WE DID IT! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

july 8, 2009
2:28am we did it. we made it in one piece to albany. and arrived at the exact same time we left san diego 5 1/2 weeks ago. ironic? crazy? yes. it seriously seems like a minute ago we left san diego. 7,960.7 miles exactly to travel all throughout america. i accomplished my goal of driving the entire way so i am stoked. its 54 degrees out. beyond exhausted. best trip of my life and a summer ill never forget. i have always wanted to drive across the country but never did i expect the trip to be this amazing and awesome. this trip has taught me to really let things come as they come. everything happens for some reason. and even the worst of times (driving through nebraska) will wind up being one of our favorite stories. life handed us a bunch of lemons and we drank that lemonade the entire way. i couldn't be happier that i had a great friend like erin along the way with me. we hit 33 states and traveled almost 8,000 miles. i feel so lucky and blessed that we got to have this journey and experience all the things along the way. now that i feel i have seen america to its fullest, i am ready to take on a new and even bigger adventure: backpacking through europe........ all i have to do is save enough money and buy a backpack and here we come.... all i have to say is 'europe. watch out. you are going to have no idea what hit you when we get there"

to be continued.......

"camping in maine"

july 7, 2009
9:46am leaving jakes. little bit behind schedule. that seems odd. us behind schedule? off to maine to go CAMPING!!!!!!! yayayayyayyaya! so excited.
11:40am we're in maine already. not sure how that happened. got here pretty quickly. we're at 7,540 miles and its 60 degrees. WHAT? pretty much freezing. just stopped to get my second redbull of the morning and firework sparklers. why not? now off to find a camping spot!

2:03pm well its negative 8 degrees and pouring rain here. i guess we should have checked the weather forecast for maine and not just assume since this week in brooklyn was going to be sunny and warm, the whole east coast would be. we're retarded. we know. decided to get lobster here and go camping in vermont. in hopes that its not raining there too. "excuse me" i look over and this lady is trying to get into her shiny new bmw. oh im sorry...i was just on my hands and knees searching the car for pennies, nickles and dimes trying to add up to $3.00 for parking. no worries. we found enough. we're finally going to get this lobster. yay.
2:57pm just got done eating the lobster. thing was HUGE. a bit scary but really good. i only like the claw and tail though. the middle part with guts all over it was disgusting. after finishing the lobster we tried to put him back together again. sometimes i really wonder how old we are. off to vermont. green mountain national forest ... i think?
3:19pm another redbull and ring pop! grape! best one of all! candy makes me way too excited for my own well being. passed a surf shop and thought we warped back to california for a second. surfshops and surfboards always put a smile on my face :)
4:32pm somewhere in new hampshire. not sure if we're going the right way. raining still. driving til the rain stops so we can set up camp. 7,628.9 miles. 59 degrees. omaha by counting crows is playing. feels like we're back in the middle of america. ahhh love it. we're not though. we're in new hampshire. we can make believe though.
5:24pm well how the heck did the 101 just turn into a dead end? where ARE we? rain seems like it might be stopping. our lives are jokes. dead end. 7,672.9 miles. 61 degrees. 2 degrees warmer than before. sweet. do i hear 65? 65? .... how about 70? 70 sold to the two freezing girls not knowing where the hell they are going. if only weather were an auction. id be more broke than i already am.
5:31pm still at the dead end in the process of trying to take a picture i lost the ipod controller..again. after much struggling, finally got it. also put our lantern together during this as well because i thought having the latern on still in broad daylight would help us find the controller faster. it didnt. but it saved us from putting the latern together in the dark.

5:36pm still here. why?
5:41pm blue skies and back on track. thank god.
6:36pm getting off the 101 and entering the unknown....taking a path to who knows where.... a little scared but excited to see what we may find
6:40pm well that was lame. it was a dirt road leading to home in the woods. cool story. we did however see some white horses which was cool. and a ups truck. sweet. moving on...
7:26pm vermont welcome sign. 7,744.5 miles. 66 degrees. warming up. im tired.
7:55pm well, its raining here in vermont now. guess we left maine for no reason...trying to figure out where to go. ps i accidently mistook a wooden moose for a real one.
8:05pm still raining.
9:22pm well it stopped raining in vermont and we were getting very close to the campground in a town called durkas. we got about 5 feet from into the town near the campsite and what do we see but a huge circus tent in the middle of some sketchy field. it was named 'circus smurkas' that was it for us...no way are we camping in a town called durkas near something as scary as circus smurkas. dont feel like camping with clowns tonight. sorry. new plan. we're driving to lake george. we'll be safe there. im glad camping in maine turned into driving to lake george. oh boy. 7,815.4 miles. 58 degrees. oh no its getting cold again. sweet.
9:39pm after changing and cleaning out the car in a parking lot we're finally on our way to lake george.
11:04pm made it to lake george. not sure how. or why. but we're here. stopped at a valero (thought those were only in california, guess not) getting a few beers then finally FINALLY finding a campground to camp at. jesus.
11:12pm i think we're set. cooler. check. ice. check. 12 pack. check. 2 coozies that say lake george. check. 2 fish nets. check. a coloring book. check. are we missing anything else? 'man i need a beer'-erin just stated. yea i think we both do. holy cow.
12:00am exactly. we found...um...a place to 'camp out' we are sitting under a boating dock with our beers, ipod player and lantern of course. this may lead us into a night in jail. we'll see.
12:18ami forgot. we saw a boat called 'the minne-ha-ha" reminded us of our trip into minnesota. made us laugh again.
12:48am just saw a boating patrol. kind of forgot those existed. hope they don't see us. oh no.
sometime around 1:00am "so should we go to sleep or just stay up and leave at like 5am?" as soon as this question came out of my mouth it was proven by both erin and myself that what we were doing was absolutely absurd. we are freezing surrounded by bugs being eaten alive in a private boating dock. we could stay the night but i think we have had enough adventures... lets not push our luck. we both decided to get back in the car and just travel the last 40 miles to albany and sleep in beds...... ps. at least we had our lantern.

