Where should I begin? I haven't found time enough to write this blog since last summer, when of course I was busy travelling through the states..

So, how bout we start at the beginning.. the VERY beginning of summer..

From about, Manteca- On.

It turned out to be an awesome summer. One of the best I think I've ever had in fact.



I'm still not quite sure what was so funny..
Anyway, it started out with Lela & her family visiting her parents' in Manteca. So not only do I get to visit Lela but we also get to swim, watch movies, and go out,

as much as we can anyway.

When Lela visits it truly feels like a summer vacation.

Mostly because we end up playing quite a bit.. Hahaha.
Does this hat make my ass look fat?

Hell, From Manteca, we're just a hop, skip n jump from anywhere remotely interesting.. when she's allowed to go out anyway, Haha...
That's a whole other story in itself and we are both convinced her mom is bipolar, and possibly menapausal but, that's another story.. we still love her 
Anyway, this particular journey starts off in July of '07.

I spent as much time as possible enjoying their pool, and trying to straighten out my farmers' tan. Ahem.

I try to stay outta the sun as much as possible, but for when I actually AM in the sun.. it *always* gets my arms... so I go through a portion of summer lookin like the geek.
But I don't care..
Lela and I ended up goin out pretty much one last time before she had to go back to Missouri.

It ended up being a pretty inebriated evening to say the least.. I guess it ended with her oldest daughter seeing her in a bikini top, thus traumatizing her right into therapy when she reaches midlife.. Hahaha...

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that. Apparently I was too busy floatin around and hell knows what else in the spa. I do remember watchin Lela puke over the side though.. ick dude..
By the next day, she was hung the fuck over. I felt like shit but managed not to puke my guts out. Even though I looked like a frizzball.

Anyway, come right down to it, it was time for Lela to go back to MO. And we both kinda joked around with the idea of me goin back with her. She was gonna be leavin the next mornin. Hell, I didn't have anything to do for the next few weeks.. and SHE didn't have anything going on.. Alrighty then, that just left me to get my shit together.
So that's exactly what I did. She asked Billy (her hubby)

right off the top if it was ok if I tagged along, and true to Billys character he said, "She can go if she's ready when I get there, if not we're leavin her behind!" Hahaha. (Good thing I was pretty much ready ;) )
So at around 1am I drove back to Sacramento to commense to packing. Talk about jammed for time! I had no fuckin clue what I was gonna pack for an undetermined amount of time. And I had never been that far east in the U.S. so I didn't know what to expect weather-wise. I was told however that it's really humid. And since it was summer, I figured hot as well. Ha! That's not always true I found out..

Just kidding, we didn't stay there! That particular building was in someones backyard ;)
Well, after no consideration of what the hell to bring, and trying to grab snacks and everything else I figured I'd need, they showed up. Bright and early around 6am. I rolled my big ol suitcase to the van, threw it inside, packed myself in and off we went! I can't tell you how excited I was. Funny thing, when I hang out with Lela, I almost feel like a teenager. We stay up late doin n lookin at hell knows what,


go out window shopping,

sleep overs, Hahaha. You name it. And if it's trouble, whether we like it or not, we usually find that, too ;)

I gotta tell ya, I slept through damn near all of the states.

I would usually wake up when Billy would stop for gas, restroom or dining breaks. Other than that, I spent a great deal of that 36 hours asleep, Ha!!
But the few times we did stop and I did venture out, I was definitely happy.

In each state, I either saw something interesting, or just witnessed something funny, or horrifying even.

For instance, when we hit Utah, the only thing I was awake for was this;

Something to do with downhill skiing in Utah- affiliated with the Olympics. And that was the ONLY thing from the view of the store we were at. Hell, at least it was something different..
In Wyoming I woke up long enough to have dinner and realize that there were casinos in regular establishments, and it was all smoking friendly. Now that in itself amazed me.. Hahaha! I'm definitely not used to smoking indoors, so I took full advantage of it at every opportunity I could ;)

The second morning on the road we found ourselves at a McDonalds' in Nebraska.

