The Countdown Begins

One week to go!!!!

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Mees

Explosive Diarrhea

Just when i though things couldnt get worse. Literally got poop all down my shirt. I was scooping green poop off of my shirt. I had to throw my shirt away at work. FUN.. Just another day where i wish my trip has begun. Mostly because i keep spending money and i feel like it has gone no where since i have yet to use the things i have bought. My last two purchases have been really exciting ones. I just got a Nikon D3100 DSLR! My first manual/p&s camera. YAY! I’m so excited to learn how to use it. I also bought a backpacking pack.

Amongst other things, the travel date has changed. We are now scheduled to leave July 2nd because the Car rental place is not open on Sunday’s.

Mees

Projectile Vomit

The above title is what happend on me today, but it’s cool. I got to go home for the rest of the day and spend more money on clothes for the trip.

Some new advances have been made. My aunt graciously suggested to contact Princeton Alumni, to see if we can crash at their homes. There are so many nice people willing to let us stay. I’m only skeptical about being murdered by a maniac. Anyway, we’re doing it lol. If anything, I can network. Seems the only way to get a job now.

As of now we’re sprucing up our itinerary, and trying to get everything in order.

Our new route:

http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=1-dOM5K0qC

Can’t wait for July 3rd!

Mees

Progression

I finally feel like things are moving along in terms of planning. We’re getting a lot done, yet there still a lot more to do. Ugh. We’ve revised our overall plan for the better. We got a month long rental van, so now we don’t have to deal with flying. It cut a big chunk of our money though. It’s the best way to go about this trip as we get to experience more this way, and its just going to be much easier overall.

I’ve started shopping around for things that I need for this trip. So far I got the HTC Thunderbolt, hiking shorts, and a few knick knacks. Still have a lot more money to spend! It’s been difficult and stressful trying to get everything together and ready. I can’t wait for this trip to start!!!

Mees

Getting Excited!!!

So I have officially finished finals! Tonight is the honors ceremonies. I’m getting inducted into Sigma Iota Epsilon and Mu Kappa Tau! I celebrated with purchasing a pair of PJ bottoms from Victoria’s Secret…theyre roadtrip themed!!! I had to buy it, it was worth the $35!

Mees

Meesy Phone Home

Meesy Phone Home

This post is gonna be a little off topic, but it kinda has to do with the trip so I’m writing down my thoughts here anyhow.

For a while, I’ve been waiting for the most perfect smartphone to come out..since I’m up for a contract renewal i’ve been waiting for-ev-er. I waited and waited for the iPhone to hit verzion. I didnt get it right away because i figured i’d wait for the iPhone 5. Plus the whole not being flashplayer capable is not cool..Well regardless, the 5 is not coming out til September and i cant possibly wait that long. I need a smartphone for this trip. I think its best i get a smart phone that is capable of being a hotspot, which is why im favoring the idea of getting the HTC Thunderbolt.

Since i have absolutely no knowledge of android phones or software, I have relied on a heavty amount of googling to find answers and information.

I hate to buy a phone that is the first of any kind. First generation devices always face complications. I dont wanna be on this trip, lost, with a dead phone.

I’ve found out some interesting information about the Thunderbolt. There may be some conflict with the face talk feature…since skype doesnt come pre-installed. Also, there are apps that i can not delete..which i guess is no big deal if i have a lot of memory. Other than the fact that 4g is a rareity, it will be expanding, and therefore having a quick phone all the time will be awesome.

Mees

Francisco, that's a fun name to say...Francisco

After a quasi hectic couple of weeks, my cousin and I finally sat down and discussed a route. Keep in mind his brain was fried from partying all weekend, and I am exhausted from playing in a two day field hockey tournament which ended, to my dismay, with a minor concussion. My short term memory is shot and I get confused—-I’m confused now trying to make sure this makes sense!! Needless to say this won’t be the most fluid of blog entries, but I’ll re-edit everything once I’m all better.

We began by figuring out where our starting point was…We’re waiting to figure out transportation later after emailing parents and relatives, which we decided would be good ole Central Jersey. Our thinking was it will be easier to do a Costco trip from there, and hopefully we’ll guilt ourselves into getting some extra cash from the grandparent’s lol.

From Jersey, we figured we wanna get to Chicago. So we now route our trip from Jersey to go through Pittsburg. We’ll crash there for the night with some of his friends, and explore the city a bit. Then we’ll move on to Cleveland, through Toledo to Detroit to Ann Arbor. Hopefully in Ann Arbor we’ll find some UMich kids to crash with.

From Ann Arbor we’ll head to Peoria, Springfield, and St. Louis. From St. Louis we’ll go further south to Memphis, Jackson, then New Orleans or NOLA (New Orleans Louisiana) as my cousin types it.

