You have arrived in Oregon! All party members are present.

We made it to Oregon today!  It was pretty awesome to drive across the state, though we are really tired of driving at this point.  The scenery was beautiful, as expected.  We mostly drove along the Columbia River, which was pretty cool.  Oregon was probably the lushest state we visited, despite the time of year.

I checked out the outside of my potential future home, and drove around Keizer and Salem a bit.  It's all super cute.  I really can't think of any other way to describe it.  Ben noted that it is definitely reminiscent of the Chicago suburbs.  We met Ben's friend Courtney for dinner, and she gave us a quick tour of the city.  We got to see a bunch of cherry blossom trees and the capitol buildings.  And she brought us to a place that serves cakes and pies.  :)

Fun side note:  We found this awesome, super cheap grocery store called Winco.

Anyway, now that I'm in Oregon, I probably won't post much.  But keep an eye out, I may have some fun updates if I do cool things (like get a job).

Cabin fever, AAAH!

Today was pretty epic overall, but Ben is starting to get a little nutty because we have been in the car for 4 days straight.  Fortunately, tomorrow will mark the end of our journey!

We opted to take it a little easier the next 2 days and traveled just under 600 miles today, which put us in Boise. Cool things we saw included prairie dogs, alpacas, plateaus, and a giant valley that I'm pretty sure once contained dinosaur bones.  I finally got gas from a Sinclair station, which happened to have a dinosaur statue out front (for the win!).  Here's a state-by-state recap:

-We finished up Wyoming, which was good, because it's really tiring to drive up and down gusty mountains.  Still beautiful, but nobody was around to see it.  We got to drive through a tunnel that went through a mountain.  It was pretty sweet.

-Utah (more specifically, the landscape in Utah) was definitely the highlight of the trip for me so far.  It's truly amazing, and I would recommend that if you ever get the chance, CHECK IT OUT.  I-80 brings you down valleys that are between towering mountains.  There is a lot more growing there than in Wyoming, which makes it even more beautiful.  I seriously can't describe it, as I was completely overcome by the grandeur of nature (super corny, but you have to see it to understand).  Utah is also more populous than Wyoming, which was nice.  Oh, and there was a railroad running next to the road, so I felt like I was in Mario Kart 64.

-Idaho started up pretty bad, as we were caught in a wicked wind storm (bad weather always happens to Ben).  But it definitely grew on me as we traveled through it.  Lots of farms, but we finally go to see some water in the form of the Snake River.  No sign of Pedro or Napoleon, though.  :(

We got dinner at Shari's Restaurant, which is like Perkins, but way better.  Then we walked a couple of blocks to Starbucks in 45 degree weather to get belated Hump Day treats.  Fun times.

Today I reflected on how incredible it is that anybody even made it to the Pacific back in the old days.  We will be able to do in 5 days what took our ancestors the better part of a year to accomplish.  I give those pioneers credit for being willing to drag children and animals across the country in harsh conditions to settle in a new, untamed land with only minimal supplies.  It was a huge risk, but they persevered.  I'm not sure I could have made this move under those circumstances, so  kudos to them!

It's Hump Day in Rawlins, Wyoming! Do you understand this?!

Today was quite a marathon.  We traveled 770 miles, were in 3 unfamiliar states (Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming), and gained an hour.  Let's do a run-down of each state, shall we?

Kansas was grey, just like they said in The Wizard of Oz.  It was still inexplicably better than Missouri, though.  There isn't really much you can say about Kansas.  Kansas City is pretty cool, though.  I know, I know, it's in Missouri, but it totally should break up with Missouri and be with Kansas.  Kansas City can do better than that trash.  Also, there were a ton of cops in Kansas.  I think they are kind of paranoid there.  Everywhere we went (gas stations, hotels, restaurants), they had signs about video surveillance.

Colorado was pretty cool.  We got our first view of the Rockies.  A TUMBLEWEED ROLLED ACROSS THE ROAD IN FRONT OF OUR CAR.  We saw wind farms and oil wells and ANTELOPES.  Yes, it was all very exciting.  Also, we ate at Taco John's for the first time ever.  It's basically Taco Bell, but more expensive.  Plus they have hash browns (?).  And the sky seemed bigger somehow than in Kansas.  Dunno what that was all about.

Wyoming is incredibly beautiful.  There was still snow on the ground up in the mountains.  The driving was pretty intense because of the changes in elevation, and there were these crazy wind gusts.  The Versa was barely up to the task.  But Ben did a good job with it.  We passed by the Sinclair oil refinery (the logo features a dinosaur!), which was pretty sweet.  Now we are staying at some crazy hotel where the front desk is IN the diner.  It's nice enough.  We were going to get a hump day treat at McDonald's, but couldn't get up once we got in the hotel.  We're exhausted, plus it's real cold outside.  But we're going to take it a little easier the next 2 days, so it should be good.

P.S.  Nobody has broken a limb or been snatched by an eagle yet.

You have killed 100lbs of meat, but can only bring 13lbs back to the wagon

This post pertains to our travels on Thursday.  I couldn't record them then because freaking Motel 6 in Topeka didn't offer free wi-fi.  But more on that later.

We were in 5 states on Thursday (Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas), which was pretty cool.  For those who don't know, Kentucky has really lame "attractions."  Like, historical stuff that nobody cares about.  And Missouri is just the worst of all possible worlds.  Here's why:

-They don't number the roads, they use letters (like KK).  Why?  To be annoying, I presume.
-It's just ugly.
-St. Louis is ridiculously large and not cool.  We spent SO MUCH TIME in the metro area.

