Priceless:

So to add to what Holly has summed up:

Casualties: 1.  chip in the windshield, thanks to Schreeveport, Louisana
                   2.  construction on the road 40 miles from home
                   3.  standing on a bridge waiting for dusk to see a bunch o bats fly out from under it?

Priceless points:  1. Spending  10 days with Holly discussing everything from the meaning of life to
                                 sharing "stories" from Mom's point of view
                             2. Actually finding our way to places and family without getting lost
                             3. Spending the night with Bob and family in Memphis
                             4. Spending the night with Lazoroski's, so it really was summer
                             5. Getting home to see Steve,
                             6.  Talking to Katie and seeing grandbabies, and Meghan and Matt

It was a trip to remember, it was fun, glad we are not trying to drive across the states of Louisana, Alabama this week, seeing parts of the country I haven't before and there are very pretty parts of those states that I didn't think there was. It was a lot greener then I thought it would be. I will take our "hot" to Texas "hot" any day. And no matter where you go there is always someone from good ole New York. There really is such a thing as "Southern hospitality" cause we experienced it.

Thanks to Holly for suggesting this, but especially thanks to my fantastic husband, cause without his support this would not have happened. Love you, Robin

And then there were none

Well we have reached the end of our journey and officially made it back to NY in one piece. The last couple of days have been pretty mentally draining. Mom and I both wanted to just be back home and not in the car anymore. When we left Tennessee we had planned to scoot over to Asheville, NC  to visit with my friend Amy from Culinary School. Unfortunately she was traveling back from the West Coast and her flight was cancelled. :( Needless to say that was quite sad as it has been way too long since we've seen each other and we were so fracking close. Oh well one of these days we will see each other! So instead of going over to North Cakalaki we instead started the long trek up 81 North to Syracuse. Spending last night in Virginia... where after 8 days Mom finally took a perfect picture of the state sign and it also makes for a lovely self portrait... I on the other hand did a shitty job of taking the Alabama sign so you will just have to trust us that we went through that state.

We left Virginia this morning with only a six hour drive ahead of us! We decided to take a detour in Hershey, PA to pick up some candy and souviners for the folks back home. Well silly me, it's a Saturday in August, that quick trip turned into an hour. I was content though, I had me some candy and was heading home. Heres a heads up to anyone that has any burning desire to travel through Pennsylvania in the summer time, they love them some road construction. You think you're safe traveling on Saturday?! Oh no, no that shoot you down to one lane of traffic when you are 40 miles from Binghamton, NY or 110 miles from home... awesome, that's an hour of my life and 10 miles that I won't be getting back anytime soon. Oh and to top that off all the colleges are moving back this weekend. We did finally make it back to CNY this afternoon and are settling back into stationary life (well at least a week of it for me) for a bit.

 

The Final Numbers are approximately this:

Number of States Traveled Through or in: 14 (almost 15.. no NC)

Which are: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Georgia (for like 20 miles), West Virginia, Maryland, and New York (Obvi)

Approximate total miles: 3800

 

Oh and in case ya'll are wondering... no I'm not moving to Texas.

 

Rode Hard and Put Away Wet

Today was a tough day, we've been on the road now for 7 straight days (pretty much) and unless you have done it, you really don't know what it feels like. I am mentally exhausted and tired of sitting in the car. As Mom has observed I get punchy around 5pm everyday which is usually the 8 hour marker. Mom has been a trooper throughout all this putting up with my attitude, and we've had some great conversations about life, happiness, and all the in between.

Needless to say this morning we started off in Jackson, Mississippi and ended tonight in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Right down the road from Dollywood... someplace I never would have seen if it weren't for this trip. But there are some crazy amazing views, go figure.

Literally the view out of our hotel room window.

 

What State are we in? What time zone? Is this America?

Texas is a big ass state. period.

