An Expected Journey (Part 2)

Sunday June 7th, 2021 is the day we say goodbye to our home in Florida. Our SUV is completely packed to the point of hindering visibility. Plus, hauling a four wheeler and a few plastic boxes that we got at Walmart are strapped along with it. The plan is to somehow make an over 10 hour drive to my mum’s house in east Texas. She does it every time on her own but with kids and 3 dogs making potty stops every 2 hrs could be pushing it. We do a last walkthrough to make sure we’re not missing anything. I stop at the now empty living room area and reminisce on the time we first fell in love with the home, those wooden beams on wide vaulted ceilings. I’m gonna miss this. I walk out the front door and make my way to the vehicle. I added my story to FB saying goodbye to our home.

I drive and drive and guess what?

I drive some more.

Every stop we make is to relieve ourselves, snacks, and to get gas. The route took us through Wichita Falls, TX. We used to live there back when I was in Air Force tech school. It’s funny that this trip is making us go through every place we’ve lived for the past 5 years, it feels like a recap. After a total of 13 hrs on the road we finally arrived at our destination around 9:30 pm; extremely exhausted. We were supposed to get back on the road early the next morning but there was no way, so it didn’t take much for my mum to convince us to stay and relax. I couldn’t help but to feel nostalgia as I recall when we first moved here from Puerto Rico. I came here by myself and in two months I was able to secure a full-time job, a car, and a house to rent. Then, I was able to bring my family from P.R. I believe that opportunities arise when one is willing to put in the effort and sacrifice.

Anyways, our plan is to get to WA in five days; one down and four to go. We can still make it if we drive at least 8hrs a day. After a well deserved day of rest we were ready to head back to it. Our next stop would be Amarillo, T.X. Honestly we wanted to go further but Texas is so large that 8 hours would only take us so far. Every night I would research hotels based on their rates, pet friendly, pet fees, if they allowed more than 2 pets per room, hotel reviews and the overall safety in the area. I went ahead and booked our stay at “La Quinta Inn” for an affordable $79 dollars a night and as we arrive at our room I’m appalled. The smell slaps me in the face and the stain filled carpet is all over the room. I am afraid to touch anything and we are too tired to deal with it. 

The AC keeps shutting off throughout the night, plus there’s people passing by and talking loudly right outside our door, upsetting my dogs every time. I keep my gun close and check my car and trailer regularly through the second floor window. This is such a shithole, I am too pissed off to sleep. I get on my phone to research our next stay and shoot for higher nightly rate and better reviews, I guess you get what you pay for right? 

It’s early morning and we’re on the road for hours before passing through Colorado. The scenery changes to a more pleasant view of the Rocky Mountains, trees, and awesome escarpments; I’ve never seen anything like it. I took a risk at our next stay. Yes; you guessed it, another La Quinta Inn but this time they’re suites. The reviews are great, everything was nice and clean. After a well deserved good night’s sleep we continued to our next destination, Salt Lake City, UT.

All we see is desert. Don’t get me wrong there are some impressive views but I honestly expected more.

Everything looks the same on a two lane road that seems like it has no end. Passing through Utah is the most boring, dull ride with nothingness that stretches as far as the eye can see. We were so glad to arrive at our hotel. I get us checked in and to be honest, this is the best room we’ve had so far, here at the Best Western Inn. We have a separate room, living room, Kitchen and a full bath. The first hotel stay where the complimentary breakfast was actually breakfast and not freaking muffins with an apple and water. I understand it’s due to Covid but I don’t care, I want the breakfast that’s advertised.

I wake up, do the laundry, take the dogs out to do their business while my wife makes the coffee and prepares everything for me to load up into the car. This routine gets old real quick. As I load the bags to the car I see a note on my windshield and it reads “You’re a real slut taking up the parking like that”. A slut? Who says that? I honestly couldn’t get offended being called a slut, if anything I’m just annoyed that this asshole touched my wiper to leave the note. The night before I asked the hotel receptionist where I could park with my trailer and I followed her instructions. I mean, yes I parked farther away horizontally across like four parking spaces but it was completely empty yesterday, but early this morning it was packed. I’m pretty sure the note was left by the truck that’s parked in front, blocking me so that I can’t get out. I wrote in the note “Your momma” but then realized how childish it is. I’m worried that this person did something to sabotage my vehicle or trailer, so I performed a full inspection. I look at the tires, trailer, underneath the chassis, and hitch connection, everything looks good so on we go.

We have two options; one that can take us through Portland, OR which they say has a great view all the way but It would take 3 hrs longer; or the shortest route through Baker City. We went with the shortest and the plan is to stay in Ontario, OR. We sacrificed the opportunity to see more but it has been a long long ride and we just want it to be over. Nothing really important or memorable happened during our stay here but good news! We are just seven hours away from WA! 

Today is the sixth day on the road since we left our home in Panama City, Florida. My GPS says six hours and thirty seven minutes until arriving at our destination and that makes my foot heavy on the gas. Two hours later we are starving and we want to pee but irrationally we push through. We hold out for one more hour but that’s it, we make a stop at a gas station. I can tell we are close, the gas prices are getting higher, I used to fill up my tank for forty dollars back in Fl and here I’m spending sixty.

My lower back is killing me, my elbows hurt; why do my elbows hurt!? Also my knees and ankle ache. I haven’t had a decent poop in days, I know I’m a diva but now that we’re finally entering WA I feel I can finally bitch. This has been a huge undertaking, a major cross country trip should be experienced in comfort and not like this. We would’ve had more options if we had more days to explore and take it easy, but I received a great job offer that gave us little time to prepare.

Now that we are in WA there’s still 3 hrs left to reach our destination at Everett before the asteroid destroys the world! No, I’m just messing with ya’ll but I will continue our story in part 3 of “An Expected Journey”. Can’t wait to see if it’s all what we’re hoping it to be.