Prologue
Well, before we chronicle our journey across this great nation, let's start from the beginning.
Well, before we chronicle our journey across this great nation, let's start from the beginning.
It's no small feat packing and cleaning a two bedroom apartment in the span of a week by yourself (actually less than that if you factor in how much I procrastinated). With Win gone in California for the week, things were going to get worse before they got better. This is our apartment a few days before we moved:
This is what I call "consolidation." Of course, keep in mind that I have everything under control at this point.
At last! Cleanliness! Our work is done, and no sooner than 15 minutes before our landlord showed up to check us out of the apartment.
Now picture all of that stuff crammed in the back of a Subaru Outback (OK, with the help of a car top carrier that Mom bartered for a hundred pounds of weights at a garage sale):
It...must...fit!
Now that it's all in, I don't think it's coming back out.
Alas, we must leave our apartment. It's been a good six months, but we sure are sad we have to leave.
As if packing a 2 bedroom apartment into our car and getting on our hands and knees to clean the apartment weren't enough, we also took some time to see some friends before leaving:
After this, it's off to my cousin's wedding to dance dance dance the night away. What a crazy last day it's been in Seattle, but I suppose we would have it no other way.
Tomorrow, the journey begins. Stay tuned...
Day 1 - Seattle to Bozeman
Well, this is it. Today we leave Seattle, our home of many years, to journey across uncharted territory and vast wilderness. Who knows what's out there. We begin with seeing my parents off at the hotel where my cousin Leah's wedding took place the night before:
In order to prevent our handy car-top carrier from flying off and bursting into a million pieces on the road, we secure it with some rope.
And away we go! We would like to introduce our travel companion for the trip, George the monkey:
Now it's off to the beginning of I-90 to see Win's parents and start our journey eastward.
The picture on the left is courtesy of my freakishly long arms. On the right, Win's dad is in a state of utter disbelief that we're moving to Boston.
Well, now it's really time to hit the road. If we want to make it to Bozeman by tonight, we better get going.
This is mile 0, the beginning of I-90.
This is crazy! We're going by the exit to Sunbanks and we're not turning off. This is truly out of character.
Stopping in Moses Lake to get a window marker so our car will definitely stand out from everyone else. That way, people can honk at us and tell us how much they hate the Red Sox or whatever.
And introducing wife #2: WifeBot AKA our GPS navigation system. Although I would say she's not always right like she thinks she is.
We made it to Idaho. Only 2700 more miles to go!
George is enjoying the open road. I'm sure he wishes he could drive though. Maybe later.
Montana has decided to greet us with excitement; a fire broke out earlier on the side of the highway.
Well, we made it to Bozeman. This picture was actually taken when we woke up in the morning, but I'm just going to pretend we took it when we arrived at the hotel.
Day 2 - Bozeman to Rapid City
We decided to take a bit of a detour and go through Yellowstone National Park.
George and Win have bonded quite well on this trip. Not that I'm jealous or anything, I'm just saying...
Quite epic so far.
It's not too often you see this.
Win was too afraid to roll down the window.
George is just chillin' out, waiting for Old Faithful.
Thar she blows!
Win attempts to give me some water like I'm a baby or something.
This kind of reminds of me of the Big Thunder Mountain ride at Disneyland.
That's interesting...three roads in one. How efficient!
OK, now I'm just confused.
Out of all the possible names you could call the gas station...seriously, "Loaf 'n Jug"?
We're almost out of the Old West.
We've now entered South Dakota, on the infamous "Blood Highway". OK, they don't actually call it that and I don't think it's infamous, but it just sounded good.
We're so tired that we're letting George drive. So nice to be able to relax and not have to worry about concentrating on endless miles of highway.
Well, we've finally made it to our destination. Just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore!
There it is. I think they probably look better during the day. Oh well.
Next stop, Wisconsin! I'm not sure why I put an exclamation point there; I mean really, it's just Wisconsin.
Day 3 - Rapid City to Madison
Well, on our third leg of the journey we venture into the heartland of the midwest. Although I will say that after the Badlands in South Dakota, there really isn't much to see until we get to our final destination.
We awoke early Tuesday morning and began our drive east, continuing on I-90. The Badlands hadn't been part of our original stop, but they looked so cool that we just had to stop.