Now, this is where it can get a bit confusing. I’m going to post a link to show you the route we have mapped out… But from NOLA we’ll catch a plane to LAX where we’ll stay with my Aunt and Uncle and Cousins for a day. We’ll pick up their van and start the west coast portion of our journey. From LA, we’re heading north to San Francisco, which I am very excited about. This west coast trip will hopefully consist of a lot of camping and hiking adventures, in addition to the horse farm we’re going to try to stay at. The only conflicting thing here is getting camping equipment. East coast camping we’re planning on borrowing in Princeton’s camping stuff.

From San Fran, we’re going to Portland Oregon, then Seattle—-We haven’t heard where this horse farm is, but we’ll either go there on our way to Seattle or after leaving Seattle. From there Spokane, down through east Montana hitting up Yellowstone National Park, through Idaho, Salt Lake City, to Vegas (which I’m thinking we’ll probably cut out) maybe Lake Havasu if we do Vegas, then to Phoenix and back to LA. In LA we’ll drop off the van and head back to LAX and fly back to the car in NOLA. From NOLA, we’ll begin our journey home. Heading first to Mobile AL, Pensacola FL, ATL, Knoxville TN, Charlottesville VA (crashing at his friends), then dropping me off in Bawlmer.

This trip, if we can do it, will hopefully cost no more than $6 grand.

Envisioning The Packing Phase

I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, but I can’t shake the curiosity of what I may prospectively pack. So I started jotting down a few things just to get an idea of what I might need, and also for my own amusement. I divided the packing up into a few sections.

Mapping out (A process we’ve yet to begin, but just to give you an idea of where I’ll be headed, and if you have any suggestions or places to crash comments are more than welcome!)

1. Chicago
2. Yellowstone National Park
3. New Orleans
4. Somewhere around the Great Lakes
5. Seattle
6. LA
7. San Francisco
8. Albuquerque

Included in the mapping out part is the where the hell are we sleeping part.

• We’ll need to find places to stay, cheap motels and things just to get a rough estimate of costs
• We plan on doing a bit of camping hence the choice locations. It’ll be a fun addition to the trip, and hopefully will decrease the cost.

Prior to the Trip…

• I’m envisioning a shopping spree at Costco and Target to gather some travelling supplies like food, laundry detergent, other provisions. Non perishables will help us get through a lot of the trip. Whatever that will be able to make it through the heat in car is coming!
• We’ll need to get a first aid kit and a roadside kit, flashlights.. just to be safe
• I wanna learn to change a tire, and maybe any other simple car things that if we are not near a WiFi hot spot, we can do ourselves without looking it up.

That’s all I can think of now. If you have done an extensive road trip, and would like to give any input, please do! I would love to know what places worth going to!

Mees

What Are You Doing This Summer?

That was the first question my cousin typed to me on facebook chat. I responded with a dull. “Well, mostly nothing. Since there are no job prospects, I’m going back to my job I've had since high school, and coaching in the fall until something comes up.” Little did I know my cousin was about to drop an atomic bomb of fun on my summer.

“Do you wanna go on a month long road trip with me in July? All expenses paid.”

My jaw drops. “YES! Absolutely, omg! This is an ideal graduation trip..what’s the catch??” It sounds too perfect to be true.

“Well, you’d have to do most of the driving.”—well duh, my cousin doesn’t have his license yet. He goes on to explain that he’s gonna get his license before the trip, but obviously we know how comfortable new drivers are on the road. *(Update, Sean never got his license, I drove the ENTIRE trip)* Especially with long distance driving and driving in strange cities. By “bulk of the driving” he means, he’ll drive in comfortable places. Totally fine by me, being in 2 badass-totalled car- car accidents, trusting drivers, especially new ones is always a concern of mine.

Immediately I was down. My status was updated “post college destination: EVERYF**KINGWHERE!”. I was surprised at the amount of likes this status got, considering it was a pretty vague post. I think people got the jist of it, I’m not trying to remain in HoCo for the summer.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical for things to come. Not of the trip itself, but of work, job offers/opportunities. I’d just spoke with my boss not more than 2 weeks prior in agreement to return to work a week after I graduate. How the heck am I gonna get out of this? Well so far, I still haven’t talked to my boss to discuss my month long absence. Though, it is the least of my concern. *(Update: I talked to my supervisors who were really cool, gave me the time off, and were excited for me.)

The most concern is planning this trip. Work, I can handle. I plan on working til July, then being done for the summer. Hopefully work will be well staffed for the summer. And hopefully, if by August 15, if I still do not have a job, I hope they’ll take me back post-trip (even with the erratic hours I’ll be able to work while coaching my second season of JV girls field hockey). *Update: Everything worked out with work. I returned to work, working the morning hour shift to allow for my afternoons to be free for coaching.*

Ultimately, I’m gonna see what happens next weekend. Once I get to speak face to face with my cousin, and we begin planning the actual trip.

That is all for now. I’ll post more probably next weekend, after some of the planning is completed. Look forward to hearing about our road trip’s destination!

Cheers,

Mees