Pretending Along

Note

It has occurred to me that the last entry could seem a bit somber, as if I'm extremely sad that this drive is ending. Let me be clear. I've been sitting in this car for 6 days. It smells like ass, so do Pat and I. I can't wait to get out!

On the lighter side, we have cowboy hats, so this ride has been incredibly worth it.

Maryland

The trailer is gone, left in Morgantown. The car is eerily quiet, it handles too well; accelerates, brakes, reverses without complaint. You can see out of the rear window.

The cats are no longer in the back, and although the absence of Finn's incessant whining is nice, his absence on top of the litter box, staring at us is not.

We passed into MD a couple hours ago. We're nearly to DC. And neither of us can wait. As the sun was setting behind us, I thought for a moment that in three hours it would set in Seattle.

Final Push

We entered Ohio well after dark having covered the end of Iowa, crossed the mighty Mississippi, pwned Illinois and Indiana, and eaten some jerky.

I’m not even going to write about our experience outside of Columbus on Wednesday night. I’m not sure that I could do justice the folly that surrounded our attempt to secure a hotel room, food, and two beers. I’ll put it this way. We got to the suburb where our hotel was located at 10:00 pm after an extremely long day, hotel reservation in hand… Fast forward to 12:45 am and finally had accomplished our three goals.

Needless to say, we were quite tired when we awoke this morning, readying ourselves for the final push:

please don’t make me drive another day.

Ohio was experiencing plumbing issues, so we hightailed it out of there…

…and into Pennsylvania…

…which welcomed us for about 10 minutes (which is fine with me, because I’ve always had a negative relationship with PA’s roads) and then spit us into West Virginia...

...Which is apparently "Open for business."

Now we've already seen my immense talent for state mottos or slogans, so I feel qualified to note that I don't believe that be much of a motto. "open for business" that seems to me to be kinda needy. The first thing West Virginia tells you when you enter is, "Please Spend Money Here!" But at any rate.

The goal was to make it to Washington DC tonight, with a stop off in Morgantown West Virginia to drop off all of Patrick’s junk. We’re halfway to the goal. We’ve been through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and made to Pat’s brother Steven’s house to unload all of pat’s junk and unhitch the trailer.

We made it to Steve's and unloaded the trailer. Let me be the first to say that if you ever have the opportunity to drive four hours, unload a trailer, and get back in the car for another four hour drive, I highly recommend doing it. But only if you’ve spent the past five days in a car driving 10 hours a day.

Pat and Steve

Empty

Check out the flickr stream.

And now its off to DC!

Illinois and Indiana

Illinois and Indiana.

Crossing the Mississippi

Welcome to Indiana, We're flatter than Iowa but not as flat as a lot of Nebraska, but still really flat.

Not a lot to say here. Perhaps as a consequence of having spent 5 days in a car driving 10+ hours each day, Patrick and I seemed to spend most of Wednesday the 19th laughing at unfortunate signs. Some things that amused me, in no particular order (and in full understanding that this list will make me seem incredibly immature or insensitive):

--Kikapoo: The river (three times) and the town (4 or 5 times)
--Licking County Ohio
--Thinking about 32 oz miller light cans
--Tom Raper Home and RV Sales (4 huge billboards)
--Venison jerkey (I still have no idea why this one was funny)

In Illinois, I did sample some fantastic smoked and/or cured meats including smoked venison and venison/pork sausages with cheese, which has led to my new suggestion for the Illinois motto:

"Illinois, it ain't vegan."

I'm waiting on the tourism board to call me back. Check out the flickr shots.

Mississippi

...did I spell that right?

Photos of Patrick and I at the big river:

Looking Northward

To the South

If you look closely, you can see all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

WORLD'S LARGEST TRUCK STOP

Sorry for the caps above, but as you can see, the Iowa 80 truck stop seems to warrant an increased measure of enthusiasm:

So sometime last night, I think 11 or so, I pulled off I-80 about 10 miles east of Davenport, IA... We wanted to cross the Mississippi River in the light of day.

I'm not sure how to effectively describe this to anyone who hasn't been there... It's after dark and we've been in a car for more than 11 hours and have covered about 600 miles with two moody cats... Needless to say, we're tired. So, I pull off 80, and am instantly confronted by more big rigs than I've seen in one place in my life. It's like that place in Antarctica where all the Emperor Penguins go to hatch their eggs, there are millions of them. Except that instead of penguins there are trucks. And they're there to sleep or get fuel instead of have little penguins. And it's in Iowa. And there are, like, hundreds of thousands of them. Ok hundreds... There were so many, I found it distracting. Did you ever see that Stephen King movie where all of the Semis get possessed and try to kill people? There's this scene at a truck stop where possessed driverless rucks have encircled our heroes and are driving menacingly around the truck stop like an evil inside-out circled wagon train designed to keep prey in, rather than Indians out. It was like that. Kinda.

