Monday- REST … and boy did I need it, I was exhausted from the weekend, but also we had a TERRIBLE day. Like me and nugget, whoa.. he was not having it, it was a day (which we allllll get, gotta remember that) where he just was having a sh*t-tastic day. And by afternoon time he gave zero f*cks. It escalated so much, he had just had enough and in the end GROUNDED. My 5 year old is grounded. I will not go into detail about what happened because it may sound like I am bashing him lol, and we all have emotions and are entitled to feel… it’s just learning how to understand and react to them.
Tuesday- Planned: 6 miles Actual: 4 miles – originally I had planned to go to the gym and break up the miles so that when I got off work at 5 I only had to do a few more miles. However, J accidentally took the gym key and it was too muggy out for me to want to run at all. So, I did what I could and finished with 4 strong miles… that looked like I had stepped out of a shower. Here is the beautiful sunset I caught!
Wednesday- Planned: 30 minute treadmill speed + strength Actual- I was extremely stressed out from Hendrixs school. J came home early and of course exclaims how much he hates the public learning style that’s going on. And I lost it. because I hate it too. And I have been trying to find other ways to go about this. I got very frustrated and short with H and Needless to say J dismissed me and let me go workout while he finished school with H. But I was just so stressed and upset about the situation I didn’t finish my workout. Which sucks. And I’m not super motivated to continue. When I got home I had to pull J aside and explain that him openly saying how much he hates the public school system and this virtual learning makes it impossible for me to fake it with H to keep doing the work. H HATES that learning style too. And J is very vocal so it offset everything and made me irritated. I ended up doing about 2 miles on the treadmill and that was about it. Stress really does kill the vibe.
Thursday- 40 min run skipped
Friday- Planned: REST Actual: 40 min run broken up into pieces because of nugget. 15 min on treadmill (1.5miles) 5 min on bike (1 mile) 2.64 miles in 26 min
Saturday- planned: 35 min speed + strength Actual: I was not feeling well in the morning, so I spent the day mostly resting, plus it was Halloween! I knew we were going to be doing a lot that night. And we walked around 3 miles! H got a ton of candy. It was really nice to see the kids all out and about keeping the tradition alive. J and I stayed up late drinking some wine, listening to music and talking around the campfire.
Sunday– quick and easy 25 minute treadmill run along with 15 min of strength! (2.5 miles running)
This week was kind of rough, extra stressful and yet still really fulfilling? I think we know what we want to do moving forward with school, and it isn’t public schooling. I want my son to be more outdoors and not in front of a computer. So, once I get the plan set and ready… we will be pulling that trigger and removing him from public school.
Overall, the workouts this week lacked luster. I missed being outdoors and hiking/ exploring. We took it really easy this weekend because the last few weekends have been filled with so many activities. I am contemplating not doing the half marathon anymore… but it could just be a blip in the radar. 😉
On Sunday I had the privilege to go out on a hike on my own. Take some alone time and explore. I haven’t ever done a NEW hike like this on my own… ever. I hiked in my home town in San Diego where I knew things “couldn’t get me” but maybe I was naïve in that sense, as you could always get hurt even in familiar places. However, this park is over 2100 acres, has 17+ charted miles of trails and is just insanely HUGE. Previously, I had hiked about 1.5-2 miles of it with the family. This time I was going to a different end of the park to explore. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous the night before. So nervous in fact, that I barely slept and could only think of different things that could go horribly wrong. IE. trip and sprain my ankle, not having any service to call for help. Getting completely lost and not finding my car. Phone dying and not being able to use my map to get back. Getting eaten by a bear or a wild boar. Getting attacked by any kind of wild animal- especially an alligator. (and honestly guys… for some reason I keep thinking these gators are out on dry land miles away from the water and going to sprint at me. I just looked it up, gators can run 20mph… so I would indeed be f*cked if one decided to run after me.) See below for your own knowledge 🙂 I have a good reason to be extremely nervous now.. gee thanks wikipedia
Now, what should be done when going on a new route and if you’re nervous is to stay on well traveled paths… well, I didn’t want to. I had a plan and I needed to get it done. #independentwoman (or maybe kinda stupid) I wanted the cool hiker shots, but since I had no one to go with me I ran by Walmart and picked up a “rugged” tripod thinking it would be awesome and work great. Well, 1/10 would recommend it. It did not like to hold up my phone at all, it didn’t want to sit up and it was just annoying. (I had to take part of my phone case off for it to mildly fit)
Anyway, below and above are some shots where I used it and some where I propped it on a bench. But, in all honesty, the colors were just POPPIN out there. NO filter, look at my poppin shirt and shoes lol. It was around 68-69 degrees and overcast, some humidity (apparently 90% but it didn’t feel like it). I only ran into squirrels and spiders, and lets be honest those are freaky! Squirrels make a lot of noise for being so small.