slight intermission from the roadtrip; albany & brooklyn

june 29, 2009 through july 2, 2009
after pulling into where my parents live and sneaking around the corner, trying to make all of their neighbors be quiet to try to surprise them...my mom had looked out the window and seen the whole thing happen. now im not sure if she ran down the stairs or jumped out the window because she was down there within a matter of 2 seconds. super woman? perhaps. then followed my dad. they were EXTREMELY surprised! plan worked. we were excited. but little did i know I would be in for a surprise. out walks my two cousins; amanda & lyndsey and my aunt! best surprise eeeeeeever! at this point i think the whole 'neighborhood' was out gathering around meeting and greeting and whatnot. after being on the road for over a month it was a little overwhelming so we headed upstairs. the next few days were very relaxing and also very fun, filled with amazing food, good stories, and awesome margaritas! the entertainment of my dad trying to turn off the smoke detectors was also one of the funniest things ive seen in a while. coming to albany was a good choice. it was just what we needed. by the fourth day we felt re-cooped enough to get back on the road and head BACK to brooklyn. we do everything out of order with no sense of direction and no plan of action. its the way to live though i swear. nothing can go wrong when you have no plans.

july 2, 2009
12:30pm leaving albany and going back to brooklyn. the car is so empty. its so weird. we bought a tent yesterday for our adventure in maine. so excited for everything and the fourth is on saturday...yay!
3:40pm stopping in a town called ho-ho-kus to eat. the name of this town is slightly terrifying but i'll go with it.... we're in new jersey? how and when did we get to jersey? more importantly WHY are we here again?oh god...
4:37pm we're almost to brooklyn, make this rain stop nowwwwww.
6:08pm easypass. not paid. account low. yep we're back to this again. earlier we went through one that wasn't even an easy pass, didn't stop and looked back to see the lady's head sticking outside the window. almost to brooklyn...didnt i say this 2 hours ago?....damn traffic.....ahhh
6:23pm in chinatown. last time i checked this was not in the agenda. where ARE we.
6:52pm lost in a park. lost in the damn park right next to my sisters house. we literally can't get out.
6:56pm still lost in the park because the gps can't even save us. its telling us to take turns into trees. what is going onnn.
7:17pmwe found parking right away. right next to my sisters apartment. sweet. as soon as we pulled in the spot, it starts pouring. of course it does. why wouldn't it? so now we are relaxing in the car til it stops...or at least calms down. this is FUN. cmon!!!!
7:27pm still pouring. why? please make this stop. can the subway station come to us? rain rain go away
sometime after 8 and before midnight: finally stopped pouring and we were able to book it to the subway. with little direction we found jeffs house where my sister and everyone were. i did however get out of the subway and try to hail a cab to the address when the cab driver said we were only 1 block away. oops. played some games and got a little competitive like i usually do with games (especially trivia- i have to know everything before everyone!). finally called it a night....thank god, we had a yankee game to attend to the following day. yankee game was fun, and hot. we won. of course we did.
fourth of july my parents had came down to brooklyn to celebrate the fourth of july. me and erin found ourselves in the kitchen cutting apples and limes. probably not a weird sentence to most people. but me and erin's fourth of julys usually consist of waking up @ 5:30am, in the kitchen making jello shots and being a little intoxicated by noon...if not earlier. so this was VERY strange. but it was nice. nice to remember the fourth of july for once. the past few years our calendars have been july 1st, july 2nd, july 3rd, july 5th. i feel a few days younger since i got that day back that i normally miss! we had a great bbq and walked through the park where i was complaining the whole time like a little baby because i just couldn't do it. i had no energy to walk through a park. im glad there was some entertainment along the way that kept the walk interesting. after the bbq we ventured on the rooftop of my sisters apartment where we got to see every surrounding states fireworks go off. it was awesome. my mom had about 20 panic attacks though every time we got "too close" to the edge. "too close" to her is roughly 25 feet from the edge, give or take. chill OUT. (sorry ma). after fireworks we came inside to just watch the rest on tv and play catch phrase. i once again had to know every answer and try to be the best! all in all brooklyn was a great time...it always is. good company and good drinks can never not be a good time, eh? but once again we've had enough relaxation and we are ready to hit the road again.

july 6, 2009
10:53am leaving brooklyn and back on the road again. before heading to boston we have to get the oil changed for the third time this trip. we're at 7,334.8 miles. its 75 degrees out and sunny-yay!
3:14pm we're in providence, ri. of course we aren't in boston. change of plans as always. waiting for jake to get home. in the mean time finding some food. we're starving. super nice out. providence is cute.
sometime after 5:30pm after guzzling every drink that was on the menu plus a pitcher of john dalys its time to go to jakes. surprisingly we are barely buzzed. not really sure the explanation for that one.
later that night we went out for a little while with jake, his roommate, and a few of their friends...it was fun times. night ended early because me and erin "wanted to go to bed" remember that trick we do? somehow convinced jake to leave the bar and go get food with us. huge pitas. thankfully im not a huge fan of pitas so when we got home to eat it i only had about a bite or two before i realized i was just drunk and eating what would taste like cardboard any other given time of the day. good night. we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.....camping trip up in maine.