We are finally in San Francisco!

After 14 gruelling hours in the car today, 3 brushfires, 2 car accidents, and 1 car fire, we made it to the South San Francisco Hampton Inn...

We said goodbye to the cats and headed out of Phoenix at roughly 4:30 this morning... Ouch! Our first stop was the McDonald's in Blythe, CA at about 8:00 AM. I was a little bummed because I missed photographing the State Line, but a Sausage McMuffin and a cup of coffee cheered me up some. We accidentally forgot to get gas and didn't realize it until way after the "Next services 60 miles" sign, so that added a little excitement to the trip... Luckily we made it to Chiriaco Summit with 0.9 gallons of diesel to spare. As a bonus, we also got to see the George S. Patton Memorial Museum! It wasn't open, but we got to see a HUGE statue of Patton, and quite a few tanks behind the iron fence. If it were closer to 9:30 AM (when the museum opened), I would have begged Michael to stay, but alas, it was only 8:43 AM. So I decided that a picture with Patton was an acceptable substitute.

We continued on to San Bernadino, where we stopped at the California Welcome Center to stretch our legs, take a look at all the cheesy souvenirs, and take photos with the California sign. After that, we were back on the road for a bit before lunch in Santa Clarita, at possibly the nicest McDonald's I have ever seen! I found myself internally commenting on how nice the fixtures and furniture were, and thinking, "Hmmmm... I wonder where they got those?!" Then I had to remind myself that I was at a McDonalds. Ha-ha.

The drive up I-5 was uneventful, aside from the car fire, but the trip across 152 was quite exciting! There were three brush fires and one accident, but all of them were on the other side of the freeway, so our progress wasn't impeded that much. We finished off the drive with a stretch up the 101, and accidentally tried to check in to the wrong Hampton Inn... But the front desk staff was nice enough to call the one we were booked at to make sure our reservation was on the books, so it was back in the car to the correct Hampton Inn. We arrived at 6:30 PM, checked in, relaxed and ordered some great Italian food we had delivered to the room... It was a perfect end to a very long day.

Tomorrow Michael and I are going to BART it into the city and start looking for apartments. I hope we find something this weekend, because school starts Monday! Yikes...

I'll keep everyone posted on how the hunt goes!

66HM5 (and Michael) out...

And we are off...

After an extra night's stay in El Paso while waiting for the new seal on the oil pan to cure at Hoy-Fox VW. I am quite happy to report that our drive was largely uneventful and went fairly fast, with Michael amusing himself with the camera and trying to bother me while I was driving. Ha-ha. He we are, a self-study of driving along I-10, courtesy of Michael Evans... I swear, give him a camera and you never know what pictures will turn up!

Following with tradition of photographing dinosaurs along our routes of travel, Michael once again commandeered the camera and took several pictures of the dinosaur sculpture outside of the McDonald's we stopped at near Benson, AZ. I really wasn't in the mood for a dino photo-op today... I didn't like that dinosaur as much as the dinosaur in Gila Bend. I don't know what it is, but the dinosaurs just seem to follow us!

After seven hours in the car, we finally pulled into the condo complex in Phoenix... Needless to say, the cats were quite happy to see us, and we were quite happy to sink into our own bed. It is up at 3:30 AM tomorrow to head out to San Francisco.

66HM5 (and Michael) out...

A bump in the road...

Stymied our progress out of El Paso this morning. After a quick trip up to the hospital to pick up some paperwork and show Tas around, Michael and I packed up again and jumped on I-10, totally psyched to be getting out of El Paso and back to Phoenix to see the kitties and relax in the condo... But about 10 minutes into the drive, the oil pressure light came on in the car and we had to pull off the freeway into a gas station. When we checked the oil, there was not one drop left in the engine and had to have the car towed to the VW dealership. It turns out that the seal holding the oil pan to the car broke and part of the oil pan popped loose, spilling almost all of the oil out on the freeway. The good news is, the dealership is going to pay for the repairs, since it was something that was highly unlikely to occur with normal vehicle use, hence something that might have been caused during a previous service visit. BUT, that means that we will be in El Paso one more night, so we are now back at the Armed Services YMCA relaxing and watching some TV. Here we are in the tow truck, trying to make the best of a bad situation... :)

Hopefully we will be back on the road before noon tomorrow...

66HM5 (and Michael) out...

Graduated and on the road again...

Well, the Captain's Career Course is over and Michael and I drove out of San Antonio today. I had a great nine weeks and it was a wonderful working vacation, despite a few stressful projects. I learned a lot about TO&E units and was exposed to the Army's decision making and problem solving processes. Additionally, I met an awesome group of people, to include a French-speaking Canadian Officer! with the French language in common, we became fast friends and spoke French on occasion. Here are Captain Simard and I right after graduation.

It is kind of ironic that I am leaving Ft Sam the day before I signed in to OBC on active duty as a brand new 2LT five years ago. It is pretty fun to look back through my blogs from OBC and to see how much I have changed and grown in my young Army career.

Anyhow, after a so-so breakfast at IHOP and a stop at the last Starbucks in San Antonio before the 552 mile trip to El Paso, we were on our way! I couldn't resist capturing the moment, since I was wearing my UCSF t-shirt. :) It was a pretty uneventful drive with a stop in Sonora and Ft. Stockton (for happy hour at Sonic). We were lucky enough to dodge a few rather large thunderstorms, but still managed to get a little rain. After 9 hours in the car, we drove into El Paso, ordered pizza, and are about to crash out in our room at the Armed Services YMCA.

It is on to Phoenix tomorrow! Yeah!

66HM5 (and Michael) out...