poconos? pocoYES! or, our journey begins...

Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

so, according to the research i have done in seventh grade, and again recently, most cross country travelers in the 19th century began their journey no later than april. we are starting off in early october. i really hope that we don't get stuck in some mountains and have to eat one another, ala the donner party.

so. we didn't get ont he road till 11:00, b/c ryan had to ship some final packages (that i told him to ship before i even came out), and whitney had to talk for an hour. but we finally got started.

we stopped for lunch in the poconos, which always makes me laugh because i had a seventh grader who went there for vacation, but when i asked him where the poconos was, he said, "mmmmm... i think it's the mountains or something." for the record, it's in pennsylvania, which is BEAUTIFUL in early october. here are some pictures of the leaves, and also some pictures ryan took of me driving. this was his favorite thing to do; there are a LOT of pictures of me driving places.

we made it from rocky hill, NJ to cleveland OH, including getting horribly lost in cleveland ghettos, only the first ghetto we will get lost in.

we finally got directions at a gas station from a guy with a million tattoos, including a star on his elbow. we call him "star elbow sneech." see if you get the reference....

our hotel was next to a mexican restaurant, which was surprisingly goo, considering it was near the airport, and very cheap. we think it was somewhat authentic, as there were lots of hispanic patrons.

NEW SLANG: wide-stancers. like larry craig. as in, "i bet this rest stop attracts som wide stancers."

HOT TIP: when traveling cross country, stop in a rest area in each state to pick up handy coupons for hotels, food, and more. you also should talk to the attendants, if there are any. more on that in south dakota...