On the Road Again.

Rhonda and the crew made it safe and sound to the Golden State... after a lifetime in the car.  First of all, the weather was less than Golden.  We spent our first day and a half in foggy Los Osos/Morro Bay.  In spite of the weather, we entertained ourselves well.  We walked through Montana de Oro park along the coast and touched the Pacific for the first time.  We visited the infamous (not really) Melodrama in historic (probably not) Oceana.  We got coffee on the bay.  Rachel got to see her niece Ava for the first time.  It was a magical occasion filled with joy, laughter, and lemon cake.  Finally, we shopped at the neighborhood farmer's market for food for our beach house days.  

The next two nights we spent at a lovely quaint little house literally a seashell's throw from the beach, literally.  The weather didn't allow for much beach time, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.  We did venture down to the beach one evening for a bonfire.  Other than that, we mostly spent our time being beach bums indoors.  The Barnes family was kind enough to throw a barbecue in our honor our last evening there.  The hospitality throughout was exceptional.  

We again survived the grueling twenty-something hour drive back to OKC.  Then another trek to Peoria, IL.  There we spent about a day.  We met up with Josh, had a cookout with the Potter's (Harry was not present), and heard some live music on the riverfront.  The next day we got coffee at the best place in town and drove around to see some sites.  The afternoon involved lunch and R&R with David's family followed by the drive to Chi-town.  We're spending a couple days here before we bid farewell to Josh.  

Here are some pictures from the trip that we haven't yet posted.  If you are trying to follow along chronologically with the pictures, forget about it.  We are just throwing them in at random.  Hope you enjoy!

Rhonda and friends admiring some glass-blowing art.

Crossing into Arizona.

Rhonda spending some quality time with baby Ava.

Elizabeth admiring the Pacific (before falling in).

A poor dead pelican washed ashore.

The sun setting in Cayucos, CA.

Our raging bonfire on the beach!

The Oklahoma City bombing memorial. 

California bound!

Rhonda and Rachel chillin on route 66!

It's the only round barn in the country!

Who knew rhonda was so musically talented?

Headed to california! Crossing into texas at 1 am!

New Mexico at 330 am!

Rhonda happy to finally be in california!

Enjoying the coast at last!

Rhonda enjoying her night at the theater!

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

We finally made it off the longest bus ride of our lives. It actually wasn't as terrible as we make it out to be, but by the end of our two day bus ride we were all about to go crazy! Our last two busses didn't have the promised outlets and wifi (thanks greyhound...) so once all our phones and computers died the bus ride went a lot slower! But we finally made it to Oklahoma City with only one lost water bottle and one awful bus driver who felt the need to yell at us in front of the whole bus! All this to say, we will never take greyhound again. ever.
On our first full day in OKC, we visited the Cowboy Museum. And yes it is as cool as it sounds. We saw awesome western paintings, a barbed wire exhibit, and even explored a town inside the museum set to look like it was in the old west. We even accidentally set off an alarm in the museum because we reached over the bar too far in the "Saloon". Oops! But anyway we are loving being the Thunder Country and we've been having a great time. Tonight, we begin out trip to california! Wish us luck! :D

Rhonda posing with her boy Kevin Durant!

The boys were trying to keep Rhonda entertained on the bus. She was so bored!

Rhonda sucessfully completed a crossword!

Branding and Barbed Wired exhibit. Very exciting as you can see!

This is where we set off the alarm! haha ya we're crazy kids.

Day One:

 We said our said our goodbyes to Philly this morning.  We arrived an hour and a half early at the Greyhound station to find that it didn’t even open until 5 a.m. oops! Once it opened we were a little dismayed to find out our bus had been rerouted, apparently Greyhound finds it unnecessary to alert their travelers of such information (we were told that it was a travel center not a hotel so of course they wouldn’t update us with such information, whatever that means). We got our tickets reissued and we were off with several stops in PA and Ohio before ending the night in Indiana with a bus transfer. So far not too many complaints, Mission Year is proving to be the perfect preparation for traveling cross-country on a bus. You must have a high tolerance for unpredictability, flexibility and adaptability to make either work. Next up is reloading the bus for St. Louis… hopefully we will get some sleep tonight!

Rhona is all packed and ready to go!

Rhonda reading her bus ticket!

Welcome To America.

Day 1 of our roadtrip begins tonight. It entails the epic adventures of four friends and a ceramic cat about to embark on the greatest trip of their lives! This tail will be full of dangerous perils, uncontrollable laughter, extreme insanity, and unexpected events. So follow us on our journey through this great land, as we take on America by storm.

And so it begins...