Loading...
Start a new Travel Blog! Blogabond Home Maps People Photos My Stuff

Ben, Kacie (& Kosmo's) Big Move

a travel blog by kkiser

We're moving to Tempe, Arizona so Kacie can spend the next five years earning her doctoral degree in Rhetoric, Composition, and Linguistics at Arizona State. Ben, the ever-loving and supportive husband is looking forward to a change of scenery and career (and forcing his wife to have some fun amidst all of the work!) And Kosmo...well, he will just be trying to stay cool.

We decided to create a travel blog so all of our friends and family can share in our journey as we drive across the country to our new home. We figured people don't make a trip like this too often so we wanted to be able to share the pictures and video that we take along the way. Our goal is to update it each day that we are on the road and hopefully keep it going for at least the first few weeks or months as we explore our new life. Feel free to leave us comments and enjoy!

Show Oldest First
Show Newest First

Leaving

Suffolk, United States

On Thursday Ben and I got suckered into a 3 day, 2 night vacation in Williamsburg (one of those time share things). Since we were trying to cram everything all into one day on Friday (saying goodbye to his family and our Real Life friends), we decided to take the offer and extend our time here a little longer. So we worked out a new plan where we spent all day yesterday (Saturday) at Ben's grandparents' House in Suffolk. It was a great time and I realized that it was actually the first time everyone has been together in two years, with the exception of Ben's brother and his family. As soon as Ben transfers them over, we'll have some pictures up, as well as the video of Kosmo's dip in the lake.

We spent the night at Granny and Pa's, got up this morning, and headed over to Williamsburg where we spent the day with Ben's brother, his wife, and our little niece from South Carolina, as well as Ben's sister and her husband. Tomorrow we will actually start our trek to Arizona, hopefully getting on the road around 11 AM. First stop: Asheville, NC. As long as it's not raining we will be camping. We'll update you all when we get there!

permalink written by  kkiser on June 12, 2011 from Suffolk, United States
from the travel blog: Ben, Kacie (& Kosmo's) Big Move
Send a Compliment

Day 1

Asheville, United States

Today was our first official traveling day. We got a much later start than we had anticipated due to the looooooong timeshare presentation. Oh well, at least we got a $125 gift card at the end! And no, we weren't persuaded to buy anything.

We picked up Kosmo and finally hit the road about 2:30 PM. I drove for the first two and a half hours because I find road trips more durable if I'm doing the driving. And since the worst part (for me at least) is getting out of Virginia and through Emporia and South Hill, I volunteered to drive first. We switched off after that and Ben took over for the rest of the way. We passed a lot of the time by listening to the audio book we rented last night, George W. Bush's "Decision Points." It's pretty good so far and I'm looking forward to about seven more hours of it tomorrow!

Because we were so tired and got a late start, we didn't reach Asheville until 9 PM and decided to just find a place to stay versus camping like we had originally planned. I was just too tired and the thought of setting up a tent wasn't too appealing to me. On a whim I looked up some bed and breakfasts in the area and found The Madison Inn (http://www.madisoninn-nc.com/). It's really cute and there are a lot of hydrangea bushes outside that I'm dying to get pictures of in the morning!

Tomorrow's plans include an early morning trip to the Biltmore Estate. We're not actually buying tickets and touring since it's so expensive, but I thought we could at least see it from a distance. We'll see what we can do. Then we'll be off to Waverly, TN (although we're going to see if we can make it to Memphis instead). We'll be going through Nashville as well, so hopefully we'll have some good pictures to post!

permalink written by  kkiser on June 13, 2011 from Asheville, United States
from the travel blog: Ben, Kacie (& Kosmo's) Big Move
Send a Compliment

Morning of Day 2

Asheville, United States

We're about to leave The Madison Inn on the morning of our second day. We had a great night's sleep (the bed was gorgeous!) and had a delicious breakfast this morning (omelets-yum!). This place is amazing and I can't wait to post pictures. However, that might not be until we get to Arizona because SOMEONE accidentally threw away the adapter cable to the camera...I'm not going to name names but it was a certain hubby...

Okay so anyway, we're getting ready to make a quick trip to downtown [[United-States/Black-Mountain]] this morning for the doggie park (Kosmo's gotta run it out before eight hours in the car today). We also learned that there's a doggie bakery, Bone-A-Fide Bakery and Pet Boutique, that we're going to take him to so he can get some yummy treats for the road. It was so cute-they had complimentary doggie biscuits with coupons for the place here. They gave us one last night and then again this morning (I think the lady forgot she had already given us one, but shhhhhh!) Speaking of Kosmo, Ben had to run back up to the room this morning to get his wallet while we were downstairs at breakfast. He came back downstairs with this huge grin on his face and when I asked what was going on, he told me that when he unlocked the door and walked into our room he found Kosmo just chilling on the bed. He said he looked soooo guilty! (P.s. Ben only thought it was funny because it wasn't OUR bed. Usually he would have been furious).

Alright guys, next stop: Memphis! We've heard amazing things about Beale Street (http://www.bealestreet.com/wordpress/) and of course, I can't stop thinking/talking about the ducks at the Peabody Hotel (http://animal.discovery.com/videos/most-outrageous-Peabody-hotel-ducks.html). My main mission is to see them tomorrow morning at 11 AM sharp!

I'll try for an update later today. Have a great one!

permalink written by  kkiser on June 14, 2011 from Asheville, United States
from the travel blog: Ben, Kacie (& Kosmo's) Big Move
Send a Compliment

End of Day 2

Forrest City, United States

We got a really late start today because of the leisurely morning we spent in downtown [[United-States/Black-Mountain]] outside of Asheville. It was well worth it though. We took Kosmo to the Bone-A-Fide Bakery and he I think he loved it. We bought him a nice collapsible dog bowl and I'm not kidding, that thing is nice! It takes up less room too, which we're all about on this trip! We got a treat in each of the different flavors they had and then we hit the road.

I was feeling pretty ambitious so I drove for the first four or five hours. After that, my eyes started getting heavy so I let Ben have at it. Our original plan was to stop in Memphis, but due to us being OVERLY ambitious, we kept going. We got across the Arkansas state line and stopped at the Welcome Center to devise a plan for the evening.

(There were some pretty sweet sunflowers there!) It seemed like all of the hotels I called nearby were already booked or didn't accept pets (sorry Kosmo!) We were tired, hungry, and really cranky with each other but we decided our best bet was to go on to Forrest City, which was about 36 Miles down the interstate. We were able to find a Best Western that was reasonably priced, accepted pets, and had four rooms left. I was really surprised at the room. I thought it was going to be ghetto and dingy, but I was at the point where I really just wanted to find somewhere to sleep! The room was huge and actually very nice.
We had two double beds so I joked that Kosmo had his own :) We didn't get a solid night's sleep because he was in watchdog mode and barked at every little noise. Oh well, at least we know we're safer with him around!



permalink written by  kkiser on June 15, 2011 from Forrest City, United States
from the travel blog: Ben, Kacie (& Kosmo's) Big Move
Send a Compliment
Viewing 1 - 4 of 4 Entries
first | previous | next | last

View as Map View as Satellite Imagery View as Map with Satellite Imagery Show/Hide Info Labels Zoom Out Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom In
find city:
trip feed
 author feed
 trip kml
 author kml

   

Blogabond v2.40.58.80 © 2024 Expat Software Consulting Services about : press : rss : privacy