 

Looking at the trusty USA road map it looks big, but driving clear across it, takes a long ass time. Like I've seen more ranches, cows and rando Texan towns for at least a couple of years. We did however get to see an amardillo, it was belly up dead in the middle of the road, but we saw one gosh darnnit..and no I did not get a picture of it. Just in case you were wondering. We did get pictures of oil rigs going for oil.

Palestine, Texas... Mom and I both looked at each other and went, "Okay, we're going to Palestine, sweet"

I finally got a picture of the speed limit signs, I'm not entirely sure how we will re-adjust to the ole' 65 mph of the great ole' North, but hopefully we can re-adjust quickly.

Once we got out of Texas we crossed through Louisiana, and on into Mississippi where we are crashing and burning before heading up to Asheville.

 

And to get you all laughing this is what I looked like once we got to the hotel, yes I have a computer case on my head, and yes I am on my computer... keeping it classy in Jackson. Over and Out....

Going Batty

Please don't forget to scroll down and read Mom's post that all these pictures are going to push down. Anyway so last night we had a nice dinner out in downtown Austin. Fancy BBQ at a place called Lamberts, really good. Walked down to wait with a few 100 of our new friends for the bats to come out. By far one of the weirdest things that I have participated in.... like ever. While we were waiting we had a few photo ops... obviously.

All the people waiting for the bats....

My photographic attempt at capturing the bats... clearly not so fabulous.

Willie Nelson is from Austin and there is a large statue of him downtown... lovely photo as always.

Today we headed west on Texas 290 towards Fredericksburg and the "Hill Country". Fredericksburg is this little haven of German settlers (no idea how or why they ended up in Central Texas but there you go) Along the way we stopped at this Wildflower place where there were rows and rows of wildflowers and plants.

A stop at the Fredericksburg Brewery where their motto is "Vote for Less Government and More Beer" now that's a campaign I could support.

Also it was Asshole day at the five and dime in town, I found it completely imperative to put on the largest cowboy hat I could find and force my mom to take my picture.... profile pic anyone?!

Granted on our way back into Austin we didn't time it very well and ended up hitting the city right at 5 o'clock... so we sat in traffic.... for a long time... enough to take some pictures of passing street signs.... only the good ones of course.

Finally I will leave you all with my Texas observation... it's f'ing hot. Don't get me wrong I like warm weather but this is oppressive and that is all. Dear Texas you are a lovely state but I don't think it's going to work out long term, we had a nice fling but I think for the forseeable future that is all it will be.. Love Holly :)

Is it really only Tuesday?

Holly and I have had a great time these past few days. Lucky for me she has her father's built in GPS and has been doing all the driving these past few days. The road system in Texas is interesting. So last night we had a good dinner downtown at Lambert's- one of the restaurants "Craig" told us about. BBQ and dessert. Then since we were downtown we walked over to the bridge that crosses Lady Bird Lake and waited for the bats! Yes, apparently the bats from Mexico stay under this bridge and at dusk they all come flying out. Well- I had about decided to give it up, but then, yup, they all started flying out. It is one of those things you do and then wonder- did I really just do that. Unfortunately you will all just have to take our word for it since being dark NO PICTURES.  Thanks for watching. Robin

When I die I want to go to Guacamole Heaven

Started our second day in Austin by....sleeping in, well we tried at least... unfortunately Austin is in Central time so it's an hour behind what we are used to. We decided to take it easy today by heading down to South Congress Avenue where all the happy happy hipsters hang out. I had in my mind that I was going to go to Allen's Boots and buy myself a pair of cowboy boots. When in Rome right? Ha, well the boots are gorgeous and all hand made and with that beauty comes a hefty price tag. One of which I can't justify to anyone... As in like $400 plus big ones. So I took a picture instead...

Below are some views along Congress Ave. The shops were pretty funky, lots of Mexican influences and South American influences.

 Also we found a little village of food trucks. It seems as though in Austin the food trucks aren't trucks so much as trailers that take up residence in little parking lots throughout the city for your dining pleasure.

