We woke up early on January 01, 2013, packed the last of our bags and set off for California. At the end of the day, the sunset lasted forever because we were quickly driving towards it. When it finally set, it was the brightest, most explosive color either of us had seen. After 12 hours of driving the first day, we grabbed a pizza and turned in for the night at America’s Best Value Inn in Las Cruces, New Mexico where Brandon had stayed this summer–we were even in the same room!

The second day of travel, we grabbed breakfast at the inn and set out westward. It was cold, but we were so excited to be getting to our new home that night. Of course, the last hour of the drive was the longest–it seems like you’ve reached the city long before you actually have. We arrived around 7pm pt, met our neighbor and landlord for the key, toured their house full of Christmas decorations and unloaded Roddie (the car)’s contents into our new space. After a quick run for cleaning supplies and food, we blew up our air mattress and slept. For being a 1500 mile drive, it was actually pretty easy–neither of use felt like we’d been chained in the car for 24 hours over the past two days.