You know... OH MY GOD!

We're sitting in the hotel in Denver right now watching the Alabama vs. Florida game.  The Florida left fielder just dove for a blazer and didn't catch it.  Being the angry retired outfielder who always comments on outfield fails that I am, I started to explain what was wrong with that play (for anyone who cares, she needed to sprint to the ball standing up and then push off the ground to propel herself forward rather than run like a hunch back and awkwardly fall at the ball and not catch it).  However, this thought was unable to escape my mouth because at that exact moment I saw, through the glass door behind the TV, the giant Oscar Mayer wiener mobile.  The thing pulled right into our parking lot.  We of course ran out and took pictures.

Denver

We made it to Denver!!!  We're now in the hotel room hanging out with Amanda and Amanda (Pants and Shorts), and figuring out what to do tonight.  Should be a great night out though as long as Chappy and I don't pass out first.  We'll definitely be somewhere watching the World Series and hoping Washington pulls it out!

FML

Since we're in the car on our way to Denver, we have to watch Washington on gametracker.  So that sucks.  Then we saw that they hit a 3 run hr to left center.  So I asked Mira where it went and she said "over the short bleachers under the scoreboard." ie. RIGHT WHERE WE WERE SITTING THE LAST TWO DAYS!!! FML chappy so would've caught it.  But its ok...its fine.  Yay for Washington, and yay for eating subway in the car while driving through the flatness that is the state of Kansas.  Hopefully we'll get to Denver in a few hours. 

DAY 7

We're on our way to Denver after waking up bright and early...actually not bright at all.  Just early.  We took the tent down in darkness and put some money under the door of the camp collector guy and then hit the road.  We have a long drive ahead of us followed by a much needed shower and a long nap so we can go out tonight :)  Anyways, we got to watch the sun rise today which was amazing.  It really is beautiful out here and you can see for miles.  The lake that we camped near was very pretty as well.  We'll be in Denver in a while and I"ll update about anything funny that happens along the way!!

moreeee world series

We're on our way home from our second day at the world series.  Today we saw 4 games!!  The first ones were right during the heat of the day and we absolutely roasted in the sun.  Chappy has the most disgusting flip flop tan line i've ever seen.  We sat with David again and tried to drown out the obnoxious fans in front of us.  After the first two games (won by Georgia and Alabama) there was a break between sessions.  PS Alabama beat Arizona 14-0...who would've predicted that one?  During the break between sessions, we went to get Chap a new phone and we also got Quiznos.  At Quiznos the lady said "I don't think I've ever seen a female order a large sub unless they were...really big."  Well, we both did.  I mean, we were hungry, and we can eat :)  During the second session we got nachos and I think David was also impressed by our eating haha.  TUSB has trained us well.  The night games were won by Georgia and Alabama, setting up some great matches for tomorrow.  We're heading back to camp now and hopefully can find some way to pay for our campsite before we leave around 5am for Denver (where we're gonna see Pants and Shorts!!!)  yaaaay.  Pictures to come tomorrow!!

Day 6

Today is officially the halfway point in our drive across the country!! woohooo that's exciting.  Now comes the point of mostly camping, but then 4 nights in Seattle to recover.  AND we now have 21 followers (thanks Lindsey)!! Anyways, turns out we were able to park down by the lake in the state park and just walk into our campsite.  It was a little creepy walking in the pitch black, but Chappy distracted me by telling me a story about how she used to have a crazy telescope and be an astronomy nerd.  Who knew?  We're on our way to the World Series for the wholeeee dayyyyyy.  It's gonna be awesome.  Up first is Georgia and Missouri, followed by Arizona and Alabama.  We don't get to see Washington or Florida play again because they get today off, but all 4 of these are elimination games, so I'm sure they'll be crazy.  Keep watching for us!  

WORLD SERIES!!!

