I think this

sums up a lot of roadtrip.  I rode jackalopes.  The entire time.

Fill in the Blank Friday...sort of late post, but it's related to roadtrips so I thought it appropriate

1.  My dream vacation would be    ANYwhere out of North America.

2.  The best trip I've ever taken was    probably this last one I went on!  3,700 miles in a car in 12 days.  I almost got run over by bison, saw an upside down white house, had to call the cops, saw the largest stone sculpture in the world, went to prom, snuck into a show, saw a fight with a gun hand off, partied way too late, saw a drunk girl pull over to puke while she was driving and got waited on first because I was aZn.  I'll be more in depth later...

3.  The most important items to take on a road trip are     Good music, bad music and good people.

4.  The next trip I'm looking forward to is    camping in the redwoods.  After that I'm headed to Canada and both trips look pretty promising.

5.  If I had to pick one CD to listen to for a long road trip it would be     Holy crap. Allison made Jill and I the BEST set of 7 mix cds EVER.  We didn't get sick of them at all and listened to them pretty frequently throughout our 12 days.

6.  The biggest disaster I've ever encountered while traveling  was    I remember going to Dillon Beach with Katie and her fam one year and I forgot to pack pants.  And by pants, I mean pants, shorts, skirts, anything for the bottom half of my body really.

7.  My favorite traveling memory is     the trip my dad took me on to Mount Diablo.  I remember him waking me up really early and giving me a map to be the navi.  I'm terrible at directions and knowing north from south, so he ended up having to pull over once.  At the end of the day we were driving out of San Francisco after buying my mom a birthday present and we got to the Golden Gate Bridge.  The entire atmosphere was very surreal.  There was absolutely no wind and the night was warm enough for just a t-shirt.  I was an asshole at 16 and refused to get out of the car because we had just walked about 20 miles, it was about 8pm and I'd been up since 4am.  I remember my dad telling me "You'd better come walk this bridge.  You'll never see another night like this again in your life.  Trust me.  Okay...but you'll regret it."  I regret it.

Whoa whirlwind week...

This past Friday night I hopped in a car and headed to Los Angeles.  I was Disneyland bound with my two good friends Chris and Amber.  They can be seen here:

We tore up Disneyland and the Tower of Terror for two full days, we made it back alive, we took pictures with monsters, we visited the first aid station, we ate, we ate some more, we didn't beat up any little kids AND we photographed the entire trip as evidence of our ridiculously fun filled trip.  Which included almost making a grown woman pee herself out of pure fear.

On Monday when I got to work, Alissa asked if I wanted to fly to Florida for one day for $10 each way.  Like the responsible adult I am, I told her, "Book it."  We double checked our work schedule, requested days off and in less than 7 minutes, our flight was purchased.  Tuesday immediately after work, we headed to the airport and jumped a red eye.  When I woke up we had landed in an 84 degree Ft. Lauderdale airport.  We immediately grabbed a rental and drove straight to South Beach.  Here we ate, we ate some more, we drove scooters with no helmets and we partied.  We also got to see a bunch of chicks walking around wearing mostly nothing.  After 10 hours, we got back on our flight home to drive from SFO back to Sacramento extremely exhausted and looking like lobsters.

Tonight I'm headed to Dillon Beach for the weekend to hang out with Katie and the fam before she's gotta head back to New York.  Hopefully we'll do something lewd and lascivious with the pirate statue.  I should be getting back to Sacramento with just enough time to do two loads of laundry, clean up a bit and pack for my 12 day road trip with Lady Jillington where we'll be eating, karaoke-ing, partying, driving, eating more and checking out some museums and important monuments, like the worlds largest ketchup bottle.

End of spring roadtrip 2k10!!!!

View Team SUMA mad radddd trip 2k10 in a larger map

This is the adventure that Jill and I will be embarking on mid-May.  It should take us 12 days...where I'll be flying home.  We have places to stay most of our trip, however...we still need possible floors, couches, open lawn areas in Madison, WI and Chicago.  So if anyone knows anybody with a place to stay, or has a friend of a friend who doesn't mind having awesomeness crash on their floor, please let me know!!!  I mean...I plan on hitting up Mr. Chi City and letting him know that Jill and I are booshie hood chicks who go for that Arizona Iced Tea.  Perhaps write him a quick email.  For those of you who don't know who Mr. Chi City is...

BAM!  SNACKS ON SNACKS!!

We also have goals set out for this trip.  One of them being to do karaoke in a state where no one knows who we are at a bar where we can make fools of ourselves and dance the night away.  Yes...I said dance.  I will be trying to perfect my sweet moves on this trip as well.  This means my knee's gotta get up to par!!!  Time to get back on that bicycle!!!!

On the road again...

From Hearst Castle to Morro Bay to Santa Cruz and home.

We saw a sunset.

We conquered the world:

We had a ridiculous amount of fun.

