So I've been home from my wonderful misadventure through the lower portion of America for about a week now, and decided that it's time to blog about it. As a lot of you know, I flew out to California a few weeks ago to drive back across the country here to Georiga with my wonderful twin Amy. She's moving out here, and she and Ashley have an apartment down in Atlanta with Ashley's older sister.

To me, my trip officially started three weeks ago, on Tuesday night after work. I went home and started packing. I decided to forego my humongous suitcase this time (the biiig one that I used in other trips, such as going to California with Ashley, or to Florida with Sammy) and use a backpack. I found it kind of funny that I could pack seven days worth of clothes, all toiletries needed, chargers, etc in my orange backpack that served me in my senior year of highschool. And apparently so did everyone else. People kept asking me if I had enough clothes in there lol. So anyways, I finished packing and just waited around for 2am. My plane was at 6, so we left at 2, got there around 4, and the rest of the time was taken up with saying goodbye to my mom, security, and waiting around.

My plane ride was uneventful as I slept most of the way. I had one layover, but it wasn't long. I just played my PSP as I waited. So I finally arrived in San Francisco, and after getting something to eat, headed outside to hunt down the BART line. For those of you who don't know, the BART line is basically MARTA. After a bit of panicking and calling Amy while trying not to freak out (hey, the map said the line I needed was only open on weekend evenings! and it was midday on Wednesday!), I finally figured out where I needed to be. I get on the line I needed to be on, and everything's fine. Until the announcer says that if we're trying to get to such-and-such line (MY line), we need to transfer at the next station. So I do. Only to be taken ALL the way back to the airport. Which totally sucked, seeing as Amy was waiting to pick me up in Dublin, over an hour away. I finally get back on the line I needed to be on, and make it to Dublin, an hour or so after I told her I'd be there. (Poor Amy.. it was awfully hot that day >.<)

The rest of that day was pretty uneventful. We made it back to Stockton, I met her mom who took us out to eat at Outback Steakhouse. It was the first time I had ever eaten there, and the food was amazing. :) I also met her brother Zac, and all the cats at her dad's house. Yay kitties! We didn't do much else that day, just a lot of talking before I crashed probably around 9pm lol.

The next morning, we get up and are running behind lol. We go by her dad's house, so Amy can see him before we leave. He's a nice guy. :) He checks over her car, makes sure she has a spare tire, etc, and gives us the OK to go. Her brother also gives her about eight bucks to buy pepperspray. :P And of course, Amy's first conclusion is "Woo! Free lunch!" haha. So we finally get on our way to LA, only two hours behind. We're heading to LA to stay with her ex stepmom Candy for the night, before we really head out in the morning. We get there around 4-ish I think? About a six hour drive. After a bit of a mix-up with the exits, we finally get to their apartment. I meet Candy and her sister Julie. They're both a bit crazy, but totally awesome. And! Candy works for Disney!!! That's my dream job right there. :D Candy takes us all out to eat at this Mexican Restaurant across the street, and while we're there, a television show is being filmed! That was awesome. We think it was a dating show, like Blind Date or something.

The rest of the night was also pretty uneventful, we all just sit around talking and finally go to bed around 11-12ish. We get up a little bit earlier the next morning, get everything together, and head out. There was a bit of roadwork or something going on our off-ramp, so we had a bit of a problem finding the detour at first, but eventually we found and we were on our way out of LA. I think the rest of that day was pretty uneventful also. Except for Chili's! We decided to stop and eat at Chili's, and they have the most amazing dessert there! They're in these shotglasses, and only cost two bucks. They had different flavors, a chocolate something one, a cheesecake one, an apple something, and then Amy and my favorite! It was Cinnamon Roll. :D And it was delicious. It was heated up, with a coffee cake thing on the top. Just talking about it is making me hungry...

Moving on! The rest of the day just involved driving. We made it to Arizona, stopped and bought some souveniers, and drove some more. We finally stopped around 11 and got a hotel room, watched some tv, and went to bed. We left around 10am Saturday morning and everything was fine.

For the first couple of hours.

Randomly, around 2-ish (I think?) Amy's car starts to shake and pull, and I tell her she's probably got a flat tire. So we pull over, clear everything out of the back of her car that we can, so we can get to her spare. She's got a newer VW Beetle, so her trunk and the back of her car aren't separated. We get the spare out, I get the tire changed, while somehow cutting myself up all to hell on the metal wires sticking out of the blown tire. But it's changed and we put the blown one where the spare tire was, because she didn't need to throw away that wheel, cause it can still be used. We get back on the road in search for a mechanic to check the tire and make sure that it's not just a temporary spare, meant only for the next 50 miles or so. We finally find one, and he tells us the tire's fine to drive all the way back to Georgia, it's not just a temporary spare.

So back on the road again! Only to have her car run hot several hours later....

We pull over at a gas station to let it cool off around 7pm. But the station decides "Hey, it's 7:30, and there are people here! So we're gonna close now!" and they do. Jerks. :( We get back on the road again, hoping her car's cooled down enough. It hasn't. About 5 minutes later, the light goes off again, so we pull off in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, find a restaurant, get something to drink and something to snack on, and wait for the car to cool down some more. We go back out to the car and it STILL hasn't cooled down some. We put a bit of water in the radiator, and it seems to cool down after a bit, so we leave.

About 10-15 minutes down the road, the light comes on yet again. So we pull over, this time actually on the side of the interstate, and let it cool for about an hour or two. It doesn't help, so we finally give in and call AAA. They come get us and her car about 2 hours later, and drive us to this place called Tucumcari, New Mexico. Amy has decided to name this place her own personal Hell, and in the next blog I will tell you why. ;)

This one's pretty damn long, so I figured I'd stop here, and continue on again later tonight or tomorrow.

Keep tuned for the continuation of this gripping narrative of the misadventures of Sharon and Amy through the American countryside!