I've had the time of my life

Today we woke up around 10:30 am, to the sounds of beautiful singing..."Good morning to you, good morning to you!"  : )  Upon awaking, we were given donuts, and fresh coffee for breakfast.  We then got dressed and headed into town.

Blacksburg was beautiful, and we enjoyed being shown the favorite little shops, and restaurants.  We went to the farmers market which was nice, and then enjoyed some old bookstores, and thrift shops.  After enjoying some time in town, we went home to have some lunch.  While we were eating lunch, Aunt Wendy casually mentioned that Dirty Dancing had been filmed not too far away, and that after we were done eating we would head over there....my reaction was....loud. : )

So, we made our way up the winding road toward Mountain Lake Resort.  I was so giggly and happy!  We walked around all the different places that were in the movie, and even found a juke box where we, of course, played the classic Dirty Dancing songs.  Adam filmed Aunt Wendy and I dancing, so, don't worry. We even got to go down to the infamous lake, and then on our way back up to the car, Adam and I decided to play a round of tether ball, which didn't last long because the string broke.  As we were trying to fix it, we both heard, "SPLASH!"....I said, "huh...did your Aunt Wendy just jump in the pool?"
Adam replied, "Kinda sounded like that, huh?"
We ran over to the pool, and sure enough, in all her clothes, was Aunt Wendy, just swimmin around.  I couldn't resist either, and so I jumped in.  It was so much fun!

After we left the resort, we went home, and after getting changed, Adam and I headed over to the Holiday Inn where Amanda works.  We enjoyed some live music, watching old people boogie, and frozen yogurt!  It was so awesome.  We stayed for a while chit-chatting with Amanda, and then headed home to a pretty quiet house.  So we just enjoyed relaxing, and air conditioning...again, awesome.  Later we watched some TV, and the movie, Source Code, which is very good.

Now, we are headed to bed, enjoying the cool air, and beautiful house.  We feel so very grateful to everybody that has allowed us to enjoy their company, as well as their homes...so thank you everyone!

Good Night!

Sierra

Aunt Wendy pointing at Amanda in the pictures that are everywhere.

Sorry about not posting.

Yesterday we woke up and said good bye to Debbie. Next we stumbled upon a waffle house, yet another establishment Sierra has never visited. After that we hit the road....

8 boring hours later we were at the Galvin residence greeted with smiling faces, happy dogs, and gift baskets in our bedrooms tailored to our specific interests. For instance my basket had, among other things: Chapstick, Excedrine, germ-x, a photography magazine, and a foam sword....my aunt knows me too well. :)

For the next few hours we just hung around the nice air conditioned house and enjoyed their company. Amanda brought us to the campus of Virginia Tech and showed us around some of it. Too much walking to see all of it. Among the highlights were beautiful buildings, huge grass lawns, chapels, bowling alleys...you get the picture.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. We plan to leave here Saturday Evening or Sunday morning which should put us on schedule for arrival in Maine on the 3rd. Crazy.

-Adam

Life at the Galvin Residence

Annma!

Today we woke up in comfy beds, an air conditioned house, and well rested.  I woke up around 11...which was amazing, and then we spent the morning reorganizing, and just relaxing while Debbie was at work.  She was so sweet, and got off early, so when she got home, she took us to the "Lost River Cave"...which they have dances in, so start saving because I think we need to all go to Bowling Green and rent that out for just a party...honestly, so beautiful.  It was a short, gorgeous hike down to the cave with massive hanging vines, and big trees....oh my word.  I told Debbie that Bowling Green was my green gables, and that someday I will live here, and I'm serious.  Bowling Green is Mayberry...hanging vines, and trees...rivers, and sweet tea...ahhhh I love it here.  So anyways, the hike was beautiful, short and fun!  Then out of nowhere, there is a massive cave!  There is an underground river, and a dance floor, and a stage...yes, a stage.  Like I said, start saving!

After, we went to a frozen yogurt place, which is my favorite, and then we went back home and enjoyed each others company.   Debbie is so much fun!  We discovered that her grand kids call her "Annma", so we adopted the name as well. : )  A little while later, we met up with Heather, Kailen, and Elijah for dinner at a wonderful mexican restaurant.  I can't remember the name of it, but it was delish!  We then said our goodbyes to Kailen, heather, and Elijah, and went around Bowling Green with "Annma" for a bit longer.

Debbie showed us the, "top-of-the-hill', which is Western Kentucky University.  We walked around for a while chit-chatting just like old friends.  Enjoying the summer evening cool breeze, and the sunset over the campus.  We then drove over to the Corvette museum, because, did you know? Bowling Green is the Corvette Capital of the World!  Crazy!!!  It was very cool.  After, we drove home and spent the evening looking at pictures, talking about the past, present, and future, getting teary-eyed about leaving Bowling Green and Debbie, and simply enjoying our last night together.  We laughed a lot, and tried out southern accents..well I did. : )  Then we said good night knowing that tomorrow morning will be very biter-sweet...

Coming to Bowling Green has been amazing.  We know that the trip has been more that anyone could ever dream of, and the extra bonuses of meeting people, and being able to enjoy their company was crazy...This whole thing has been one big blessing of fun, and adventure.  We are excited to be home, but sad to be away from the road...so many bitter-sweet moments these last few weeks.

Good Night!

-Sierra  

Debbies

Tired, so sorry about the sloppy writing.

We arrived at Debbie's today around 11ish. We received a very warm welcome from her, her son Kailen, his wife Heather, and their little boy (almost 1) Elijah. Immediately we could tell they were just very nice down to earth people just like Debbie. We were ushered into the kitchen where a roast, creamed corn, yeast rolls (just like my mom makes), salad, and fresh cookies awaited. We just sat, and ate, and talked. So awesome!

