Rebecca Claire Photography

Well, we thought we were going to be several days behind on our trip to LA, but nope! Insanity reigned supreme & we did a rotating driver situation that got us here in record time. Here’s the breakdown:

Last week/weekend, I busted out a bunch of shoots and got the shots online, plus updated my website. Then I slacked on cleaning the house and packed WAY last minute.

Nathan busted out about 100 t-shirts on our silk screen set up (both 2 color). It took forever b/c he also had to work out kinks and get the set up ready to go since we’re brand new at this.

Adam busted out 18 cajone (box drums) to sell and helped Nate on the t-shirt situation. He also attached a camper top onto his truck and built a bed extension, without which we would have never made it.

We’d planned to leave Saturday night. We didn’t. Instead we left at 6 a.m. Monday morning (after no sleep) and got as far as Cookeville where we crashed for 3-4 hours before getting up, getting the car repacked, dropping off dogs and hitting the road for Nashville.

Just imagine a German Shepherd & a Schnauzer in here and you have our trip from Knoxville to Cookeville.

Adam is showing off his fancy truck bed extension. We felt like the Clampetts driving into LA in a Tacoma with a wooden bed extension. It was AWESOME!

As you can see, we were packed to the gills. That box in the bottom right had our Nashville shirt order in it, so out it came and all of the crap in the backseat moved to the truck bed giving us the ability to do the full-on driver rotation with sleeping berth that allowed for a surprisingly comfortable nap (for 5’4″ me, that is. I can’t speak for Nathan or Adam)

In Nashville we dropped off 50 shirts (our first t-shirt sale) and re-repacked the car.

Our first t-shirt customers. Below is their t-shirt design.

Then we stopped for a Mo’s burger and were on our way.

WELCOME TO MO’S! No, not that Moe’s. This Mo’s has burgers, gyros, corn dogs and delicious fries.

We had initially thought we might stop in Little Rock to stay with my friend Anthony, but since we were so far behind, we just kept going. That’s when we decided on the plan. There were 3 of us, so one would drive, one would keep the driver awake, one would sleep. Every 4-5 hours (or whenever the driver was done or the sleeper was up and ready) we’d switch. I got to sleep first (yay!). When it was my turn to drive, Nathan moved to sleeping & Adam was on wake up duty. Then I moved to wake up, Nathan drove and Adam slept. Then my turn again! After my second sleep cycle, I woke up just in time to see the sun rise.

By the time I was back up for the third time, we were in Texas at this amazing rest stop. The weather was AMAZING! The wind was insane. It was surreal and so beautiful. AND there was a road runner. It even ran across the parking lot which I thought was close enough to running across the road.

MEEP MEEP! That’s a road runner running across the parking lot. He was a speedy one. I didn’t have time to fetch my anvil.

The rest of Tuesday was pretty much as you would expect. Lots of random stuff. We had to stop for gas several times and there was something fun to see at a couple of the shops. I even photographed a few of those fun things.

RAWR! Yep, thats a life-sized teddy bear ready to cuddle you to death (or slice your face off with its giant claws)

There were only 2 children in this car (one named Thor) and yet I counted at least 5 modes of transportation. Also, this gas station was charging $.75 more per gallon than any of the other stations we’d seen (except for the one across the street that was charging $.10 more than they were). Of course, the next station was about an hour down the road. Also, I think my dad and I ate at the restaurant you can see on the right-hand edge during our trip from Vegas to the Grand Canyon (which is a really long drive. Don’t let them tell you it’s a quick sightseeing trip you can easily make between visits to the casinos)

We also stopped at Stanley’s Petrified Wood shop which I photographed with the big camera, so you’ll just have to wait on those pictures. This is my iPhone blog today.

Somewhere in Arizona, the sun went down. Don’t worry, they didn’t stop us and demand to see our papers. But we were prepared.

We got into LA between 2 and 3 a.m. Pacific time. I think that’s the perfect time to arrive in LA. There was NO traffic. We just drove on in and got to Patrick & Amy’s without incident. It was an insane trip. With stops and everything, I think we were “on the road” for 48 straight hours. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this as a regular, everyday activity. But a full-on, non-stop cross country trip is an amazingly trippy experience that I think everyone should have at least once in their lives. Now we’ve done it and the trip home will be at a much less breakneck speed. We might even stop and check out the scenery.