Following the Oregon Trail

Day 2:

08:20 CDT - Des Moines, IA
Got up reasonably early. Set to leave here before 0900 local. Got McDonald's for breakfast and gassed up the car. Tensions are running okay at the moment. Also trying to not burn my mouth on my McDonald's "Premium Roast" coffee. Fun fact: Nebraska and Wyoming speed limits are 75mph! K-Rad.

Day 3:

07:53 MDT - Shitstain, WY

Didn't get a chance to log yesterday's events, because I was so tired. Driving through the rest of Iowa was pretty uneventful and boring - lots of cops too as you get closer to Nebraska. Nebraska itself was awful. How anyone can live anywhere else that isn't Lincoln or Omaha is beyond me. The terrain was flat, uninteresting and uninspiring. There were stretches of road that were so uneven though, that it felt like driving the car over train tracks. We finally made it to Wyoming at around 4:00pm. The terrain certainly got interesting, and it became very clear that the cruise control in the Mazda3 does not know how to handle hill/mountain grades. Sometimes, the thing would kick down into 3rd gear and hold it at the rev limiter, so I'd just cancel it, because it could handle 4th gear just fine.

We attempted to stop in Rawlins, WY to grab some quick dinner before making it to our goal. We got out, and the wind was howling. The Taco Bell/KFC hybrid we stopped at was packed with drive through customers and had a pretty decent line inside. Inside, it was somewhat surreal - dirty, flies everywhere so we decided to eat in the car. Talitha tried to eat her Taco Salad but was disgusted by it, and threw it out - refusing to ask for something else. This precipitated a really stupid fight - you know, the ones that start for no good reason and are really ill-timed?

Finally, we said we'd just push to Rock Springs, WY where we could get dinner at a sit-down place and retire to a hotel. We drove another 120mi through the dark wasteland, passing odd dust clouds, and watching thunderstorms build - some of the lightning was spectacular. Finally, just as it seemed like we would be driving forever, we made it to Rock Springs. It was like an Oasis in the desert; Applebee's, convenience stores, all sorts of fast food, and every hotel you can find.... and all of them were booked solid. We were forced to drive to Evanston, where I right this now. We used our smarts and called ahead as soon as we left Rock Springs and got the last room at the Holiday Inn express. We made haste, got in, quick argument, grabbed dinner, came back and crashed.

967 miles, 14.5 hours of driving. Ugh.

Now, we're just cleaning up our stuff and ready to pack up the rest of the car, and to get breakfast. Then, its to the Wal-mart, and then off to Salt Lake City for the next leg of the trip. We estimate, with mountain driving, that we'll only be able to get to Reno, NV before we're done for the day.

For now, we're off.

Travel: Day One

09:36 (EDT) - West Lafayette, IN
Well, the movers got here. Arrived at around 8:45 just as T and I headed out for the DMV. We decided we better turn around, so she dropped me off and I'm just waiting for the movers to do their thing. At the moment, I'm wondering where the hell I put the digital camera.

23:21 (CDT) - Somewhere near Des Moines, IA

Check that. The digital camera was in the glove box. It took the movers (only two of them) over 6 hours to move our meager apartment load of stuff into the truck. Apparently, there were supposed to be 3 movers, but the third had a doctors appointment. He later called to find out if he was still needed - they said "no". So, cut to 4:00pm; we finally drop off the keys to the apartment, drop off the vacuum at Davids, stop by Follett's, and then get on the road.

Traffic was surprisingly good through I-65 and I-80 near Chicago. Lots of speed traps courtesy of the Illinois Highway Patrol in the second half of the state. All I can say is: "Thanks, Beltronics." We stopped in Iowa City for dinner around 8:15 localtime. Scarfed down some dinner over very few words, and headed for Des Moines listening to "Rush: A Farewall to Kings". We arrived in Des Moines and I decided that I best not push it to Omaha (another 135 mi).

We stopped at a Holiday Inn, and are staying the night there. Nice king-sized bed, free WiFi, and added security thanks to some Police thing going on here (there are tons of Cop cars from all over parked in the Parking lot). Talitha is mad because I forgot to ask for a smoking room.

The plan for tomorrow? Leave around 9am and head for Cheyenne. It's only ~630mi so we can probably make it to Rawlins (700mi). More later, time for TV and sleep.