Jen and Michelle's Wild Cross Country Trip- Day One

What would possess two ladies to stuff a jeep to the brim and drive literally across the country? Here's the backstory: Michelle (single and living in California) goes to visit her college friend Merissa in South Carolina last summer. Merissa sets her up on a date with youth minister named John. Michelle comes home. John emails Michelle. A friendship is formed. John and Michelle start talking on the phone. John comes to visit in January, fireworks go off... In February or March, Michelle sits me down in a crowded Chili's and breaks up with me.. just kidding, she tells me that she's in love, so is he, she's moving to SC this summer. April- Michelle get s job in SC teaching at a great school, June- John surprises her with a visit and proposes marriage; she accepts. July- we move Michelle to S.C. (I'm sure I am going to get in trouble for that rendition, but this is my blog, so I can tell it how I see it). I agreed to drive with Michelle to South Carolina and have one last wild adventure. Here's what happened:

Day One: The day started early, at 4AM. Michelle showed up at my house around 5:30AM after a tearful goodbye with the family, of which I refused to be a part of- someone had to be able to see to drive. After a quick stop at Starbucks, we were on the road! We knew that this would be the longest, most boring day of the whole trip. We planned it that way. Get the worst over with, and then we could enjoy the rest. We stopped in Kingman, AZ for lunch at In-N-Out, the last one along the way. Let me say that every time I stop in Kingman, there are weird people there. I think it's the desert heat that messes them up, anyway today was no different. Things were going good until after Flagstaff, AZ. My part to drive. Can I just say the drive from Flagstaff to Albuquerque is the longest drive ever! It's around 4 hours, but it's at that part in the trip where you've been sitting just a little too long and don't k now if you'll make it. I was tired, hungry, had to use the restroom, and borderline delusional! Thanks to Pat Benatar's greatest hits (and sweethearts), we were able to make it into Albuquerque, NM.

We were starving when we arrived in Albuquerque. After seeing many enticing Cracker Barrel signs along the way, we decided nothing else would do. So, after driving around for 30 minutes, calling information, and using the GPS, we finally found Cracker Barrel. Here's a picture of us at Cracker Barrel. Mind you, we'd been up for 14 hours at this point.

After fueling up on yummy breakfast food ( I think my body still felt like it should be morning), we had the energy to make it to Santa Rosa, NM. We pulled into the La Quinta around 10:30PM NM time and we crashed for a few hours- had to be up at 6AM to have another long day of driving.
Day One Summary:

Miles driven: 928.94 miles (not counting the backtracking we did in Albuquerque searching for Cracker Barrel)

Hours it SHOULD HAVE TAKEN: 13 hours and 21 minutes

Hours it actually took us: 16 hours!