Cali Trip: Day 5… LAST DAY!

So here's what you have all been waiting on… our accommodations in Wendover, NV:

That's right a tent! It was so fun.  Hailee actually had been asking to go camping for a long time but we hadn't really had the opportunity. But here it was.  We wanted to save money on getting a hotel several nights so we decided to check into a KOA campsite and set up a tent we had bought.  Tent is a funny word though; this thing is more like a small house.  It is a 14x14 tent size.  We got there late but we were still set up in about 20 minutes and Here is what the inside looked like:

Is it camping or "camping" when you have a really comfy air mattress and still feel like you are at home?  I mean I think the pool, great showers, convenience store and such were enough to call it "camping". 

You can tell Hailee was SO happy to have camped.  We actually all slept really well.  Since we didn't get there until late we decided to not stake the tent in because it might be loud.  That was our only mistake really.  At 2am we awoke to the sound of heavy wind (something we don't have too much of in GA- or at least not like this) blowing in the sides of our tent.  It wasn't collapsing or anything it was just that the sides weren't staying stiff and really it was more of the noise of wind blowing the canvas loudly that was bothering us.  So Brian went out and fixed that problem by doing what we should have done in the first place.  My hero.  :)



Nevada mountains.  Really beautiful.

This photo was seriously taken about a couple hours after the first, I think.  Well that's about how sure I am- it seriously looked about the same the whole 4.5 hours of Nevada.  It's gorgeous and all but I would seriously call this the most boring part of our drive.   Thank goodness I got a nap while Brian drove.  ;)  Hehe.

Um What?!?  Spelled it wrong.  That is DEATH STAR.  Right Star Wars fans?

So in the morning we woke up, broke down the tent and got on our way.  Brian took the first leg basically across most of Nevada.  At first we thought everything was beautiful, which it was, but quickly we noticed the beautiful scenery was the same.  Then more of the same.  Then even more of the same.  There were very few towns.  At some points there were some small gatherings of houses  but I wouldn't consider them a town, really.  

Close to Reno we stopped for lunch and to switch drivers.  We got off for lunch and didn't want anything too normal.  We knew there were some chains here that aren't available back home where we are from so we tried to look for one of those.  We drove for only a minute until we certainly found one:

Although Weinerschnitzel is actually NOT at all what this place offered, being the traditional German dish, but still looked interesting so we tried it.  As Brian described it, it just looked like a gut bomb:

It was very good, but very messy.  So we got back on the road and it wasn't long until we were in California!!! Hooray!  The scenery didn't change immediately but really, it wasn't long until it did.  Green started popping up everywhere with trees, and trees wasn't something there was in Nevada.  We kept going along and got to a town called Susanville.  When we got there we noticed there was a lot of fog.  That is when I had realized it wasn't fog at all.  I had been checking on some of the pages of people who live up here already and remembered they had been commenting on the fires in CA.  Evidently the fires are mostly out but there is a lot of leftover smoke leftover.  (Don't worry they aren't where we are.)  Here are some pictures of Cali:


Tourists?  Haha.

At the start of California.  Looking like Nevada, but now with cows!  (Did I just come up with a slogan?  You are welcome California.)

Big change here once we got closer to Redding, CA.  Green trees!

There are green trees, however the grass is mostly dead because of how hot and dry it is here.  They said things green up in the winter.  (Winter?!?!) It rains in the winter so I guess that is when it gets watered the most.  

WE ARE THERE.  Or here?  We are here?  Yea whatever- after 4 days in car with kids… I don't even care what the grammar freaks say.  

Hailee looking cool and also happy because we told her we were there.  

We kept driving and got into Redding around 6pm Cali time, which is 9pm where we are from.  I called to talk to my sweet nieces and sister.  It was so awesome talking to them.  Refreshing, really.  We then found a place to stay for the night at the Travelodge and then got in a called my parents.  Brian grabbed dinner while I gave the kids a bath.  We ate, then all crashed into bed.  

We slept very well last night.  Today our goal is to find a place to live.  We would like to find somewhere by the weekend.

Praise requests and prayer requests.  Please join us in rejoicing and in prayer for the these things:

God we praise you for:

-Our safety in getting to Redding, CA. 

-Our kids having a great trip our and being so well behaved. 

-Wonderful places to stay and rest along our journey. 

-Our van doing such a great job getting out here.

Prayers for: 

-Finding the right house for our family.

-Getting adjusted, unpacked and familiar with the area.

-Finding Hailee a school to go to.

-Finding jobs, we have some leads but would like to find something firm. 

-Health for our family.

-Our kids to understand and be adjusted to the big change of being away from most family.  

Thank you everyone for sharing this journey with us, praying with us, loving on us.  Once we get a place, get in and settled we can start to schedule Skype dates.  We give God all the glory for everything he has done in our lives.  Thank you again.

We will be continuing to blog on what is going on in our lives.  They might just not be as frequent because of all that we have going on.  We will do our best though! :)

Love and God's blessings to you all,

The Walker's