We're just leaving the parking lot at the World Series and I not only have great stories, but great potential for more stories.  We went to the World Series and were kind of rushed to get there because we got to the camp site later than we had wanted, so we set up our tent super fast and then Chap went to pay the camp dude for the night.  Apparently that's more normal at campsites, it's not supposed to be a hotel check-in like at the KOA.  She came back to the car and informed me that there might be a small problem.  "The gate to the campsite closes at 10."  As you can see, it's now 11:11PM.  We decided (with some encouragement from Lizzy) that it was more important to see as much softball as we could.  Sooo basically we might be sleeping in the car.  Also at the game, we sat next to this nice kid named David who is originally from Maine, but is in the Air Force and is now in Oklahoma.  Anyways, we started chatting it up with him and we made many a comment about having to sleep in our car.  As we left the stadium after the game, Chap informed me that earlier when I was in the bathroom, David offered us a place to stay at his house tonight haha.  It was very nice of him but as our tent was set up already we kind of had to go back. So now we're gonna see if we can somehow get to our tent.  We'll obviously post about it.  And PS, University of Washington won 1-0 over ASU in 8 innings!!!  And then Florida won 1-0 over Michigan.  Two great games and 4 more tomorrow!!!  

things to note from our drive

So we just passed a burning tree we think...and the national shrine to baby Jesus ...and also we just hit our 2,000 mile mark!  Woohooo! Lots of flat road ahead but we should be getting to the National Park where we plan on camping sometime in the next couple hours.  Look for us on tv tonight in right centerfield at the world series!!!! Also please note the mess that is the area between Chappy and I.  We probably could run a radio shack out of our car.

Day 5

So Day 5 (which was actually yesterday) consisted of the morning in Nashville, which I already wrote about, and then a lovely drive to St. Louis!  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see as much of STL as we wanted, though Robey did write us an amazing itinerary, because of our car troubles.  Sad face. BUT we did go to the arch, which was amazing!!!  It's so big and you can see pictures of it (which you will) but I personally was in awe just seeing it in person.  The walk to the arch was very nice, and St. Louis looks like a beautiful city.  After the arch we had intended to go to Delmar Blvd, but figured we probably should get to Robey's since the car was acting up.  Her mom was awesome!  She made us mexican tacos for dinner with authentic pico de gallo and rice and beans...totally my style.  We skyped with Robey (and Heather) for a while before dinner and then talked to Robes again afterward.  PS her little brother is sooooo cute, and her other brother looks just like her...its craziness.  But we were very happy and thankful to have a home cooked meal and a bed.  Now its off to Oklahoma City to the world series and to camp for the next 2 nights...oh boyyyyyyy.  Don't worry, we'll update often.  Totally becoming a Washington fan for the World Series (I mean come on, they're the Huskies just like UCONN...CT!!!) PS...we know the picture it awkward, but we tried.  It's fine.

And we're back

The car lives!!!!  We're on the road to OKC, and though we're slightly behind, I think between Chappy's driving skills and the fact that we're driving though Missouri and Oklahoma, we'll be able to make up that time.  So pumped to watch Washington and Arizona state play tonight!!!

Live from the VW dealership

Morning!!!  This post is being written from inside the Volkswagen Dealership in Hazelwood, MO, as Chappy's car gets serviced/checked out.  Chap is pretty certain they're going to check it and just tell her shes an idiot.  But hey, we all do stupid shit like that every so often (I do it way more than every so often).  Anyways, being the resourceful people that we are, we used the Dealership's coffee machine to make instant oatmeal in the waiting area and that's where we had breakfast.  It's definitely a road trip now haha.  Still waiting on the results of the service check, but hopefully we'll be on our way to Oklahoma City soon.

we're dumb

and so...we may have found the problem.  When Chappy put the oil in the car, she forgot to put the cap back on the oil thing.  Somehow the cap managed not to fall into the abyss of the engine, but it was still off for that time period.  Thereforeeeeee we're still taking the car in to the shop, but it might actually be ok.  Idk.  We'll tell you when we figure it out :)

Rite of Passage

I'm pretty sure you can't drive across the country without car trouble...and thus we have reached our first obstacle.  So, a few gas stations ago, Chappy stopped to check the oil and it was low.  She put some in, but not the whole thing because we didn't know how much to put in.  Now the "exhaust malfunction" light has gone on.  We think it might be because we didn't actually need oil and put too much in, because it was just serviced and had an oil change.  So basically we may have broken the car while trying to fix it.  In any case, we just saw the Arch...pictures will go up tomorrow, anddd now we're heading to Robey's house.