Thoughts going on through my head in the beginning of the hike: I am so f*ckin nervous! Am I going in the right direction? Oh, geez is anyone else coming this way? Is that a spider web?!! I need to find a stick so that I can knock anything down that gets in my way. I hope no one is coming around the corner while I take pictures.
Thoughts going through my head by the end of the hike: I am so f*ckin badass for finding the river! I am an EXPLORER! A badass explorer! I’m also pretty good at finding my way! I still hope no one is behind me to see me taking this dorky pictures
I had a great time, and it was exhausting. I wanted to make the most of my day out and about, but I am definitely tired today.
Tenesaw-Delta Riverme and my stick… who protected me from spider webs mostly this is a ROAD, the last stretch before I got to my car, I was so over the small tiny trails I opted out of 1.5 miles of trails and did .5 mile to the car
I want to continue to hike and go on adventures, I even ran into some ladies who were mountain biking the trails. Well, they were waiting for some other people, I did some a group of guys biking and it looked like so much fun! It makes me want to ride bikes too… I want to adventure, I want to explore, I want to have fun. And… Alabama feels like the best place to do that. Somehow, it is easier to do it here, Jesse says it feels like there are less egos here than back in CA. And, I would have to agree… there is a lot less “friction” I should say.
Hoping soon we take a camping trip, get some hybrid (mountain/road) bikes and really get out there more. Can you tell we are more adventurous and outdoorsy here? Compared to California… we are doing less water stuff and more foresty stuff lol. We still fish every weekend.. but now we can include a wider variety of things. It just seems like endless possibilities here!
Before the end of the year I want to: continue going to the shooting range and get better at aiming go camping on Dauphin Island trail running with Amanda to train for our half marathon mountain biking (anywhere) hiking new places fishing bow and arrow range
What are some of your wishes/goals for the rest of the year?
Monday– converted treadmill pace to street pace and TRIED to hold on for dear life. Either one would have been challenging. But I think it would have been easier to handle on the treadmill with the fluctuating paces. It’s okay though, I stuck with it. Cut it short by ~3 minutes because I was dying. And my fastest pace was around 8:20 or so. Should’ve been a sub 8 in there but I wasn’t hanging. Extremely exhausted from our weekend lol still glad I got out there and did it!
Tuesday- We had to do laundry, like it was put off for weeks… and stinky running clothes mixed with labor intensive (Jesse’s) clothes make for some STANK.. not to mention a 5 year old who plays in the dirt and gets stinky all on his own. Our house was RIPE. So, we had to do laundry. Jesse got home at a decent time, I was just wrapping up work and I still needed to run. It was supposed to be a super easy 4 miler. The laundry mat we go to has a small trail nearby. I helped put the laundry in and then set off. (Seriously, thank goodness Jesse understands my need for running and to get out, being with H from 7am to 5pm with no breaks… teaching him and then working for 5 hours is TOUGHHHHH). So, a trail run was in store. And it was fun and felt easy. I know the weather changing is helping a ton with my endurance, but also I am not dying/as sore as I thought I would be running 3 days in a row. I was supposed to keep this even easier than the pace it shows, meaning keeping HR under 155… but I was excited, and also kind of running from mosquitos and then squirrels scurrying up the trees scared me and I thought it was an alligator coming to eat me. haha so I ran like the wind. 3miles in the trails and then 1 mile running around the Publix parking lot because it got dark. One thing about this area is they have NO street lamps, so things get DARK.
Run break down/ splits: 1- 10:19/mi 2- 10:33/mi 3- 10:27-mi 4- 9:58/mi TE= 5.0 (!! didn’t feel that bad!) but Garmin did suggest 3 days off lol Avg HR: 173 Overall so stoked with that run, I do need to work on HR, but I feel strong! And that is what matters!
