The End

For all those who stuck with us for this journey...we thank you. We have made it safely to L.A. and have enjoyed some memories already. I am fully moved in, thanks to the efforts of an awesome roommate, but more so by the love of my awesome partner in crime.

Since this blog was titled "Loogan and Derka Driver to LA" obviously this chapter has come to a close...but! It only means we need to turn to the next page! I am so excited for what lies ahead! I hope there is support from all walks of life! Keep in touch everyone in blog world and stay classy!

Derka

Trip to the Grand Canyon

We visited the Grand Canyon... don't know what else to say. It is majestic. We're tired. So here's a few of the 5 million pics we took at the Grand Canyon today...enjoy











Mom! This video goes out to you!


Check out the MPG I was getting!!!! Crazy!!!!

Apparently this rock was "too close" to the edge...

More pics from Sedona!

Here is the top of Shnebly hill. I spelled that wrong but it's how you pronounce it... And of course Loogan and I immediately thought of School of Rock! Anyway enjoy!

Meteors, Craters, and Sedona

To all our readers and loyal fans out there in blog world...I just want to say that we turned off of 40 and are currently relaxing in the best kept secret in the U.S. ... Sedona, AZ. Wow, gorgeous. But before I delve into the wonder that is Sedona, let's discuss our journey from Gallup, NM.

We headed out this morning from Gallup NM which is right on the border of AZ, giving us about a 4-41/2 hr drive to Sedona. Along the way we saw a sign for the world's largest/best preserved meteor crater. Loogan gave me that look which I know all too well...the look that said, "Derka...I want to go look at the world's largest/best preserved meteor crater". So I audibly said, "OK". Secretly I was really siked to go see it too, I just didn't want to pay money to see a hole in the ground. In the end it rocked and we have some awesome pictures. Here ya go:

After the crater we jumped in the car and decided to make our last strait shot right to Sedona. But something happened when we got into Sedona...we slowed down. We started looking around and we saw the most breathtaking scenery you can imagine.

Before you check out the pics I want to take a minute to talk about Lauren's Godmother's brother and wife, Harry and Christine. They are the nicest people with great stories. Both are retired and living an amazing life here in this gem of America. Christine is a volunteer of T.I.P. or Trauma Intervention Program. She basically goes to the scene of some trauma, usually a death or some sever accident, and talks with the family or friends of the person or people harmed or killed. An intense job no doubt but one that is extremely helpful and meant for people with a cool head and an amazing ability to work under pressure...not for everyone. Harry was a P.E. teacher on Long Island for 32 years and now volunteers as a track coach at Sedona High School.

Since Christine was on call tonight for T.I.P. Harry took us around town for some more breathtaking photos of Sedona and since I am about as talented at describing beautiful scenery as I am at basketball I will let the pictures do the talking.



A lot of these rocks have names for shapes that they obviously look like but I am just uploading as many of these pics as possible so...no captions for you!

Day 4, morning

Pictures of last night's sunset as we drove into Gallup:



We left Gallup around 9:30 this morning to head for Sedona, Arizona. It's about a 4 hour drive and we are hours about an hour and a half into it. This is nothing compared to our past three days of driving!

There was an Applebees in Gallup last night, which we were pretty excited about since it was something familiar. Yet even sitting in the restaurant, which had the same food and the same crazy stuff covering all the walls, I still felt miles from home just looking at all of the people around us and not knowing a single face except Derek's. There are strong Native American and Mexican traditions around here, which makes the demographic of people very different. Everyone is very friendly, but it's clear that it is a very different life here than either of us are used to. Gallup is the "Indian Jewelry Capital of the World" and we've been seeing a number of trading posts along the drive today. We stopped into a couple and they sell all sorts of things- some commercialized key chains and post cards, but also handmade jewelry, pottery, rugs, and kachina dolls. Really cool.

The scenery changed dramatically just over the border of Arizona, where we started seeing large mesas and canyons. Check it out:





We are now in Holbrook, Arizona, where it's flattened out again, but we can still see giant rocks in every direction in the distance. We've heard from numerous sources that route 89A into Sedona is supposed to be amazing, so I am looking forward to that in a couple of hours. In the meantime, I'm writing covering letters and filling out job applications..ick. At least there is great company with me :)

We've come up upon Winslow, Arizona. Ten imaginary high fives if you can name the song with the lyrics "I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. I'm such a fine sight to see." No cheating!

That's all for now!

Gas Scare Part 1

Ok...so if you've read our recent blogs, you'll remember a certain story about us almost running out of gas in the middle of nowhere New Mexico... well here it is. Part 1...enjoy












Stay classy blog readers

Day 3, evening

New Mexico, you have far too many Dairy Queens and not enough of everything else. After our gas scare, we thought we'd be able to stop for lunch within the hour. Except there was literally nothing except "Stuckey's" and Dairy Queens. Having been on the road for 3 days, we are getting quite tired of pre-packaged/fast food. All we wanted was a small diner or sit down restaurant. Literally none.

We did see some pretty storms in the distance and since it is so flat here, you could see the gray lines where it was raining miles away. It was pretty wild.






We found a "rest area" after that, which didn't even sell bottled water! It was just a little hut with bathrooms. We did not approve.



We snacked on yesterday's leftover chex mix and risked drinking bottled water we aren't sure how we obtained. But we survived, so it obviously wasn't poisonous. Check plus.

So, an hour and a half hour later, we got desperate and stopped at "The Flying C" ranch. We were hopeful because it was the only thing we had seen for miles and it had at least 20 billboards in the span of 1 mile. We pulled in and all they had was....a Dairy Queen! Ahhh! Yes, it was a Grill n' Chill, but despite being so hungry, the thought of fast food was so unappetizing, all we bought were two liters of water and a nutrigrain bar. We also could have bought a giant stuffed buffalo for $19,999.99!! No joke. There was a stuffed mountain lion for $9,000 if that's more in your budget.

So on we drove for another hour. We'd been seeing billboards for Cline's Corner since the start of New Mexico advertising how it was "worth the wait." Now we understood why! It's the only thing on that side of New Mexico. We stopped there because they advertised A Subway, but when we got in there we saw they also had a small sit-down diner. We opted for the diner and had a very nice waitress who didn't seem to mind that we were slightly lethargic and cranky. Derek got an open faced hot roast beef sandwich and I got soup and salad bar. I got my soup but then didn't like the looks of the salad bar so I ordered a turkey/ham club after that. Derek didn't really like his meal, so we split my turkey club and his mashed potatoes.

Back on the road, we are headed to Gallup, NM for the night. It's a city on the edge of New Mexico and I'm curious to see what qualifies as a city in this state. The first half of the state was flat flat flat, but now we are coming into rocks and mountains, which are pretty breath taking. Also, the setting sun is SUPER bright. Brighter than either of us have ever seen at 8:00 at night. (Ignore our bug-ridden windshield)