We weren't sure if we were going to make it out of there, but we were certainly going to try.
Definitely looks like some kind of alien landscape.
Look at the smile on that face; George is having a good time. Wait a minute, he's always smiling...something does not feel right.Well, after a little sightseeing, it's time to get back on the road so we can make it to our next stop. We're trying to get to Chicago, but I don't know if we'll make it in time.
Driving through Minnesota the land becomes a little more green.
We managed to get through South Dakota, Minnesota and into Wisconsin rather uneventfully. There was a sweet thunderstorm going on in Wisconsin that I thought might turn into a tornado, but alas it was just another storm.
It was getting late and we decided to not drive to Chicago.
By nightfall we found a motel with the help of WifeBot.
Day 4 - Madison to Buffalo
Apparently they don't believe in whole numbers.
Passing through Chicago was the highlight of Day 4, even though we really didn't get to see much of the city.
Chicago was officially the start of the I-90 toll, which really got on my nerves. From there on out, every state charged us to drive through. We attempted to find a halal restaurant in Chicago, but WifeBot kept taking us in circles, so we gave up and kept going.
Win really wanted some Long John Silvers, and according to WifeBot there was one about 20 miles from Chicago. Of course, after pulling off the exit we realized we were in Gary, Indiana and this was a place we definitely did not want to be. Had we stayed there much longer we probably would have gotten our car stolen as we were driving.
We promptly got back on the freeway and found another Long John Silvers a few miles down the road in a much less shady area.
A few hours later while driving through Ohio, we were promptly greeted with the flashing lights of a cop car. Dang...a speeding ticket. I thought we would make it through unscathed, but I guess we weren't so fortunate. The rest of the drive proceeded to get more interesting as apparently I-90 isn't so straightforward going through Cleavland. We stayed on the same freeway the whole time, and by the time we reached the end of Ohio we were about 90 miles from I-90; not something I would have expected.
So I pulled out the old road atlas and we proceeded to get back on course. The day was about to get stranger, however.
Once we arrived in a small town outside Buffalo, we stopped at a restaurant to get some dinner. As we passed by the freeway off-ramp, a small pickup truck was speeding down the ramp and pulled up right behind us. The truck followed us all the way towards the motel, and even when I took a wrong turn into the motel parking lot (thinking it was the right turn), he followed me in there. Once I realized we were not in the right spot I turned around and went into the next driveway; and of course he followed me all the way.
At this point I was a little weirded out, but what was really strange was that when I went into the office to check in, the guy also came into the office and asked me if we had gotten a speeding ticket in Ohio. He then asked the receptionist if he could use their phone to call someone, and then after that he left without checking into the hotel.
Now, maybe it's just me, but that seems a little strange to have followed someone for 200 miles. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Either way, it was definitely unnerving, and I spent most of the night wondering if this guy had any plans to rob us, or do something to our car. Either way, it was a kind of creepy end to a most interesting day.
Day 5 - Buffalo to Boston
Waking up the next morning, we realized we were still alive and that nothing had happened to our car. Whatever the deal was with that guy last night was over and I stopped worrying about it. Although I was still amazed at how something as strange as that could happen.
Upstate New York was pretty much like anything else we've seen along the way. Because of the toll booths, they have these "convinience stations" where you can pull off to get gas or to use the restroom or even get lunch. Basically they do this because you avoid getting off the freeway and then getting back on; all the while having to deal with tolls and the traffic jams they cause. And of course, it's even better because you don't have to choose which gas station you want to use, or where to eat, or what to buy; they make it simple by just having one of everything!
As we approached Massachusetts we were pleasantly greeted with rain. Actually the terrain and weather was not much different from when we left Seattle. Hmmm....
At last - Taxachusetts!
Apparently Illinois is not the only state that does not believe in whole numbers.
Well, this is the end of I-90. I can't believe we made it all this way.
As we made our way towards Malden, which is north of the city, we passed through the I-93 tunnel, otherwise known as the "Big Dig". Apparently it hasn't done much for traffic and they can't seem to justify the $14 billion price tag and 15 year production schedule. Oh well.
Well that's it folks. Our journey across the country is over, although our new adventure in Boston is just beginning. Stay tuned as we chronicle our first few days in the city and go apartment hunting.
