I made it!

I have arrived in Cali and boy is it good.

After spending almost a week on the road I am actually tired of driving. I usually love driving, it's something that's never bothered me. Heck, I spent 4 months on the road by myself last year and loved it. This time it all felt different to me and the road was a little more lonely and a lot less entertaining. I found myself stopping numerous times when I didn't really need to, just to get out of my car and see other people.

When I left Knoxville TN I was headed to Memphis where I met up with my first couchsurfing host of my trip. We met at a mexican restaurant (El Torro Loco) and had a good dinner. My host was Amy, she lived with her boyfriend Daniel. They were.....an interesting couple. After dinner we just headed back to their place and they did work on their computers while I messed around on mine.

My 3rd stop on the trip was Oklahoma City, OK. I stayed with a girl name Maegan and had a wonderful time. I met her at a place called Cafe Nova where they were having free beer happy hour. Essentially you buy a 5 dollar appetizer and then get free beer from 4-7. Pretty good deal. We hung out for 4 hours talking and drinking. I felt like she was a friend I had known for a while. One of those sad times where I wonder if I will ever see this person again. It was a great time though. We ordered dessert, she got a chocolate layer cake (which would normally be my choice) I ventured out of my box and tried the Cafe Latte gelato. It was amazing! We shared desserts and then headed to her apartment. We talked for a little longer but then headed to bed since she had to get up early for work and I was exhausted from driving.

I then headed to Albuquerque, NM where I met my 3rd couchsurfing host, Emily and her roommate Dustin. I arrived at their house and they invited me to dinner. We walked down to a restaurant and I got a delicious breakfast burrito, yum. We talked during dinner but when we got back to their place they both had work to do. When I was in Oklahoma City Maegan was telling me about a Balloon Fiesta she was going to later in the week that was in Albuquerque and said I should check it out. I talked to Emily and found out it was super close to her house so I decided to get up at 5am and go check it out. It was definitely worth it. Such a super cool experience. Hundreds of hot air balloons all flying at the same time.

My last stop before CA was Laughlin, NV. I stayed in a casino/resort which, if you know me, is pretty ironic haha. I am so tight with my money and I am always trying to save whenever possible. My plan was to just got down to the bar and have a drink, not play any games. Well, since they have the touch screen poker games on the bar...I gave in. I lost what I put in but atleast I didn't put a whole bunch in haha. Plus the free Jim Beam while I played kind of made it worth it :)

I left Laughlin around 10 am and headed to Los Angeles. I was planning to meet up with a new friend, new friends and new adventures in cities I haven't been to are always good. I met up with him at his house and we got in his car trying to figure out what to do. He took us down to the beach and we walked and talked for a while then decided to go have a drink at a bar he likes. The beer turned into a little bar hop adventure where we had one beer and then moved on to another cool dive bar. Lots of talking and laughing, great welcome into California. Yay for having one new friend in this big new place! Haha.

Now, I am at Kim's house with the girls. I am so thankful for her and what she is doing for me. I love her and the girls so much and feel so at home here with them. I will say Gracie and CR make me miss my girlies. Me and Gracie had a hula hoop competition yesterday when I arrived. Kim made an awesome hula hoop out of clothes hangers for CR since she didn't have one haha. She wasn't so into it. Today I got to hang out with the girls while Kim went grocery shopping and ran some errands. We made some cookies and played outside. I'm so happy to be here. I miss my family and friends so much but I know I am going to make new friends here and have amazing new adventures.