Wednesday- 4th day of running in a row, my legs are feeling it. And with some not quality sleep happening lately I am overeating on snacks and candy. Mainly oreos. The goal was a 10 minute warm up and then 4 x 800m repeats ranging from 8:55/mi to like 7:30/mi or something like that. It was also supposed to be on the treadmill. But, when you get off work at 5pm and the gym closes at 6 and you still have to get dressed, it leaves no time to go to the gym. I couldn’t keep my pace and I ended up calling it quits. I wasn’t mad at myself, it is just something to work on.
Thursday– 5th day in a row… legs are trashed. I thought maybe I could just split up in one mile increments and go when we took breaks during school. It is much harder to start and stop but I also didn’t have it in me to go for longer than a mile. Bad eating habits, interrupted sleep, high stress and anxiety paired with depression is taking me down hill. So, I have decided I will be removing all the social media apps from my phone and taking a breather. I am curious to see if this helps me or not. But I am tired of scrolling through looking at articles about stupid “You need this from Amazon” crap. Because sometimes I am like “yeah! I really really do need those!” But I have no extra money to spend on silly things. So, making my announcement to runner Instagram because “personal” Instagram doesn’t get much of me anyway, they wouldn’t notice. But, I am taking a break from Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. I only use Snapchat to read the daily mail, and lately it is just a load of crap- I don’t know why I subject myself to that stuff.
Friday- REST DAY! Also, full first day of NO SOCIAL MEDIA, and it has already taken a lot of anxiety and impatience away. It’s almost made me want to get rid of the iPhone completely, but then I realize I love taking pictures… and carrying a camera and a phone is not gonna happen lol. But maybe I can implement no social media more often. Still wanting to go strong with this and continue forward. I like not scrolling so much.
Saturday- speed progression where I FINALLY got to use a treadmill and it was much easier tracking pace and time on the treadmill than on the road. 2.35 miles J and H went to the store during my gym sesh and I didn’t bring a house key so I got locked out of house and went on a walk and then did strength training. Lunges, squats and pushups! Gotta get it in, then I was even able to relax and watch some of my show “Emily in Paris” on the patio. ~2 miles walking around Fairhope while the boys fished
Sunday- Today I didn’t do my scheduled run, which was supposed to be a treadmill run and then lots of strength training… J took H fishing and I wanted to take advantage of my time alone. I have been salivating over an adventure and hiking. I went to Blakeley State Park and decided I could tackle a nice long hike. I downloaded AllTrails so that I could track my hike and download a trail so I could follow it. BOY was it hard to follow it! You are just looking at a map and following it, so for the first 30 minutes of it I was constantly looking down at my phone and not enjoying the hike. So I decided to put it down and just walk and occasionally look at my phone to make sure I was going in the direction I wanted. A lot of the turns it “tells” you to take were like the SMALLEST trails that don’t even look like trails! Some are just washed out so I wouldn’t go down them. My ultimate goal was to get to the river… and I made it! Almost ran into 2 spiders but was using a long stick that I casually swung in front of me so if a spider were there I would take it down first… however, I didn’t think through if it was smacked to the ground I would have to somehow get over it… lol. Luckily I did not run straight into any of them.. very close! But no. In total, I did about 5.3 miles and was out for 3 hours. Planning to run these trails in the next couple of months, however I don’t think I will be taking this same loop. It is difficult to move fast when you are constantly worried about running into huge spiders. 10/10 would recommend doing this though. Just hiking on your own with nature surrounding you is absolutely wild!
Total miles: 20.45 miles total (not too shabby!)
A tropical storm is brewing in the gulf (again) so we are on alert to see if it heads our way or not.
Did you do any fun runs or hikes? I am still on my social media ban! And I LOVE it, my anxiety, depression and bad attitude has decreased 100%. My eye isn’t twitching like crazy, my anger outbursts are minimal and I am really seeing just overall improvement in everything. I can communicate, I am not emotionally exhausted… it has been nice. So… what do I spend my time doing? I still go on Pinterest, or surf the internet.. I have been looking at hiking stuff (a lot), hiking gear, running gear and pictures of nature as well as motivational quotes and what not. I even went over our budget so we can figure out what we need to work on. When we watch shows and movies I am more involved and not constantly staring at my phone. Do I miss social media? Honestly… no. But I do want to share my runs with the IG community lol. At least I have this, with my minimal readers. I even considered downgrading my phone to a cheap flip phone, but then I realized I wouldn’t be able to FaceTime my family, and then having a nice camera would include something extra to carry… so I suppose I might try to upgrade my iPhone for the best camera but continue on limiting the phone. It has been a great breath of fresh air.