So like everyone else, I dragged myself out of the van and into the store. The smell of grease that early in the morning just nauseated me so I skipped right ahead to the restrooms so I could asess the damage and try to clean up some. Funny, but after just 1 full day, a 24 hour period, in the vehicle, I felt like a Mac truck had hit me. Talk about exhaustion..
Anyway, Lela & I got into the restroom where there was a lady coming out of one of the stalls. In her late 60's I'd say. Dressed similarly to a soccer mom in pastel colors, closer to 30 years her junior, OR a yodeling mountain climber in Bavarian knickers.... (Boy do I wish I had pictures of her!!)
Lela and I had been doing something in the mirror (probably cleaning up!!) when the lady asked me if I was a religious lady. Right then and there I knew I was in the bible belt. I told her quite a bit, including that I didn't need to be religious to be moral and some other stuff my poor head can't remember due to it being so long ago and only 6 in the morning.. She went on to ask me about my tattoos and commented about how I could probably be Indian (or some shit!!) because of my piercings. I don't really remember because I was only paying half attention to her as I was more interested in the stall she was P-Blocking from me, Hahaha. I do remember however that by the time she walked out with her silver buzzcut saying "Hail Satan!" in my most cheerful voice I could muster. ;)
And also around NB, I also determined that men compete with one another by how large n new their John Deere is. I swear I saw one in 99% of the backyards I was lookin in..

While we were stopped gassing up somewhere there, I was observing a guy ridin down the street (the actual main street of town) on his tractor. Grinnin from ear to ear with his baseball cap on as he trudged down the street. Just then I saw another guy comin from the opposite direction on a bigger, newer John Deere, smilin an even bigger smile than the first guy. I watched as the guy on the newer John Deere got closer to the guy with the older one and about pissed my pants in laughter when I actually witnessed the guy on the older tractor sink a little lower in his seat, and his smile fade. Bwahahahahahaha!!
See boys n girls.. size does count ;)

Anyway, we finally made it to Missouri and after getting all rested up, we went out the next day.

We travelled to a few different cities around where they live on Ft. Leonard Wood.

And I gotta say, so much of the countryside is gorgeous. From what I noticed while coherent anyway ;) Hahaha


Don't forget to stop n smell the flowers along the way ;)

While we were out, I took pics of alot of signs.

Stores I'd never heard of,

some that just looked interesting, and some just like ours with different signs or what-not.

Out of them all I discovered that "Hardy's" is what we call "Carl's Jr." here. And they have Waffle Houses out that way. Nothing like what we have here. They dinners are true to the South and serve chicken with waffles and gravy. I'm still pretty pissed I didn't get the chance to eat at one of em =(

But we did visit some of Lelas' friends.

And she is a Hillbilly. Self proclaimed. As is her family ;)

While there I was taken to one of Lelas' friends' old houses' (try saying that 3 times fast!).

Where I took a few pictures from around the area.

Just gorgeous countryside.
Oh yeah.. and Tornados 

And I don't have any pictures of em, but there were fireflies! And gazillions of em at that! I had NEVER seen one before, so of course that was one of my first drunken excursions..

Taking pictures of military vehicles was also entertaining to me.

Met up with one of Billys' friends


that and trying to catch an armadillo that was running beside us on the street.. Those 2 activities pretty much kept me active while I was there ;) Hahaha

We'd run off to visit Lelas' husband Billy while he was golfing.

We discussed stealing a golf cart, ya know..

how far we could get in a stolen one and how long before they'd catch us. Things of that nature.. ;)

There was even a Sonic there.

But all in all, I had a great time. I wished that leg of my adventure hadn't ended so soon.

And get yer head outta the gutter.. it says BAT house ;)
Was the Blair Witch here??

I miss the hell outta her when she's gone. So we decided that sometime this coming summer, I'll have to come out again.

Only this time, I'm only taking *1* carry on..
But THAT, along with visiting Tanya in North Carolina, will be my next story here in the next day or so... ;)
