Day 4: Where're the fireflies? (found the frog) WE'RE HERE!

Ok, so it rained some more, but luckily, around noon, it cleared up pretty good so we were able to get up to speeds around 80mph/129kph to hurry things up a bit to get to our friends, the Demartin's, at a reasonable hour.

Marco ("Sparco" as Brad calls him) met us at their door and within a minute or two Brad had caught his first frog of the year (not too many hoppin' around dry ol' Utah), and we had been boxed in (parked in someone's spot). Lucky for us, we were able to do an 8-point turn and weasel our way out and park in an un-numbered spot. By that time, Marco had acquired "Pipo"'s (Phillipe) wooden sword and took a swing at a huge az spider who'd spun a web in front of their door. No idea where it landed, but it was so big (abdomen about the size of a large marble) it made a 'ding' sound when it crashed into the siding.

We think its too cold for the fireflies (too late in the season), so haven't seen any. Sorry...

-Total distance today: 506 miles/814km
-Total distance (DONE): 2,179 miles/3,507km
-Average miles per gallon today: 36.113mpg
-Hotel Room rate: ~US$(free) (stayed with the Demartin's in Woodbridge, VA)
-Total frogs caught by Brad on the sidewalk outside the Demartin's: 1


We were planning on taking pictures of all the welcome signs along the way, and this was the only one we remembered in time to take:


Brad, reveling in his RAZR picture taking (capturing the welcome to West VA sign in all its glory):

Visit with the Bluncks

On our way to DC we stopped in to spend the night/visit with Kacey, Amy, and meet little Joshua. Due to heavy storms we didn't actually make it to their place until about 11:30 at night. We chatted with Kacey until nearly 1:30-2:00...until none of us could keep our eyes open any longer...and then went to bed. We ended up waking Amy up around 12:30 so she came down and joined us. In the morning, Kim woke bright and early to meet Joshua and see Kacey some more before he headed off for work. It was a very fun/fast visit, but very good to see them again.
Amy, Joshua, Kim, & Brad showing off our early morning bed head.

Kim throwing Joshua around. By the looks of it, I'm not so sure he enjoys it.

Taking time out for a mid morning snack.

Brad taking Joshua for a cruise around the house.

Day 3: Tornadoes 'n Rain

Well, we finally drove in to Kacey & Amy & Yohash's house (Dayton, Ohio) to finish Day #3 of our relentless journey across the Eastern half of the USA.

You would not believe how much rain we went through! Not only that, but in Indiana all the radio stations were begging people to get off the road and seek shelter because of all the tornadoes touching down. We pulled over to a Burger King (Hungry Jacks for the Aussies), ran as fast as we could inside and we were still soppin' wet. It was only 9:30pm-ish, and we only had 1.5hrs to the Bluncks, so we figured we'd press on despite the warnings. Sure enough, we made it there safely, and kept them up way past midnight (I think it was like 2am by the time we said goodnight)

The pictures below are from the "Settle Inn" we stayed in last night (shot on our Moto RAZR crapcams)

-Total distance today: 720 miles/1,158km
-Total distance so far: 1,673 miles/2,692km
-Average miles per gallon today: 37.876mpg
-Hotel Room rate: ~US$(free) (Kacey&Amy's House in Dayton, Ohio)
-Total # of tornadoes that touched down within a few miles of us: 8

Day 2: Pork hearts to die for

Today was quite possibly the worst day to drive through Wyoming/Nebraska (other than perhaps a freak blizzard or tornadoes...). A huge rain storm followed us the entire distance we drove on I-80 today. If you don't believe us, watch the www.weather.com doppler radar for today (27 Aug) for this area, and you can see that we were in the eye of the storm the ENTIRE time! Luckily the hailstones weren't too bad.

The diesels/lorries kicked up enough water most of the time that we had difficulty seeing 10ft/3m in front of us (that's with our wipers going full throttle). We finished the night early (around 9:30pm Central Time) because there was almost zero visibility with the fog.

We're spending the night in the "Settle Inn" in Council Bluffs, Iowa (it has a nice knight/castle theme...cheesy az), which offers internet so we can post these. Oh, the pork hearts. We bought some sausage sticks from Costco the day we left, and they're wreaking havoc on our insides (the main ingredient is pork heart). Kim glanced over the ingredients and has ceased her consumption of the delicacy.

