Coast to coast migration

Trip Summary: Mileage

2009-01-04T21:50:00.000-08:00

Boston (MA) to Ballston Spa (NY): (12/26/08)

I don't believe that I didn't write the mileage down! Aaaahhh! I'll have to do it all over again... But Triptik says it should be around 194 miles. Fine!

Ballston Spa (NY) to Burton (MI): (12/27/08)

Around 676.7 miles

All the way from Boston, for sure, 870.7

Burton (MI) to Madison (WI): (12/29/08)

490.3 miles

Total: 1361 miles (only 2000 more to go! wooohooo!)

Madison (WI) to Lincoln (NE): (12/30/08)

485.7 miles

Total: 1846.7 miles (are we there yet, there yet, there yet???)

Lincoln (NE) to Denver (CO): (12/31/08)

491 miles

Total: 2337.7 miles (ah! Finally the Rockies!)

Denver (CO) to Boise (ID): (01/02/09)

860.8 miles

Total: 3198.5 miles (big stretch... there yet, please?)

Boise (ID) to Newport (OR): (01/03/09)

605.2 miles

I'M IN MY NEW HOME TOWN!

GRAN TOTAL: 3803.7 miles!!!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

I drove 71.2 more miles than what AAA had in my TripTik. I think that's within an accepted level of error (and me getting lost, missing turns, exits...). That's actually pretty good! :)

DAY EIGHT: I made it to Boise, ID!

2009-01-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

The longest drive of the trip so far... I left Golden, CO, at 7 AM and got to Boise, ID, at 9 PM. I got all sorts of weather today: sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy, snowy, cloudy again, starry night... I also got some nice pictures along the way but I'll probably post it tomorrow, or after, when I get to Oregon. I still have another long day of drive ahead of me.

The good thing is that the weather is looking good! The next front is waiting for me to get to my new home! I'm still deciding if I should go through Portland or cross Oregon State... We'll see how the weather and the roads look tomorrow morning.

Rain in Utah!

2009-01-02T21:58:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Utah!

I wish I had time to stop in Utah. I actually thought I would be going closer to Salt Lake City but instead, as you can see on the map, I veered north towards Idaho. Utah greeted me with rain, but the mountains were all covered wit snow. Beautiful!

This was the only other ABF container truck that I saw during my trip. Would this one be my container? The only thing I know for sure is that next time, I will run away from them as fast as I can!!! Scammers!

I wish I was on the other side of the road to take a better look at the lake... did I just drive by the Great Salt Lake? The fact that it was raining didn't help either...

And this is what I saw on my side of the road.

Still I kept trying to see the "Lake"...

The road ahead is not looking too good, weather-wise...

I wonder why there is a place called Snowville...?
And just when I thought I was free of bad weather and the skies were going to clear up... Wait for the next posting!

Beautiful Wyoming!

2009-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

For all its bare landscape, with endless roads, and distant mountains, snow on the ground, high winds, Wyoming was truly beautiful. You can have a glimpse through my pictures! :)

Snow fences all over the place, on the side of I80.

Another curious name...

I want a Happy Lizzy town, country, world, the Happy Lizzy Universe! hahahahahaha

Mysteries of foreign lands: whose statue is that, hiding behind the bushes (actually, a tree)???

An ABF truck!!! The first one I had seen since I left Boston! Would it be my trailer, with my belongings?

Conditions can get pretty bad in Wyoming. The reason for my assumption were the signs saying I80 could be closed down (and I had just crossed the border coming from Colorado!)! I don't really want to know how it is like when such conditions happen! I already got high winds, around 40 mph, at certain parts of this road, with alerting signs and all. I also noticed the massive snow walls, or fences, or whatever you want to call it, on the side of the road... I really don't want to be caught in a blizzard around here... Fortunately the sun was shining most of the time!

I saw lots of windmill farms... uhm... I wonder why... may be because it is usually very windy here? :P

And I drove... and kept driving... and driving some more...

Look at that beautiful front cutting across the sky in the distance! It was very dramatic and beautiful!

And what do you find in the middle of nowhere?

The big M is everywhere!

Endless roads... Can you see how flat it is?

But there's also some interesting reliefs.

And soon going into Utah... In the direction of the ugly clouds!

No man's land!

2009-01-02T21:35:00.000-08:00

Of course that, just as I was crossing from CO to WY my camera battery dies! Ah! I missed the Welcome sign!!! But I know it was right by the big buffalo on top of that hill in the picture. Damn batteries!!! At least, I have a spare one...

I spent most of my day driving through southern Wyoming. Say what you will, but this seemed to me as the end of the world! Not in a bad connotation though. Compared to the midwest and the so called "flat states", Wyoming is 10 times worse... I could see the road stretching miles and miles and miles (At least there were mountains in the distance; may be that's the thing...). And let me tell you that I didn't see any road kill going through Wyoming at all, which made me think:

1) this state is so barren that not even animals live here, or

2) there aren't enough cars, or maybe not enough animals, to kill and/or to die.

