Last day - Dawson Springs to Nashville

I can't decide if I look younger..... but what about that other chin. That is why I have had facial hair for so long.

Day 27 - Dawson Springs to NASHVILLE

Aside from from catching the ferry in Haines, the only other deadline we had to make is getting back to Dawson Springs for the annual Dawson Spring BBQ. People come back from all over to be there for the weekend. There are usually class reunions and the town comes alive. I picked BBQ once before and I remember it being so fun and this year was even more fun. We brought the dogs a bone that they loved.

The last day! I am so excited that we were blessed to live out a dream. The power of getting the opportunity to even try to a dream.......... And then to complete it. It has been overwhelming both physically and emotionally.

I told Jolie the other day that it was so awesome to travel with her. We have the same ideas and beliefs and she made the trip for me. I have told her several times that I could not have done it without her. I could not have gotten up every day and ridden 400 miles, through the pain and fatigue.

It was so awesome to roam again. I spent a good part of my 20's roaming and exploring. I would pack the car and have everything I needed to survive, and here I am again in my mid-thirties on the move. I never thought this would happen. It has been fun, educational, hard, terrifying and just perfect.

There was always the dilemma to hurry up and get there vs. slow down enjoy this..... take more picture, stop where I want to stop, breath and relax and enjoy.

All and all this experience has been monumental for me and for us. We caught up with alot of friends and saw some amazing stuff.

I can wait to be a part of Jolie's dream.
Thanks for being a part of this with us. We appreciate you tons.
Sam

Day 26 - Dawson Spring, Kentucky Home sweet home

Amos (aka smasmos)

Day 26- Dawson Springs, KY ("A Very Special Place")

Went to bed about 2:30 am - so excited to be here that we sat up "visiting" with mom until late- but slept til noon today...awesome.

Woke up, did some sorting out stuff, woke sam up about 1:30 pm and went to see 2 of the nephews- Chance and Colten. I guess we were so excited to see them that we completely forgot to take the camera. So, no pictures of 2 of the cutest boys ever.

Chilled with them for a couple of hours- ate a late lunch with them and then headed back into town to the community center to help mom finish setting up for the meat pulling (BBQ) that takes place in the morning. Then, back to mom's for a fantastic dinner- roast, mashed potatoes, fresh squash, corn.... my mom is a great southern cook and I've been looking forward to this meal for a few weeks now. It was everything I had dreamed it would be. Then my brother Greg and his family came out and "visited" with us for a while at mom's. So good to see them all. He has 4 kids, but we only got pictures of the girls- too cute for words.

As always, it was great to see all my family- that's one thing that I don't love about being in Nashville... I would really like to see the fam on a daily basis because i really do love them all that much.

OK, time for bed- early morning tomorrow and i need all the beauty sleep I can get.

Night-
Jolie

Day 25 Dawson Springs

Day 25: Elk City, Oklahoma to Dawson Spring, Kentucky

Woke up after a great night sleep in a nice Best Western.... Although a short sleep, it was real good. Over slept and got a little late start, but we were still on the road by like 9am. Stopped off at Walmart and Jolie got a few shirts. Tried to get on the interstate, but the on ramp was to the west bound lanes. Drove 7 miles and turned around. We hoped this was not a start to a bad day. Any day with Sam will be a good one.

Drove a few miles and stopped back by a trading post we stopped at a couple weeks ago. Got a nice pair of steer horns for over the mantel.

More driving, I napped while Jolie drove all day. I took over the helm at Tulsa after a better than average chicken sandwich. Every.... say...... 9 minutes I ran of the road (by mistake... seriously), hit the velcro and woke Jolie up. The third time I asked her...... "Hey since you are up can you get me some crackers?"

I drove to Current River..... a wide place in the road in MO where we stopped for a bbq sandwich and gas. .

Jo drove the rest of the way to Dawson Springs. We got in about 11:30. Yey !
We made it.

We will be home to our babies on Friday night. Yeah!

