seen! We visited the House of Prayer (http://www.fotb.com/) and ate some amazing food. Kansas City is that good.

If you want to become close friends with Daniel and Autumn so that you too can stay in Kansas City with them one day, visit their blog http://www.danielandautumn.com/. They are doing some spectacular things with their life. Let it inspire you.

This kid is the real deal. You should have seen the avacado after he got through with it.

The whole gang. Daniel, Samuel, Autumn, Katie and Mike.

Effingham?

Hi faithful ones,

Sorry for the long silence. We've been up in Wisconsin for a couple days and apparently they haven't discovered internet up in the North yet.

We tried to drive from Chicago to Memphis today and were stopped in our tracks by a few tornado warnings and lightning bolts that were way too close for comfort. We are in the middle of the journey in a town called Effingham, Illinois. We holed up at a Hilton that was full of Harley Davidson owners gearing up for the Harley rally of Illinois. We weathered the storm and the tornado warnings together. They are loud. And part-way drunk. And full of facial hair...even the ladies.


We can't upload pictures at the moment, but many are on the way. Who knows how long we'll be here....

Kansas...

...was no bueno. It is the Bermuda Triangle of the USA. We were lucky to make it out in less than 10 hours. If we had been carrying compasses they would have been of no use.

But now we are in Missouri and it is bueno. Good friends in the good humidity. We will be here until tomorrow and then make the trek to Wisconsin.
















LARGE windmills...highlight of the trip through Kansastic....no joke.















This group of LARGE windmills was the second highlight of yesterday's voyage.



Favorite music through the High Plains: Disc 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring (adapted for radio) by JRR Tolkien. If only Tom Bombadill would rescue us when we sang for him...

no services available...

The account of Katie's drive to Colorado...
We closed the gates of Zion and opened the lush mountains to Colorado. We set off to visit the Garcia's of Thorton, Colorado. This first meant driving through the desert of Utah. And when I say the desert I'm not kidding. There is nothing but dirt and massive mountians of rock. I will say that there was one gas station which was bulit to save people's lives... at $4.20 a gallon. We noticed the tank getting low but mike was sure we would make it to the next gas station out of the desert, 65 miles away. It was rough. We were passing hitch hikers saying at the edge of our seats "we're sorry we can't pick you up cause it's going to be us in few minutes." We began to sweat profusely as we sat almost in utter silence, with the air off as we costed down hills in nutral, hoping to make it to the next gas station. Every town we passed would say the town name, how far away it was and then following the haunting words, No Services Available. Finally! We saw a sign that showed us the symbol for gas and we were saved. We cheered as we gave knuckles to each other and took the exit. We got off to nothing. There was no gas station in sight. But still we continued to follow the road trusting our sign off the freeway to give us truth. We hit a dead end and looked right and left and there it was to our left. We cheered again and proceeded. Pulling up to the station mike sees the sign, Closed. We were heart-broken, back on the road we went and prayed. We knew the next big town on the map was Fruita and we were getting close. We saw the sign that we knew would deliver and it was a mile away. We began comforting ourselves with things like, "a mile is not long. I could run a mile!" As we approach the sign tell us to get off on exit 19 and so we hold our breath a little longer. Exit 19 comes and it seems as if the ramp is closed for constuction. We disbelief hearts we Finally, don't belive the sign, and what do you know the exit was open. Just in time we pull up to the gas pump and let out a sigh. The gas was $3.87 and according to mike, it was well worth the torment.

Sorry to say there are no pictures from this event. For reason that at the time this was not a laughing matter.

We made it to the border and into Colorado we went. The scenery was amazing. There was still snow on the ground as we followed the Colorado river through the mountains. There was also the longest tunnels we have ever been through and holding your breath= passing out. It also means competition overtakes and mike causes katie to let out her breath. Mike laughs after he makes it through the tunnel and katie burns with anger as once again her fun is ruined by mike's cheating.

Again, no picures because at the time it was not a laughing matter.

Lift up your gates, O Zion!

The desert pilgrimage went smooth. Smooth as the peanut butter I have digested for lunch over the past 3 days. Lots of abandoned cars along the way... Why does Las Vegas exist? (please, no one answer that).

We rolled into a campground just a 1/2 mile outside Zion National Park. We cozied up next to our neighbors (a massive RV which provided some nice shade, and a quiet couple that weirded us out more than once). Of course, setting up the tent went slow...and we swat (past tense of sweat). So we waded in the river rushing behind our campsite to cool off.

This morning, we arose early to go explore Zion. Wow. Everyone, quick, go to Zion National Park. It is that good. Photos won't do this desert wonderland justice. We couldn't spend much time there since an 8 hour (so we thought) drive loomed ahead. 10 hours later we arrived in Denver. Notable events on the drive: nearly running out of gas due to Mike's unwillingness to pay for more expensive gas, buying gas for $3.86/gallon (Remember when that seemed high to us Californians?), holding our breath through long tunnels, snow on the Rockies, Mayo sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (one of the previous statements is false).


Photos! Enter!









Katie's river mud facial. Or Katie's 5 o'clock shadow.


















Camp. We are the middle one. To the left of Dan Gamel's RV Palace.










Zion sings! It is like a sandstone Yosemite. Only with less black bears and more RVs.

Scenery to start the 8 or 10 hour drive to Colorado.

Scenery to end the drive. Note: change in geology, presence of condensation, Mike's sore rear end from driving.









Music...

Favorite desert music: Patty Griffin or Mr. Cash
Favorite mountain music: John Denver (kidding), Over the Rhine (not kidding)

The way of the desert

We are off to Zion National Park in southern Utah!

Pray: (a) we find a campsite (b) we don't stop in Vegas to earn more gas money and (c) for no CHPs or NHPs or UHPs (we are going through 3 states)

General's Headquarters

Shafter, CA would just be another farm town if not for these two Bergens. We drove all of 2 hours to our first destination and were greeted with smiling faces and a backyard BBQ. It is fitting that we start our trip to Memphis with some BBQ, though I doubt we will encounter this kind of cooking again. We ate pheasant...freshly prepared today by Jacob Bergen. He and his wife Kathleen gave us a place to relax and some pilaf to munch...and we were even surprised by a visit from brother Rob and sister Darcie as they migrated back to the OC.

Shafter means "success" in some native American dialect from some tribe somewhere.


Pedicures...of course.


Jake giving himself a pedicure. Or Jake recovering from a stubbed toe on the after-dinner stroll around Shafter.

But first let me introduce myself.

We are Mike (left) and Katie (right).  Here is a photo from our first date.  Things haven't changed much.  We are crazy about love and take it out on each other.  Come along and ride on our, fantastic voyage!