I have started to train for a half marathon. And I might be slightly crazy because I have no free time. Jesse started working 11-12 hour days. Hendrix has school from 8-12 and I work from 12-5. So how is this going to work? I have no idea. But hopefully I’ll figure it out. I also decided to take a dive and go for #runwithmeg and purchase her half marathon plan. It is a monthly plan, it is currently too much for me to be paying but I need something to push myself. I need to hold myself accountable. I want to push myself and I want to be consistent. And I want to feel better about myself. And to be perfectly honest, I have been really struggling mentally lately. Depression is creeping in and trying to take over. I am just trying to stay afloat, and one way I know I can do that is by staying active. So I am throwing myself into this program full steam ahead!
Wednesday- Day 1– warm up (glute activation- omg maybe I can grow a bit of a butt??), 3 mile run (avg pace 9:35- OMG this is actually way better than I thought it would be), strength training (3 rounds- upper body and core) and the stretching. A lot of stretching, because this mama was sore. And my arches hurt! 3 mile break down: total time: 28:46 avg pace 9:35 avg HR: 177 max HR: 192 TE: 4.9 Mile 1- 9:14/mi Mile 2- 9:35/mi Mile 3- 9:56/mi (dying)
Thursday- Day 2: Speed workout on the treadmill. Have no idea how far I actually went as I kept accidentally removing the stupid red button and having to start over. major face palm. A little incline work as well. Strength training completed sans weight- because I couldn’t find it! lol.
Friday- REST playing on the playground and introducing H to some old school rock
Saturday- shooting range! The little nugget has proven himself to be mature enough to listen. While neither Jesse or I were ever pro gun, we have recently opened our minds to learning defense, and understanding that it is necessary for us to understand how to use one. So, a few weeks ago we did our first class and private instruction- it was a blast. ( I was overly emotional, because it is bewildering how someone can have so much power in one little thing, and all you have to do is pull the trigger. Queue a TON of tears that day. But our instructor was AWESOME, let me cry it out.. talk it out and have all the time I needed to be comfortable with the gun. It really speaks volumes of the place we chose to got. Shout out to Three Brothers Arms in Stapleton, Alabama!) So, anyway.. we didn’t want our son to feel like guns were BAD, its the people behind them that make them dangerous. We talked to many many people and decided if he can prove he is old enough to be a good listener and learn and be open to it, we can bring him so he knows the do’s and dont’s of guns. He got to shoot a little .22 rifle and he LOVED it. Needless to say after our trip out there we were exhausted and hungry. So we stopped for yummy pizza and then promptly passed out and took long naps.
Sunday- 4 miles/ 40 minutes easy run– 40 minutes were on the docket and I was aiming for 4 miles. At the 40 min mark I had hit like 3.86, which is ludicrous to stop there, so I went around the block again to finish off at an even 4. The first time miles were slightly downhill and I was really working on just slowing it down and going easy, but then turning around I saw the hill and I kinda went waaaaay slower lol. But thats okay! I am re-conditioning myself.
After the run we went to the beach to fish. The water was a little chilly but it felt great. H caught his first fish completely unassisted (STOKED!) and he helped Jesse reel in a BIG spanish mackerel! It was pretty cool. This beach has close to a mile of BIG rocks that you climb across to get to the good fishing. And Jesse was out there with a friend not thinking we would make the trek out.. lo and behold here we come. A 5 year old and me, no shoes on and hopping from rock to rock. Some people were nervous for us because it was a dangerous trek. BUT we made it and it was awesome! 4.5 hours at the beach, we caught a few fish and almost caught a crab! We found it walking through the sand in 1.5 foot of water and tried to get it, I was too nervous to grab it because I didn’t want us getting pinched. Then we ended our day with PANDA Express (yum and such a guilty pleasure lol)
Total Mileage for the week:~10 miles and extra sore from climbing rocks
I seem to do well for a week or two and stay on track and then BOOM something hits and it sets me back. This time, it was a natural disaster. Hurricane Sally came roaring into Alabama and effectively cut me from all working out. It was all about survival. And dang, it is exhausting!