-Sam

DAY 25 cont.

So, he says he didn't mean to run off the road, but seriously.... it only happened right after i fell asleep.

I'm so excited to be at my momma's. This is the place that will always be home to me ( i have 2 homes- the one Sam and i have made and also my mom's).

tired and going to bed-
Jolie

Day 24 - Holbrook, AZ to Western Oklahoma

Napping Sam..... notice my mouth is open and crossed hands.

One of the rain storms that followed us.

Day 24 - Holbrook, AZ to Western Oklahoma

So.... Jolie briefly mentioned last night about the room. If you can imagine the 50's or 60's cruising Route 66 in some (now) classic V-8 car, with the top down, a scarf, well dressed man with cool sunglasses.... this is one of the places you would stayed. It still had the same sheets, towels and drapes. Not that it smelled bad, but I am still itching all over from the bed. Jolie did not sleep under the covers. And she used her shirt to put over the pillow (that was also original).

We both slept like crap, but woke-up to a beautiful Arizona morning. The sun was out and a cool breeze motivated us to get going.

I napped for about 2 hours after a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit from the golden arches.

As we headed east in the New Mexico highlands, the views were cool. Took a side trip up to Santa Fe to hang there for lunch. We looked around at all the street vendors and up to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi that was established in 1610. Real cool interior and just as beautiful outside.

Left and headed south a catch back up with I-40. Along the way we had two storms, on both sides following us. Real cool clouds.

Jolie tried to take a nap, but I freaked out when we almost ran out of gas, I started scrambling for the map and woke her up. Her nap was only about 7 minutes long. It is cool, she only drove like 549 of our 650 miles.

To Amarillo...... my buddy Stephen (Curtis Champan.... aka The hardest working man in showbiz) had told me years ago about this place called Cadillac Ranch.... A guy planted all these old cars into the ground, in the middle of a field. I saw them on our way through the first time, but didn't want to take the time to stop. We got there after dusk, but still made some pretty pictures (I think) under moonlight.

Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Waffle House.

Now we are still on the road getting as far as we can tonight before the last day on the road to Dawson Spring, Kentucky. All roads lead to Dawson Springs.....

Yeh!

Sam

update- we stopped for the night in Elk City, Oklahoma. Much nicer digs than last night- whew!!
-jolie

DAY 23- Long Beach, CA to Holbrook, AZ

Day 23 Long Beach, Cali. to Holbrook, AZ via the Grand Canyon

Great day. Got up at 6 am with Ross as he took his pup out for their morning walk. Got a showered, dressed and ready for the complimentary breakfast. Had oatmeal and cereal and we were out the door. Caught traffic almost all the way out, but we were going away from town so it was not bad. Not anywhere close to how bad it was on the way into LA. We were out of California by 9:30 and rocking into Arizona pretty quickly. We got on I-40 at the beginning of the interstate (kinda weird.... I have never thought about where I-40 begins) and started our journey east.

Cut off to head north the the Grand Canyon. I was not too excited...... I didn't know what to expect. We paid the 25 bucks to get in and headed strait to the visitors center. Saw another ridiculous sign.... like the one of a person standing on old faithful.....This one talked about heat exhaustion and that you could die....... Too funny.

The first pull off we were both blown away. I mean I was like......... Holy Moly! It was so amazing..... I have used the word breathtaking when referring to other stuff, but......

Our plan was to cruise the park in an hour or so, but 3 and a half hours later we were on the road. That is still real fast.... We only saw the South and east sides. Even caught the sunset there.... gorgeous!!!

We exited out the east side and cruised to Flagstaff where we were craving vegetables from Cracker Barrel. So good. Got out of there about 10pm local time and headed on to toward Holbrook... smaller spot in the road.... really old motel room but really cheap too!!! When we checked in the lady said, "queen bed, clean room, nothing fancy, nothing new." And boy howdy, she wasn't lying. The good news is- there is a tv and "turner and hooch" are on it.

eastward bound-
Sam and Jolie