Back to Sac!

I am finally back in Sacramento, after spending the last 5 1/2 days on the road! We were supposed to leave on Saturday morning, but because of a tropical disturbance we left Friday evening. My team leader, kelly, had been out of town from Wednesday till Friday, and was supposed to get back in at 11 Friday morning. I am ATL (assistant team leader) for this round, so i was pretty much left in charge. Here's how the day went down:

Kelly: I am still in Memphis, my plane still hasn't left, i don't know when i will get back. Will you call another team leader and get the addresses for the hotels on the road trip.
Me: Sure, Let me know when you are about to take off.
(i call Moe, another team leader and ask for the addresses)
Moe: Well, i don't have those, but we are staying in Alexandria tonight
Me: Alexandria? What? Tonight? what are you talking about?
Moe: Oh, you havn't been called, we are having to leave tonight because of the storm.

Soooo, i spent the next 45 minutes on the phone with 3 other team leaders, and my unit leader who finally called me to fill me in on what was going on. He wasn't too happy to hear that Kelly's flight was extremely delayed, but i assured him i thought she was in the air at this point, so she should be back around 2 (i hoped?). Luckily another team leader who's team was in Mississippi took care of the hotels for our teams for the night, and we went to Jackson the first night. Kelly eventually got in around 2:30 and we packed because we of course were not packed yet. We left by 5, which is pretty impressive packing if you ask me.

After the craziness of the leaving early the trip went as planned. We traveled with 2 other teams, Gold 3 and Gold 6. We didn't see the other teams except at the hotels at night. Or if we passed each other on the interstate. So here is how i spent the last 5 days.

Day 1: Jackson MS to Ardmore Oklahoma. We drove through northern Louisiana, into eastern texas, through Dallas and headed north just over the Oklahoma state line. Ardmore was not too impressive, but it wasn't the most remote place we've stayed.

Day 2: Ardmore OK, to Colby Kansas. I was pleasantly surprised with Oklahoma. I thought it would be pretty flat and boring. There wasn't a lot there, but the rolling grassy hills and farms/ranches were pretty. Central Kansas on the other hand was pretty unimpressive. I slept through half of it and was bored for the last half. Colby was a small town in western Kansas, 45 minutes from the Colorado border.

Day 3: Colby KS to Denver Colorado. This was the shortest driving day. It was a little less than 4 hours. The land remained pretty flat on the way to Denver. The mountains begin a little past Denver, but you could see them in the distance from the city. Denver is one of my stops on my trip home here in a little over a week, so i wasn't too worried about seeing the city. I spent the afternoon with Heather and Andy (2 people who are going on the trip home with me in a week). We walked around 16th street mall, which is a street that has lots of shops and department stores, an outside mall i guess you could say. There was seriously a starbucks on every 2 blocks. It was cloudy that day, so as the afternoon went on it got pretty chilly.

Day 4: Denver, CO to Salt Lake City Utah. This was probably my favorite drive of the trip. We went north from Denver, and hit Interstate 80 in Cheyenne Wyoming. Now, i don't know about you but for me, Wyoming has always sounded like this far off place where cowboys and indians roam. We stayed in southern Wyoming but the scenery was exactly like i pictured and had hoped it would be. I drove quite a chunk of that part, but i was picturing the pioneers in their covered wagons and the cowboys on their horses riding off into the sunset. It was a lot of fun! We stopped at a gas station along the way that actually was a town with a population of 1. Yes, 1. It was 2, like the postcards say, but the son left. LOL. Like Denver, I will be in Salt Lake City on the way home as well. The disaster team that was up in Wisconsin the last few weeks (that i had a teammate go to) ate dinner in Salt Lake City so my team leader and i went to join them. It was exciting to see Erin again. I have another good friend on the team as well, that i hadn't seen since summer break in May.

Day 5: Salt Lake City, UT to Sacramento CA!! The home stretch...the most boring day. Leaving Salt Lake City you hit about 25 miles of salt flats, which are pretty boring, except if you get out and play on them like Lindsay Kelly and I did. Once we hit Nevada though, there really wasn't much at all. It was a nice long 9 hour day. I didn't want to sleep much though, in case something cool came up. When will i get back to this part of the country again?

It has been nice to be back in Sacramento, on base, in my room with my wonderful roommate, Heather. I have a busy weekend coming up because my old roommate, and good friend Katherine is coming up to visit. I am looking forward to it, since i wasn't able to see her much while I was in LA during first round.

I will get some pictures of 4th round and the road trip up here next week, and will update you from my weekend travels/adventures then as well!
Hope everyone is doing well, and I hope everyone enjoys the season premier of Greys Anatomy tonight!! yay!!!