Country Music Hall of Fame

Of course we could not leave Nashville without stopping at the Country Music Hall of Fame!!  But before that we went to the Pancake Pantry for breakfast which we found in our road food book...guide to the best diner food in the country.  It was phenomenal and I'll probably be full for the next week.  Then we went to the Hall of Fame!  It was funny to note the different styles of going through the museum.  I quickly found myself with Kim, going through stuff rather quickly, while Stacy and Chappy were behind us seemingly reading every word on every display.  They said it was because Kim and I aren't history people...probably right.We also saw this really weird squirrel sculpture thing (see picture).  Hank Williams apparently killed the squirrels and then had them stuffed to look like a band...to each his own.  After the museum, we said bye and now we're on the road to St. Louis...home of the great Yogi Berra (and Coach Paul) to stay at Robey's house!!  

Broadway Brewhouse/Mojo Grill

After we finally picked out our outfits, it was time to hit the town.  Instead of going into downtown Nashville, we wandered around the corner to a local bar called the Broadway Brewhouse...or Mojo Grill...not sure.  Because of our fantabulous blog, Chappy's neighbor found out we were in Nashville, and told her nephew, Marshall, who lives there.  Chappy called him up and turns out we were at one of his favorite bars.  So he met us there!  He's an awesome guy and unfortunately he had to leave semi-early because he works for country singer Eric Church, and they were leaving for a show in Michigan today!  We left the bar shortly after Marshall and proceeded to wander for a bit more, eventually finding ourselves at a bar called Losers or something like that.  Basically we went where we heard the most music and people.  It did not let us down!  We found this really weird game in the back of the bar that was like a mix between shuffleboard and bocce....slash it was kind of shuffleboard with your hands.  We quickly became obsessed and stayed back there playing for probably an hour.  Kim and Stacy ended up kicking our butts, sadly.  We met some characters to say the least, and when we finally left, sprinted away to avoid a man with a cane who was yelling at us.  Kim assured me I could outrun him...but I'm not so sure.  We got back to the hotel and Kim wanted a photo shoot in the gazebo.  It was a very cute end to a hysterical night. 

Happy Hour

So as Kim referred to in her guest post, we went to a happy hour of sorts at the hotel lobby.  When Chap and I first checked into the hotel, one of the first things I noticed was a sign that said free appetizers and drinks from 530-630 on Wednesday nights, and well it just happened to be Wednesday!!  Once Kim and Stacy arrived, the 4 of us went out to get lunch and check out downtown Nashville.  It was awesome!!  The shops were really cool and there was live music everywhere.  I kid you not.  That picture above is from a bar in Nashville, circa 3pm...and there was a live band as well!  We got some homemade ice cream that was to die for and made it back to the hotel in plenty of time for Happy hour.  Kim and I left our room at 5:29 and Chappy and Stacy came down at about 6.  We sat there until about 7:30 just talking and enjoying our free beverages (when I say we, I mean the group minus Kim.  She had to leave after two beers to take a nap.  Shocker.).  

Guest Shot

Hey this is Kim (Moynihan).  Just got back to the room after a delicious hour of free beer in the hotel lobby!  We're about to hit the town and cruise the streets for some live music and more good times.  The girls are currently picking out the outfits for the night:

Stacy is going with her polo dress.  Surprise?

Cara is currently in her Nescac champs t-shirt. Obvs.

Chappy is putting on some jeans and burkinstocks.  Fitting.

I am probably going to have to borrow something, seeing as how I did the worst packing job ever.  Typical.

Yeehaw Nashville!!  Here we come!

Day 4

We're in Nashville!!!  We got here before Stacy and Kim, so they told us to just check into the hotel and wait for them and shower because that's all we've been complaining about for the last 24 hours haha.  So we did, and when Chappy got out she said "I've gone 5 days without a shower while rock climbing in Oregon and I have never needed a shower as badly as I did just now."  So we're clean and waiting for Kim and Stace to get here before we head out for some Tennessee soul food and country music!!

"My sleeping bag smells like cat piss"

For those of you who read the title of this and were thinking that the cats I used to have had left me a surprise before we had to give them away, you are incorrect.  That quote came from Chappy as we were setting up camp at the KOA outside of Louisville.  Apparently the KOA is like a resort campsite because it has a hot tub, pool, general store, mini golf course, etc.  I've never been camping before so I just booked a campsite that looked pretty haha.  But Chappy laughed at me and said wait till we get to Yellowstone.  Anyways, we set up camp and decided we didn't really want to go anywhere, so we made easy mac and bought a 6 pack of bud light lime.  Because of the millions of bugs outside, we decided to finish our beer in the tent.  Great idea until Chap spilled it on my arm/pillow/sleeping bag.  But it was fine, because I love Bud Light Lime and totally prefer it to the smell of cat pee haha.  It definitely wasn't the most comfortable I've ever been while sleeping, but we survived and minus the bug bites it was pretty fun.  When I woke up this morning, the cat pee smell seemed to be coming from my sleeping bag.  I don't really know, but one or both of our sleeping bags most definitely smell.  Oh well, we have 2 more days before we have to camp again...it's fineeeeeee.

