what a day

The day started out at 6:30am est at the Comfort Inn in Cleveland. We woke up to a fresh 1-2inches of snow which had us a little worried. The Hotel had a nice little continental breakfast and then we waited for the shuttle they provided to and from the airport. The Shuttle took us right to our terminal and since our baggage remained at the airport overnight we didnt have to re-check it. So we made our way to Security and made it through without any problems.

Time for hiccup number 2. When we walked up to our gate the sign said it was scheduled to leave at 10:00am but our boarding passes said 9:00. Apparently our flight had been delayed but we're not sure why. So we were there at around 8:00 and we had to sit around until 10. Not that big of a deal. At 10:00 we boarded our plane and took off without any other delays or problems. 4 hours later we were arriving in Las Vegas.

Touch down in Vegas was at about 11:30am pst. McCarren Airport is a pretty crazy place, as soon as we entered the terminal the first thing you notice is slot machines everywhere. After a trip to the bathroom we followed the large crowd to a tram that dropped us at baggage claim. We were both real worried about our bags since we hadnt seen them since Monday night in Syracuse, but to our surprise the bags showed up right on time. After that we followed some signs and found a shuttle to take us to the rental car building.

Time for hiccup number 3, which could have ended our entire trip before it got started. Because Doug was under 25 years old the rental company had to hold a LARGE deposit that we get back when we return the car, But Dougs company card didnt have a big enough limit on it to cover the deposit and they wouldnt take another card over the phone. So we called up Dan and he said he could call the credit card company and change the limit on the card. Lucky it worked and we got ourselves a vehicle to drive.

We took a quick drive down the strip to snap a couple pictures and then off into the desert we went. Let me tell you, there is absolutely nothing between Las Vegas, and we'll say the town of Mojave. I have pictures to prove it. The drive was long, almost 5 hours of driving. We left Vegas at about 2:00pm and we rolled into Bakersfield at about 7:00.

On to Hiccup number 4. When Doug reserved the hotel he looked at a map and saw it was right off the highway, so he just wrote down the street name hoping we'd see it while we we're driving. We ended up going the wrong direction and about the same time Dad called and he got us in the right direction over the phone.

So here we are at a Super 8 Hotel in Bakersfield California. Doug is currently out finding dinner, hopefully he hasnt gotten lost. Internet here at this hotel is sucky so i dont know if i can get any pictures uploaded tonight.

We head north to Tulare in the morning to see the Expo. Its about a hour drive so we have to get up early.