You're A Long Way From Home...

One thing I have noticed during the trip is that a lot of people will comment on our Jeep tag.  The conversation normally begins with "You're a long way from home..." and is usually followed by "How are you enjoying it here?"  or "How was the drive" or the occasional "You can drive from Alaska to here?!" (thanks to some maps, people think Alaska is an island...)  John and I love sharing our experiences in Alaska!  The funny thing about being a "long way from home" is that home really is wherever the Air Force sends us.  So right now "home" is a hotel room :)

During this trip, I've learned that traveling with pets is a lot like traveling with kids. Sometimes you are lucky and you have  a kid who knows to go to the bathroom when you stop, eat when they are told, and are generally laid back and can entertain themselves (in our case Begley).  Other times you end up with a whiny little brat who isn't happy with their food or the fact that they are having to breathe the same air as a sibling (in our case Hannah). Let's just say Hannah was lucky I didn't drill holes in the car topper and stick her up there today.

Hannah wasn't terrible... but we really did have a long day and her meowing didn't always help the situation.  (I really need to bring those kitty drugs to the front of the jeep tomorrow.)  We left Arkansas by 9 AM, loaded the jeep and hit the road!  Arkansas and Oklahoma were pretty uneventful. 

Texas started out nice...

It went from gorgeous to nasty in no time!  Well... the Texas version of no time, because Texas is huge.

The wind was absolutely awful!  We were already driving 5-10 mph under the speed limit in order to save on some gas, but the high winds we had killed our gas mileage. The wind had the trailer swaying.  With us fighting against the wind, we ended up with more stops for gas.  I would say the perk of such a long day was getting to enjoy our turkey salad twice!  We didn't intend to end up with such a large container of turkey salad, but if you have ever visited Four Winds in Pensacola, FL- you know the owner can talk you into anything.  :)

I ended up doing a lot of work from my phone today.  Working remotely on an iphone is not easy... especially when this much of your "desktop" is displayed.  It took a while to get things done, but projects were accomplished!  (I'm also thinking an ipad for Christmas will save me some future headaches)

 The wind storm finally let up around 8 PM and we still had a ways to go.  Funny thing about New Mexico... cell phone signals and gas stations are hard to come by.  We were just a tad bit paranoid about running out of gas!  After our last stop for gas, I was fighting to keep my eyes open and we still had another hour drive.

New Mexico sun set

We are checked into a hotel for the night (somewhere past Albuquerque).  Hannah just about had a heart attack when we took Begley outside for a walk.  I could hear her meowing down the hallway when we came back.  How we ended up with two pets who suffer from separation anxiety, I will never know...

750 exhausting miles today.  Thankfully, because we drove an extra hour tonight- it will (hopefully) be one less hour of driving tomorrow!