Day 1 - Bloomington, IN to York, PA
Ben's stuff + Miriam's stuff = a full van
Abby and Zach agreed to help pack the van at Smallwood. There were some tense moments. Sorry about your nail, Abby.
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The day I left was also Ari's graduation reception, it was great to see everyone.
And we're off! (See previous post picture)Good bye Indiana! (For now...)
Miriam's needed to let off some excess energy so she decided to run around in the parking lot. In the rain.
Day 2 - York, PA to Jersey City, NJ
Pennsylvania, so bucolic! No Amish sightings though :(
Beautiful Pennsylvania morning clouds
A fellow traveler with a sense of humor. She must be a morning person.
Holy crap, a Friendly's! I hadn't eaten at a Friendly's since I was 12, maybe. If not younger. I had just assumed that they'd gone out of business entirely.
Two scoops of childhood - priceless (... or $1.99)
We somehow received a cargo van with two broken lighter outlets. No charging the ipod (with the iTrip Miriam bought because the van had neither CD player nor tape deck), no charging my phone, and no charging Miriam's Droid, with our turn by turn directions. Now I'm no stranger to a good old fashioned map, in fact I've long maintained that the TomTom/Garmin is merely a component in Phase 1 of the impending Robot take over. "Human, turn left, human, turn right..." and so on. Who among us hasn't already been misguided by one of these Faustian devices. It is, I'm afraid, just a matter of time before we're all directed to our own lemming-inspired demise. But I digress, on to a lighter note ... apocalyptic traffic.
This was the view after two hours of inch by inch progress into Jersey City. We discovered the culprit was Mother's Day Holland Tunnel traffic. The turn to Miriam's brother's place is literally, a block before the tunnel. You can even see the tunnel in the above picture, the horizontal slab of concrete where all the cars diverge. It took another hour to get there. Makes me glad I'm dropping my car off in California for good! Dump the pump. Amen.
We unloaded Miriam's things and had a great evening with her brother, his fiancee, and her parents once we found parking for the van. Street parking wasn't an option and many of the garages were closed by the time we got in. We found one, finally! The van clearance was 7'6". The garage clearance was maybe 7'8". Oh wow. I've never been so nervous while rolling over a speed bump before. It wasn't cheap, but I was glad to have my things somewhere safe for the night.
Day 3 - Jersey City, NJ to Somewhere in PA
Leaving the city for greener pastures ... Greenwich, Connecticut.
Ahh, home, sort of. We unpacked my things in the basement of my good friend, Matt and his mom, Maureen. I spent nearly as much time with Matt and Maureen as I did at home in high school, so it was really nice to be able to see Maureen and Patty, whom I hadn't seen in a long long time. Maybe not since Matt's Georgetown graduation? Apparently I was so tired after moving everything I couldn't keep my eyes open!
Next, I had promised Miriam the best lunch of her life. It was time for some Garden Catering. The "High School Special with Cones" - juicy, delicious nuggets of real white meat chicken breast alongside delicious mashed potato puffs, all gently coated and fried to pure golden perfection. A heart attack in a bag.
It was such an integral part of high school. We used to bribe upper class-men to drive us there during an open period or lunch. Once we were old enough to drive, we returned the favor to under class-men. Ahh, a part of me feels more empty each day that goes by without Garden Catering.
With full stomachs we begin the long trek westward.
Day 4 - Somewhere in PA to Somewhere in IN
It started to rain heavily.
Boo rain.
Miriam found a way to occupy her creativity on the long ride - Snow White, or should I say, Snow Brown?
We made it back to Bloomington safe and sound, dropped off the van, picked up our respective cars, loaded the remainder of Miriam's things from Abby's place into our cars, and left, hoping to make it as far as possible before it got too late.
Day 5 - Somewhere in western IN to Lincoln, NE
We made it to Iowa!
Only about a half hour into Iowa, we found the Iowa I-80 truck stop. The world's largest truck stop. If we hadn't been in such a hurry to make it to Lincoln by the end of the day, no doubt we would have stopped to lose ourselves for a few hours in the I-80 trucking museum.
Alas, time was short. But we were hungry enough to pull across the street into ....
What a treasure trove! .... of interesting inspired items.
and my favorite, the strawberry flavored gummy bacon. Complete with "Bacon viewing window."
At least to food was good (and bacon free).
In search of gas and coffee, we pulled into the world's largest truck stop. The place was huge. It had a Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, barber, dentist, and a gratuitously large gift shop. Amongst many other things, the gift shop sells ...
Traditional camo - so the deer won't see you praying
Pink camo - for use when hunting the elusive cotton candy reindeer
But you know what the I-80 truck stop did not have? Coffee. There was no real coffee to be found. That's just absurd.
Note my disapproval.
We made it to Omaha later that night. Much later.
Day 6 - Lincoln, NE to Cheyenne, WY
I noticed that Iowa and Nebraska still look a lot like Indiana, sadly.
Exit here for Friend?
Yes, Beaver Crossing.