At any rate, it was distracting and I had a hard time navigating to the Comfort Inn which didn't accept pets. So we had to truck it on over across the overpass to the Day's Inn, which did accept pets (lord only knows what else they accepted, but I'm pretty sure it includes roaches, smoking, and dirt). So we pull into the Day's Inn parking lot, under the awning, and Pat hops inside to get a room. He comes out a few minutes later and, since I was on the phone, we switch places and he proceeds to pull around to the back of the hotel to park the car and trailer. We're driving back into the parking lot to perform what would amount to a right handed U-turn around the back of Day's Inn to park in the other lot. At about this moment, Patrick notices that, in fact, the parking log does not wrap around the Days Inn, but stops rather abruptly in a field.

Five minutes later, we've realized that we can not turn the car and trailer around, so I'm trying to guide Patrick as he backs it out. This would probably have been easier had I not been cold, tired, and laughing maniacally at Pat's expression as the trailer weaved to the opposite of whatever direction he wanted, forcing him to move forward again and correct the path. I thought it was great entertainment. I think Patrick may not share my opinion. When we finally got inside, we sat down to a feast of a 6 inch Italian sub and the largest cans of beer I've ever seen:

For reference, I have a 15.4 inch widescreen laptop monitor.

Misc

Just a note: We're only a few miles from the Mississippi, we hope to get some photos of us crossing it in the morning.

Also: Nearly all of the landscape photos we've posted were taken in a moving automobile.

G'night.

Welcome, Bienvenidos, Bienvenue, Willkommen, to... IOWA!

Seriously, this is how happy I was to not be in Nebraska any more.

I don't mean to say that Nebraska is boring, but I did find performing a requirements analysis on four RFPs a welcome break from the state's scenery. I don't mean to say that Nebraska is boring, but upon leaving I was excited to notice that I was about to enter Iowa. I don't mean to say that Nebraska is boring, but when I was flipping through the photos I took yesterday thought my camera was broken because EVERY ONE LOOKED THE SAME. OK that's not fair. Nebraska was just fine. Patrick and I went Cowboy hat shopping at two western/rodeo stores:

Driving through Iowa has been odd... All I that really stands out to me from being behind the wheel for 4.5 hours of the state is:
--Bob Feller Museum
--Herbert Hoover Birthplace
--John Wayne Birthplace
--Dutch Immigrants Museum
--Seeing the first chicken truck of the trip (the Roostah had to admit that he has it quite good, comparatively)
--First traffic since the left coast

Still, it's not Nebraska. And it did have some good scenery. Rolling hills and such (photos from Pat, see the rest on flickr):

Also, we're staying across from the "Worlds Largest Truckstop" in a divey motel. Pics and parking drama tomorrow morning. And now to bed.

More pics after the jump.

Hay

Iowa Landscape

GOOD MORNING!

IT Issues

It appears that my IT issues have been resolved. I can now get back to work while we're on the road.

photos

Did I post this one yet? It's a bit crooked, but I really like it (click for a larger image):

"Well Nebraska's so flat that I don't care /

I'll never use this map, have I made it clear /
I don't know crap but I stay sincere /
Woah-oh my navigator's here" -- .moe

We have entered Nebraska. Patrick must be experiencing deja vu, since a short 9 months ago, he was a resident. It isn't as flat as I'd assumed... I should qualify that by noting that Nebraska is quite flat.

I wish I could think of something witty or amusing to say, but I'm quite tired. Pat took some great pics from the passenger seat this evening. Check them out on Flickr. I'll post my favorites below:

Sunset at Our Backs

Another

And one more for fun.

Oh, I also could have linked to Springsteen, but that ain't one of my favorite Springsteen songs.

Why-oming? Because We Love You!

Wyoming bore down on us this morning like a... well...

I looked up in the passenger seat to see this sight as we drove down the highway. After soiling myself, I realized that this semi was in fact being towed.

That was kinda startling, especially considering how relaxed I was when I awoke:

I slept well with Brawndo (who some folks want to call Fidel), but I think think that Finn was a bit jealous.

