We Made it!!

Okay. So I am WAY behind, but over the next couple weeks I want to catch up... Stay Tuned : )) At the end of July we left our little apartment in Provo for a new-to-us little apartment in Stillwater, OK.

Ready for our big adventure : )

We left early on the 25th of July on the first leg of our journey to Oklahoma. My good friend, Nalani, came to see us off and I'm glad she did. For the last couple years at BYU she and I spent day after day in the same classes, in the same research, and being TAs together. It was sad to say goodbye to such a great friend.

Nalani & I

We made a quick stop for fuel and were on our way. We took route 6 East through beautiful Utah, country that we had barely seen before. It was miles and miles of curvy mountain roads. Trevor drove the 17 foot truck towing the trailer with his car on it. I can't say enough how proud of him I am for driving that beast of a vehicle. He never got frustrated or complained about it. He handled the truck so well on roads that looked impossible, especially during EXTREMELY narrow stretches of construction.

The windmills we've been so close to the whole time we lived in UT, but got to drive past this time.

We entered Colorado near Grand Junction and it was dry and sunny. We soon entered another stretch of windy roads. It was really neat because we drove along side the Colorado River for most of the state. We would have loved to stop, but we were on a schedule because our overnight stay included a dinner, which we would miss if we were late. The truck with trailer had a recommended speed of 55mph, although I think Trevor hit the high 60s at one point. I'm sure people loved us as the the speed limit for almost the entire trip was 75mph and they were going closer to 90...

My view for most of our drive, that's our U-haul!

I was planning on stopping in Aurora so that we could pay our respects to the victims involved in the movie theatre shooting, but it was bumper-to-bumper traffic through Denver and we couldn't get over to make the exit safely or together. I know I was thinking about them as we drove past and Trevor was doing the same. We continued to drive. The last bit of the drive from Denver to Stratton, CO where we were staying seemed so long. We were worn out, and SO ready to not be on the road!

Immediately when we walked up to this beautiful bed & breakfast we were greeted by the inn keeper, "Here are our long distance travellers, Welcome!" That was so nice to hear. We were shown our room and given a time to come back down for dinner. We had just enough time to wash up a tiny bit, rest our bodies and come back down to the main room. Dinner was wonderful.

Flat stretch of Colorado

This was the style of our room : ) I should've taken a picture of the washroom too because it was  5 star!

Trevor happy to be able to relax! About to go to dinner

Trevor's plate: Fillet Mignon, steamed brocoli, seasoned red potatoes

Jesse's plate: Grilled salmon w/ pineapple garnish, steamed brocoli and the yummy potatoes.  It was pretty funny to us that they already opened a fresh bottle of wine for us and offered us coffee with our dessert. Seemed so foreign compared to our little UT bubble! haha 

Dessert: chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce... SOOOO good.

The next day we still had a 10 hour drive ahead of us and we left before the sun was up. The sunrise was awesome. I'd never seen it totally unobstructed before.

Sunrise over Kansas

So pretty.

This was a field of sunflowers that went for miles. I was really hoping this picture wasn't blurry, but we weren't stopping for anything! lol

Even though, we were making decent time, we couldn't escape the heat and the beating sun. My little hyundai doesn't have A/C and my driver side arm was pretty much baking... SO I fashioned a sun blocker with my zip-up hoodies that caught the wind and kept the sun from directly shining on me.

This is me dealing with (HATING) the heat. I had a fan mister filled with water that I sprayed on me every couple minutes to feel something cool too!

We were so so so happy when we saw this Oklahoma sign!! Only a little ways to go.

OOOOOklahoma...

And finally Stillwater!!

We arrived at our apartment, but first had to get electric setup and renter's insurance before we were allowed to move in. We worked everything out and unpacked about half the truck before calling it quits. Every trip up the stairs deserved a drink of water. We had no way of knowing how hot it was, but it was miserable moving in the heat. Turns out we arrived during the most severe hot wave Stillwater/OK in general had seen in years and the temperature outside reached 118 degrees!!

We are still in the process of making our apartment feel like home, but it's getting there! Stillwater is a cute little town and different than any place we've ever experienced. Once the heat passed we were able to explore a little more. We are so grateful for having made it safely and having the support from family. Believe me, we needed it! We love you all so much!