MY FIRST POST IS GOING TO BE FROM THE JOURNAL I KEPT WHILE TRAVELING ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. ME AND MY COUSIN JORDAN WENT ON AN ADVENTURE BEFORE I MOVED TO DENVER COLORADO. THIS IS A DAY TO DAY OF WHAT ENSUED...




June 23rd

I left my sister kelly and cousin amber at the diner. Breakfast was
sufficient, I don't usually do breakfast but knew I needed something
in my system for the long journey ahead. My sister had surprised me
with a gas card for the trip. Still after all these years she looks
after me. It's a good feeling. After heartfelt hugs I was off, heading
on the turnpike towards the Georgia border. [florida-georgia]. Arrived
in douglasville and after a brief detour picked up cousin Jordan - she
was to be my road buddy and partner in crime on this road trip. Jumped
back on the highway and was headed north east. [Georgia-South Carolina-
North Carolina]. Arrived around 11pm at my parents place an settled in
for the night


June 24th

Woke up and had a liesure day with Jordan while my parents worked. We
watched hours of CSI while we mapped out our plan of attack for the
adventure (jordan had previous to this trip never been north of
virginia) and called all the loose ends to make sure we had places to
stay along the way. Had an amazing dinner with my parents, consisting
of omaha steaks and fresh vegetables from their garden. Was able to
show my dad my guns, something that I have wanted to do since I bought
them. My dad has a collection of guns and this was a definitive
bonding experience. I wish I would have gotten to see more of his
collection but I'm sure there are more trips to NC in store where this
could be accomplished. Me and Jordan watched Seinfeld reruns til we
passed out seeing as how this was going to be our only day with
nothing planned.


June 25th

Both my parents took off so we were able to hang out all day. We
started doing some early morning errands - didn't even get dettered
when I wasn't able to ship my guns through UPS. We went to ocharleys
for lunch and then went to the movies to see Grown Ups. We came home
and while my father and me checked on the truck - making sure the
fluids were good, tire pressure sufficient, and he even installed a
lock on my tailgate; my mother prepared her world famous lasagne
(reality of it is it's my FAVORITE thing to eat ever). Got to sleep
after watching a few recorded tv shows with the rents, we had an early
day and long drive ahead of us.


June 26th

Woke up early and had liberty diner breakfast, which seemed part of my
parents Saturday routine. It's so funny to see how much of my fathers
humor I have picked up on over the years and incorporated into my own.
He is still the funniest man I know and cracks me up everytime I am
around him. After hugs we left towards the nations capital. [north
Carolina-Virginia]. stopped at uncle randys to drop off the truck.
While waiting for Erin to pick us up we were able to hang out with
Randy chris and the kids, we even shared in a couple beers - much
welcomed after that 6 hour drive. After catching up we left towards
DC, stopping at the iwo Jima statue and Arlington cemetery, as well as
the jefferson memorial. We stopped at a burrito place and had
delicious dinner and then headed back to erins apartment. So began our
tour of air mattresses.


June 27th

Woke up early, almost got sidetracked because of an all day band of
brothers marathon on tv. We went to a local place for brunch. Here is where
I get to talk about how awesome and adorable my neice Caroline is...
It's so weird to actually want to take part in a childs upbringing
because I don't care for kids that much. But this is MY NEICE. Not
just any kid. I was able to hold her multiple times and even got to
feed her - a small feat for most but for me this was the first time I
have done something like this. Did I mention how adorable she is? Well
anyways after brunch Erin dropped us off at the mall where all the
monuments and smithsonian museums were so that we could walk around
and take in the history. Jordan wasn't as excited about the history as
she was the AC, but she had just as much fun I'm sure. We got to see
our share of the city before the sun kicked our butts and forced us to
go home. We met up with Erin and had petes pizza for dinner. Delicious
once again. Went back to the house and Jordan was quickly passes out
while me and Erin watched band of brothers an chatted. It was really
good to see her, and for those nonbelievers out there we got along
without one single argument. It's fun growing up and getting closer
with my siblings and family. It was actually Erin who was the one who
encouraged me to make a road trip out of this and not just a boring
move.


June 28th

Left DC early, it sucks we didn't get to see mike west more than we
did but he was jet lagged. Took the train to randys to pick up the
truck and then we were on our way towards the big apple. [DC-Maryland-
Delaware-new jersey]. We parked In a garage in jersey coty and took
the train into new York city. [new jersey-new York]. From there we
took the subway down to battery park but missed the ferry to the
statue of liberty. We then took a subway to grand central station, and
from there walked to the empire state building. Now as a precurser, I
am deathly afraid of heights. I get on the ferris wheel at the fair
and nearly crap myself I'm so scared. So I decided that this trip was
going to be more than just an adventure, I was going to overcome my
fear of heights just like I was overcoming my fear of moving out of my
comfort zone. We went to the top of the empire state building and it
was such a gorgeous view, and I wasn't as scared as I thought I'd be.
After that we visited time square. We ate at an Irish pub Obriens ( I
had a smithwics and shepards pie... Mmmmmmm) an then we headed back on
the train to jersey city. We lucked out that erins friend susi lived
there and offered us a place to stay. Her and michelle's place was
soooo beautiful, a 2 story penthouse loft overlooking new York cities
skyline. It was like one of those places you see on tv design shows.


