I doubt anyone else is reading this still, but here are some details after the fact:
Total Miles Driven = 6,300
Total Trip Days = 10
Average Time on the Road per Day = 12-15 hours
Number of times stopped for gas = 23
Speeding Tickets = 1
Car Problems (not including preventable issues) = 3
Preventable Car Problems = 1 (Parking pole...'nuff said)
And...this week the Jeep is having an entire new engine put in because of the aforementioned car problems...the ticking noise proved to be worse that what my dad and I thought after we got it to the dealership. So, aside from the dent I put in it hitting the parking pole, it will be like a brand new car at the end of the week. And...its covered under warranty, so I don't have to actually pay for a new engine!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
The End
Well, I'm back home now in my own bed. For those of you betting that I wouldn't make it back for class - I made it back half an hour BEFORE class! :) So mission accomplished, and I somehow got to see almost everything I wanted to and a few extras, while dealing with weather and traffic setbacks.
Today really only consisted of driving as fast as I could (without getting pulled over) towards home. The entire drive across Missouri was through a thunderstorm, which meant a lot of hydroplaning and slide-offs (by others, not me)! It reminded me of the drive down through Kentucky and Tennessee, but without the snow. A relatively uneventful drive otherwise.
So I hope you all enjoyed reading about my journey - it certainly was a good one. Time flew by, and I can't believe I'll be waking up to go to work tomorrow! But at least it will be in my own bed!
Today's Map:
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Today really only consisted of driving as fast as I could (without getting pulled over) towards home. The entire drive across Missouri was through a thunderstorm, which meant a lot of hydroplaning and slide-offs (by others, not me)! It reminded me of the drive down through Kentucky and Tennessee, but without the snow. A relatively uneventful drive otherwise.
So I hope you all enjoyed reading about my journey - it certainly was a good one. Time flew by, and I can't believe I'll be waking up to go to work tomorrow! But at least it will be in my own bed!
Today's Map:
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short from iphone
basics - went to rocky mountain national park - drove thru freezing drizzle and couldn't see more than 100 feet in front if me. Got a speeding ticket in colorado. Kansas is flat and boring (no offense intended, I'm sure its a lovely state. Staying in Topeka - only 545 miles left to go for tomorrow yay!
Today's Map
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Today's Map
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Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15th
Another day of over 15 hours of driving - so don't expect too much :)
The day began just outside of Zion National Park in Utah. Drove through the park, took some pictures:
Drove to Bryce Canyon, took some more pictures:
Drove to Capitol Reef, through a snowstorm, ran across about 4 herds of elk or deer, not sure which, then took some more pictures:
Then drove to Arches National Park, trying to beat the setting sun, but I didn't really succeed. I saw the silouettes of some arches, but that was about it. Then started the long drive towards Denver. Didn't run into any snow on the roads until probably around 9,000 feet - it wasn't actually snowing, but must have this afternoon. Was getting too tired, and I saw the "Chains required" sign flasing on the highway - along with a big fine attached if you didn't have them, and since I didn't, I decided to exit the highway. Happened to be in Frisco, CO, which is very close to Breckenridge. Luckily as I walked into the lobby of the Holiday Inn, someone was calling to say they wouldn't be able to arrive until tomorrow, so they had one room open. Busy place.
So its way too late for me to still be awake when I have a full day of driving ahead - and I may be going to Walmart in the morning to buy some chains for my car - then figuring out how to actually get them on there. I really hope it doesn't snow anymore tonight!
Today's Map:
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The day began just outside of Zion National Park in Utah. Drove through the park, took some pictures:
Drove to Bryce Canyon, took some more pictures:
Drove to Capitol Reef, through a snowstorm, ran across about 4 herds of elk or deer, not sure which, then took some more pictures:
Then drove to Arches National Park, trying to beat the setting sun, but I didn't really succeed. I saw the silouettes of some arches, but that was about it. Then started the long drive towards Denver. Didn't run into any snow on the roads until probably around 9,000 feet - it wasn't actually snowing, but must have this afternoon. Was getting too tired, and I saw the "Chains required" sign flasing on the highway - along with a big fine attached if you didn't have them, and since I didn't, I decided to exit the highway. Happened to be in Frisco, CO, which is very close to Breckenridge. Luckily as I walked into the lobby of the Holiday Inn, someone was calling to say they wouldn't be able to arrive until tomorrow, so they had one room open. Busy place.
So its way too late for me to still be awake when I have a full day of driving ahead - and I may be going to Walmart in the morning to buy some chains for my car - then figuring out how to actually get them on there. I really hope it doesn't snow anymore tonight!
Today's Map:
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Saturday, March 15, 2008
Friday, March 14
***I added a few pics to the March 11 post tonight too, check it out again if you want!***
Today was mostly consumed by the visit to Death Valley National Park. It's actually a really neat place. It was 80 degrees in the valley today while it was in the mid 60's outside the valley - I can't imagine being there during the summer! Got to visit the lowest point in the U.S. - Badwater which is 282 feet below sea level. It was kind of unimpressive, but at least now I can say that I've been there.
A few more random Death Valley pics:
And someone finally got tired enough to lay in the back and sleep:
Then we headed to Vegas - where we spent about an hour in traffic on the Strip. Then, while stopping by the Hard Rock Cafe for a shot glass, there was an incident with one of those 4ft tall or so metal poles filled with cement that are commonly used in parking lots to hold metal chain indicating spaces which you should not park in. The Jeep looks a little worse for wear now...I'm working on adding up what fixing the thing is going to cost me when I get back since something is making a ticking noise (it doesn't seem to affect the way it drives yet, so I'm not *TOO* worried about it), in addition to my 4-wheel drive part time light being stuck on, and the accelerating up a hill shifting issue. I think it will still get me home though :)
I had been thinking about hanging around in Vegas to see a Cirque du Soleil - but after that, I was ready to get as far away from there as possible, so I just headed for Utah. Made it to the Zion National Park area, where the hotels are overpriced and non-smoking simply means no one has smoked in it for the last day or so I think. Oh well, keeps it interesting I suppose.