We were watching the weather, tracking the storm… it went from Cat 1 to Tropical Storm and back, jumping to a Cat 2 and then going back to Cat 1. It was also projected to hit New Orleans and Mississippi the worst.. it didn’t. They were wrong.
This was our first hurricane, and we decided it is better to be over prepared than not prepared at all. So, we filled up on gas before everyone else with full tanks and for our final grocery trip out (3 days before the storm was expected to hit) we tried to focus on non-perishable items. Storm expected to hit Wednesday, all of our town shut down Tuesday and Wednesday for preparation. We got what we thought we needed, but not enough. Since the news was declaring not a strong storm we figured we would be okay.
It started raining and some winds on Tuesday, we were all off (no school, no work). Internet was still OK. We had everything loaded up and ready if we were forced to evacuate. We stayed outside before bedtime just to feel the power of the wind and watch some of the trees sway. We are surrounded by trees and were trying to see if we would be in danger of trees falling. We also strategically parked our cars out of any trees falling path so that we would not get stuck. We woke up on Wednesday morning around 3:30am to HOWLING winds and hard rain. We opened the blinds to see the pelting rain and howling wind, branches flying by our windows. Then… the lights went out. I started drifting off on the couch as the wind howled by, whistling in through cracks.
Around 4:30 we decided to lay back down in bed, we know that if something were to come up we needed to be more rested. Around 8:30am we woke back up and the wind had lessened and the rain ceased. Jesse assessed outside first, we saw neighbors out and about walking around. The whole apartment complex was a mess. Tree branches everywhere, the creek next to us flooded, trees down…. but luckily, we were not directly affected.
The storm that hit us was categorized as a Category 2, but most people who have been through other hurricanes would have categorized the damage as 3 or 4. we were apparently only a couple mph (of sustained winds) off from a Cat 3.
Power was out from Wednesday at 4am to Saturday 4am. Rudely awoken by lights turned on at that time, but also grateful that we now had electricity. Luckily we did not lose water, some towns did.
Here are some pictures of the damage (not the best pictures, but so you can see):
massive flooding, this bridge is about 100 yards from our back door. fallen tree, a car is on the other side trapped. directly across from our patio, a tree fell on the other apartments, but did NO damage, it like was laid on it softlyview from outside my car, i was charging my phone, this is a tree that was completely uprooted and fell over. It trapped two cars, breaking one of the windshieldsin the front of the complex, this tree was certainly rotted inside, and it fell right overwe made a little boat out of styrofoam, sticks and paperplates and floated it down the creek
How did we charge our phones? We had to charge our phones in our cars, a lot of people did this actually because from what I could tell no one else had generators.
How did we keep our food fresh? We had coolers and insulated lunch boxes that we filled with ice and put our food in. We also put what we could in the freezer and tried to not open the doors. We still lost quite a bit of food, but not too much.
How did we entertain ourselves? Charades, stories, books, walking around, and picking up sticks and branches. We walked the property a lot to help pick up the mess but also to just get out and about. The days following the hurricane were warm- but not too hot. We had very little service, as there was also no WIFI. So I checked in with my parents and friends 2x a day but stayed off my phone for the most part.
What we need more of for the next big storm: lanterns, candles, canned goods, snacks (we snacked A LOT), BBQ, generator or extra battery packs, card games/ games.
All in all, we faired very well.. but we were all exhausted at the end of each day. There was no tucking away into our computers or tablets, we were running at 100% each day and left us all tuckered out.
There are still people without power, over a week later, there are still some that are trapped because of big fallen trees. Some people have no water! And some do, but are still needing to boil the water for safety purposes. As I said, my family faired well. Others, were not as lucky.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I went on my first run outside, I couldn’t go far and I couldn’t travel safely as most of the roads and sidewalks are still covered in fallen trees.
Monday- jesse went fishing this morning so I didn’t get to go on a run, but it’s all good, we went to Fairhope Pier and jumped off the docks into the water a bunch!
Tuesday – awesome, hot, humid. Ran out of water and died after mile 2! So had to walk back… 😔
Wednesday- nauseous ALLLLL day! We were both under the weather after having some fish and it just left me feeling soooo bad the next day!
Thursday- well prepared with water! But legs died at mile 2 lol. 🙄 trying to do my research to see what is making my legs feel so heavy. Possible magnesium or iron??