June 29th

The plans changed after we left jersey, originally we were supposed to
head towards Ohio. But as luck would have it I contacted an old friend
who lived outside of Pittsburgh and decided to stop and see her - only
a small detour. [new york-Pennsylvania] Her name is Nikki, and she
seriously introduced me to the word love years back (before her I had
only said it/meant it to family members) we never dated or anything,
but I love her as a friend/person more than I ever will understand.
She treated us to Chinese food and we hung out before she went to
work. I didn't get ahold of my cousins in Ohio so we decided to stay a
little longer. Me and Jordan went and saw knight and day at the movies
while Nikki worked. Then after she got off we all went back to nikkis.
Jordan passed out again and me and Nikki caught up. Sucks we haven't
talked much in the past three years but I was preoccupied with a g/f
and Nikki had an absolutely adorable child take up her time. The only
constant in the past 6-7 years was her, no matter what b/f she had or
g/f I had we always loved each other. We picked back up like not a
step was missed, and even got to have one of our goofy photo sessions
like the old days. I didn't want to but eventually fell asleep in her
bed...


June 30th

Leaving nikkis embrace in the morning was the hardest part of this
trip so far, but we had a schedule and had to keep moving on. I asked
Nikki to marry me and move to Colorado, which she declined. A boy can
dream can't he? A quick kiss and we were back on the road. We Headed
to Sandusky Ohio to go to cedar point amusement park. [Pennsylvania-
Ohio] the park was a ton of fun, we went on 4 roller coasters in the
limited time we had considering the long lines. The scary one for me
was over 300 feet tall with an 80* descent at over 80mph. I was scared
out of my mind on the way up, Jordan was laughing at me cause my eyes
were closed. Well anyways I got sick after the 4th one, a wooden one
that threw us around like a battered wife. So we decided to leave the
park and head for Chicago. We had a lot of driving ahead of us still.
Since I wasn't feeling good Jordan got to get in her first driving of
the trip. [ohio-indiana-illinois] We arrived in chicago around 9:00
(after time change) and stayed at aunt lindas and karis townhome. This
is when the road trip started getting to me an Jordan, we were
fighting like an old married couple... But got past it pretty quick


July 1st

We had breakfast with aunt Linda before heading out for the day. Got
on the train heading into the city (by this time me and Jordan had
become comfortable with train rides into big cities) where we met up
with cousin Kelly Ryan. She was to be our your guise of the city of
Chicago. We visited the bean in millenium park, and then walked along
lake Michigan (me and Jordans first time seeing the great lakes)
towards navy pier. We then headed to the taste of Chicago in grant
park and got to see the giant fountain that is from the show married
with children. From there we walked to the willis tower, formerly the
sears tower. We went to the 103 floor observation deck, and this was
the biggest test of my fear yet - a glass floor platform that extended
off the building. Holy shit was this the scariest thing I have done in
my life, stepping out on the platform and looking straight down. Got a
couple pics to document and then literally leaped back to safety and
hugged the inner walls. We left there and jumped back on the train out
of the city. Big thank you to cousin kelly who we had a lot of fun
exploring the city with. We then met up with aunt Linda and Kari and
went out to dinner with other family members that lived up there
(Ralph, Karen, Nancy, aunt Dell). Got to sleep kinda early cause we
planned on a lot of driving the next day


July 2nd

Probably the most uneventful part of the trip so far. The road has
drained us, and we decided that we wanted to make it to Denver as
quickly as possible to get out of this truck. so we were hard
determined to drive as far as we could til we got too tired. [illinois-
missouri] We stopped in st louis to take pics at the gateway arch
(sucks the line was too long to wait to go up in it). Headed back on
the road and stopped in Kansas city for some Mexican food for dinner.
Quickly back on the road heading through the exciting state of Kansas
[Missouri-Kansas]. Stopped in a hotel for the night, the first time on
the trip we weren't fortunate to have someone to stay with.


July 3rd

finally made it to denver after a 5 hour drive. [kansas-colorado]. what a relief it was to finally
make it to my destination. my new home. met up with brian and holly, the
only friends i have here, at their home. which is absolutely beautiful. we
went to where ill be living, with hollys sister melanie, and unloaded all my
stuff out of the truck... i was really surprised that the truck made it all
across the united states with no problems. We all went to a place called
Stuebens and it was wonderful. my first meal in my new home was
delicious. definately a plus. went back to brians and hung out for the rest
of the evening.


i dont really know what denver holds for me, but i really
am looking forward to tackling it with open arms. this is where my new
chapter begins... are you willing to come along for the ride?