Big update since it has been TOO long since I blogged. I am moving back to Illinois to start my first job as an Acute Neuro RN at OSF St. Francis in Peoria. WOOHOO!!!! After months and months of applying and heartache the Lord opened the right door. Leaving Portland and my roomie, Kristy, was quite hard and emotional but I’m glad to say I survived! I ended being in Illinois for about 5-6wks and now driving out with my mom.
Day 1 Oct 13- Departed Suisun City approximately 9:15am after a rough time saying bye to my Bug, Alanna. She is growing up too fast and not knowing the next time I’ll be in California makes it even harder. But these goodbyes are nothing new since I’m going back to the place where the goodbyes began… Illinois. 2,000 miles + plus 2 blondes= equals an interesting trip to say the least. My mom started the drive and I’m regretting that decision since she had the drive through the Sierra’s and the road was narrow, her eyes don’t help, and she had had a chai tea latte… dangerous combo that left me on edge. We survived though and I coached her through it. Haha. We stopped in Reno, NV for lunch where we stumbled upon “Burger Me” a cute and delicious restaurant. It was on Drive-in’s, Diners, and Dives… we split a Lamb burger and a Dirty burger (chicken) and sweet potatoes fries. The restroom had the prettiest wood bench and mirror… and yes I took a picture.
We hopped back on the road and ended up in Wendover, UT for the night… in which we almost ran out of gas and I freaked out the whole time. That was aBIG mistake as my dad has drilled into my brain ever since I started driving to ALWAYS gas up. But my mom and I were having a great time just chatting and seemed to miss all the stops until we hit a long stretch of absolutely nothing!! Oopsy! We made it though and figured out that we had 3 gallons of gas left. Didn’t share the news though as I’m sure it would stress my padre out even more than he already is knowing his wife and daughter are driving cross-country… for the first time w/o him.
Coffee stops are a must and with mom everything has been hilarious…
Day 2 Oct 14- Short drive day as we only drove 110miles to Sandy, UT to stay the day/ night with mom’s childhood friend, Cassie. So we had the morning to sleep in and then went for a walk down the strip in Wendover (which is half Nevada and half Utah). Once we went back to the hotel and got ready we packed up and searched for coffee. Starbucks was in site and in the casino on the Nevada side… quite busy too for a morning.
We had such a great time with The Hill family and enjoyed catching up with each of them. Cassie is a coach for her youngest son, Sawyer, soccer team. So we tagged along and watched… first off the view is to die for, absolutely stunning and second the games were fun to watch as some get pretty intense in the game. Sawyer scored a few and was a great player in which we cheered for him and probably made a scene.
I completely forgot to take pictures of all of us together and beating myself up about it! All in all it was a nice stop and restful night to hit a long car day for Saturday.
Day 3 Oct 15- Said goodbye to our friends and hit the road! Lots of driving and a few stops here and there to break it up. We are currently stopped for the night in Ogallala, Nebraska. Definitely hit “country” land today especially in Cheyenne! Country music playing at every gas station and cowboy boots everywhere you look.
