Pre-Trip JittersI changed my mind about taking this trip eight times before I left. I wasn't really worried about the drive itself, but doing it alone. I wasn't worried about falling asleep because RedBull would take care of that. I wasn't worried about getting into an accident because God's wings of protection would take care of that. But what if I wanted to take a picture, who would take it. What if I wanted someone to talk to who would talk to me. What if I wanted to share this moment with someone, who would I share this moment with. And then I realized, I WOULD! Someone said to me the days are long past when people would drive across country. And I argue, we need to get back to those days. So, I fought my fears and hit the road. The excitement that everyone else felt for me, gave me the courage. The people who love me most knew better than I that this was a journey that I needed to take, and I realized that God must have wanted me to take it alone. I figured, while I might not understand it now, I would probably figure it out along the way.
To my surprise - Day 1The first leg of the trip was meant to surprise my brother, nieces, sister, and father but to my surprise a reality would strike. It had been almost 4 years since I had seen my father. Forgetting that the last time I visited Cedar Rapids he was in jail, made the stop that much more important. The surprise to them was as I wanted it to be. My father unknowingly gives me the address, but the wrong one. So when I get to Cedar Rapids the GPS found SE and not the SW directions that he had given. So when I pulled up to the house I thought was my sister's I called him again to make sure I was in the right place. As I am talking to him on the phone, I walked up to the door to knock. My father still talking to me on the phone, and my brother answers the door. My father still talking to me on the phone with his back to the door, finally realizes that I am standing behind him. He drops the phone and tackles me. It was very fun. I awoke my sleeping, VERY pregnant sister, much to her surprise. I fussed at my niece for being on Facebook and not spending time with her auntie. Realized that it was getting late and retired to my brothers room to rest up for the 11 hour drive the next morning to Denver, Colorado. The second rest stop on my West Coast Tour.
Albino Cows - Day 2I wonder if albino cows get talked about by the other cows like albino people do. This was a thought that ran through my mind during the first day of my trip from the Midwest to the West Coast. When I saw the albino cows while I drove through Nebraska about to cross over into Colorado, my first thought was "Is that a white cow?" This thought, amongst other thoughts, crafted my day with how many things that I had seen that day that defined for me why I decided to take this trip in the first place. As I continued on my journey the outside world became more clear to me. As I drove from Illinois to Iowa threw Nebraska to Colorado the landscape changed so vastly. My original plan was to stop overnight in Denver but I realized that I would still have three hours of daylight and I wanted to keep pushing forward. Thanks to my old fashioned hand held Atlas and my IPad, I found the next big city Grand Junction, CO. While I realized that I would be driving in the dark for my last two hours, I didn't consider that it would be through the mountains. The good thing was, I was so scared that I didn't even have time to think about the fact that I had been driving for 14 hours already. What did I see on my drive that I had never seen before...Cattle ranch, Ski resort, white cows, and mountains so high that I almost couldn't see the sky above me. But I made it to Grand Junction save and sound. I arrived at my hotel, and checked in. There was a motorcycle convention who stopped at my hotel along the way, so I encountered a bunch of biker men driving beer outside the hotel. So, I got to me room, dead bolted the lock, slid on the chain, and logged a chair underneath the door knob. I guess I watch too many Crime shows. If someone was gonna get me, they were gonna have to fight to get into my room.
Can't Stop Won't Stop - Day 3I was ahead of schedule getting to Las Vegas, so I decided to try and take a rafting tour down the Colorado River. So, I woke early to see if I can get a reservation. I checked out of the hotel and headed toward the nearest guide location. When I arrived unfortunately they could not take me because they needed at least two people to do a tour. So, I decided to press on. This turned out to be perfect because as I began driving more into the mountains, the scene developed more amazingly. Along the road, there were these scenic view stops that you could make and enjoy the land that you were traveling upon. After stopping at the first two scenic views, I realized that if I kept this up I would never make it to Vegas. So, I decided that I would only stop every 100th mile at a scenic view. I turned on a Pandora Smooth Jazz station and enjoyed the view. The mountains and the canyons were AMAZING. I couldn't believe how beautiful the land could be. Living in FLAT Illinois can really make you feel as though God's creation no longer exists. I definitely gained a great appreciation for the beautiful environment that exists beyond the borders of my home state.
Freedom School - Day 4 (My Birthday)I arrived in Vegas the night before my Bday, and not more than two hours after arriving Tre (Tarryn's Little Brother) had convinced me to go to the gym with him. I wasn't offended by the suggestion, as I knew he just needed someone to take him because Tarryn clearly had no interest in going. So, I said why not. We didn't have any plans to do anything and I DEFINITELY needed to get my big butt on someone's treadmill. Plus, after the long drive, it might help me start loosening up. So, we went and I was glad that I did.
One word...AMAZING! Never before have I experienced such an uplifting spirit of education. I was just telling a friend that I cant wait until I have children, so that I can read to them everyday all day long. Now, I cant wait to send them to Freedom School and practice some of their spirited chants to assure that when my children attend traditional school, they are just as excited about reading as these children seemed to be. G-OO-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G, Good Morning (Clap Clap Clap Clap)Good Morning! I MEAN REALLY!!!! This song has turned into my morning anthem. Who can have a bad day after being serenaded with this song each morning?