The state house was directly down Congress and I in all my tourist glory snapped a picture whilst driving.

Before I left Providence last week, the people that were moving into my old apartment house told me that when I went to Austin I haaaad to go to the Iron Cactus Resturant because they make the best guacamole tableside. Well we happened to find it (without looking) right on 6th Street so we decided to give it a go for lunch. Needless to say Mom was in guac heaven.... plus we watched our new friend Waiter Craig make it so we got the recipe in mind for when we get home. Secret ingredient = freshly squeezed orange. Intreging ain't it?!

Austin is Weird

Woke up outside of Dallas after a great time catching up with the Lazoroski's minus the mystery husband. We left this morning keeping the mystery of Ellen's husband alive and kicking. Of course we had to get them to send a corny message to Dad back in NY. Thanks so much for having us and as mom says it now feels like summer cause she got to see Ellen and the kids. Thanks so much guys!

We headed south on I-35 towards Austin. Got to drive right by Dallas, even spotting a Santandar building (which only makes you chuckle if you worked with me at Sovereign in Rhode Island). No hard feelings Mom didn't get why I was laughing either. Highways in Texas are these strange beasts that are like 8 lanes wide and millions of on and off ramps. It's nothing like we are used to in the north.

We finally made it to Austin by mid afternoon and decided to head right to 6th street where apparently all the bars are. Not so interesting at 2:30 on a Sunday. Would probably be more exciting on a weekend night but alas got some "Austin is Weird" t-shirts and laughed at some of the names of the bars. Including the following "Peckerheads Pizza"... had to be a tourist and take a pic. Love the name!

Also thanks to Ellen we got to try Shiner beer, which is brewed in Texas and is actually quite delicious. Mom and I grabbed a 6 pack tonight and I'll be grabbing a few cases to bring back up north before we leave Te-has. Funny story of the day, Mom and I decided to grab a pizza and some beers to have in the hotel tonight instead of having chain food for dinner. Well we decided to go to Walmart for the beers. Holy Texas Scariness! Not only was it Walmart (which is scary enough) but apparently it was tax free weekend and maybe school starts tomorrow?! because there was a shit load of people at the Wonderful World of Wally this evening. On top of that stereotypes abound at Walmart. Obese in the north does not hold a flame to obese down here. Anyhoo, glad to hear from some peeps that they are enjoying the seeing the pics and reading about our trip. Will keep posting!

Te-has

Well we made it to Texas... best part of the south, the speed limit is 75... which is amazeballs. Us silly northerners stick with the 65 mph limit, well you don't know what you've been missing. We left Tennessee  this morning after getting to spend some time with Mom's brother Bob and his family outside of Memphis. Great to catch up with family that we have not seen in almost 10 years! Hard to believe it's been so long. Left this morning to head out to get to our family friend's house outside of Dallas by tonight. Apparently Texas never rains in August but yet it is raining today. We're hanging out for a bit tonight and tomorrow before heading down to Austin tomorrow afternoon to spend a few days in Texas. I never realized it really doesn't take that long to get pretty far.  Mom's looking forward to being able to unload the car and sit still for a couple of days. 

Gettin' Lucky in Kentucky

Day late and a dollar short. Yesterday we left Columbus, Ohio and headed south to catch up with an old culinary school friend April. We could have stayed and talked longer but were heading south to Nashville and Memphis. The best part of this trip thus far has been being able to catch up with old friends. Maybe we won't wait three years next time!

 Cincinnati,Ohio 

Onward to Kentucky! Getting Lucky in Kentucky. For such a small state it took us a long a** time to get through... to the point where I was bored and writing and sending notes off to people. 

Finally made it to Tennessee and headed south to Nashville... and decided to continue on our musical tour by visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Some pictures of Broadway in Nashville... interesting view at 2:30 in the afternoon.