More than OK

Remember how I mentioned we were making our own rules for this trip? Well shortly after we braved the sidewalk portion of Route 66 at dusk we decided to hop on the interstate and jump to Tulsa for the night. We then doubled back a bit this morning to visit The Blue Whale of Catoosa.

Because how can you miss a giant blue whale in the middle of Oklahoma?

I don’t know if you can tell by this picture but it was extremely windy. I originally just had the dress on but added the leggings after I stepped out of the car and promptly flashed my undies to Mr. Blue here. Maybe that’s why he’s smiling…

I may be cheesing it up but Phoebe’s hair doesn’t lie. It was windy.

There was so much to see between Catoosa and Oklahoma City that it took us almost 5 hours to make our way between the two cities. We just kept stopping to snap photos.*

At one point we stepped out of the car to take a picture of a bridge. I just walked along the side of the road like a normal human. Joel on the other hand was tired of sitting so he ran along the dirt beside me. He happened to look down just in time to awkwardly trip/jump over a giant fire ant hill.

Suddenly he decided that I had the right idea and walked along the side of the road, eyes on the ground.

Once we got a little ways outside of Oklahoma City the scenery was mostly this:

Or some slight varient.

The most excitement we had was the constant zig-zag game old Route 66 likes to play with I-40. Drive. Stop sign. Turn right. Bridge. Stop sign. Turn left. Drive. Stop sign. Turn left. Bridge. Stop sign. Turn right. Drive.

Etc.

I’ve never seen so many dead end roads in my life.

It kept me, as the navigator, on my toes anyway.

After what felt like forever we finally made it to Texas. Our plan was to make it to Amarillo but since we had so much fun at the beginning of the day we didn’t get quite that far. When the sun started going down we decided to just find the nearest hotel and get an early start tomorrow. No point in driving if you can’t see anything.

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Albuquerque by night. If we don’t it means we had too much fun along the way.

And that is more than ok with me.

*In case anyone cares to get picky those photos may or may not have been taken in between Catoosa and Oklahoma City. I don’t remember exactly but they were some of my favorites so there.

Joel drives on the sidewalk

As I hold on and scream….

Just kidding.

About me screaming that is. He actually intended to drive on a very old portion of Route 66 that’s known as the sidewalk highway. Had we not had to make a few detours due to some poor navigating ::cough:: I’m blaming the map ::cough:: we would have arrived at this portion a little sooner which would have been ideal. We made it at the last possible moments of daylight though and it was neat to see.

It’s all about the journey

Hm, blogging… let’s see if I remember how to do this.

First of all, thank all of you for your kind comments here and on Twitter about my dad. Things could have been so much worse than what they were. He’s not all better yet but he is recovering and for that I’m so thankful.

So much else has happened since I fell off the blogging wagon I don’t even know where to start so I’m just going to skip to current time. I may eventually try to recap things but my current adventure is way too exciting to bother with that right now.

Yesterday Joel, Phoebe and I began Epic Road Trip 2011. We’re in the process of completing number 27 on my 30 by 30 list. Driving across the country on Route 66.

Or getting our kicks on Route 66 as they say.

This is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been on more road trips than I can count. They’ve always been to get somewhere in particular, as most road trips tend to be. Because they’re destination focused it doesn’t leave time for the random things in between.

Like the word’s largest rocking chair.

Every time I’ve taken a road trip I’ve always said that someday I want to take a trip where I get to stop at every strange and stupid thing. Just for the heck of it.

This is that trip.

And it’s even better than I hoped it would be.

It’s unbelievable how true flexibility makes things so much more enjoyable. Any time-table? Ours. Any rules or guidelines? Ours. If we decide something looks cool, we stop. If not, we don’t. If there’s a particularly dull stretch of road we may hop on the interstate for a few miles to save a few minutes that we can later use on something interesting.

We stopped at that ridiculously large rocking chair.

I kissed Mater.*

We’ve laughed and talked and joked and dreamed out loud and just had the most amazing time ever.

There’s no rush to be anywhere because here is exactly where we’re going.

I often have a hard time living in the moment because I’m so focused on my goals and where I want to be in the future. This trip is exactly what I need to remind me that there’s really nothing more important than right now because right now is my life.

It’s all about the journey.

*Oh hi Disney/Pixar, obviously I meant a Mater-like tow truck. Don’t sue me.

Where to next?

I had all these great ideas for posts today. I can remember thinking at least four times, “Oh! I should blog about that!” Now? I have no freaking clue. Normally I’d have written my ideas down but we were busy enough that by the time I had a chance I’d already forgotten my idea.

Add to that working a 12 hour day…. I’m totally brain dead.

So….

I’m excited about how work is going. I have a bunch of new responsibilities that I’m excited about. So hopefully my job will be less same old, same old. I like variety and I like to be challenged. Hopefully these changes will be just what I need.

I also decided that I need to plan a trip. Somewhere warm in January or February. It will give me something to look forward to instead of dreading the winter. I’m just stir crazy and I need something to focus on when I feel like my wings have been clipped.

So, now I need ideas. I went to Cancun last January so I’m not too interested in that. Plus it really needs to be somewhere relatively inexpensive. Also, I’d like it to be somewhere I’ve never been. As much as I’d love to go somewhere like Thailand I think it probably will need to be somewhere close. If I can get the time off I don’t want to waste whole days in transit.

I was thinking possibly South Carolina. I’ve never been and I’ve heard it’s gorgeous. New Mexico is another option. There are many states that I’ve never been to but I’d prefer to go somewhere warm and I’ve pretty much been to all the other southern states.

I’m already perking up at the ideas. Anyone want to help me daydream?

End of the chapter

Our last full day in India we spent seeing some of the incredible sites around Hyderabad. As a wrap up to my posts about the trip I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from that day.

Charminar:

It’s kind of Hyderabad’s Taj Mahal. Really beautiful. Our host told us it was built to commemorate some king’s wife. However, Google tells me it was built in thanks to Allah for a plague ending… So maybe they’re both right?

Golkanda Fort

Really fascinating. This fort had so much history. It was also rather sad because there was graffiti all over the place. There was obviously very little respect for preserving the history that was there. It was still so interesting to walk around in though. It was huge!

Our whole group.

Silly fun.

It was also incredibly hot and there were like 10,000 stairs. I only exaggerate slightly. Coke never tasted so good.

Getting to the top was worth the hot climb though. The view was beautiful.

The whole trip was absolutely a dream come true. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. Very rarely does a trip live up to your expectations, especially when those expectations have been building for 12 years. This trip was exactly what I wanted and what I didn’t know I needed. I became a stronger, braver person. I learned so much about myself and my eyes were opened to a whole new aspect of my world. I will never view things the same way.

I will never forget the sites, smells, tastes and noise of India. More than that though I will never forget the way it made me feel. India has a very special place in my heart. I can’t wait to go back someday.