The Start of Our Journey

We started our journey on Saturday, October 18th at about 4pm. Mike has never been to Times Square, so we took a detour within hours of our send off to actually DRIVE through New York City. Luckily the driving wasn’t actually that bad and Mike was amazed at the sight of all of the lights. We may stop and walk around on our way back in November so he can really experience the big city.

We got back to the highway pretty easily and just chatted, decided we would try to spot license plates from each state while traveling, and then spent a solid 30 minutes trying to list all 50 without cheating with our atlas. Shockingly, the one state we couldn’t think of was New Hampshire!!!! I was just there last weekend, and between the two of us we’ve probably been there 150 times. I think it was a sign that we were getting tired. You believe me, right?

Our brains took a turn for the worst at about midnight when we passed the exit for Shartlesville, PA. We both saw the sign at the same time and busted up laughing until we cried without saying a word. Potty humor never dies! Pennsylvania has the worst town names. Ever. You will be happy to know that we stopped at a rest stop an hour later to sleep. The sign there said you’re not allowed to park for more than 2 hours, but we slept for 7 without being bothered.

A few minutes into our drive Sunday, the 19^th we drove under an overpass where Amish people were taking horse and buggy (we assume) to church.  It’s kind of crazy how close Amish Country is to the Big Apple. It’s crazy enough that we even have that kind of contrast in America. It’s definitely a good thing, though. We need to always advance and grow without losing sight of our roots. The negative side is the kind of bigoted church radio we listened to driving through there. Coming from a blue state that was one of the first to legalize gay marriage, these sermons just sounded ridiculous and unreal to us. Unfortunately the preacher never said “just kidding!”

The rest of the day was uneventful until we finally made it to Miguel’s at the Red River Gorge in Slade, KY.

Nada Tunnel at Red River Gorge in Kentucky.