And back to the epic adventure...

After Bryce dug the giant piece of glass from deep inside his nasal cavity (the one on the dash in the photo), we found our way to receiving ONE bar of cell reception.

After I sat to the far right side of the car with my head at a 45 degree angle, I made the call to my insurance company.  I doubt they've talked to many people as good spirited as we were for having just been in an accident.

I've never had to take 45 minutes to explain where I was using a highway as a reference point, let alone asking someone "Can you find NEVADA?!"  It literally took us that long to finally explain to the representative on the phone where we were...in a general area.  I didn't realize that telling someone we were in the south eastern part of Oregon could lead to such a misunderstanding.  After giving the person Winnemucca as a reference point to find us, she decides it would be a good idea to send a tow truck from Winnemucca (almost 4 hours away) instead of one from Boise (2 1/2 hours away).  Not only is she a genius with this whole Winnemucca plan, but she tells me it will only take an hour and a half at the most.

Now...I know what she's saying is bulllllllllllllllllshit because Bryce and I had just driven 4 hours since WE'D left Winnemucca AND we were ahead of the blizzard that just hit their town.  If she expected them to be there in an hour and a half, she was clearly smoking crack rock.  I asked for her to send a tow truck from Boise instead and she told me she couldn't because the tow truck driver was already on the way (obviously not true since it'd only been about 20 minutes).  So...after this whole tow thing is set up...I start asking about rental vehicles.

She tells me the nearest rental agency to Winnemucca is in Elko.  ELKO.  2 hours away from the town we were supposed to get towed to.  HOW WERE WE TO GET TO THE RENTAL PLACE?!?!  She tells me she doesn't know.

It's 19 degrees outside and the window I'm sitting at is broken.  The cold is settling in and I grab a blanket.

Next thing you know, 2 hunting angels were sent to us and tell us there's a tow station about 15 minutes up the road.  I opt to stay with the car while Bryce gets the tow started.  We make it to the little rinky dink town where the tow yard and a small diner make up all the revenue for the town and the people who own the tow company are SAINTS.

After hanging around most the morning and dealing with insurance crap we finally hop in the tow truck for the 3 1/2 hour drive up to Nampa, Idaho.  This is where I'll say goodbye to my car, just in case I won't ever see it again.  Bryce and I are determined to continue with our trip because we're not going to let something as silly as an accident get us down!!!  We hang out in Boise for the night and grab delicious Chinese food for dinner.  Yeah...no potatoes in Idaho, I'm a retard.

We wake up in Boise we head to Twin Falls.  We see signs for the Oregon trail and want to see if we can catch typhoid fever or shoot an ox for food.  Instead of finding oxen or indians to help us float across the river, we find the illustrious Perrine Bridge.

We decide Twin Falls is a good of place as any to ring in the new year.  I have the brilliant idea of hitting up the local mall and finding the Hot Topic and asking any girl behind the register where her brother goes to hang out.  I figure this might get us to a sweet dive bar.  As luck would have it...we drive directly past a mall, so we pull in.  We walk into the mall and what store do we stand in front of?  Hot Topic.  What do we do?  Ask the girl behind the register where the local dive bars are.

They gave us sweet hats.

Better late than never, right?

My road trip:

Bryce and I left pretty late Tuesday night.  We were both fully prepared for a full night of driving and staying awake.  We'd been preparing for it the past few nights and were totally ready.  We made it to Baxter and had to put on chains.  Shitty.  That meant I wasn't going to be getting any refund for them.  The snow was crazy beautiful and it was definitely snowING, so Bryce man'd up and put the chains on.

We were hauling ass at about 30mph until the state line.  Yeah.  We needed chains THAT long.  Once we got the chains off it was pretty smooth sailing.  I got an amazing postcard with a moose on it.  When we hit Winnemucca we went north on 95 to head up towards Idaho.  The scenery was BEAUTIFUL the entire time we were on the road.

A couple hours before sunrise I decided to take a nap before taking up driving, since Bryce had driven the whole time so far.  Just as the sun was about to make it's appearance I woke up to a ridiculously calm Bryce who was taking control of my car as we were spinning out.  It was totally surreal and probably the best roller coaster ride I've ever been on.

We hit the snow bank.  The passenger side window shattered.  Rear wheel bent.  Airbags deployed.  No cell phone reception.

After everything was settled we assessed damages.  Both Bryce and I were totally unscathed.  Well, comparatively at least.  I had a few small spots on my hand and Bryce found a piece of glass IN HIS NOSE!!!!!

New Years Eve

Was spent at a dive bar in Twin Falls, ID.

Throughout the night we met a couple characters.  My favorite one was a guy who moved down from Alaska.  Apparently at some point he had gotten a DUI up in Alaska and even though he was apparently carrying a bunch of weed and cocaine, he only got charged for the DUI.  He went on to tell me that he LOVED a fire crotch.

