We're in Arkansas y'all!

I'm not sure if we were just glad to get out of Oklahoma City but we loved Arkansas! Oklahoma City was an interesting time. We thought our hotel was in a bad neighborhood but on further exploration, it seemed the whole city was a bad neighborhood. I'm sure we are wrong but if there is a nice area in town, we missed it. The actual state of Oklahoma was not bad, there just was not a lot to look at. There were quite a few famous people that came from OK, and when you ventured into their town, they reminded you constantly of that fact with signs and billboards. We drove through the birth place of Carrie Underwood, Garth Brookes and Troy Aiken. Arkansas was a nice change, it was very clean and the people could not have been friendlier.

Bye Oklahoma

A southern staple. Very yummy.

Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plain...

Oklahoma....wow.

Deep in the heart of Texas!

Roadtrip Confession #1: The Coyers run-in with the law...
We are not particularly fast drivers and lets face it, we are driving the Civic deeming high speeds nearly impossible. That being said while happily cruising down I40, I looked in the rear view mirror and lo and behold...a Texas Ranger. Yes, I got pulled over. His reason...I was 'slightly' speeding. After many apologies we were given a warning and sent on our way. At further inspection of our warning citation we made a curious discovery...we were cited for going 70mph in a 70 mph zone...hmmm. Go figure.

Amarillo, TX. This restaurant was recommended by our travel book and it did not disappoint. It was the best BBQ we've had in a while and the portions were HUGE. We could barely walk after.

Todd rating: C+, he said the road was a bit dull but the food was good

Shan rating: B, I thought Texas was fun, the people were nice (even the Ranger) and the food was awesome!

Welcome to New Mexico!

The view driving into Albuquerque

Welcome to the Grand Canyon state!

We are in Arizona and it is snowing! This is not the first time that we have been to Arizona and definitely not the first time that I have been here in the snow, however it still just doesn't seem right. We left San Clemente at 6am and 8 short hours later we were in about a foot of snow in Williams, Arizona. We knew that we would be dealing with cold weather at some point on the trip but we had no idea it would be so soon!

Yea!
Our first snow storm.

Todd had to take this picture :)

Williams, AZ. It was 22 degrees when we pulled in.

Snow and the Grand Canyon

Such a cutie!

It was such a clear day.

The WigWam motel in Holbrook, AZ. I remember driving by this as a child and always wanted to stay here. Todd said it resembled something from a horror movie so we decided to move on. It does look pretty cool though you have to admit.

Dinosaur statues were everywhere on the way to New Mexico. Many were quite scary. There wasn't much out there so we found these incredibly entertaining.

Rating: Overall we give Arizona an A. Any place where you can see the amazing Grand Canyon, stay in a teepee and be entertained by random dinosaur statues all in one day is a-ok in our book!

The Camero vs. the Civic

The decision to take the Civic has been met with many raised eyebrows so we've decided to explain ourselves. First we must compare the two cars:

Best looking vehicle: Camero

Faster vehicle: Camero (no question)

Vehicle with the most storage: Civic

Choice gas for Camero: Super Unleaded

Choice gas for the Civic: Unleaded

MPG for the Camero: 24

MPG for the Civic: 35

After reviewing this comparison we've decided not to be vain and take the Civic for our trip. The fine mechanics at California Motors echo our decision when they evaluated the Civic's performance and gave it the green light for our journey.

Our ride

Moving Day!

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I love having movers. This is the first time that we have had anyone do it and I think there is no turning back. IT WAS AWESOME. The packer showed up at 7:30 in the morning and packed like his life depended on it. Then the driver came and four short hours later our apartment was empty. I mean EMPTY. If it wasn't bolted down...they packed it. Goodness knows what we will find in the boxes when we get to Rhode Island but I don't care, it was SO cool! We weren't completely guilt-free however, Todd tried many times to help to no avail. They would only let us watch. To the fabulous people that saved us many hours of packing...thank you!

The apartment before: Filled to capacity

watching the packer