Tomorrow I aim to hit quite a few national parks: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches. We'll see if there are enough hours in the day to do all of that. There is a natural bridge that I wouldn't mind seeing too, but it is out of the way so we'll see.
Getting up super early, so I'm going to try to sleep now with the high school girls something or other team upstairs playing what must be leap frog. Haha :)
Today's Map:
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Today was mostly consumed by the visit to Death Valley National Park. It's actually a really neat place. It was 80 degrees in the valley today while it was in the mid 60's outside the valley - I can't imagine being there during the summer! Got to visit the lowest point in the U.S. - Badwater which is 282 feet below sea level. It was kind of unimpressive, but at least now I can say that I've been there.
A few more random Death Valley pics:
And someone finally got tired enough to lay in the back and sleep:
Then we headed to Vegas - where we spent about an hour in traffic on the Strip. Then, while stopping by the Hard Rock Cafe for a shot glass, there was an incident with one of those 4ft tall or so metal poles filled with cement that are commonly used in parking lots to hold metal chain indicating spaces which you should not park in. The Jeep looks a little worse for wear now...I'm working on adding up what fixing the thing is going to cost me when I get back since something is making a ticking noise (it doesn't seem to affect the way it drives yet, so I'm not *TOO* worried about it), in addition to my 4-wheel drive part time light being stuck on, and the accelerating up a hill shifting issue. I think it will still get me home though :)
I had been thinking about hanging around in Vegas to see a Cirque du Soleil - but after that, I was ready to get as far away from there as possible, so I just headed for Utah. Made it to the Zion National Park area, where the hotels are overpriced and non-smoking simply means no one has smoked in it for the last day or so I think. Oh well, keeps it interesting I suppose.
Tomorrow I aim to hit quite a few national parks: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches. We'll see if there are enough hours in the day to do all of that. There is a natural bridge that I wouldn't mind seeing too, but it is out of the way so we'll see.
Getting up super early, so I'm going to try to sleep now with the high school girls something or other team upstairs playing what must be leap frog. Haha :)
Today's Map:
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13
Today was spent driving to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. It was a very long drive, with a short stop in Mojave, CA for a look at the airplane graveyard:
The parks were very neat, here are some pics instead of me describing them:
Headed back to Mojave after that - wanted to make it to Las Vegas tonight, but it is way too far, so I'll head out early in the morning. Now I'm going to go crash:)
Today's Map:
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The parks were very neat, here are some pics instead of me describing them:
Headed back to Mojave after that - wanted to make it to Las Vegas tonight, but it is way too far, so I'll head out early in the morning. Now I'm going to go crash:)
Today's Map:
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Wednesday, March 12
Yep its been a couple of days again without an update - stupid expensive hotel last night only has wifi in the lobby - genius.
Anyway, let me try to remember what happened yesterday. I woke up in Yuma, AZ, drove the 1 mile to the California state line, and the agriculture inspection station. Apparently my Washington apples passed the test... Next was the border patrol inspection station. They basically stop everyone, glance in their car, and if you are illegal immigrant-free, tell you to go on your way. There are border patrol vehicles everywhere since the highway is right on the border - not many places you can go where the exit sign on the highway says "Mexico - Next Right". Here's what the fence looks like, I think I was actually kinda in Mexico when I took this:
If I recall, the trip to San Diego was relatively uneventful. When we arrived at the coast, we basically drove right into a dog beach. Rudy was so excited:
Most of the rest of the day was spent just driving around San Diego - then heading to Joshua Tree National Park - and it was dark by the time we got there, but we drove through anyway. We passed through a little city near Palm Springs named Palm Desert on the way there - I think the entire city smells like flowers, I'm not sure what kind, but it was awesome. So anyway, it's a little creepy driving through a park where there are no rangers around, you pass maybe 2 cars on the entire 50 mile drive, there is no cell phone service, no lights, and you are surrounded by creepy looking trees. But we survived. This apparently is a Joshua Tree (bad photo because its at night, and my camera doesn't do night very well):
After that, made the long drive back towards the ocean, stopping in Ontario, CA for the night.
Today's Map:
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Anyway, let me try to remember what happened yesterday. I woke up in Yuma, AZ, drove the 1 mile to the California state line, and the agriculture inspection station. Apparently my Washington apples passed the test... Next was the border patrol inspection station. They basically stop everyone, glance in their car, and if you are illegal immigrant-free, tell you to go on your way. There are border patrol vehicles everywhere since the highway is right on the border - not many places you can go where the exit sign on the highway says "Mexico - Next Right". Here's what the fence looks like, I think I was actually kinda in Mexico when I took this:
If I recall, the trip to San Diego was relatively uneventful. When we arrived at the coast, we basically drove right into a dog beach. Rudy was so excited:
Most of the rest of the day was spent just driving around San Diego - then heading to Joshua Tree National Park - and it was dark by the time we got there, but we drove through anyway. We passed through a little city near Palm Springs named Palm Desert on the way there - I think the entire city smells like flowers, I'm not sure what kind, but it was awesome. So anyway, it's a little creepy driving through a park where there are no rangers around, you pass maybe 2 cars on the entire 50 mile drive, there is no cell phone service, no lights, and you are surrounded by creepy looking trees. But we survived. This apparently is a Joshua Tree (bad photo because its at night, and my camera doesn't do night very well):
After that, made the long drive back towards the ocean, stopping in Ontario, CA for the night.
Today's Map:
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