We woke up this morning to a warm and cozy Macauley house, complete with hot showers and turkey egg cups and apple oatmeal homemade by the beautiful JJ. Home cooked meals = hot commodity in the Halter household.

Upon learning we hadn’t had time to plan out too much of our day, she promptly headed into her bedroom and came back with a stack of Shnsrt magazines full of articles on roadtripping, the best views, and a food lover’s guide to the West Coast.

Then it was yet another difficult goodbye as we left another best friendship in the rear view mirror.

The day brought the Arizona state line…

Some gorgeous American Southwest landscape…

A lunchtime sushi date with past KSBY friend Danielle Lerner…

Indy’s first experience with the Arizona heat (yes, she had shade and water, the poor little thing…)Crossing the border into New Mexico, the obvious Land of Enchantment, complete with a #WorkHardDreamBig shirt photo opportunity to send back to Cal Poly Career Services…

Spontaneous roadside pitstops to admire the view…

Surprise kisses in front of big rocks…

Bill’s loss of sanity… At one point, he looked over at me and said, “I think I’m going to pull into McDonald’s and get an ice cream”, which caused me to almost crash the car and is now as famous of a Bill Halter quote as “Dessert is for the weak.”

New Mexico sunsets offered moments we will always want to remember… even if we were just at a truck stop (looking for Jesse Pinkman everywhere).

We reached our goal of El Paso, TX, and I preceded to freak out about everything… the lights on the side of the road, the Lone Star lit up on the hillside, and “IS THAT MEXICO?!?! THAT’S MEXICO, ISN’T IT?!?!”

Day 2 in the books, but tomorrow we will still be…