H got new sunglasses and loves to model them off now
Friday-Saturday I really struggled with getting up to do anything and life just got in the way. To be particularly honest, I’ve been struggling a lot since moving. I am no longer working and it weighs heavily on me. I am stuck inside more and dealing with a very stubborn 5 year old is incredibly difficult. The weekends I want to just sleep in, but then I miss my chance for a run. So I need to decide what it is that I need. Sleep or run. This weekend I chose sleep.
Question of the week is if the speed on treadmill is actually accurate??
Monday- 400m repeats at “8:34/mi pace” 🥵
Tuesday- I’ve realized I don’t like doing steady running on treadmills, it’s boring! So I made it 2.5 miles but I could have definitely gone longer.
Wednesday REST- trivia night- met up with the girls to do trivia night, we didn’t win but it was still a lot of fun!
Thursday 1.5 miles steady pace checking pace of treadmill vs garmin first time running with mask, and it wasn’t THAT bad (running with a mask, the same pace sucked)
Friday- nada 😒
Saturday- beach day… with a lot of jelly stings! I didn’t get stung but Hendrix got stung like 6 times and Jesse got stung 10 times! He also caught some yummy fish so we can have tacos! Needless to say we didn’t do a lot of swimming just soaking up the sun.
Sunday- 4.5 easy miles of runs and it felt really nice! Humidity was low, heat was low.. the sunrise was gorgeous! We went to sleep early last night (which is something I want to get back to) and it was so easy to wake up early and get this run in. It just felt great and didn’t have any heavy legs.
Total mileage: 11.75 miles! Beat my goal of 10 miles! Woo hoo 😀
This past week exercise was used to unstress and remove anger. Like, literally it was HELL. Virtual school is HARD, and I kept expecting a 5 year old to just be able to sit through 45 minutes with no break. But, those 45 minutes felt like 10 minutes. I didn’t realize it was much longer than 10. So, Thursday I totally broke down. I cried about 10 times. I talked to my friend and she helped to put it in perspective. Set the timer for 15 minutes of work, and then do a 10 minute break and continue that way. Incentives for him.
Friday- we tried this… it worked like a dream. And we got more fresh air than we had all week. I also took the tablet away. It has been a brain sucker. He has been watching YouTube nonstop. (I now HATE YouTube for kids’ eyes anyway) Soul sucker lol.
Monday- REST
Tuesday: Work Out- Pilates online with Beach Body- this kicked my butt, and I loved it. I was sore for a few days after. It focused mainly on core. After the school day when J got home from work (oh yes! He got a job with the city! yay) 2.5 miles running on treadmill (23 minutes of running NON STOP!) This was the first time doing this since moving, however I was running on the treadmill so I wasn’t in the mugginess. 2.0 miles walking uphill on treadmill. Which left my legs and butt SORE!
Wednesday: Work Out- mini Pilates workout 20 minutes. Afternoon- 1 mile on the tread mill, not feeling it at all, did a little speed play. And then 5 miles on the bike.
Thursday– Workout: Treadmill pyramid workout! Speed play
warm up for 2 minutes walking 5 minutes at 6.0 4 minutes at 6.2 3 minutes at 6.5 (incline increased to 1.0) 2 minutes at 6.8 1 minute at 7.0 Active Rest: incline 7, walk at 2.0 for 2 minutes incline 5, walk 3.5, for 2 minutes incline 3, walk at 4.0 for 1 minute
REPEAT! (completed it 2x for a 40 minute work out!) 3.45 miles total
Friday-Sunday: Friday was a planned rest day, I was sore and thought I would be doing a long run on Saturday, but then the weekend just turned into all rest days… We actually started watching Cobra Kai (an extension/ 30 years later of Karate Kid) and were up till 1am each night so waking up early was not something that was going to happen. But the show is so good! I recommend! 🙂
Total Mileage: 6.95 miles (not where I want to be, but it’s OK)
Finally! I had a good week of activity! the heat and humidity is still something to get used to, but I think I’m getting there. Consistency is what I really needed and this past week I made a point to get out there!
The biggest thing about running out here is the heat and humidity. I feel sluggish and my legs feel heavy. I am TRYING. But it sure is hard and a little defeating. I wish I had more to say! This was last weeks’ runs and walks. Mostly walks! But I figure it is better to get out there and get something than do nothing!
