Monroe, CT- First time around the country- complete!

Sooooo.... Guess who's back in town!

This guy!!!

Wellllllll.... we drove from the sunny shores of Virginia to Monroe, CT today. And, although I'd normally comment on the beauty of the open road, let's face it... most of us have ridden 95 from Virginia to CT. Instead, get ready for a behind the wheel tour of our travel mobile, affectionately called "The Pup" during the trip!

The drivers pit/where our ONLY fast food wrapper of the trip is lying by my feet! Ew!

The passenger seat: mostly my position during the trip. Where I'd gracefully juggle the camera, GPS, I-pod, map and any snack Lucas or I desired.

The space behind me.... a little yicky. (But, that bug spray really helped out in Yellowstone)

Ooooo my precious atlas, how I love thee.... and the snack bin! Yum! (Well... kinda yum, and kinda... I'm so sick of raisins and cereal bars!)

Ok ok, I was excited about the 95 sign reading "New Haven"... but it's not my best shot of the trip.

Oh and here's the back seat. Luggage galore!

The navigator and .... the Wilson to our "Castaway". The GPS with a British voice that I named Deb.


Gotta have a little Indy!

Anndd.... here are a few funny facts about our venture:

1. Every time we turned on the TV in a hotel room, "Mrs. Doubtfire" was on. Seriously, we caught it FOUR times! "Duuuude looks like a laaa dah!"
2. Even though we pricelined every hotel, we only had to kill ONE cockroach!
3. Everytime Lucas got a little cranky, I made up a song. The following are the titles of said songs:
"From the Ocean (You're a Wave)"**
"Oh, Little Piece of Soap"**
"Sleep It"** (this one is really an imaginative cover of Michael Jackson's "Beat It..." guess how it goes)
4. Though we managed to lose surprisingly few things on our journey, the following few are scattered across America
1. My Mexican sandals. :(
2. A tiny, but crucial spring from our GPS car charger.... sorry Mom and Dad
3. And our tasty teas from San Francisco
5. During our 36 day tour of states we spent, 21 days in hotels, 11 days with friends and family and 4 nights camping. Thanks guys!! :)
6. OH! And in case you were wondering, the title of our blog is from a Cake song, "Stick Shifts and Safety Belts" check it out if you want!

Wellll, I guess that sums it up, but as an end note Lucas and I were wondering how many of you out there in cyberland actually read our blog. You don't haaave to, but we'd love it if you just dropped your name! (If not, I guess you're one of our many stalkers... and that's ok... I've been there :-P) We'll be back here in a few weeks just to give everyone our info when we move to Manhattan on the 28th! Thanks for your time, adventure fans!!

Signing off... :(

**recordings will be available upon demand

And then... there was one day left.

One day, indeed. I can't even believe it!! Can you?

So we said goodbye to G'ma and G'pa, and headed for the beach!

The beach!!

THE BEACH!!!

Think about it... two oceans, one trip. Wow.

This is a little fire throwing man we saw on the boardwalk.

Rule #1 of Virginia Beach: Be nice.

Rule #2: Eat at the Seaside Raw Bar, and have a little combo deal they like to call The Sooper Dooper:

They start you off with a delicious bowl of clam chowder...

Followed quickly by a plate of steamed veggies (with hollandaise sauce for good measure...)

Ending up with this delightful platter. (underneath the crab legs and lobster there's like a half a pound of boiled shrimp, too!)

A happy seafood fan.

An even happier one!! (notice in this picture we are done with our feast)

And so, our road trip does not quietly fade away but ends with a terrific bang: a beach day and a seafood extravaganza! Tomorrow, back to CT... See you soon, adventure fans!

Nashville to Richmond... a whole lotta Walkers.

As our trip runs out its last week, it seems like hardcore adventure is petering out and giving way to comfortable and pleasant stays with various members of my family, but we still had a couple of things to see before we hit our final road.

First we landed in Nashville, where we enjoyed delicious home cookin' by Matt and Zen, and a little walk around the three blocks of Broadway which are famous to country music fans everywhere.

Country music hall of fame (which we did not visit).


Churches (did not visit).


The Batman building (did not visit).

Music shops, bars, and BBQ joints (did visit!!)


Nashville Symphony Hall? Oh yeah, that's where my uncle works. :P

We also encountered this little character whenever we tried to sit quietly in the house for more than a couple of minutes... he'd come and try to reclaim his territory.

Here's the fierce jungle cat defending his perch...


Ratface? No, my name's Coconut.

After fighting off fierce jungle animals and saying goodbye and thanks to Matt and Nashville, we struck out for Richmond. Today Uncle Tim wanted to do something special as a wedding present, a tour of Richmond's historical points of interest.

But why did the tour involve helmets? Oh, it must be because we took it by...

Segway!! These things are totally fun to ride.


This is during our practice time... we got there like 20 minutes early and spent the time messing around in front of the visitor center figuring out how to ride well. Here's some other stuff we saw on the tour:

A tired lady :P

The only place in the world where three train tracks cross on top of one another!

Finally we returned, all Segway'd out, to the visitor center.
Tim bought us some beers and nachos and then we headed back to Midlothian to get ready to leave for Virginia Beach tomorrow, which will be our last stop before home. Just think adventure fans... only one or two more of these, and THEN what will you do with your internet??

PS. Another thing we did was look around the photos at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Lookin' snazzy Dad. How come you never rock the bow tie anymore? I think you could still make it work :P

The King

So today we saw............. "The King".

Lucas= a hunka hunka burning love

I= someone who cannot master the Elvis lip sneer.

What do you think? Is the second try better?

Ok ok, if you haven't caught on...today (before we drove out to Nashville) we headed to Graceland to see Elvis's Mansion.

Here's our first view.

Anyone care for dinner with the Presleys?

Ok, this is the downstairs, but... I have to wonder what's with the monkey?

Here's some quintessential Elvis garb!

And, did I forget to mention, Elvis has many gold records....
and by many, I mean TONS!
TONS!!!!!

R.I.P. King of Rock and Roll :(

Overall, after our tour of Graceland, I realized that on top of being one of the most famous individuals of his time, Elvis was a very generous musician although his 70s themed home is a tiny bit garish. (and by "tiny" I mean, WHOA!!! shag carpet on the ceilings!!)

Now, after a short (read three to four hours- we've been in the car a lot) drive, Lucas and I enjoyed a lovely dinner outside with his Uncle Matt and Aunt Zen. Tomorrow we will be spending the day soaking up Nashville, but until then, we need some rest. Lata, Adventure fans!