Monday, August 9, 2010

So The Story Continues...

It's been a few days since I updated last. We are in Missouri now waiting to get loaded now, so we'll be here for about 4 hours. Over the past few days we have traveled about 2100 miles from the bottom of the US to the top! Thursday, we left Avondale and headed for Michigan. We went from Kalamazoo, Michigan (yeah, that's right, I was in Kalamzoo) to Augusta, Michigan, and then spent Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa. After that we headed to Topeka, Kansas to the Frito Lay plant and unloaded LATE Saturday night. From there we headed off to Palmyra, Missouri and spent Sunday relaxing and playing video games in the truck stop.

We've seen a lot of corn and soybeans and had a ton of fun so far but we've only got a week and three days left of the road trip. :(

I'll update again soon :)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Through the Window of a Semi Truck...

Daddy and I took a couple hours off last night in St. Rose, Louisiana. I could have updated then, but we watched Gilmore Girls instead. So, I'm updating everyone this morning while daddy's truck gets loaded.

Yesterday included Tennessee, Alabama, Mississipi, and Louisiana. The total state count is now seven states!

Me in Mississippi!

Louisiana was new to me, so now I have been to 26 states! Anyway, I LOVED Louisiana! Even after all of the damage and troubles they have been through, the state is still standing strong. Because I have the greatest dad in the entire world, he drove me through New Orleans, instead of his usual driving around it. Just because I wanted to see the city. Even though it has been several years since Hurricane Katrina hit, there are still places that look terrible, sad, and just downright pathetic. It makes me wish I could give them all the money in the world, just so they could stay in their homes. It's unbelievably sad. I mean, I've seen pictures and heard stories of the devestation, but seeing it all in person out of the window of a semi truck just puts it in a whole new perspective. For some of these people, all they have is the shambles on the ground left form the hurricanes. The saddest part for me, a future elementary school teacher, was seeing the schools and the playgrounds that were torn to pieces and just haven't been rebuilt yet. As we drove through town, I saw a countless number of houses and buildings with caved in roofs, broken windows, boarded up doors, and siding ripped to shreds. I can't even begin to imagine how the people down here lived through all of it. We drove over the new bridge ove Lake Pontchartrain since the old one had been ruined by the hurricane. It was about 6:30 when we drove over there and the sun was shining on the lake, and it was possibly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. A picture does not do it justice, but I'll post one anyway. It blows my mind that people continue to live down here, knowing that at anytime during hurricane season, their homes and lives could be completely torn apart. On a slightly less sad note, we were able to drive through the Metairie Cemetary. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The reason we were able to drive through this cemetary is because I-10 goes right through the middle of it! Insane, I know.

This is the sun over Lake Pontchartrain

This is a picture of the old bridge over Lake Panchartrain that was messed up in Hurricane Katrina

This is the huge bridge over the Mississippi River in Lousiana!

This is a barge on the Mississippi River

This is a baseball field that is UNDERNEATH the huge bridge over the Mississippi River in Lousiana!



Last night, we bought some fried chicken at a gas station right outside of New Orleans. WHOA! It was some of the best fried chicken I have ever had. It was right there with Bojangles, which they do not have anywhere down here. However, the gas stations do sell liquor down here. Personally, I thought that was crazy! On a completely random note, we're sitting here at a plant in Avondale, Louisiana, and this guy comes up to talk to dad, and you would've thought that we were in New Jersey. The guy sounded like he had lived there all his life and just decided to take a trip down here for the day. However, he's been working at this plant for several years.

This is Louisiana's version of PET milk :)

Well, that's about it for now. I'll update soon! :)

Monday, August 2, 2010

It Was Just Him and Me...

First road trip update! :)

Right now, we're in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Daddy is unloading, so I took the chance to give everybody an update! So far, the trip has encompassed four states: South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. I've actually been to all of these states before, so it's nothing really new to me. I actually slept through most of Tennessee this time. Oops! But oh well. Last night we were driving down to Georgia for Daddy to load, and I saw a town called Fair Play. I thought it was a pretty weird town name; I mean fair play is something you teach young children, not something you name a town. But whatever. Then, later on today, I saw a town in Georgia, called Ft. Oglethorpe. How cool is that?! Anyway, I saw a few new things in Kentucky today. First of all, there is a place called "Dinosaur World", not sure what thats all about. But then there is a "Kentucky Down Under". It's like Australia in Kentucky. It has kangaroos, exotic birds, and all kinds of other Australian stuff. We don't ever have the chance to stop at these places, but it's still pretty cool to see the billboards for them. Speaking of billboards, Georgia really does not like Obama, and they let everybody know on their billboards. We saw one that said "It's We The People, not You The President." The funniest part was that President Obama was actually speaking in Atlanta today. According to the radio, he spoke for about 15 minutes, and it costed them $12,000,000... I thought that was a little pricey. Especially since Georgia should reallot that money to fix some of there extremely rough roads. But this isn't the place for politics. So, back to the road trip, we're having a lot of fun. I miss everybody, but I'll update again soon! :)

This is the sunset in Elizabethtown, Kentucky

This is my home for the next 2 and a half weeks :)