I also need to get back into the habit of writing! I feel like I haven’t done much, because I am immersing myself into virtual school teaching- a KINDERGARTNER. And the hardest part is keeping him occupied all day without the use of the tablet. Really trying for him to cut down on screen time, but it driving me a little bonkers.
So.. quick recap of last time… we nearly died, stranded in small town in New Mexico, wasting time and money waiting for a part that was never coming. Scammed by a company. Upset. Crying. Hysterics. Go Fund Me. More crying because I realize now how many amazing people I have in my life that are able to help us in our time of need. eyes so puffy from all the crying lol.
We weren’t going to let that company get away with our money. We called them 20x, got hung up on 18x and kept asking for updates on when that part was arriving. We finally got them on a recording admitting it wasn’t shipped and that they will refund us. SCORE FOR US! But we also weren’t holding our breath, I assumed there was no way they would refund us and it was still a loss.
July 4, 2020- we left New Mexico with my car, Collin (the beta fish) oh yeah! I have failed to mention, we had Collin on our journey with us the whole time. He’s a fierce beta fish, who.. spoiler alert! Survived the whole ordeal! We drove till 11:30pm to Fort Worth, TX. Texas is BIG! And google maps took us on these back roads where there was NOTHING except raining bugs, many times we thought we were lost. Like the raining bugs… literally mosquitoes, grasshoppers, cicadas… just flying into the car windshield. We’ve never experienced anything like it! The roads were so dark because there were no streetlights it was difficult to navigate! Immediately we thought we would be stuck in a town like “the hills have eyes” 😂😅 luckily that didn’t happen.
As we got closer to the city fireworks were popping up everywhere. On the both sides of the road. It was awesome! And definitely not something you see in California! We finally made it to the hotel around 11:30 and sat at the window watching the firework finale.
After Fort Worth we were planning to stay in Lafayette LA… but were told by friends it’s not the safest area to stay… so we decided we would drive all the way through to home. Let’s just say that Hendrix did awesome during this whole trip!
Finally making it home around midnight and greeted by my lovely aunt… who drove in from Florida to greet us! This was always the plan, she was going to help watch Hendrix while we were setting up, but she ended up bringing 3 blow up mattresses, sheets, blankets, disposable utensils, towels, camping chairs, COFFEE and snacks. Can you say lifesaver!!!??
Since we only were able to bring some clothes and 2 pairs of shoes each, we basically forgot any kind of actual home needs. Luckily though, auntie came in clutch! The first 4 days in our new home we were greeted with basically rainstorms by noon … every single day. We had placed the order for the new truck park our second day there and went grocery shopping. Auntie left a few days later to let us get used to our place and said she would be back when it was time for us to go to New Mexico to get the truck. The plan was for Hendrix to stay here with Aunt Mel so Jesse and I could fly out there and bring the truck and trailer back. Little did we know the part was coming 7 days earlier! We were quoted 10 day transit, and it ended up getting delivered the day after Aunt Mel left.
So, we booked some flights, and guffawed at the price! The first flights I was finding, $600 per ticket! I cried. This time in my life, I think I cried more than I have ever cried… ever. Lots of emotions, I am not ashamed haha. Then we were told about is deal on experian (I think?) and we booked tickets for less than $200 each. SCORE!! The only downside was that there was a 3 hour layover in Dallas. But, we weren’t going to complain too much. At least we weren’t $1200 in debt!
The part arrived on a Friday, we flew out 3 days later, rented a car and drove from Albuquerque to Santa Rosa, stopped by the trailer to make sure it was still in one piece and not broken into and checked in at a motel. We didn’t’ get the best of sleep but we needed to get some rest because we had a lot of traveling ahead of us. We swung by the trailer in the morning and started to rearrange everything, making sure weight was spread out and not just in the front of the trailer. We also made it so that we could sleep on the bed and not have to spend money on hotels. Smart decision? To be determined.