After leaving Freedom school, I went to get my car washed. I had schedule a spa day, but I had some time to kill. So, I stopped at a Casino that had a Denny's sign posted...CAUSE I LOVE DENNY's, and had breakfast. I did a little gambling, but after loosing my $20, I let that go. So, I headed toward the spa place and saw a car wash. I had plenty of time, so I stopped. The man comes out and tries to hustle me into getting all this stuff done. I told him, "Its my birthday and I got $50, what can you do for me?". So, he proceeds to begin flirting with me. He says that he is going to give me the works since it was my birthday. So, I proceed to the waiting area and about 45 minutes later, he comes in to check on me. I told him that I had an appointment shortly and wanted to know how much longer it would be. He told me that it would be atleast another two hours and to take his car to my appointment. So, I did. I had an AMAZING spa treatment that lasted about 3 hours and headed back to the car wash place. Of course in hindsight, I realized that this could have been a ploy to get my car, but it was there safe and sound when I got back. The man still wasn't finished with my car, so in the meantime I started working on what I was going to do for my birthday. Thanks to Ivan B. Turnipseed, he put me on to the fact that many Vegas shows have locals and student discounts. So, he told me to call the box offices of the shows that I wanted to see and find out what they had to offer. So, I did and found out that Lion King (which I have wanted to see FOREVER) had a great locals discount. So, I called my friend and he said he was down, but that I needed to call and make sure that he could use his school ID because he is not originally from Vegas and didn't have a local ID. When I called back, they said they had a student discount and it turned out to be cheaper than the locals discount. Once I got that all squared away, I became annoyed that this man wasn't done with me car. After asking what was taking him so long, he declared that he wanted me to spend the day with him, so he told his workers not to rush. An hour later, they were finally done! A MESS!!
Lion King in Vegas....AMAZING! Best thing I've ever done for my birthday. SERIOUSLY! Because my friends attend UNLV, they got discount tickets. We only paid $25 for seats in the second row, and we bought them 5 minutes before the show started. It clearly was MY special day!! The show was absolutely breathtaking. I mean, the cast is 98% Black! What more can you ask for! And its Vegas, so I took some bubbly bubbly with me and got another at the intermission...I WAS IN HEAVEN!! I was so worn out from the excitement of seeing the show, I didn't need to do anything more!
Mom's Souvenir Take 1 - Day 5
A much needed day of rest occurred on the 5th day. I really wanted to go back to Freedom School the next morning, but I was worn out! So, I decided to just chill around the house and get some much needed rest. Tarry and Tre had a long day, but when they FINALLY got back home, I made Tarryn go to the strip with me so that I could get mom's M&M dispensers that she collects. While I wanted to spend more time on the strip, specifically to watch the Bellagio water show, I was so tired after spending all that money in the M&M factory, we decided to head home. Plus, I was leaving for the Grand Canyon the next day and wanted to make sure that I had plenty of rest. It was already 10:30pm. The days were going by so fast.
Grand Canyon - Day 6
Before leaving Vegas, I wanted to assure myself of getting a few shots. So, after packing up my car, I drove down to the strip. The Bellagio water show was being worked on so I still didn't get a chance to see it, but I knew I was going back so it wasn't that big of a deal. I took a few pics and headed to the Grand Canyon. I scheduled my Colorado River Rafting Tour on my way there and realized that I couldn't take it until the next day, as I wouldn't make it for the afternoon ride since I had hung in Vegas for so long that morning. When I realized that I was going to have to wait, I decided to do the Grand Canyon. I had accidently gone the wrong way, but worked out because I got to see both Rims of the Canyon. I went to the North Rim first and then headed down to the South. Obviously, you can't just drive through the canyon, so it took me about 3 hours to get from one side to the other. It would have been pretty cool, because if I timed it right, I would see the sunset over the Grand Canyon South Rim, which is very different from the North Rim. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the sunset, because I almost ran out of gas in the Canyon. After stopping at a few of the view points at the beginning of the Canyon I realized I was running low. So, I debated whether I should wait for the sunset and then try to get gas, or go ahead and go. It wasn't a hard decision as I knew I didn't wanna chance running out of gas up in the canyon at night. So, while I got a chance to see the Canyon, I missed the sunset :(! After getting gas, I drove back up the canyon, took a few stops for night views of the Canyon and headed back up to Page, Arizona where I had scheduled to take my Colorado River Rafting Tour. After another 3 hour drive, I arrived at my hotel, dead bolted the lock, slid on the chain, and pushed a table in front of the door.
Colorado River Discovery Tour - Day 6Once again, a truly AMAZING experience. The only thing I can tell you about this trip was that it was all that I had hoped it would be. The weather was BEAUTIFUL, so we didn't bake at the bottom of the canyon. The sky was cloudy and the mountains reflected off the water amazingly. Our tour guide was very informative and friendly. They even sang songs for us. My boat mates were pretty cool and we laughed a lot, when our tour guide told her bad jokes. We saw rare birds, ancient writings on the canyon walls, people standing at the top of the canyon looking over at us, hikers, fisherman, and much more! After the amazing morning long rafting trip, I ate the lunch that they provided on the bus ride back to our cars and took a quick nap to prepare for my drive to California.
God SpokeAfter leaving my Colorado Rafting Tour that morning and driving about 5 hours, I gassed up in Kingman, Arizona on the last leg of Part 1 of my trip. As, I pulled onto the highway I realized that I needed some jamming music to take me the rest of the way. So, I prayed that the IPad had service now after being dead through most of the Arizona desert so I could access my trusty Pandora station that had rode with me this far. And god spoke to me. I put diva in for the station, and what song begins to play as I cross into California, "SURVIVOR!" Talk about being right on time and being just what I need to hear. So, I pumped my fist not caring about the other cars seeing me as I passed by, and allowed myself to dwell on why I had journeyed all this way alone and remind myself that my journey has just begun! Most importantly, I had traveled almost 2,000 miles and NOT ONCE did I get gas at a BP gas station! I WAS PROUD!
