Today I am starting my long journey to California.

I'm starting in Tampa, Florida  and i'll end up in LA county in about four days.

Actually like five days because I started today, Friday afternoon, and I'll end up in California Tuesday evening.

I decided to do this because right now since the pandemic is  going on, I've been working from home  

for the last two months... or more than two months  now I guess since mid-March and today is June 5th.

So I figured since it's indefinite right now, why not just take a road trip to California and stay with Candy for a bit.

I've always wanted to take a road trip cross country and especially with Kuma.

I forgot to mention I'm with Kuma.

I'm driving solo with Kuma, so there are some challenges because I have to look for proper hotels, but i'll get to that in a second.

I mapped out my drive the entire way. As usual, I love creating itineraries so this road trip was no different.

Everyday, I planned how far I would drive and since I have Kuma, I thought 10 hours max a day.

Each day I'll be driving 450 to 600 miles and that equals about 7 hours to 9.5 hours a day.

My stops that I'll be making... First, I'm stopping in Pensacola and that's about a 7-hour drive

but I actually add an hour to that because I take a few stops and let Kuma stretch her legs a little bit.

Then next is Houston.

Then from Houston, I will be going to Fort Stockton.

Ideally, I wanted El Paso to be my next stop but  it was just way too long from Houston  

so I figured Fort Stockton would do.

That's in Texas.

And then from there, Tucson, Arizona and finally California.

I called each hotel I planned on staying at just to make sure, one, they were open and two, that they were pet friendly for sure

and I also wanted to check how much the pet fees were for each place.

In Pensacola I am staying with my friend. I have lots of friends in Pensacola.

I wish I could see everybody while I'm there but I need to really get going on the road and hit the points I want to at certain times.

Anyway, it's going to be a good time. I'll see her for one night and then I have to head on out early in the morning to Houston.

I've also mapped out where all the Whataburgers were on the road trip because I love Whataburger.

It's my favorite fast food restaurant and it's not even the burgers that I love. I actually like the chicken and gravy.

The chicken strips and gravy. My absolute favorite.

This drive - the first day of driving - I'm not going to stop by Whataburger

because I packed some food that is a little bit more healthy

because  I know I'm going to be eating super crappy on the road trip.

It's super easy to drive in Florida. They have plenty of restaurants, plenty of nice restroom stops.

If you're beginning on I-10 or if you're beginning in south Florida and then going west on I-10

Busy Bee is the gas station to stop at in Florida.

It's awesome. It's huge. It's 20,000 square feet

and they're most well known for their very clean bathrooms.

I mean these bathrooms are so nice.

They have nice light fixtures and nice granite tiles and you have your own stall

and they clean it constantly.

It's spic and span clean.

They also have tons of candy, which i'm not really big on, but it's kind of fun for kids to see all that candy and the huge candy wall that they have.

They also have homemade fudge and beef jerky.

They have their own specialty goods too and a gift shop.

Also they have a nice pet area for dogs to walk around in.

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I'm on I-10 now and about three miles  away from exit 283 and that's where Busy Bee is located

so I'm sure Kuma will be excited to take a break too.

You know when you're approaching Busy Bee because they have a lot of billboard signs that have a lot of funny sayings on them.

Exit 283!

There's a lot of other things too like Wendy's, Zaxby's,  Mcdonald's, Taco Bell, Waffle House, Krystals

and other gas stations but Busy Bee is the only one that matters to me.  

It's the Live Oak Jasper exit.

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There's a bee on the Busy Bee sign.

Kuma, you wrapped yourself around.

She always does this.

They even have a dog waste station here. Looks like all the bags are out.

But I'm prepared. I have lots with me.

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So now I am a little over two hours away from Pensacola. Says I'll be there around 8:30 PM.

I left at 2:15 PM, so not bad.

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Okay, it is 8:53 central time zone, so it's actually 9:53 my time.

Oh, my light went away.

Anyway, I'm here. I'm about to see Kathy.

I'm going to pack all my stuff because I have everything laying out.

Kuma is super excited to go.

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Day two of being on the road. Today I am going to Houston. It's 530 miles and it will take 7.5 hours.

Arrival time says 3 pm, but I'll probably get there around four-ish.

It's 7:30 in the morning right now.

I had a great time with Kathy catching up and it was a short visit but we had a couple glasses of wine and caught up.

It's always a good time with her so I'm glad I stopped by her place  

but I had the most awful sleep last night. I think I slept for a total of three hours.

I don't think Kuma slept at all.

I hope i'll be okay on this drive. If I get tired I'm sure I'll pull over and take a break.

I got my Starbucks Double Shot Espresso Coffee. This is the best.

This is the only canned coffee I'll drink in the States and it does its job. It's really, really good.

And a granola bar for breakfast. I like the Kashi Chocolate Almond Sea Salt.

I recommended it to Kathy too because this is the best.

All you need is this and coffee in the morning and you're set.

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Almost in Mississippi. Alabama and Mississippi I'm going to pass by super quick.

I am so tired today. I'm just not feeling this drive at all. My energy level compared to yesterday is so different.

Yesterday I was like, "Yeah, let's do this! I'm ready to go!"

and today I'm just like...

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Exit 59 has Panera.

That's a good option actually but i'm trying to save my appetite for Whataburger which I believe I have an hour more. 

I am feeling a little bit better now. Earlier when I first started the drive, I was not feeling so well.  

I had a headache so I took some Advil and I've been drinking lots of water  

so that seems to have helped and now I feel like I have a little bit more energy.

I am almost approaching Whataburger's exit in Louisiana. It's exit 101 on I-10.

