My, How Time Flies

It was exactly one year ago today when Cousin and I planned our infamous road-trip to California with our friend, Nurse. Nurse works for a traveling nursing company and had just gotten in from Hawaii. She came for lunch with Cousin, Sister, Mom, and me just days before she was leaving for San Diego. She was having drama in planning her trip because she needed to get two vehicles all the way across the country. One was her '95 Mustang, which had been sitting under a tree at her parents' house for three years, and the other was her boyfriends 20 year old pick-up truck. Her boyfriend was serving in Iraq at the time, but was scheduled to be home within the next month. His bright idea was for her to rent one of those car-hauler things from U-Haul, and drive his truck while hauling her car. From Alabama to California. I think the desert heat must have gotten to him. That was the worst idea that anyone has ever had in the history of bad ideas. Lucky for Nurse, everyone knew what a horrible idea it was, and I just happened to come up with the best alternative plan.

When she first told us about driving all the way across the country I was so jealous. My favorite professor in college was Mr. Greene, a geography professor. He used to preach to us about how we needed to see the entire country in our lifetime. He was so passionate about how bountifully blessed our country is with its rich diversity of geographical entities, and how those diversities control the culture of each region. There were many times that Cousin and I had discussed making the cross-country drive so that we could see what Mr. Greene had told me about. I told Nurse that I had the vacation time and could be easily convinced to drive one of those vehicles. However, I didn't think I could afford it. She said that the gas money and the hotel rooms were already covered ~ thanks to her company and her boyfriend ~ so all I would need was money for food. We weren't going to have time to do anything "extra" anyhow. Sold! Cousin was not about to let me take "our" road trip without her, so we planned for her to come along as well.

Most of you know the rest of the story. Unfortunately, you'll have to hear it again. Hahaha. And for those that don't know the rest of the story, next week I will write about the adventures we had. I'm sure you will be entertained. I'll also post some of our pictures (even though I look really horrible and fat!!!).