Day 1 of 3

My trip down to Utah will consist of 3 separate drives. First day: Drive down to Missouri to my Grandpas!!

I left my house around 8:45am, after to saying bye to Jordan. :( I was so sad. I'm not going to lie... I probably cried for a good twenty minutes until I sucked it up. I made it Ashville by 10:45am ... and I was feeling good. Ashville was pretty exciting to drive through. Usually when I go to Ashville I fly so it was cool to actually drive through the "mountains". Haha, I sound like a brat! Here are some pictures while I was going through Ashville/Carolina. Pretty!!OK, so I guess like in October... the rocks on the side of the road ( like the picture above) fell. So, they closed like a ton of I-40 down ... so I had to take an hour detour .. which kind of stunk... but watcha gonna do?

First place I stop to get gas was Temple Hill, Tennessee. Before I started my trip... I grabbed 30 pass-along-cards that I'm planning on giving out before I reach Utah. I counted #1 in my blog before this to the AAA guy. At this gas station I have #2 to the "gas chick" ... is what I'm going to call them. I was shocked at how easy it was. So I get back on the road, and the next time I stop is also in TN at Faststop were I give out #3, also to a "gas chick". About this time in the trip I'm surprized I haven't gotten lost yet... that I was actually driving to Missouri by myself. I can thank my dad for that. He had mapped out my whole trip and we both had the same exact directions. He would call me literally every 30 minutes and tell me where I was. It was pretty fun. He is such a good Dad. He carried around the map all day just in case I needed him! :)
So, around 2:00... I get to my next big city which is Knoxville. Did I mention that I LOVE Tennessee almost as much as I love Carolina. Ever since I took a road trip there with a friend my senior year of High School to visit his family for Thanksgiving... I have had this weird obsession with it. It's so pretty. ANYWAY, Knoxville. I make my fourth stop just past Knoxville at a gas station, Exon. Now usually when I stop I only take one pass along in with me but for some reason .. I felt like I needed to take three? So I did. Well, as I was walking in there were three workers standing outside taking their smoke break .. and I handed them out :) #4, #5, and #6!! Everyone that I handed one to by this time was so nice. They looked at it and said they would check it out. Maybe I should tell the missionaries they should go contacting in gas stations? It seems to work... I thought maybe it was because they get so many weird people coming in that they are kind of immune to them now. I got a little picture of Knoxville. Shot from behind my head because it's hard to take pictures and drive at the same time! lol
Now, I was heading to Nashville...which I was pretty exciting about until I got there. When I thought of Nashville ... I thought big country town ... and everything looked country ... and old ... yeah not at all.... it's just a city...


Just 30 minutes after I passed Nashville, I got into Kentucky.......... uhhh


Dinner time!! I really wanted Subway and I really needed gas. Next sign I saw, Subway and gas ... in the same building! SCORE! So I stopped, gassed up ordered my sub and that is where my story got interesting. So pass along card #7 goes to "gas chick" who I later had to come back to and ask why the pump wasn't working. She said because you haven't pressed start yet.. What? You have to press start on your gas pumps in Kentucky? Pass along card #8 goes to "subway chick". She looked about my age so I decided to ask her what there was to do for fun in Kentucky because clearly nobody lives there. She said actually... there is nothing .. especially in this town (Paducah). Then she goes .. actually during the summer there is a lot to do. I'm like oh yeah.. like what? She goes ... well, where are you from. South Carolina. Then she says ... so do you know how everyone thinks we are just kind of like a bunch of "hillbillys" down here. Yeah. She said we have something called a "tots festival" ... so I automatically think of potatoes... and she starts laughing at me .. and shes like no... its where everyone drives around and walks around with confederate flags .. and no black people come around.. I imagined it something like this ....Once the complete shock wore off....I got back on the road!!!!

From here on my trip was one big blur. I learned Kentucky really likes to smoke cigarettes... and that you can get them cheap there....here is proof!

• At one point.. I got a little lost.... but I stopped a retirement home and this old lady helped me! :)

• I saw a deer, and crossed over the Mississippi in the same mile!!

By this time my cell phone battery was running out and I still had like 5 hours to go ... so I had to find a Walmart. The only problem was .. I was in the middle of nowhere!!!! Eventually I found one. I had no idea what town I was in until I asked the guys that were cashing me out in the electronic area. Sikeston, Missouri? They had some funny accents. Well, they were definitely hitting on me... so I thought I so have two pass along cards.. and gave them out!! #9 and #10. BaDDa BiNg BAdda BOoM!

My last pass a long card went to a lady in Van Burney, MO ... another "gas chick". After this I had about 3.5 hours left .. and was ready to get there!! I listened to the Michael Buble CD a couple times that I bought in Walmart and that sure made the time go by faster. Around 10 the sister missionaries call me!!! Yey!!!!! I love the sisters :) I told them all about my day.. and they told me about theirs ... technically they said we are still allowed to talk until I officially am not in the ward anymore. It was WAY exciting. Well, because I was so excited... I lost track of the speed limit .. next thing I know .. I catch up to a cop .. so I slow down so I don't pass him. At this point I have no idea what the speed limit is.... so he keeps slowing down and I keep slowing down. Eventually he pulls me over. Missouri has the NICEST cops in the world. He was all cute with his hat and accent... awww. Well, to make a long story short he just said pay attention to the speed limit .. and you are allowed to pass cops. hahahhaha No ticket for me :)

I got to my grandpa's around 11 o'clock and was afraid to get out of my car because I wasn't sure my legs worked anymore. Good news... they do!!! :)



I was so tired. I went right downstairs to my room ... read my scriptures .. and then turned on BYUTV and fell asleep to President Monson's talk he gave at the October Conference on Service :) What a good way to end Day #1.