Day 3- Makers Mark

We finally got to the Maker's Mark distillery at about 3:00 yesterday.  The tour was awesome!  I personally knew nothing about whiskey and didn't even think I liked it, but after the tasting at the end, I may be sold.  It was also extremely entertaining because of our fellow tourists.  For some reason, Chappy and I seem to attract the crazy people.  This guy in our group who was probably in his 40s was there with his girlfriend, whose ass he proceeded to slap probably once every 5 minutes while making some loud comment that no one wanted to hear.  After the tasting, we got to dip our own bottles of whiskey into red wax, a Maker's Mark trademark, but to do so, we had to put on an apron, sleeves and gloves.  At this point, our new friend said "subservient women, that's what we got here in Kentucky.  That's how we like em."  We were kind of taken off guard so we just smiled and left asap.  We now had 750ml of whiskey, and it was time to set up camp :)

Joke...seriously. guess.

Why did the cactus cross the road?  Don't look up the answer.

Success!!

We did it!!  We made our oatmeal in a rest stop bathroom in Kentucky.  It was awesome and when we upload the pictures, I'll add it in for sure!  So there, slightly less dangerous, slightly less...appealing.  Well, about another hour and we'll be at the distillery.  Updates from camp later for sure!

water boiling fail

K, so I don't know if you all know, but we had this brilliant idea of bringing an electric water kettle with us so we could boil water while we drive and make oatmeal and easy mac in the car.  I know there were some disbelievers out there (Amanda) who thought moving car+Cara+boiling water did not equal a good idea, but we were determined to try.  Sadly, I now sit here with a bowl full of 2 portions of dry oats.  Turns out the adapter can power a computer, but not a water boiler.  Chappy said she'd eat the oatmeal cold, but I reminded her, that the oats would be uncooked and probably disgusting.  She said just try it and I said I don't want to be responsible for babysitting the soggy oatmeal for the next 6 hours, so no.  It was a complete fail, but we'll recover.  We're in search of something with a low watt requirement, but may end up just sitting at a gas station for 4 minutes while the water boils.  It's fine (copyright Alison Drobiarz, 2005).

PS, we also like to laugh, so start commenting on shit!

On the Road Again

So, small side note (we may have alot of these...we're driving through alottt of forest).  Anyways, we're listening to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on tape (we're dorks. It's fine), and Chappy said, "I cried when Hedwig died.  Literally cried while reading the book and said I couldn't read anymore."  For those who don't read Harry Potter, Hedwig is Harry's pet owl.  Also, I lied about making oatmeal, I still haven't done it yet.  But we're getting hungry and I'm going to have to try soon.  I'll let you know how many burns I get.

Day 2- being a tourist

We spent our second day in DC seeing the sights.  We got a pretty early start to the day, figured out how to ride the Metro, and took it into the Smithsonian.  We saw all the usual stuff: Capitol building, Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, Air and Space Museum, all of the war memorials, etc etc.  And then there was the White House.  Chappy and I really wanted to see the White House, but couldn't figure out how to get there, so we finally broke down and spent the $4.22 on a map.  We then stood on the street for 3 minutes trying to figure out which way to walk, both pointing in different directions, before I finally said, "Let's just follow this huge group of people.  They have to be looking at something."  Chappy agreed and then said "Watch we've been standing 30 feet away from the White House this entire time."  I said no way, but then figured knowing us, she was exactly right.  And as we got closer to the congregation of people, the hedges parted, and there was the White House.  It was very cool and so was the rest of the city, though I'm not gonna lie, you know you're getting old when you feel like you need stim after walking around DC.  When we finally got back to Q and Mara's we sat down on the couches and only got up for pizza delivery guy and eventually to shower.  I also introduced Chappy to one of the oldest video games ever, BurgerTime, which we played on Q's old school Nintendo.  Don't worry, we played Super Mario Bros. as well.  But anyways, we want to thank Q and Mara for letting us crash at their place and explore DC.  We had a great time and we miss you guys already!  But now it's 6:30 and we're on the road to Kentucky.  I'm off to try to make instant oatmeal with the water boiler in the car.  This should be fun.  PS that's Q at about 5 this morning.

