Day 2

Chino Valley, AZ to Albuquerque, NM
409 Miles

Hotel: Holiday Inn Express

We left Chino Valley and hit lightning, thunder, hail....but thankfully only lasted about 30 minutes then smooth sailing. Gabe drove and I slept a little. But I woke up in the nick of time. The sign I woke up to "Meteor Crater 1 mile" Well of course we had to stop. Sometimes you think something is going to be lame but this was actually worth the 6 mile detour off the freeway. Pretty amazing place. Everything around this 500 foot deep crater is completely flat. They said 20 football teams could play at the same time in the base of the crater and 2 million people could be spectators along the edges..MASSIVE! It was just a wee bit windy



We drive several more hours and make it to Albuquerque. Check in to a Holiday Inn Express and it's very, very nice. Trying to picture myself  "living" in this size of place. Definitely possible with some serious organization.



When we checked in they recommended a restaurant across the street "Pueblo Harvest" so we walked across the street to try it out. I ordered a Tewa Taco. It looked like a huge tostada but was actually on traditional "fry bread". And it was GOOD! Then of course we walked over to Walgreens and got a little bit of ice cream :-) That really shouldn't surprise anyone.



 

And now it's time for bed because we didn't realize until we checked in that we lost an hour....ugh! Only two more hours to lose.

Day 6 - Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

Well the pictures actually speak for themselves. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour from the US side (didn't make it over to the Canada side) I can't even explain how gorgeous and breathtaking this was. It was so loud but you take a few steps away and it surprisingly quiets down. I could come back here again and again and just sit and watch. It is not only the Falls but the rapids and streams that lead up to them that are amazing! Definitely something that you should see if you get the opportunity.

 

And to top it off we met two very sweet sisters (Courtney and Kelsey) who are in the Buffalo French congregation. They had 30 different languages on the cart. What a highlight to the end of our day.

Day 6

We got up at a leisure 5:30am (why...because I CAN'T sleep in anywhere) We went over to Cracker Barrel (yes AGAIN) for breakfast and then hit the road. The destination today...a short 1 1/2 hours to Amherst, NY. We chose this location because it was only about 1/2 hour from Niagara Falls. Once we started looking at the map and realized just how close it was...we knew that we HAD to go. This might be the ONLY chance we get to see this beautiful creation of Jehovah.

So after searching on Trip Advisor once again for a hotel that would be decent we decided to stay at a StayBridge Suites. As were getting off the freeway and seemed like it was taking us to a totally out of the way place, there it is...right across the street from the University of Buffalo.  It is a beautiful hotel with a little strip mall of places to eat. They let us check in early (about 10am) and were also informed that this facility was only 1 year old. It was the best room so far.

Day 5

Today we left Effingham, IL and drove all the way to Pennsylvania. So yes that means we were in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and final destination....Erie, PA. We decided to stop here at a beautiful Hilton Garden Inn. It was a LONG day and we didn't arrive until 8:30pm. Guess what was right next door?? A Cracker Barrel! So at 9pm we went there for dinner....delicious pork chops.

Day 4

So Day 4 we get up and after a horrible night of sleep because of thunder and worrying about
tornados. We got out of there by 7am and wanted to get as far away from Oklahoma as possible.
Missouri...here we come!

Saw the St. Louis Arch from the freeway. We really were not interested in stopping at it or trying to get downtown that day. We were both really tired and just wanted to get as far as possible that day. So it is not a good picture at all (sorry April M.)



Lunch for the day...our first Cracker Barrel (and not to be our last)

Along the way we came to a really cool Rest Area that has been there since the 1960's. It crossed over the entire freeway.



That day we drove all the way to Effingham, IL...and yes it is pronounced the way you think it shouldn't be pronounced! It was a really nice town and we stayed at a very nice Holiday Inn and dinner at TGIF's. Yum!

Day 3

Well this day started off amazing. We had beautiful weather as we were leaving Albuquerque.

 

We drove for about 4 hours and made our way to Amarillo, TX and it was time for some BBQ. We stopped in at Famous Dave's and it was delicious!

A

As we left lunch the clouds were coming in and we decided we better get on the road and get going because there was quite a storm coming. Our goal was to make it to Tulsa, OK that day. Well we were a bit outside of Oklahoma City and started getting multiple alerts our phones regarding flash flooding. Well then we got an alert that a tornado had been spotted in the area we were currently driving and to take shelter immediately....seriously! At that point it also started raining so hard that we pulled of the freeway because we could no longer even see. Stopped at hotel to find out exactly where we were and where the tornados were. They weren't too far away so we decided better safe than sorry and checked in. Kinda a bummer because we still planned to drive two more hours.

We were between El Reno and Yukon. Decent hotel but not at all where we wanted to stay!

 



 





The beginning

Well our journey originally began June 2014 when we spent a week working on the Norco Assembly Hall.  So fast forward 9 months later and we receive a call from New York inviting us to Warwick for 3 months. Then the craziness begins of making preparations. Well the preparations are done and we are on the road. Gabe's truck is our new home for the next week...well of course a hotel each night but about 2800 miles to go and many, many states. I look forward to sharing our journey with everyone.