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Whataburger!

Oh good, there's a TA Travel Center right next door so I'll stop there

use the bathroom, take Kuma out.

Thank you, you too.

Oh there's extra gravy. They gave me extra gravy? Wow, that was nice.

Let's go!

Nice pet area.

Okay, let's get your water.

Good girl.

I got my Whataburger, took Kuma for a walk, used the restroom at the gas station.

It's called the Lafayette Travel Center. Good gas station and they have a nice pet area over there.

♪♪ MUSIC ♪♪

So good. I love it so much.

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I think I am almost in Texas. I'm at mile marker 4 in Louisiana on I-10.

It should be a few more miles and I'll be in Texas.

There's these two cars on the highway that have these huge metal things sticking out of their tires.

I don't know what the heck it is. It looks like metal cones and it's just spinning.

It just looks so weird. I wonder what that is.

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Okay, I just made my last stop for the day at a gas station.

I'm not sure if that was my fourth stop or my fifth stop today.  I kind of lost count.

I stopped at the Flying J quick stop.

They did have signs that say that if you want paper towels to ask the attendant

because I guess there's people that steal paper towels.

So that's sad.

I was planning on stopping my Buc-ee's just to check it out.

Leave Kuma first in the hotel room because Buc-ee's is huge so if I wanted to really check it out, I'd have to leave her in the hotel room  

because she can't just be waiting in the car.

I believe it was 17 minutes from the hotel so it's not terribly far.

It's just that i have to go out again and drive.

But I'd rather do it today than tomorrow.

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I am in Houston now. Just passed downtown Houston which was huge.

I didn't realize Houston was so big.

There's like one, two, three, four... five lanes!? Yeah, five lanes. 

I haven't been on a five-lane road like this in a while or passing like a big downtown area. 

It's so chaotic. There's so many lanes.

I'm so not used to this anymore... or I don't think I ever was.

There it is, 755, Volcrest Drive.

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There it is. Home2 Suites by Hilton.

Oooohhhh made it.

What do you think, Kuma? Do you like the room? Looks pretty nice, huh?

Checking it out, scoping it out.

It was a long journey, yeah.

It's nice and spacious. Very clean.

Dig it.

Do you dig it?

All checked in to the hotel in Houston.

Surprisingly, I still have energy left and I'm going to go check out Buc-ee's.

I'm in Texas, so I should just do it. It's 17 minutes from here, so gotta get going.

They're supposed to have really good food at Buc-ee's too - well, I don't know if it's really good, but they're supposed to have good food at Buc-ee's too

and one of the recommended dishes is grilled cheese and I love grilled cheese and I haven't had one in a while so hoping to try that

or their brisket sandwiches.

I believe this location of Buc-ee's is 50,000 square feet, which is...

GPS: In one mile, keep left to merge onto I-10 west.

...which is huge.

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There's the Buc-ee's icon with the beaver.

Okay, here it is Buc-ee's Katy.

Oh my goodness, this is huge.

GPS: Arrived.

Oh my, there's so many gas pumps!

Okay, now there's like torrential rain  

Okay, so the rain did not calm down. It got much worse and now it's like torrential rain, almost like a hurricane. 

Well, I'll just wait in here for a couple more minutes and see how it goes.

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I got a whole bunch of stuff at Buc-ee's.    

I even got this cute little bag, so that's like a little souvenir.

I just got a whole bunch of stuff so I could just try out everything that i heard about.

So the grilled cheese, I got the brisket sandwich, beef jerky, and a cookie.

But I gotta get on the road so that  Kuma's not freaking out.

She didn't like it that I was leaving her in the hotel room.

It was ginormous like I've heard and so much stuff in there.

Lots of beef jerky.

I decided to get some pepper beef jerky.

I don't eat beef jerky too much but I do like the peppered ones.

They say that this beef jerky is really good, so I thought I would give it a try.

They have a little bakery section with muffins and cookies.

They have the barbecue section.

I love their uniforms there. It's the cutest outfit.

They were making the brisket fresh and cutting it in front of you, so I just had to try a brisket sandwich.

They have fresh to-go orders and you order those at  the kiosks and get sandwiches and wraps...

I just really wanted the grilled cheese, so I just went for that.

It's also like a regular convenience store too. They have the normal drinks and snacks

but a lot of it is Buc-ee's branded snacks and souvenirs and goods.

They have T-shirts, clothing... all that stuff is Buc-ee's branded.

It is 7:59 pm. I am going to eat, take Kuma out  on her last walk, then shower and go to bed.

♪♪ MUSIC ♪♪

Back in the hotel room. I'm going to try all my Buc-ee's goodies.

Looks good. It's on Texas toast.

Mmm... the toast is nice and buttery. It's so good.

I just love good old grilled cheese like this.

I feel like lately when I go to restaurants, like the newer restaurants, they make like a gourmet version of it

and then it just doesn't taste like a grilled cheese anymore to me.

In total, I spent $17.89 at Buc-ee's.   

The grilled cheese is $3.89, the BBQ brisket sandwich is $5.99,

beef jerky is $6.99 and then a chocolate chip cookie is 97 cents.

I'm going to try the beef brisket sandwich. I'm just going to eat  a little bit of this. I just wanted to taste it.

It's okay. I mean for gas station food, it's good  

but I've had better briskets before.

I'm going to cut it into little pieces for Kuma.

Okay Kuma, you're in for a treat.

This is like very special road trip food for you.

Some brisket. I think you're going to love this.

Okay, let's go.

There you go, baby.

That was so fast. That was super, super fast.