When the mechanics finally arrived, we were greeted by the mean lady who does the front desk. Seriously, she was just always kinda mean to us and to our family when they tried to call to get updates and see if they could get any more information than what we had. Jesse and her argued, our plan was to voice record her in case anything got out of hand. She thought we were video recording and lunged at me and clapped in my face saying ‘I DONT CARE! I’LL DO WHAT I WANT” and I took a step back and we said we are voice recording not video and this is only if there is an altercation like this and we need evidence since you have been rude to us since we first got here. She then said she hated how we would call and ask questions… and we were like “ummm this is your business right? those are our things and property? our calling 1x a day to see if YOU ARE DOING YOUR JOB is annoying?…. GET OVER IT” we didn’t say that verbatim, but I sure wish I said something to that effect. I just kept my mouth shut and let Jesse handle it.
Anyway, then we try to drive the truck… brakes weren’t bled properly, they do it again.. still not done properly because the e-brake was engaged. So… again they do it. THREE TIMES. We pay the bill ask them to change the trailer tire that got a flat on their property and tell them we are going to put some miles on the truck to make sure everything is good before we make our 1200 mile drive home. I drive the rental car, Jesse follows in the truck back to Albuquerque to return the car. (120 miles there, 120 miles back). We don’t get back to the mechanics until 3 or 4pm. And who are we greeted by? the presence of the sheriffs! The lady called the sheriffs to make sure Jesse didn’t say anything else. So, unfortunately we weren’t able to say thank you again, we just hooked the trailer back up and left. Onward we went to head towards home.
With a brand new axle and a heavy trailer load, you aren’t supposed to go more than 55 mph for at least 500 miles. IT WAS SLOW MOVING. From the beginning of the (first) road trip Jesse spoke about “The Iron Skillet” this trucker restaurant he went to when he used to truck with his dad and brother and said just how delicious it was. Let me just stop and say because the first tripwe had a fish in the car we were unable to go into any restaurants and actually sit down. We were only able to go through drive thrus and let’s just say WE ARE SICK OF FAST FOOD. Too many McDonald’s sausage McMuffins and hash browns. Since we didn’t have Hendrix or a fish in the car, we were able to drive much farther without having to stop. And when we did stop it was much quicker and more efficient, plus we actually got to go in and sit in a restaurant. So. back to Iron Skillet (in Amarillo). It was a welcomed treat! The salad was the freshest salad (with the best homemade ranch dressing ever!) we had had in sooooo long. And then I chose some chicken breast. After dinner we gulped down some super fresh coffee and drove on to Oklahoma City where we found a truck stop and pulled on in. I was majorly freaked out thinking there could be someone out there that wanted to attack us (I don’t know why haha but just feeling vulnerable with an open trailer door to let air flow). It was hot. It was humid. It was miserable. We drenched some bandanas in cold water and had cold water bottles cradled on our stomachs to keep us cool. We got about 3 hours of sleep each and woke up drenched in sweat. Not too stinky yet… we got our coffee from the gas station and stocked up on water and Gatorade. Off we went. (900 miles to get home) Oklahoma seemed bigger than we thought and by 3:30pm we were STINKING. We found a truck pull off and lucked out to find drinking well water. Jesse took out his gravity shower, filled up the bottle and we took showers in the parking lot. It was high 90’s there and we needed a cold shower. Possibly the best feeling ever. We changed clothes and kept on moving. Our goal was to make it home all the way, we just wanted to be back with Hendrix. Arkansas was a little quicker, and on to Mississippi where the roads were HORRENDOUS! Down little streets that made it seem like we were in someones backyard and that a gator would come out of nowhere. Towards the south of Mississippi the streets were under so much construction there were times we were in the air because of the unevenness of the road. We had 120 miles left, it was 2am and I turned to Jesse and said “I don’t have 2 hours left in me, let alone 10 minutes, we need to pull over and sleep for a little bit.” He wanted to keep going but had to ultimately agree that it was better to pull in home the next day than get into a deadly accident trying to make it through the night. Plus the fog from the river was INSANE! So thick there was no way we could navigate even if we weren’t sleepy! So, we pulled over in a little truck stop in Mississippi and slept for 5 hours. Woke up, got some coffee and off we went. We made it home safely and in one piece around 9am. We calculated about 17-18 hours of driving each day… when we made it home we gave huge hugs to Aunt Mel and Hendrix and then jumped in the pool; stinky and sweaty and all. Then the heavens opened up and started pouring rain. God kept our trip dry and rain free until we made it home safely. There were a lot of prayers being said during this trip and God helped us through it all.
And that was our crazy road trip and I would like to say I do not wish to drive across country ever again.
Run Jac Run 🏃🏻♀️ 