On the road again....

As I pull off from the house I grew up in. The house with so many memories, so many good times, I can't help but start crying again. All I can see in my rear view is my mom and my niece running after my car waving and yelling "I love you!". So by myself, seconds from my house, I can turn around or I can keep going and chase my dreams. As soon as my tears begin to fall my GPS begins to talk and I start to laugh hysterically, while crying. My mom updated my GPS for me before my trip. Every time she uses hers she turns the volume up all the way and it scares be every time it talks, when I use mine, the volume is off. So I am making my first turn, wondering how I will make it to California by myself, (leaving my entire family on the other side of the country), and here comes the GPS, full blast, with my directions coming to me from a man speaking Spanish. Good one momma, you got me :)

Things were easier after that, I let the man speak Spanish until I stopped in Kinston for a drink and some gummy worms. After about 2 hours of driving I began to feel exhausted. My family came to see me off the night before, so we were up until 3:30 a.m talking and laughing. Waking up at 7:30am when my uncle came by to say goodbye, I felt excited. Now, driving down the interstate by myself I can't help but feel my eyes start to close. I stop in Greensboro to take a quick nap. My nap fails (I've always been bad at napping) so I decide to call my best friend, Emily, to wake me up. Before I can even let the phone finish ringing I start crying! So, I quickly hang up, thinking, "what's my problem?!". She calls back of course and I answer the phone, unable to speak, just randomly taking a loud, squeaky breath through my sobs. She calms be down. Reassures me that I am doing this for good reasons, I am going to get to Cali and be so happy. All I can say is how hard it is to leave my entire family behind, my best friend, how am I going to do it?! She tells me how strong I am. How it's a huge change and it's going to be hard but incredibly worth it. By the end of the convo I am laughing again, until we start to hang up and she says "Call me, for anything" I say alright Emily, don't make me cry again! What would I do without her? Probably still be in Greensboro crying by myself in my car while people walk by staring. Haha. I think this is all made a bit easier knowing I am going to be staying with such an amazing family friend and her two girls. I won't be all by myself anymore when I finally get to where I am going...

But here I am, in my Knoxville hotel. Getting ready to shower and see what Knoxville has to offer, before I head out to Memphis, where I will meet up with my first couchsurfing host of my trip. Here I come Cali, I hope you're ready!