We have arrived in Washington! We had a late start on Friday (leaving at 4pm instead of 9am) but after we got through the flooded areas of Southern Wisconsin, we had a safe drive through the remaining states. Here are some official stats.
Overall time: 70 hours (left 4pm Friday, arrived 4pm Monday)
Driving time: 30 hours
Number of states visited: 7 (WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA)
Miles traveled: 2000 miles
Gallons of gas purchased: 219
MPG avg (UHaul towing car): 9.13 mpg (don't they make UHaul hybrids?)
Prior to leaving there were a few tearful goodbyes. But also some joy. Here is a picture of Anna with Holly and bride-to-be (now married) Brinni.
You might not be able to see my "get tough" pose because of the wide shot, but I feel that I am striking the proper arm cross for standing in front of my big rig.
Hm, if I'm smiling, it must be early in the trip. ;) The night before we only made it as far as Jackson, MN for our first night before staying at an awful hotel. But, it was good motivation to wake up and start driving early the next day.
CDL experience for Anna has come in nicely.
Behold! The exciting view of South Dakota!
Anna learns about SD history at a rest stop.
After seeing the miles and miles of signs, we decided to stop in Wall, SD at Wall Drug for a break. Anna makes nice with a buffalo.
Hal makes friends with a Jackalope.
Montana was absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed the scenery around Butte, Bozeman, etc. Here is Anna in front of some of the first mountains we saw in Wyoming.
Some more mountains in Montana.
Scenes from I-90.
We kept our suitcases and cooler with food in the back of the Cruiser.
Poor Anna, she ran out of Wisconsin Cheese curds along the way...
But the mountains make her very happy!
Cardwell, MT. Named after Anna's family.
We spent the second nice in Sheridan, WY. It was a much better place than the previous night, and with the change to Mountain Time Zone, we were able to sleep an additional hour. The next night we stayed with my friend Ali in Spokane. Before tackling driving the UHaul the the mountains, we stopped at the Columbia River overlook. We eventually drove over the bridge in the background. Amidst the plains of the Dakotas, the mountains of WY, MT, and WA, and finally this river, I continually asked myself, "How the heck did Lewis and Clark do this without paved roads and a car?" I'll have to read up on that more because I have no idea how they stayed motivated day after day to continue their voyage.
Mt. Rainer came out to welcome us to western Washington. It was a beautiful day and "the mountain was out" on all sides.
Driving through the mountain passes at 40 mph in 3rd gear. Good thing there wasn't any snow!
4 comments:
Thanks for taking us on your cross country road trip... Glad you made it safe & sound... Love you both ~ Mom & Dad :) & :) PS. I think Anna can get cheese curds just down the road in California ~ they have happy ~ funny cows there...
Great travelogue. You're lucky there wasn't snow on the mountain roads, because just a few days ago they got snow down to 3000 ft. I think Lewis and Clark were amazing! Read some of their journals sometime! Can you imagine all the amazing things they saw- like huge herds of buffalo! and geyers! Anna's Mom
hello! glad the trip went so well! good luck with your new home and adventures that await! yes, we do have happy cows. atleast the ones I see look happy. :) talk w.you soon! Liz
Great pictures. Glad to hear you both made it there safe and sound.
It was fun seeing both of you at Jay's wedding. Hopefully Aunt Joie and I can find some time in the next couple of years to come out and visit.
Good luck and best wishes,
Uncle J.
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