As Doryn and I embark on this 10,000 mile, 40 day and 40 night adventure, we will be driving the UCAAN Mobile, which was recently wrapped by our dear friends and supporters Jason & Theresa Hardman at SoCal Signworx in Camarillo. Thank you both for your support!
Today was our first official day out on the road. We had a long drive ahead of us, 585 miles from Thousand Oaks, CA to Battle Mountain, NV. Doryn and I didn't get much sleep because we were both beyond excited about the trip. After all of our stops and lunch we finally arrived at our hotel in Battle Mountain, NV at 6:45pm. It was a very long day, we probably drove for over 11 hours with the stops but the beauty that surrounded us on the journey today was remarkable.
Below in orange highlighter you will see the map I received from a wonderful AAA agent in Thousand Oaks, who provided me with a multitude of resources including tour books, trip tiks and maps. This map in Particular is my favorite!
We drove from Thousand Oaks to Mojave,CA, a small town past Rosamond and Edwards Air Force Base. We stopped for gas, because we needed plenty of it with all the miles we had left to go We then continued on the long roads through a small town called Ochala, which housed a small Jerky shop, that we had seen huge billboards for about 30 miles prior. It was indeed a whole in the wall place, a lot smaller than I had expected, with overprices honey and olives. Lol. I used their restroom there, which was literally something out of a horror movie. Never again!
Next we continued on through Lone Pine, passing the famous Mt. Whitney, then past Bishop (one of my favorite old childhood getaways). Once we passed the border between California and Nevada, the roads seemed to be longer, with less traffic (thankfully) and more open land - mountains, hills, some very vibrant with colors as if God had painted it there. On one of the roads, I believe the 395 in a town called Mina, we met a young construction worker who was directing cars on a one way lane. We talked to Ty and spoke about the trip and our journey. He told us how the other guys he worked with switched off and how lonely it was for him on this road alone. We waited and spoke with him for 15 minutes until a lead car came with a line of Semis following him, once they passed us, we were able to go.
After driving on several more smaller freeways, we found ourselves in a tiny town, which seemed like somewhat of a ghost town, called Austin, NV. It was quaint, quiet and similar to something you'd see out of a movie. We gassed up our car and enjoyed a bite at a local cafe. This cafe's summer hours were only till 5 and we just made it. The cafe was nicely decorated with a Western theme, very colorful with a great staff. I think the other restaurant goers knew we weren't from there, we could sense it. Lol. We just enjoyed our food and talked about the trip.
Now back to those LONG Drives.....We couldn't believe the homes in these desolate areas on the highways we took, all in the middle of nowhere. Doryn and I wondered, how would they get their groceries, how would they get things from the store, would they ever leave their homes? It was interesting to think about but definitely not for us!'
I can admit we saw PLENTY of Cows in those fields! And happened to come across some signs for Bulls. Doryn didn't believe me that they were bull signs... because we hadn't seen one Bull crossing the road or even in the fields for hours. Well... sure enough, we did!! 3 Bulls in fact. One which was across the road close to the street, and two on our passenger side of our. Man were they beasts!! We had finally seen our bulls, bulls, bulls!!
The Day started out wonderful and we saw a lot of beautiful scenery. But best of all, my favorite part of the day was at the end, (two things actually) when we finally arrived at our hotel, which was better than I thought. The bed, probably the best one I've slept on in forever! Accompanied with soft satin feeling sheets. We ended up grabbing a bite tonight at a local restaurant called the Owl Club, which was a few blocks from our hotel. You know how they say things happen for a reason? Well there was a reason for us to be there tonight. We had breakfast for dinner, exactly the same way (thank god they had corned beef hash without black pepper - my bad allergy), egg yolks only too. All delicious. We started talking to our waitress about our long drive and ended up talking to her about our UCAAN Change a Life Road Trip. She smiled at us and told us that she had just lost her uncle, who was a veteran, to cancer, actually 4 types of cancer.. As she talked about his passing she started to tear up and told me what types: Adrenal, Liver, Colon & Lung. She shared how he was given 3 months and lived 10 years.
These stories always touch my heart. So I did what I'm known to do. I told her the ribbon colors of those cancer types and immediately ran to my car to get some supplies. As Doryn and I sat there I quickly made one of my special UCAAN Share the Hope bracelets, a "Hope edition" one, one with all the ribbon colors I mentioned. Before we left, I went to our waitress and gave her the bracelet. Tina (our fabulous waitress) walked around the counter to hug me, she was once again in tears sharing stories of her uncle and all the joy he brought to her life.
It's always wonderful when I can give a gift of hope to someone, no matter who they are, because we are all affected by cancer in one way or another, unfortunately. But we can do something to impact the lives of those we meet.
Talk about a great DAY! More writing tomorrow. Thanks for reading!
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