Night out ish

So after the game ended, we went to Q and Mara's house, where we updated Mara on everything TUSB (yes, Coach, that means the pyramid too), and met their housemate, Mike who Mara studied abroad with.  Q was at work, so we decided to go to dinner where she worked so we could hang out with her while she worked (and eat too, obvi).  She was working the section with the bar so we sat at the bar to eat and got to talk to her for a while before/during/after dinner.  The pizza was absolutely phenominal, and the beer selection wasn't half bad either :)  Eventually Mara, Chappy and I decided to go meet Mike and watch the NBA playoff game at a bar closer to their house.  Mara had thoroughly enjoyed her sampling of beer at Paradiso, and being the Southern Belle that she is, made best friends with our cab driver.  She asked him to turn on some rap music (since his previous selection was Viva la Vida) and we proceeded to rock out to "Whatever you like," "Live your Life," and my personal favorite, "Gin and Juice," on our way to the bar.  When I say rock out, I mean the volume was as high as it goes, the bass was out of control, and Mara was screaming at the top of her lungs.  It was absolutely hilarious and I think the cab driver almost took Mara up on her offer to come out drinking with us.  We spent a few hours at MoMo's, but the 3 of us faded quickly and retired for the evening, not without a few pictures and a few of my mother's homemade cupcakes!

We made it somewhere

So we made it to DC!!  After a 6 hour drive, probably the shortest one we'll have, we arrive in Washington took the wrong exit and then righted ourselves to get to Nationals Stadium in time for the first pitch.  We sat below the scoreboard in the first row of the scoreboard seats and had a great view of the field.  The game was great, the Nats won 8-5, we got to see some homeruns and some outfield fails, and some good defense as well.  The best part of the game, though, was what happened after.  Chappy and I wanted to get a picture of us with the field in the background and as we were asking some lady to take one, this man walks by us and says "Congratulations."  Of course, we were in TUSB everything so it wasn't hard to figure out that we played softball for Tufts, but still so cool that he knew about us.  It gets cooler.  He then comes back with his family after we've gotten our picture taken and says "Can we take a picture of you with our kids?  I have a good friend who went to Tufts and you guys had a great season."  We're totally famous (or as Chappy likes to say, we're rock stars)!

DC

Since getting to DC, we have experienced some crazy stuff. From being recognized at a Nationals game, to the most entertaining cab ride ever thanks to Mara and our driver. We saw a ton of stuff and we aren't going to give details right now, but we just wanted to post to make sure everyone knows we're alive haha. Stories and pictures will be added tomorrow early morning while we're driving 9.5 hours to Kentucky. Hope this is good enough to make you want to read more!! We've only just begun :)

New Jersey

So we just left probably the worst smelling rest stop I've ever been to.  We decided that all the restaurants were too close together so the smells were all combined.  Chappy was more claustrophobic in the rest stop than in the car and as you can see, the car is packed.  I said chalk it up to the state of New Jersey, but I know that's not really true (plus, Lauren, Roni, Sam and Lizzy would kill me).  But we're not in Delaware, or Maryland...I'm not really sure.  We're going to see the Nationals play when we get to DC, but we'll update tonight from Q and Mara's house!!

Check that, not lost.  Just thought we were.  But we had turned around, so now we're turning around again.  Still in CT.  I need to stop blogging and start navigating.

So I know I posted about 5 minutes ago, however I have to note that we just missed the first exit we needed to take because we were distracted by blogging.  I'm not surprised, but I figured we'd get out of CT before we got lost. 

Day 1

And we're off!  Chappy and I have officially started our trip across the country and are heading to Washington DC.  After packing and re-packing the car, it's stuffed to capacity and we have more Instant Oatmeal than we could probably eat in a month.  We left at about 6:30 this morning from my house in the greatest state ever, CT! :)  PS I'm blogging from the front seat of the car and will continue to do so until I learn to drive stick, or until we get to Seattle, whichever happens first.  We promise to be funny and as we planned this trip in the last 48 hours, I'm sure it will be an adventure! Pictures to follow if we can figure out how to hook my camera up to the computer.