ROAD TRIP COMPLETED!

Okay, so, I lied...but I didn't mean to! Back a few weeks ago in June, my sisters, mother, and I went on a road trip driving all the way from California to East Tennessee, and I was posting each night at the hotels we were staying at along the way documenting all our adventures during each day. Well, I never talked about our last two days on the road like I said I would (and here it is already over two weeks later!), so here they are now!

June 22, our fourth day on the road, we left our hotel in Oklahoma City around midnight and made it to Arkansas by 6am. Around 9am, we stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House off the freeway. Normally we would wait to eat out once we were settled in a hotel and could leave our cat, Whiskers, and snake, Kaito, in a cool room, but we were hungry for something other than snacks and it wasn't hot out yet, so, as bad as it sounds, we left them in the car with the windows cracked and made a quick stop for food. I ordered their hashbrowns with onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes which was tasty (and quite frankly the only vegan option there anyway!). 

After breakfast, we were back on the road again and around noon were were in Tennessee! We stayed at a Motel 6 in Memphis and relaxed, and you can bet we cranked up the AC to the highest it could go! The humidity in Tennessee is terrible! It could be in the 70's but feel like it's over 100 degrees. After resting a while, we ate dinner at a nearby Olive Garden. I ordered the gluten-free rotini with tomato sauce, which was simple, yet delicious.

After a filling meal, we slept at the hotel (I kicked Kuyuki out of the bed I heard later from everyone) and we left the hotel around 1 am and was on the road again for the last time. We made it to our destination in Maryville, TN around 8am and had breakfast at Shoney's. The one we went to is across the street from where my sister and mom are moving to, and where I will be moving to next year. I ordered the no-meat buffet, and there I got a salad plate with spring mix lettuce topped with grape tomatoes, garbanzo beans, cucumber, radishes, and lemon juice, and another plate with orange slices, red grapes, green bell peppers, onions, green beans, and potato hash.

Though my mom and Kuyuki are moving to Maryville, we decided to stay in Louisville with our grandmother while my other sister Brianna and I are here until late July. And since two weeks has gone by since my last post, we have done plenty of things in between that I need to talk about in more posts! And I promise I won't let another two weeks go by. Talk again soon!

LANDING IN NASHVILLE

I love the feeling I get when I travel back home. Driving down country roads, getting to spend time with family so far away, and being surrounded with southern hospitality is always well appreciated. I am actually planning on moving back to Tennessee probably within the next two years. I've decided that after I'm done with community college, I want to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (of course I have to get accepted first). My plan is to become a vet and I've had my heart set on UTK's vet program since I was probably 15 or 16. It's also nice that it's the college both my parents went to. It'll be nice if it all works out and to be back home. But for now, I'm just visiting.

So Saturday comes along and it turned out to be a full day: wake up, get ready, do last-minute packing, had a late breakfast at 12pm, left the house at 1 to get to LAX by 3pm, check bags, get tickets, fool around with luggage (you know, the typical airport procedures), took off at around 5:30pm, had a flight change in Arizona, and finally arrived in Nashville at 1am the next day. Of course after all this, a stop for food was in order and the only thing open was the Waffle House, and funny enough, I'm not a fan of waffles. Luckily there were other things on the menu. We sat and talked, ate our food, just had as good of a time as you can when you're half asleep, and finally left the place at 3am. We got to my grandma's house in Adams around 4am. So naturally when I'm used to going to bed early and rising early, and I didn't make it to bed until 5am (the time I normally wake up), you can bet I was beyond exhausted!! Not to mention my sleep schedule was off for a while.

Two hours of sleep later, it was time to wake up again to get ready for church. I was tired but I loved waking up in my grandmother's home. I hadn't been to this part of Tennessee in 10 years. Most of my childhood memories are from this tiny house so it feels surreal to be back. After church, I played Mario (you're never too old for Mario) and Just Dance with my cousins, went out to eat at Cracker Barrel, went on a walk, and just took it easy today.

I'll be posting again tomorrow, so check back to see what we get up to.

Love from Tennessee,
Mickey


P.S...Happy Easter!