75 mph. Perhaps the single greatest part about the western half of our road trip.
Having now driven a significant distance at 75 (or 79 ...) mph (legally), I can safely say, "What the hell, remainder of the united states?" It felt no less safe than going 55, and the difference it made four our timing was unbelievable. Over an entire day's driving, let's say 600 miles, the difference between 75 and 55 winds up saving you almost three entire hours! Is it really necessary then that so much of the country be bridled with a 55 mph speed limit. Maybe I'm too much of a Darwinist, but I say let people do what they will. We can always mop up the consequences.
That's a lot of cows. No ozone over this corner of Nebraska!
Finally the scenery shows some signs of change!
Wait a second ... snow? It had reached 80 something degrees in Bloomington only days earlier.
Wyoming!
Whoa, and check out these clouds!
It's hard to see, but this was a wigwam/church. Very interesting.
Still more snow
Day 7 - Cheyenne, WY to Salt Lake City, UT
Further west and still more snow. I joust couldn't believe it.
A little further west and new scenery!
Big wind turbines! Like, gigantic. The picture doesn't do them justice. Skyscraper tall.
I thought this was a brilliant business model. Liquor and Fireworks. Your one-stop shop to amputated limbs! Another point to Darwin.
Utah! The whitest state in the nation. And, I learned, the only place where a Jew can go to be a gentile. Thanks Joseph Smith! :)
The scenery grows more incredible.
We had a fantastic evening with Miriam's Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, complete with a John Stuart ending. So nice to have great conversation over a real home cooked meal!
Day 8 - Salt Lake City, UT to Reno, NV
After a hearty breakfast, we hit the road again. Not far outside of Salt Lake City, I find myself in a landscape I couldn't have imagined. A desert, with small shallow lakes, with mountains in the background. Incredible.
A random sculpture on the side of the desert road.
I felt like Jason from Jason and the Argonauts sailing through the cliffs.
Nevada!
Seriously, not even two minutes into the drive and you're bombarded with casinos. Hilarious. It's like Nevada is mocking Utah with its proximity.
And if you're ordinarily smitten with the concept of the gas station/fast food joint, how about a Pilot/Casino/Arbys? I don't know whether to be impressed or disgusted.
Nevada scenery
The Rebel Alliance in Nevada is in trouble...
Miriam needed to stretch her legs so we pulled off the road. Oh my gosh, a jogging mezzo!
Oh, and the view from where we pulled over.
I thought the layers of scenery was really cool here.
Reno was ok, but honestly, the nicest part was the hotel room. Not only was it only $40, but it was nicer than any other room we'd found. We rested for a little bit and then left in search of food. It was a little on the late side, but nothing a big gampling town couldn't handle, right? Wrong. Miriam's first choice told us the kitchen was closed. We found another place serving food, but it seemed like a spring break style bar. People climbing over each other, servers running around just taking drink orders, and a small menu. How about casino food? We found a nice looking Japanese place in a casino and sat down. Opened the menu, nothing under $25. We left. Went upstairs in the casino and sat down in their more casual restaurant. We got our waters pretty fast and then waited twenty minutes while we watched one waitress run all over the section without a glance in our direction. We left. Food was not in the cards for us that night. At least the hotel room came with a complimentary bag of popcorn.
Day 9 - Reno, NV to Novato, CA
Not far into our last day, we crossed over into sunny California.
It was strange to me how abruptly the trees transformed into the tall and thin variety. Very distinct from even a few miles east in Reno.
This was different. an agricultural inspection. For all cars.
I had to stop, as if paying for a toll, but instead answer a trooper's questions about the contents of my car. Any plants or animals? No? Ok, have a nice day. I'm not sure how effective this tactic is. I could have had a trunk full of puppies and oranges. I'm just saying.
Finally, we arrive. And here's the picture for sure fire proof.
Don't let me seemingly calm demeanor fool you ... I'm overwhelmed with excitement inside. I've been traveling to California since before I was a year old, and never once has anyone wanted to try In-N-Out burger with me. This was truly momentus.
Oh, yea. So good.
Miriam and I finished up and parted ways. Thanks for the great caravan company, Miriam!
The remainder of my drive to northern California was quite short. Maybe another two hours. What a breeze.
The final odometer reading:
That was only from Indiana to Novato. The milage on the van for the fist leg of our journey was 1727.5. So, nine days, 4,096.3 miles. Done and done.
Roadtrip Summations and Reflections
Middle America holds some strange things.
Clouds look cool east of Indiana and West of Indiana, and depressing in Indiana
Ohio wins for the most extravagant welcome arch.
The transformation of the landscape was generally much more subtle than I'd thought it would be. But like viewing the progressions of a great artist's work, the changes can be many and barely noticeable, adding up to something fantastic, or they can be loud and dtramatic all at once. It's not that I feel transformed by the road trip, but I've found myself paying closer attention to the scenery around me over the past few weeks and appreciating how unique each geographic spot is. Amazing to think it all falls within one country, huh?
