It was one of those late spring nights where you can feel the warmth of summer breathing down your neck. The end of the semester is in sight, the light at the end of the tunnel, and the possibilities seem endless. Perhaps fueled by a drink or two, my friend Sheridan says, “I want to go on a road trip up the West Coast this summer, we should go.”

As much as I’ve traveled on other continents, I’m itching to see more of my own country—the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Northwest. The only problem is that I don’t have a car, and I would need the right travel buddies. If there’s one thing I learned from traveling with new friends, it’s that you learn a lot about a person during that time, and a trip can be a completely different experience depending on who you’re with.

“Yes! Let’s do it,” I say. My other friend, Ashley, eagerly jumps onboard as well.

The three of us make a pretty good group—but ask me two weeks from now if I feel the same way (kidding). We plan ahead, but we also plan for the unexpected. We tend to make the best of even the worst situations, and our personalities balance each other out when needed. At first, the road trip was an excited idea, a distant possibility. But pretty soon, we started to lay the foundations for where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. A couple of months later and here we are, leaving tomorrow morning.

As soon as we get out of Texas—aka, ASAP—we will make our way out west and all the way up to Vancouver before circling back down for a total of 6399 miles, 12 states and 2 countries over 15 days.

It may be ambitious, aggressive, whatever you want to call it. But it’ll be an adventure.

We’ve created a Tumblr page to collect all of our Instagram photos (you’re welcome, Instagram-less Mom), and I’ll also be posting (hopefully) regular blog posts from here onto the page as well. I’ll go ahead and apologize in advance for my incessant Instagram posts. Keep up with us if you’d like and please share any tips/advice/suggestions if you’ve done anything similar. Also holler if you’re in any of those cities and want to hang!

Follow us on Instagram: @alex_vickery @ashleylouisesta @sheridanlee11

See you in two weeks Austin.