Dinner, however, was awesome.  We went to Ben's favorite- Cracker Barrel.  It was delicious and filling.  I happened to be wearing my Invisible Children shirt, and the waiter asked if I worked for them.  Apparently some reps from the group spoke at his church, and I looked like one of them.  Guess I'll have to creep on their employees now and find out what the deal is.

We stopped for the night at a clean but scary Motel 6 in Topeka.  Things that were wrong with it:

-Wireless Internet cost $3 a day.  I skipped it.
-No hair dryer.  I thought this was a pretty standard thing, though our current hotel doesn't have them either.
-No breakfast.
-No tissues (wtf?).
-Stairs were outside.  I think there was old vomit on the 2nd flight.
-No lid on the toilet seat, so there was nowhere to put your clothes while you showered.
-One of the beds was missing a blanket, and the other had holes in the sheets.
-It was right off a main road, so it was super noisy.

Bad choice on my part.  But I was really tired.  And fortunately nothing bad happened.

We saw a lot of dead animals on the roads.  Some deer, and what looked like coyotes.  There were furry and dog-like anyway.  It was sad.  We also spotted a trailer full of cows, probably on their way to be slaughtered.  :(  Not a great day overall.

"This mass of humanity is blocking the trail!"

Okay, technically I think that quote is from Yukon Trail (Oregon Trail for poor children), but it fits. 

We travelled over 700 miles on our first day, and currently in Tennessee (somewhere between Chattanooga and Murfreesboro).  Highlights from today:

-We stopped for lunch at a Wendy's, and the cashier was friendly and super efficient.  I was surprised, as the majority of Wendy's employees are really slow in southwest Florida.  I was however, disappointed that the boneless wings are just saucy chicken nuggets.  No need for that kind of attitude from my food.

-Thanks to my poor planning, we got stuck in Atlanta rush-hour traffic.  It was as bad as expected.  Ben was driving at this point, so it was quite the road trip initiation for him.  At one point, he had to get over 3 lanes of traffic to stay on the right interstate.  You're saying, big deal, it's not THAT hard to move over 3 lanes during rush hour.  False.  It's really intense when you can't SEE OUT THE BACK WINDOW.  And a truck pulling an Airstream in front of you keeps randomly braking.  Ain't no wagon train ever had to deal with none of that craziness.

-So we wanted to go to Zaxby's for dinner.  We must have seen 5 before we were ready to stop.  When we started to look for one, they were nowhere to be found, so we stopped at Panda Express.  I should mention that this Panda Express only had Caucasian employees (?).  Also, I got an actual fortune in my fortune cookie.  It said, "Long life is in store for you."  Very encouraging.  Ben's stated, "You are an adventurer- travel the highway of life."  Not really a fortune, but definitely fitting under the circumstances.  Anyway, after we left Panda Express, we saw 2 or 3 Zaxby's at the exits afterwards.  Fiddlesticks.

-Not too long after we left Chattanooga, we ran into crazy fog.  Like, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" nightmare-land fog.  We couldn't see more than 5 feet in front of the car.  It was awful, but Ben did an awesome job of driving really slowly and carefully.  Kudos to him.

-We gained an hour!  It's pretty magical how we will gain an hour almost every day.  Like time travel or something.  Maybe we can gain more time by going 88 mph?

More to come!

Pre-trip update

Preparations are well underway at this point.  I have obtained 1 winter coat (LL Bean, $2 at Family Thrift Center in Fort Myers what WHAT?!), fetched my passport and birth certificate from the safety deposit box, secured semi-permanent lodgings in Keizer (like Salem, but smaller and apparently rogue), and had my car checked out by the dealership for trip-worthiness.  I also put St. Christopher in the car to keep an eye out for us (thanks, Anna!). 

The other member in my party, for those who don't know, is Ben.  His occupation is Student.  He adds $0 to the group funds.  His skills include winning friends and influencing people.  Also he can lift heavy things. 

Here's a link to what will hopefully become my apartment.  It is walking distance from a Dairy Queen (holla!), and a lake where I intend to pan for gold.
http://roseparkapartments.blogspot.com/

Kicking butt and taking inventory

This is totally boring, but according to the game Oregon Trail, you need to keep a detailed inventory of what is in your wagon.  I'll stick to foodstuffs, because I don't measure my clothing in sets (you're just gonna have to mix and match!).

200oz bottled water
8oz coffee
3oz tea
12oz Spam
6oz Craisins
4oz beef jerky
5oz gummy bears
8oz crunchy granola bars
23oz trail mix
7oz dried apricots
16oz chocolate

1 pair boots
3 sweaters
3 blankets

2 windshield wipers

Here's hoping I don't lose it all trying to ford a river.

First Journal Entry

The countdown has begun!  Okay, technically I've been counting down for the past few months, but now that my BIG MOVE TO OREGON is only 12 days away, I figured I ought to start documenting it.  Because an event didn't really happen if it wasn't photographed, right?  Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to document my week-long trek across the United States and serve as a vehicle (puns!) for sharing the experience with my friends and family.

Today was my last day at work.  Everybody was really encouraging of my venture and gave me a ton of travel stuff (snacks, road activity books, a compass, etc.).  Next week begins the mad rush to pack, get the car ready, deal with banks and apartment complexes, emotionally prepare my cat for the temporary separation we will experience, and make sure nothing is forgotten.  So I'm on the verge of being overwhelmed.  But I'm holding steady!  Gotta make a list of supplies to buy.  Anybody know where I can get some cattle tongues?