See more at the flickr stream. More after the jump.

"Let me the hell out of the back of this car!"

And a mountain:

PSA

Should anyone find themselves in a car in Wyoming (elevation approx 6000 ft) wanting to put some mustard on a convenience store-bought turkey sandwich, and should that someone have in said car a squeezable container of mustard, and should that someone have driven in said automobile from, say, Seattle (approx elevation 20 ft), and should that mustard have remained closed since Seattle, it's probably a bad idea to point the mustard towards the sandwich in one's lap and open the squeezable bottle's nozzle.

The results are less than pretty. Picture old faithful spewing Gulden's spicy brown. At your crotch. In a moving automobile.

I've researched the phenomenon and have come to the conclusion that mustard becomes more volatile as its proximity to its point of sale decreases.

Either that or it's got something to do with air pressure, but I can't confirm it.

Welcome to Idaho

We're in Utah at the moment. On the way to Wyoming. We should be there by the time we stop tonight. Somehow I missed the Welcome to Utah sign, sigh. Today's trip has been rather tame, no drams thus far, just mundane road-trip activities...

Brawndo struggles through the LA Times Sunday crossword, as printed in Ontario's Argus Observer.

...And beautiful scenery:

Check out the rest at the flickr stream.

Day 2...

... began in Ontario, Oregon, a few miles from the Idaho border. We covered two states and about 640 miles (in 12 hours... the trailer slows us down). We wanted to get two motel rooms but finances require that we make do with only one. The Holiday Inn in Ontario didn't have any spare cots for us to use, so we had to share beds. Patrick and Brawndo (we've named the roostah) are pretty close, so they agreed to crash in the same bed.

Dead Man's Pass

Pat: We could stop here or wait for the next town. It's a bit more than 50 miles to La Grande.

Chris: We can make it, can't we.

Pat: We've got a little less than a quarter tank.

Chris: We're not making the best mileage, but I bet we can make it.

15 minutes later

Chris: (reading sign) "Closed to oversized loads due to low visibility?" Huh, looks like a big hill coming up. Can't see to well in the dark, but it doesn't look like it goes too long.

Pat: (reading sign) "Chain put on area." Huh... You're right, doesn't look too high.

45 minutes later

Pat: Is this damn thing ever going to end. SNOW! It's freakin' snowing and is not stopping. How long have we been going up this damn mountain.

Chris(checking map in the dark) Ummm I think we're in the blue mountains... How many gallons does your tank hold?

(reading road sign) DID THAT SAY DEADMAN'S PASS?

And.... SCENE.

More pics after the jump.

After the pass

Eastern Oregon

A few hours in the flat lands of central/east Oregon produced some good pictures. Check 'em out at flickr.

Columbia River Gorge

Hola. It's approximately 6pm Pacific time. We're emerging from the eastern edges of the Columbia River Gorge on I-84.

For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of driving through the gorge, I recommend it, it's rather beautiful. It stretches about 80 miles from just east of Portland through the Cascade mountains and contains some amazing vistas and waterfalls. If my experiences are anything to go by, these views are best experienced in an automobile traveling at 60+ mph, while leaning over the driver to try to get a lousy picture out his window.

The eastern edge features a number of damns and power stations, and some of the best wind and kite surfing in the US.

Some pics after the jump. And check out the flickr pics.

Also, we need a name for the rooster. Calling him "Roostah" may not work for the whole trip.

Roostah Doin' Some Drivin'

Waterfalls, as taken in the rain, from a moving vehicle

Admiring the View

Roostah (as yet unnamed): It's breathtaking, just amazing.

Two Men, Two Cats, and One Fake Rooster

Greetings from I-5. south of Seattle!

So, this space hasn't been used in quite a while, and I've obviously ceased being the avid blogger that I once was. But this week, I'm driving cross country with my friend Patrick. Seattle to DC, starting Saturday and ending when we get there. I'm going to use this space to post updates on our progress, pictures, and the occasional rant at whatever is bugging me at that moment.

We left Seattle at noon today and are heading down I-5 (or "the 5" for those of you on the left coast) to catch 84 in Portland. From there we plan to head to Salt Lake City and ride 80 all the way to Ohio.

Wish us luck, the car is riding low, and the cats in the back are gettin restless.

Some photos after the jump. (BTW, see my cross country flickr set

Roostah!... as yet unnamed...
Bids goodbye to Seattle.

Empty Trailer

...and, hours later...

Full Trailer

Pat and Roostah