Southbound.

Hello all! It's Joy away from my mini-city, on the road back to Oklahoma. It is our 2nd day on the road and things have been going unusually smooth but fantastic. Yesterday I finished up my finals, loaded up the car, and hit the road. We made our first stop last night in Wilmington, DE at around midnight. Stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, I give it 2 thumbs up. It was fantastic, 2 queen beds, free wi-fi, and free continental breakfast all for just around $100. This morning we left Delaware at 9am and continued down I95 South towards Virginia. We stopped in Fairfax and had lunch with Rae's friend Ashley who goes to George Mason University. We could not have asked for better weather or a better location. The drive through Virginia was absolutely gorgeous. Since we took a detour to Fairfax, the Garmen strayed us from I95, we were skeptical at first but it ended up being a really nice and scenic drive. Along the way we rolled the windows down and listened to Taylor Swift, one of my favorite things to do!

We made it to Charlotte, NC at around 8pm. Figured out that the university owned Double Tree Hotel is directly next door to Johnson and Wales University Charlotte campus. Upon check-in to the Double Tree, we were given warm chocolate chip cookies. Now that is good customer service right there. Any business that hands out warm chocolate cookies is a winner in my book, like Midwest Airlines too. After we got to our hotel room and freshened up a bit, we headed out on the "uptown" to find some dinner. When we walked out, I heard music playing in the distance. I thought I heard Switchfoot. We followed the music, and were still unsure if it was them. Finally I whipped out the iPhone and saw on their website that they were indeed in Charlotte for the night. In excitement, I ran a block over to find a free outdoor concert. What are the chances right?! It was awesome, and being with Rae, we found our way to the near front. During the concert we were admiring the people with the lanyards with the all-access pass. After volunteering at so many events, I really dislike being a spectator anymore. After the concert we followed the herd of people and continued our hunt for dinner. We found the Epicentre which is like this outdoor mall of bars and restaurants. Of course all of them were carding at the door so the one place we could get into was the Enso Asian Bistro and Sushi Bar. The place was not packed with people like the other places. It was very cool inside. We sat at the sushi bar and watched the sushi being prepared in front of us. About mid-way through the meal we saw a group of people who were the all-access pass people come in. We said jokingly, "What if that is Switchfoot's people?" Of course 10 minutes later Switchfoot came walking in! Rae and I freaked out to eachother, but pulled it together and went over to talk to them and show them the pictures that we had with them from their show that was in Providence in November. They remembered and thought it was awesome that we stumbled across their concert by chance and ended up at the same sushi place. We got a fantastic photo with them, it's on Rae's camera, it should be posted soon for you to see. We also mentioned how we hated not being the people with the lanyards and they gave us the all-access lanyard as a momento.

Awesome trip so far. I am still a bit skeptical about maybe transferring to Charlotte the year after next. We're taking a tour of the school in the morning, hopefully I'll have a better idea after. I have heard nothing but great things about Charlotte and the Carolinas. The city is fun and full of young professionals or "yuppies" we call them in consumer behavior. Keep your eye out for more updates on the road trip. That's all for now.