Sanity, you're a madman!

And so, Arthur, we learned that gambling is bad and yet in a certain sense, isn't life itself a gamble? You can never be sure of anything. Like who would have thought that dolphins could go bad and that fish were magnetic? Not me, no sir, not me. -The Tick

Thus begins Part II of our Coast to Coast Journey:

The first day we drove, it was from northern VA to Johnson City, Tennessee. It was an amazingly beautiful drive, and we enjoyed the magnificent colors featured in the late autumn in Virginia and Tennessee. During the drive, the kids were little angels (of course). We didn’t drive super far any of the days during the trip, and the kids and I got plenty of, uh, “quality” time together. Kidding. It was real quality time. They didn’t really get it when I said, “Hey, enjoy this! Next time we do it, one of YOU will be driving!” I think their response was something along the lines of, “Oh mom, we don’t care what you are saying right now.”

We jammed to music, mostly Incubus and Avenged Sevenfold, checked out the scenery, and planned our “State Line Celebration Song” for each time we crossed into a new state (the one we chose can be found HERE). 

When we arrived at hotel #1, we were essentially the only people there. Not much to report for this hotel, and the attached pic says it all. The kids each slept with a parent, and we alternated during the entire trip.

Johnson City

Of note: we learned that Rachel snores like a grown man, and Naomi has full on, legit conversations in her sleep.

Also of note: Naomi is a wild sleeper. I will never forget being asleep the first night during the trip, and feeling her hand go down the back of my shorts. Literally, inside my shorts. I almost had a heart attack.

Church in Clarksville

Day two was a great day. We stayed out on Clarksville, TN, alongside the Cumberland River. It was an awesome college town and we hit up a microbrew and got some great beer and pizza. I did a dusk run with the dog, and then he and I also did an early morning run so we could watch the sunrise over the River. Those were some peaceful moments during what felt like a tornado of life coming right at me!

Sunset

Sunrise

 
Day three was the second best of the entire trip. We stayed at the world famous Peabody Hotel in Little Rock. The experience was SO fun, and included the duck walk in the lobby, delicious food, city parks, the River Market, and more running with the dog.

Great Food

City Park

Mini Grizes take Little Rock

        

And the ducks...

  

It’s a good thing we ended Arkansas on a high note, because next up was OOOOOOklahoma! No offense to Oklahoma, but, WOW. Wow. I didn’t enjoy it there, to put it nicely. We stayed in OK City, with the sole purpose of going to the Memorial while we were in town. The hotel where we stayed had laundry facilities, so I was able to catch up on that. There would be no epic runs with my dog, however. When I walked outside, there was a real tumbleweed on my car. Oklahoma lived up to its reputation! (Why do people live there? No one has been able to explain this to me)

Breathtaking memorial

Outside where the Alfred P. Murrah building once stood

The Children's Memorial

  We had found our road stride and were enjoying talking to people from all over the world. There is an almost instant bond between people who are driving coast to coast. It’s pretty righteous. 

JJ Dynamite and I had perfected the fine art of driving in tandem and dividing up who bought the meals and who bought the booze, which are both critical for any road trip. Thanks to modern technology, kids aren’t nearly as annoying on road trips these days, as compared to the 1980s. Now, they have movies and Nintendo DS, and ipods. I spaced out their car activities with pretty impressive pacing, and was even able to listen to my own educational podcasts while they played video games. There were very few “mommy is about to throw your sorry ass out of the car” moments. 

This is how he recovers from runs

And my dog was made for road trips. That dog didn’t do anything unless I was taking him running. He slept in his bed in the front seat of JJ’s car every single day, for 8 days, and didn’t make a peep. We even realized that we could go into restaurants and eat, leaving him in the car, and he would just wait patiently in the driver’s seat until we returned.

Typical Lincoln

Next up, the absolute highlight of the trip: Tucumcari, New Mexico.