day 4 (and 5)??

It's been a long couple of days.

Yesterday, we went to see the St. Louis Arch and then left Missouri, excited at the prospect of coming back someday and exploring St. Louis quite a bit more than we were able to on this trip. We drove through Indiana and Illinois, and then stopped in Louisville, KY for...as if you didn't know...some lunch at Spaghetti Factory. It was by far the biggest (and probably nicest) OSF I've ever been to, though the food wasn't nearly as good and we're used to. It was amusing, though, so have the option of iced tea or sweet tea to go with our meal.

We left Louisville and traveled through West Virgina, which took FOREVER; Virginia, which was full of fog and rain; and finally entered North Carolina at around 2 am. We drove down to Spring Lake, which is right outside the base, and crashed at an icky, smoky hotel. Don't stay in Spring Lake if ever you come through here! (Well...if you do come you should stay with us anyway, but you get the picture.)

So after two hours of sleep, we got up this morning and met with a realtor. We were able to look at a few houses and neighborhoods and have pretty much decided on Sanford as our town of choice. Then we recouped at Waffle House (which, I have to say, is just as yummy as I remember it being years and years ago! It was the only thing I really missed about leaving the south as a kid...and Ben loved it too, so I'm pretty sure we'll make it a weekly weekend-breakfast habit) and then it was off to the airport so Ben could fly home in order to finish his last two weeks of work and packing up of the house.

I was able to check in at the base lodge at Fort Bragg (MUCH better than the lame hotel from last night) and am about to eat dinner and then crash for the night.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Pictures from the trip, and from around NC, will be coming shortly!

day 1

Well, we arrived in Elko late last night. We had planned to get at least to Salt Lake City, but circumstances just didn't allow it. We got a late start, since Ben had to work, and then had a late lunch with family in Reno and dinner with a friend in Winnemucca. Then there was a TON of construction the whole way. By the time we got to Elko, we were exhausted from the long days we've had so far this week.

After an hour of searching (We finally drove to a Starbucks parking lot and used their wi-fi instead of driving around too much longer) we found a decent motel we could afford. I'm not sure why Elko has so many expensive hotels. Even the Rodeway Inn was around 80 bucks. Ben hypothesized that since it's the last major stopping point on the way to Salk Lake, but also going North to Boise, it must get a lot of
cross travel.

We finally found the Budget Inn, which was only $49 a night, and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a pretty nice room with a comfy bed AND air conditioning (We haven't had much luck in that area lately...)

So, after a not-so-long sleep, we're about to head back out onto the road. We're hoping to make it as far (if not a bit further than)Denver tonight.

Pictures to come soon!