The Drive

After saying the last of my goodbyes, I hit the road, it was around 4:30 PM December 29th. A few minutes into the drive it started to snow, I thought to myself "Another reason to leave". I made it to St. Louis before stopping for the night. The hotel I found was attached to a bar, I was hoping my room would be on the other side. It was.

The next morning, December 30th, I stopped at the gas station to fill the tank and grab some coffee. I began the next leg of the drive which turned out to be longer than anticipated. I started to get tired after Texas; I was on the phone with my friend in Japan (who was moving to San Diego as well) and I asked her how far it was to Phoenix. She told me that it was about 7 hours from where I was. I said, "Phoenix it is." I thought it was a little crazy because it would mean that I would have been driving for 22 hours. She called me every hour to make sure that I was ok. When the sun started to rise I was amazed by the beauty surrounding me, the palm trees, the cacti, the mountain... THE MOUNTAIN!! I was extremely afraid of heights, when I realized I was in the mountains my palms got sweaty and my heart started pounding. I called my friend in Japan to help talk me down. Which she did.

It was 7:30 am December 31st when I arrived, I dialed my Grandfathers number, he answered, I asked him where should I park, he said You are here already? You must have been driving all night. I went inside and we talked for a little while then I went to sleep. I woke up around 1:30 pm and had some coffee and talked some more. We went out to dinner that evening then I got back on the road.

As I crossed the border into California my phone started going crazy with texts of "Happy New Year" It was midnight in Michigan. I thought it was cool that I was in my new state when it became the new year in the one I just left. Now I was hoping that I would make it to San Diego before midnight.