Kailen, Heather and Elijah left for the night but, asked us to come visit them at their place later. After Sierra, Debbie, and I talked for a while longer we all took naps. I took the longest. Debbie's house is so amazingly decorated; it reminds me of my Nana's house so much. The house is also air conditioned...like really well, like so cold...It's awesome. After the naps, we jumped in the car and got a tour of Bowling Green. It is so nice out here, so much to do, so many restaurants...Beautiful little town.

At the end of the tour we went to visit Kailen and Heather at their farmhouse. They had horses, and chickens, and a garden. Their home was also just beautiful. They showed us around, let us pet the horses, and then we just sat on their huge porch in rocking chairs and talked. They seem like such down to earth and genuine people. Could definitely see myself just hanging out with them.

Back at Debbie's we shared stories and talked, ate left overs...which were just as delicious as before, drank ice water and ice cold coke, and watched a movie. Such an amazing day!

We feel so lucky to have met Debbie. What if we didn't go to the Fourth of July at Jackson Hole? What if Sierra didn't go mingle while I was sleeping in the van? What if she chose someone else to sit with instead of Debbie? It's weird, she's one of those people you meet and then immediately can't imagine life without.

Just laying in bed typing this is so nice. The house is so cool (and it is unbelievably hot and muggy outside...like can't even breath), the beds are comfortable, nice hot shower so we are feeling clean. Life is good!

Good Night
-Adam

Drive, drive, drive...

Sorry to say that this post will indeed probably be boring :/

Today we woke up in Oklahoma. It was hot, and humid. The latest with Ms. Frizzle is that the steering wheel is rubbing off onto Adams hands when it gets wet, or the air is moist...it's fine. We drove all day in hot hot hot weather, like having the windows down is having 100 degree air blow onto your already sweaty face...lovely. But good news is that we ate Subway for lunch, thanks to gift cards, and we put a lot of hours behind us. Also we find ourselves getting more into rolling green hills and trees, which is very encouraging, and just nice compared to the desert. James Taylor seems to make the hours go by faster, as we sing to his album, Hourglass, over, and over again.

The sunset is a parade of beautiful oranges and pinks, with a soft blue painting the landscape in that evening glow. It is truly beautiful...We are appreciating every moment lately, as we know it is coming to that bittersweet close. But for now, after a long day of driving, we are buttoned up in TN, tired, and 2 or 3 hours away from Debbie!!!!!! So exciting!

Good Night!

-Sierra

And We Drive

Wish I had more to report on but today was mostly driving…

She has gotten handy with a map.

Today we got on the road about 9, and were planning on a breakfast of coffee for me and water for Sierra. However, as we were driving by a truck stop I said out loud "ooh Denny's". (We do that with just about every restaurant or billboard with food on it, but we usually look at each other, and then sarcastically talk about how it would probably just be disgusting.) Today however, Sierra goes "what's Denny's?"… I was dumbfounded…I'm still not over it…. We obviously had to stop.

After a wonderful, and may I add cheap breakfast, we hit the road again around 10:30. We didn't stop driving until 7 pm. We could have gone longer, but decided to just save it for tomorrow. Still 13 or so hours away from Debbie's.

Before bed we managed to find a lake nearby and take a quick dip, washing ourselves for the first time in days…yes days…4 to be exact. Keep in mind it's been a bit warm driving through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas…Today the temperature in the van was 110 degrees with the windows down on the highway….

It's funny, when we were heading west we talked about how it would feel to head home. The entire trip, home has been in the back of both of our minds; constantly there, but dulled by the amazing adventures we have been having. We always knew that it would be a sort of "mad dash" on the way home, but we insisted that we would stop and "smell the flowers." We discussed how we would stop at antiques shops and random oversized objects like frying pans…but in reality, now that we are actually driving home, it's an unspoken agreement we have to just drive. It's bittersweet, but we are definitely excited to get home; excited to shower in a shower…not a lake or stream, to see our family, including our dogs, and know where we are going to sleep every night. But at the same time, we will miss not knowing where we are going to sleep, talking to homeless people, finding random bodies of water to bathe in, and getting weird looks as we shampoo ourselves. We'll miss the nights of driving, laughing, James Taylor on the radio, beautiful sunsets over unfamiliar landscapes, and the knowledge that we can pick a spot on the map and just go. 

Don't get me wrong, the trips not over yet. We may be driving home, but we still have stops planned, people to see, things to go wrong, and laughs to be had.  

-Adam

This Van's A Rollin'

Good evening everybody!  Today, we have had a pretty laid back day of driving with a few interesting moments.  From where Adam left off last night, we left the scary Indian town and saw on the GPS that there was a rest area right next to the four corners, so we decided to drive 2 more hours to get there.  We kept ourselves awake with music, and the windows rolled down, but by the time we reached the four corners we were beat...lucky for us, there was a gate in front of the four corners monument, and our rest area...yeah, it was aggravating.  However, there was a Walmart 40 minutes away in Cortez Colorado, so that's where we slept.

We woke up this morning still exhausted, and aggravated about our four corners experience.  We plugged Debbie's address into the GPS at Walmart, and then decided to just follow it.  So basically what we did, like I said earlier, was drive all day.  The highlights of our drive were stopping at a gas station to fill up and go through the car wash, when the van decided to roll away...yes the van is a rollin'.  Adam says he forgot to put it in gear while we ran in to use the bathroom.  Lucky for us, a nice employee jumped in and put her foot on the break, thank goodness!  Other than that not a whole lot happened.

We just now finished eating dinner and watching a movie at a rest stop off of Route 40 in New Mexico, and now, since we are still exhausted, we are just going to sleep here.  We have about 1200 miles left before Debbie, and we plan on taking our time getting there, stopping at a few more places here and there, but til tomorrow, good night!

-Sierra