And so it begins...

I left Illinois early on the morning of August 19th, with Lynn following behind me in her car.  We had decided to head west, through Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico.  We stopped for lunch the first day in Iowa, and stopped again for a snack in Nebraska.  We thought about stopping for the night in Nebraska, only to discover that there's literally NOTHING in the western half of the state of Nebraska, so we ended up stopping in Sterling, Colorado for the night.

After another early morning start, we drove through Colorado and into New Mexico.  As long, straight, flat, and boring as 'The Heartland' was, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona were much more interesting... some places were downright harrowing!

Day two ended up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, another early night, and another early start.

Leaving Albuquerque on the last leg of our journey, we stopped at a scenic outlook and took a couple of shots:

After that, it was on to Arizona.

We stopped in Flagstaff for lunch before the final stretch to Phoenix.  We were both surprised to learn that Flagstaff is at an elevation of almost 7,000 feet above sea level; almost 6,000 feet higher than Phoenix, and driving from Flagstaff to Phoenix relatively quickly, leading to several of the aforementioned harrowing times!

We finally arrived in Chandler, AZ on the 21st, a day earlier than planned. Unfortunately, our apartment was not ready, so we had to spend one more night in a hotel.  

We signed our lease on the 22nd, unpacked our cars, headed to the closest store (a Wal-Mart SuperCenter) for cleaning supplies and some other necessities (like an air mattress) to make do while we wait for the PODS container to arrive.

That's about all the news from The Grand Canyon State.  More to follow!