I am now in Davis, California, staying with a chapter from the University of California. We will be on our way to visit the jelly belly factory and then on to San Francisco to visit a brother's grandparents. Yippie!

I'm not sure how long I can write but I will try!

I have like 12 postcards that need to go out in the mail asap. they are from Wyoming and Nevada. I will send out California post cards too.

The car ride here was trying, especially since I got a little sick. My throat is dry, very dry and I have plegm stuck in me that won't come out easily unless I cough it up or hold my head down and let it slowly drain. too descriptive?

anyhow, we are alive! whooo ! going through the rocky mountains was child's play compared to when we went through the Sierra Mountains. we encountered a huge snow storm and we had to stop and buy "chains" for the tires of each of the three cars. we had to pay $20 per car for installation and the chains were about $30 each. baaaaaaad. that sucked. anyhow, we drive about 100 miles going 30 mile per hour with the chains on the cars. how exciting. i was fearing for my life, seeing steep downgrades as we passed semitrucks with two loads on them! so we are alive and happy. my health will get better soon. so i didn't enjoy the mountains too much. i should of taken pictures but it was inconvenient to take off my seat belt and look for my camera.

it was very trying sitting in the minivan where my feet and legs were squashed for about 9 hours. mind over matter, hehe. i was a little annoyed about that. i think i am going to ask to switch cars now. anyhow, we made it to California. oh, did you know they searched us for fruits? lisa had to give up her orange. i am not kidding! the inspector said something about it having scaling on it, but we all knew he was probably just going to eat it laterz. i cannot believe that they inspect you when you go across stateline into California.

so it took us about another hour to get to Davis, and we stayed at I think the president's house?? anyhow, we then went to IHOP, where there were about 30 members from their chapter present to greet us and welcome us. it was overwhelming. so many members! they have 160+ in their chapter, while mine has only 26! but of course 25,000 people go here..

so before crossing the sierra mountains, we had braved crossing the gentle rocky mountains. we crossed through Wyoming, borring state. We were so excited when we saw a house or a horse, ehehe. Then we passed through Nevada through the night and encountered a small storm, oh yess i was driving in that too! anyhow, we stopped in Wells, Nevada and stayed at the super 8 motel. For breakfast the following day I had to go through a casino to find the cafe! Did I mention that there are casinos is all the gas stations in Nevada? pretty weird. i was glad I did not get carded for walking into the casino to get to the cafe. so the scenery in wyoming was pretty much no houses, no farms, no animals, no trees, no people, sandy dirt, and small brown weed-like bushes. nevada was pretty much the same excpet that there was some civilization!

anyhow i am going offline now, cause i feel a little warm headed. ta ta for now. i will probably be able to get online tonight too.