"Hey sweetie, can you go to Arizona for the day?"

"Hey sweetie, can you go to Arizona for the day?" Are the words my love woke me up to on Saturday morning. Charlie had been up the entire night scouting vans for the business since one of them was in the shop and we needed to get a spare van (so the guys would always have an option in case something like this happened).

Charlie booked tickets on spirit air (after booking and canceling tickets on another airline that ended up being for a month away). We had some time before we left so I cooked up some turkey breast in a pineapple/teriyaki sauce that I made (and baked some broccoli with the remaining sauce) and made us some sandwiches with a separate turkey roast I had made.


Here I am slicing the grilled turkey (I grilled on both sides then baked it in the oven to cook through). I was upset that Charlie didn't get my full hair in so I had him take another picture.


Yup, that's right, I'm sporting a sock bun!!

My mom drove us to the airport and we arrived in Phoenix. The first thing that happened is that the van seller went to the main phoenix airport and we arrived at the Mesa one. Small mistake. He picked us up and was very nice. We got to his shop and everything seemed great until he asked Charlie what the van was for. It went something like this.

Van guy: So what are you using these for?
Charlie: We have a van pool business. The DOT subsidizes government workers to carpool to work.
Van guy: Oh, but you know my van is cargo, right?
Charlie: ........


CRAP!

So we started looking for other vans in Phoenix area, hey we were there already. We found one and the told us it was in some horrible area - turned out to be a developed area with 3 bed 2.5 bath homes. Charlie said if that's the bad part of phoenix we're moving there. Anyway, first guy seller was really nice and told us he'd look at the auction for a 15 passenger van, and told us he'd drop us back off at the airport. On the way we stopped for some Nielson's Frozen Custard:

Charlie and I shared vanilla with heath bar - can you guess which of us was craving it?


Well, we ended up renting a car because there were no flights out, and driving to Luke AFB to stay the night in lodging. It was cool to see all the F-16s and I tried to take a picture to which Charlie stopped me and told me that it was "suspicious activity" to take pictures on a base! Hahaha.
Thank you google images, although not nearly as cool as the several parked ones we saw all together:

There were actually no rooms on base so we stayed nearby at a military rate and woke up ready to head home. We then decided that since LA area was only 5 hours away, to see if there were any vans there. So, we stopped at cracker barrel for breakfast, found a few viable options, and were on our way.

Of course we first took some pictures for mothers day since we'd be missing it on both sides:

Kinda tired.

Here is our food - I was so disappointed they did not have chicken n dumplins for breakfast! I had a parfait with a side of biscuits and gravy (aka biscuit and gravy despite the three they served me! Who can eat that much? - okay, most obese Americans, but still!)

Charlie started digging in before I could get the picture. He doesn't really understand why I'm photographing everything, haha!

Of course we also cheated at the famous cracker barrel peg game:

and browsed the store (well I did while Charlie looked at more vans on a marine rocking chair outside as they did not have any AF ones).

I found this recipe book which I sort of wish I had gotten:

While reading about coke/diet coke/coke zero recipes on the drive to LA I discovered you can make cake out of diet coke! Trying that asap and will report.

We arrived in LA and I stayed in the car while Charlie tried out a van that didn't meet expectations, and then a second person from England who had several, and we may be purchasing two from him in the near future. Then we went to this extremely sketchy looking area near Sherman Oaks and waited at a gas station hoping we wouldn't be robbed. I stayed in the car, drank a coke zero, nibbled on some very disappointing cracker chip things, and wished I had a change of clothes and maybe some deodorant. Eventually Charlie called me and told me he heard the man say "b'seder" (okay) and recognized he was Israeli. He wanted to purchase the van, but it was Sunday, aka, banks are closed!

We went with two Israeli men to starbucks to try to do a transfer electronically through our banks but it wouldn't let us, and obviously we didn't have enough cash on us besides Jaren and Becca pretending we are drug dealers. I assure you we are not, I didn't even have my vitamins for those days!  The transfer didn't work and so we realized we would have to spend yet another night without any clothes etc. The Israelis actually invited us over to one of their aunts house where Charlie hung out w/the boys and I hung out w/the girls. There was a nice girl my sisters age who spoke better Hebrew than I can but was telling me she didn't know how to read/write. Very nice, felt like a wonderful huge Israeli family! The grandma made sure they told us where the closest Target was (so cute when she doesn't realize we can just google it). YAY, I bought clean underwear, and a toothbrush!!!

I found out that there was an air force base in LA called: Los Angeles Air Force Base.  Creative. And also weird because Charlie had not heard of it. Turns out their lodging was in San Pedro so we just stayed in Sherman Oaks and got Marriott points. Since we left on Monday morning and that is when I was supposed to visit Eden in Palm Springs, I cancelled that trip, so I haven't seen her yet. TOMORROW!

Then, Thursday - TASTE! If you haven't gotten your tickets yet get em soon!

And don't forget to always have the essentials in your purse when you travel. Even if it's supposedly for less than a day.