-Total distance today: 648 miles/1,042km
-Total distance so far: 953 miles/1,533km
-Average miles per gallon today: 36.374mpg
-Hotel Room rate: ~US$69.00 (Council Bluffs, Iowa)
-Total sausage sticks eaten: 43 1/2 (mostly by Brad)

Day 1: On the Road Again

Final Farewells...

Well, it's finally happened. After a very long week of packing our lives in boxes once again, we are back on the road, living like gypsies. We got off to a later start than planned, but we finally set off Saturday around 4 PM and drove to Rawlins, Wyoming.

We thought we had left the ranchero music behind at the Duplex, but no. Our neighbor hotel patrons were blarin' their fiesta music and speaking as loud as possible. Needless to say we quickly complained and got another room (and they dropped the $rate$...nice).

-Total distance today: 305 miles/491km
-Total distance so far: 305 miles/491km
-Average miles per gallon today: 36.142mpg
-Hotel Room rate: ~US$75.00 (Rawlins, Wyoming)
-# of strange looking drunk people who've offered to help beat up noisy hotel room neighbors if needed: 1

National Geographic...here we come

So, Brad received a phone call out of the blue on Thursday last (17 August) from his old internship boss at National Geographic TV & Film, asking him if he'd like to take up a production coordinator position that had just become vacant. The only drawback was they wanted him there on the 28th (this Monday), so not a whole lot of time to get much done (the position is in Washington, D.C., which is easily a three day drive).

Well, sure enough he accepted the offer, quit his camera job at the LDS Motion Picture Studio, and we've got everything packed away in the Blunck's basement...again. Yup, we're only taking what can fit in our car. (Its the story of our life.) When we finally figure out where we'll be staying and if we'll be there permanently, we'll either come back and drive a U-Haul out or have it shipped.

The coolest thing about this is that Brad will be filling the vacancy left by his teacher from BYU, April Chabries, who got him the internship two years ago. Apparently, she quit BYU to go out there for work, and she was recently promoted to be an associate producer on a PBS-distributed NatGeo show called "Wild Chronicles" which my old NatGeo All Roads Film Festival boss, Mark Bauman, is the executive producer for. Small world, eh?!

Hello/Goodbye to Wilson Grandparents

Just before we left Utah for Washington, D.C. we went up to see Brad's grandparents up in Logan, Utah (about a 2-3 hour drive from Orem.) It was good to see them again and catch up.

Brad and Grandpa Wilson

Brad and Grandma Wilson

Group photo

Lazy farm life

Sally goes under...literally

(DISCLAIMER: The following pictures may not be for the faint of heart)

Sally, the moo-cow, bit the dust yesterday as she finally succumbed to the internal bleeding caused by her recently giving birth to little Joey (we can only assume since as she departed this life, her bowels relaxed and a pile of blood mixed with manure came out).

A friend of Kim's father came with his backhoe and generously burried the poor mess (she was one fat cow!).

Joey was soon thereafter wrangled by Kendal, Brad, and a kind neighbour (it took them about a half-hour to get Jersey [the grandma moo-cow] to get away from him) and taken to be nursed on another moo-cow down the road.

Flash Slideshow

Ashley Jones bursts out of Sydney and into "The Bubble"

Ashley was in the Summer Hill Ward (Sydney) with us, and just flew in the other day. She's attending the University of Utah this fall. We wish her all the best!

And to the Jones': we'll take her to Seven Peaks Resort Water Park every weekend so she won't miss the ocean too much

The Empty Case - Rough Cut

Well, here ya go. The Empty Case is now online. Its 20mins long. Still a bit rough around the edges, but it was received well at its debut in Sydney back at the end of June 2006. We're hoping to get access to a machine with FCP and AE soon so we can finish it finally... as always-enjoy!

can you say, "cheesy wedding video"?

Kim insists we post this for our Aussie mates. So, here ya go (26 April 2002)...and yes, its gonna be crappy internet compression quality, cuz we did this on the quick 'n cheap.

Return to the Duplex

Its nice to have room to spread our stuff out again (the studio apt in Sydney was fun, don't get us wrong...). This post is a courtesy to all our Aussie friends who've asked to see the inside.

Brandon & Felicia's Farewell Party

We threw a going away party for Brandon and Felicia as they prepared to make the long journey cross-country to attend Harvard Uni. Feel free to follow along on their adventures via the link to their blog on the right.