I've never been to Chicago but Nevada and southern California are damn windy. We spent the night in Barstow cali and barely slept because we might have gotten blown away for all the wind. Loud, strong wind. That and 40 ending are the only things I know about Barstow and I think I can safely say, all both mom and I care about knowing.

Maybe we just couldn't give it a chance because we'd just driven several hours from one of the least aptly named places in America. The Grand Canyon is sooooo much more than "grand" could ever encompass. It is breath-taking. Neither of us have ever seen anything quite as... Huge?

So Cali means we made it to the west coast and pacific time. Now we just have to go north, which we are in the process of moving up the middle of the state, surrounded by grape vines and apricot trees.