My second favorite guy of the night was our hotel desk clerk.  He found out we were from California and got excited and started telling us about his celebrity encounters.  His prized possession: an autograph and a photo with a Burt Reynolds look-a-like that lives in Twin Falls.

Roadtripping and re-gifting

View Larger Map

This is the plan for Wednesday - Sunday. It's approximately 2,800 miles and 2 complete days of driving under regular conditions. I'm completely stoked! It looks like it'll be snowing in Yellowstone most of the time we'll be going through it, but I've got chains and we're packing very, VERY warm. I'll also be crossing off 4 more states and finally having the West completed!

RE-GIFTING IS GRANDMA'S FAVORITE

A few years back Gma had come and done Christmas with us. We were all opening our gifts and when my turn came up I chose the gift from Gma. For whatever reason, the item I was opening up seemed familiar. Jeannie Mae looked over at what I'd unwrapped.

"Hey!!! Mom?!?! Isn't that the gift Den & I got you last year?!" Jeannie Mae exclaimed.

"Oohh...I don't know. Maybe. I give her now." Grandma says and points to me.

"You can't just do that."

"Oh. Why not? I no use it. I don't really like it anyway."

(Gma rules)

The pitter patter of little feet

I slept at my folk's place Christmas Eve so I could re-live my childhood (and by childhood I mean until I was 18) and wake my parents up at 5am on Christmas morning so I could open my gifts.  My dad and I even joke about it for a while and he said he couldn't wait until morning to hear the pitter patter of my feet coming down the hall to wake him up.

As usual, I didn't get back to their house until about 4am and didn't fall asleep until about 4:30 so around 8am I was the one who was woken up by the pitter patter of feet coming in to wake me up so we could open presents! 

I made out like a bandit this year and to top things off, I'm pretty sure I've got a solid plan for a 5 day roadtrip this coming week.  STOKED.

Also...my dad's "no beer for a year" plan ends January 4th.  He's under the assumption he'll be trashed in 2 beers.  January 4th, who wants to come with me to find out?!

Roadtrip

I think it's time again.  I have December 29th through January 3rd off and don't want to be in the state.  I don't know where I really I want to go, I just know it's not in California!!!  Perhaps it'll be a destination that'll be unknown until December 29th.  I HOPE that's how it turns out...those are my favorite.
6 days off...what to do with 6 days off.  Something spectacular, hopefully.

I want to go and find places with things like these:

And this:

I also want to take more pictures of people taking pictures.

LIke a good ol' fashioned nightmare

Or not. The day was amazing to say the least! I got my hair cut (which always makes me extremely happy), got to hang out with good friends and was out of the house for 7+ hours! My leg wasn't thrilled with me, but it didn't hate me either. I think that means I might be heading home soon, much to Brandon's dismay. He's bummed because that means he won't have the house to himself anymore; to me it just seems like now he'll know how Alissa and I feel on a regular basis.

The only thing I really had planned for the day was to get my hair cut and since I can't drive myself, I asked Brandon to pick me up and take me. He said he would and that he had a couple houses to take pictures of for work and it wouldn't take too long so I told him I'd go with him. I figured he wouldn't mind the company and I could use some sun. So we went and took pictures of 3 houses and we called Scotty. We ended up staying and talking to Scotty for an hour or so why everyone poked and touched my super sweet knee scar. Brandon ended up getting 3 more houses to take pictures of while we were at Scotty's, so we all got back in the car and took a mini road trip around Roseville. It was rumored that Kip and Melissa were headed back to Sacramento to work on the house, so we got in touch with them and ended up getting dinner and hanging out at Teriyaki Bowl for a bit. I didn't get back to the house until just after 8 and Brandon went on to tell my mom that I hijacked him. My mom laughed. How is it that a handi who can't even close her own car door, let alone drive the car hijacked him and forced him to have fun with his friends? I know how: I'm THAT good.

Knee's being bothersome, hopefully I won't need meds to sleep, I haven't had any for 3 days and counting. Oh yeah...and I saw my main man, Nigel. He's looking sexy. Dusty, but sexy.

Travel.

Holy hell. I'm pretty jazzed. Jody bought our tickets to New York today. That means I'm going back to the east coast for a couple days. That means one more state gets crossed off the list!!! Errr...rather one more state turns red. I've got tons of travel plans coming up and hopefully they'll all actually happen. Here's the breakdown:

Late August:
Rochester, NY - Niagra Falls!!!!!!

Early September:
AZ - Grand Canyon!!
San Diego, CA
Oceanside, CA
Santa Barbara, CA

Late October/Early November:
Manhattan, NY
New London, CT
Philadelphia, PA


I know for sure the Rochester trip is happening (we've got plane tickets!) and I have my fingers crossed real tight for the Grand Canyon. It's gonna be amazing. Super ultra mega roadtrip 2k8 roomie style.