Just making a quick post from our hotel in Monroe, LA. The drive here was surprisingly decent. What was supposed to be 7 hours turned into about 8 and a half. That's because we had to stop @ a Mazda dealership to get Phil's new tires checked and we stopped at Best Buy and Target in Anniston, Alamama. I wanted to get some type of trivia game, but all they had was the "Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" board game. Instead we got "Mad Gabs" so we can practice in the car and FINALLY beat Shay and Colette.

It seemed like it took forever to get across Mississippi. Our GPS told us that we'd arrive at our destination around 8:30. What we didn't realize is that it meant 8:30 Central Time. So, as you can imagine, it was a major buzz kill when the car clock said 8:30 and we realized that we still had an hour left.

We finally got to the Holiday Inn express around 8:45 central time. I always research hotels before I book one because we had a terrible experience at a Seattle hotel last summer. Anyway, this hotel is actually very nice for a 2.5 star hotel. It's a Holiday Inn express in West Monroe. Right off the highway next to a Hooters (woo hoo party!).

These days you rarely find a hotel with free wireless internet. On average, we usually pay about $15 per computer. And if it is free, it's extremely slow. But the free wireless internet here was almost as fast as at home. Very nice:)

Overall day 1 went smooth!

Now it's 9:48 local time and we're about to head to Dallas! I just checked the weather and it supposed to be stormy in Dallas today, and rainy tomorrow:( So when we get to Dallas the first thing on our agenda is trying to find a back up location for the meet-up tomorrow.

I've been taking some footage on my camera but not enough to make a video. I'll make sure to take some more footage today! Here's Phil's vlog from yesterday

Packing (clothes and toiletries)

They always say to bring only half of what you think you'll need..and..well..this is half of what I think I'll need. It actually doesn't look as bad in the picture..but it's a ! I don't think I'll wear all of it ( I tend to pick favorites) but I don't know what I won't wear..yet. I think if there are some obvious outfits I won't wear, I'll ship the clothes home to free up more space in the car.

2 dresses
8 fitted tees
2 dress shirts
1 short sleeved polo
3 quarter length button up shirts
1 tube top
1 halter top
3 pairs of sweats/athletic pants
2 pairs of soffees
1 pair of khaki shorts
2 denim skirts
1 pair of white shorts
1 pair of navy blue shorts
2 pairs of jeans
1 pair of white pants
2 light weight zip up jackets
1 rain jaket
1 half length denim jacket (to wear over dresses)
1 pair of capris
2 bathing suits
9 tshirts
4 cami's
6 pairs of underwear *we will be doing laundry on the road ;)
6 pairs of socks
1 strapless bra
2 regular bra's
1 pair of Sperry's boat shoes
2 pairs of sneakers
2 belts
I need to get some flip flops so before we leave tomorrow, I'm going to be the first one in line at the Old Navy $1 flip flop sale!

Since we're traveling in the RX8, there's very little room in the trunk. So we've decided to not bring our suitcases (which wouldn't even fit if we tried) and we're going to use the trunk as a sort of closet/dresser instead. We're either going to use trunk dividers or plastic storage containers.

We each have an overnight bag that has all of our essentials (like toiletries) that we'll bring into the hotel room every night. We'll decide what we want to wear the next day, take it out of the trunk and put it into our overnight bag. This way we won't have to worry about repacking and lugging around big suitcases into hotels that we're probably only going to spend a night or two in.
<-what my overnight bag looks like

Men have it so much easier than women. We have to worry about matching shoes with our outfits, adding accessories, and making sure we have the right underwear and bra for the outfit. Men can just match a simple tshirt with some jeans or cargo shorts and look great. Hell they can even wear a tshirt with a bathing suit and flip flops and look great!

Busy busy busy!

Lots to do today! It's two days till we hit the road and I still need to go shopping (as with any girl, I hate all my clothes), get my bangs trimmed, have a Dr.'s appointment at 11:45 to renew my Adderall prescription, clean my house because my mom and step dad are coming to town tomorrow night, OH CRAP and I just remembered Phil's car needs new tires. Dang it. I don't know if we have enough time to do that. Plus it costs sooo much. Hm. Maybe we'll do it at some place along the way.

Okay well I'm going to be late for my doctor's appointment. Will update later!
PS- Thanks to everyone who emailed me with Venue ideas! You guys rock!

Schedule

This is the route we'll be taking, should everything go according to planned.

We have set dates and planned out most of our first leg of the trip (Atlanta, GA to Vancouver).
The markers on the map show the major stopping points but, of course, we'll stop at other places along the way.

Here are the meet-up dates for the first leg of the trip:

May 25- Dallas, TX @ Victory Park (not exactly sure where in Victory Park yet but it will be announced Sunday night)

May 29- Phoenix, AZ. Venue TBD. I'm thinking Dave and Busters in Tempe but IDK what Phil wants to do. We just know it needs to be somewhere INSIDE.

May 31- Las Vegas, NV. Venue TBD.

June 4th- Los Angeles, CA. I want to thank the guys over at the show Green Eyed World for setting up a bonfire on the beach for the meet-up. I think it's going to be awesome! I don't have all the details yet but I'll post them as soon as I know!

June 8th- San Francisco, CA. Venue TBD.

June 12th- Portland, OR. Venue TBD.

June 14th- Seattle, WA. Venue TBD.

June 16th- Vancouver, BC. Venue TBD.

And there you go!

As we see how well we're sticking to our proposed schedule, we'll start setting dates for the locations on the second leg of the trip. These cities are:

Mineapolis, MN.
Chicago, IL.
Toronto, Canada.
Philadelphia, PA.
Washington, DC.
Maybe somewhere in North or South Carolina.

*The reason New York isn't on the list is because we'll be there for the 789 gathering in July, so there's really no reason to stop there twice.

Venues:
As you probably noticed, we haven't decided on a venue for a lot of the meet-ups. This is because we aren't familiar with the cities we're going to and we don't really know what we're going to do at the meets.

We really need your help in deciding on places to meet and what to do. If you live in these cities and have ideas, please either leave a comment on here or email me at Lindsay@PhillyD.tv

Keep in mind that we need to find a place and activity that is open to all ages.

Seriously, any ideas are greatly appreciated. I'm getting pretty stressed out about this part of the trip and that's not good!
-Lindsay