Cross Country, Part One

For the first time in a long time, I am actually sad about leaving somewhere.  At College Park, I was so happy to get out of there that I didn't look back at all.  When I lived with my parents, I knew I would be back so that didn't phase me.  I was so excited to get out of Herndon, that I just didn't care.  But Alexandria was different.  I've made a lot of great memories here, a lot of great friends...I've become my own person and really got to understand who I am.  So laying in my bed in Alexandria for the last time, after saying goodbye to my parents, friends and Grandmother, I started to get nostalgic and felt just a teeny bit sad about leaving it all behind.  There wasn't enough time to dwell because I needed to wake up at the crack of dawn to finish cleaning the apartment and get on the road.  I had chosen to drive to Indiana that day.

So I woke up, cleaned up, returned my cable box and got on the road around 8:30am.  I felt a little sad as I was leaving Alexandria City, but decided that I couldn't look back, I could only look forward to the adventure that awaits me.

Empty Apartment

The weather was perfect until I hit Pennsylvania.  It was almost like the rain was waiting for me.  It didn't stop raining until I hit Iowa the next day.  So Pennsylvania was rather boring...Ohio was rather boring.  Indiana was brutal.  I did stop at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA.  To be honest, it was kinda cheesy, but the sentiment was appreciated.  I was fighting back tears the entire time.

Flight 93 Memorial

They have benches with the victims names on them.

There is a wall of handmade memorials.

The one thing that was spectacular to see in Ohio and Pennsylvania was the fall foliage.  I always love the fall and the brilliant colors of the leaves and pumpkins and apple picking....I know that the falls in LA will be very different so I was very happy that I could see the foliage one last time.

Other than that, the first day was pretty dull...a lot of driving, over 550 miles and almost 10 hours of driving, I was a tired girl.  Stayed the night in Fremont, Indiana and dreamed of things to come.