But guess what I saw in the middle of nowhere (no, not McDonald's, although that's already expected at every single stop or town along the road)?

WALMART!!! That's where they hide! A huge Walmart terminal, full of huge Walmart trucks, in the middle of nowhere! I found them! hahaha

At the same time, this desert/cold/windy-like landscape was beautiful to me! I had an expression of awe during most of the drive.

This is the real wild wild West baby! No man's land!

Leaving Colorado!

2009-01-02T21:32:00.000-08:00

Time to leave Colorado. I left Jon's around 7 AM and decided to take I80 instead of I70. Supposedly there was fog in some parts of I70 and I was afraid there was going to be more mountainous parts (i.e. snowy parts) to drive through, but probably would have been more beautiful.

I drove for about an hour until the last "settlement" (Ft. Collins) in Colorado where I could get breakfast before reaching Wyoming. After driving around trying to get to the "downtown" area I got back to the exit and stopped at Denny's. Nice big breakfast and tons of coffee!

A glimpse of the snowy rocky mountains! Aaaah!

On the road again, lala lala lala lalala... And the weather looks good!

DAY SEVEN: Hiking in Boulder!

2009-01-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

The weather today was pretty nice so Jon and I went hiking in Boulder. We did the "Royal Arch Trail", part of the Flatirons foothills. There was some ice on parts of the trail which required some balance and skill not to slip! It was a good exercise, maybe a little bit too much for Jon though. hehehehe :) Enjoy the pictures!!!

The Flatirons

Boulder

We could see Denver at a distance.

The Royal Arch

DAY SIX

2009-01-01T10:22:00.002-08:00

I decided to hang out in Colorado today. I was looking at the weather and things don't look that great for the rest of the trip. I'll need to carefully plan my route to try to avoid snow.

But today I'm resting and sightseeing in Colorado!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM GOLDEN, CO!

2008-12-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

I left the motel in Nebraska at 9 am (central time) and landed at Jon's house around 3:30 pm (mountain time), so I made it in roughly 6 hours. Not bad at all! The best thing about driving in the midwest is the speed limit: 75 mph!

I was happy to arrive in Colorado with daylight, blue skies and temperatures in the 60's! All the way up to here it had been cold. Jon took me to see Golden and the Colorado School of Mines, where he works. We met one of his friends for beer at a small local brewery. And we sat outside! How lovely!

After that we headed to another bar so I could have my yard of beer!

It was still early and we came home for dinner and were supposed to go out around 11 PM to see what was happening for New Year's around here... yeah... right...

Instead we both passed out watching tv! hahahahaha

Happy New Year!!!

Colorful Colorado!

2008-12-31T20:30:00.000-08:00

Nebraska and Colorado were the flattest I've driven so far. And everything looked the same! I was longing to see the mountains, or some type of elevation.

I saw another bald eagle! Very cool!!!

Other than that not much excitement. I stopped at a cow smelling town to eat at McDonald's, I talked to a few friends on the phone. It was a good drive. And I passed another time zone! And yet another... Central and Mountain... So I gained 2 hours in a day.

And finally I see mountains in the distance! What a sight, they looked so beautiful! Now you'll be tired of seeing mountain pictures!

DAY FIVE

2008-12-31T20:00:00.000-08:00

Driving through Nebraska: what else can I say but that is a really flat part of this country...

First motel stop: Lincoln, Nebraska

2008-12-30T21:30:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I suck at taking night pictures (and driving at the same time)! I need to play with the camera settings to see if I can get better images. But that was the sign of welcome to Nebraska!

I made it all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska. The city is bigger than I thought it would be and closer to Omaha as I thought it would be too. I was also impressed by the size of Omaha as I drove through it.

Anyways, it seemed like a good stop point since it's midway to my next stop in Colorado. I decided to stay at Sleep Inn close to the airport exit, around 8 PM. They have AAA discount! hehehe. It was still pretty windy outside and chilly and I made several trips from the car to my room to bring in my plants and the stuff I needed. The hibiscus is not doing too great since I left it in the car when in Michigan. But I shall revive it like before! The others are doing fine.

I'm excited to be driving to Colorado tomorrow! Before I leave though, I'll try to finally catch up with this blog and post pictures for days 1 and 2. This is a full time job!

Turbulence on the ground!

2008-12-30T20:31:00.000-08:00

Who says turbulence only happens when traveling by plane? I drove for most of the day with the wind blowing non-stop and shaking not only my car, but even the big trucks. It looked like where were dancing on the road... I don't really like to drive with such wind. But then again I can't complain at all, for so far I haven't seen snow, nor ice, which are much worse.

Anyways, I checked the wind map and there it is! See that region with high winds? That's where I was driving today! Lovely!!!

Driving through Iowa!

2008-12-30T20:30:00.001-08:00

By crossing the Mississippi river I entered Iowa. To try to get a picture of it, since my camera was not ready when I crossed the bridge, I got off the main road. What a pretty view, the great river is frozen here!

The annoying part of the trip was just before reaching I80. When going through Cedar Rapids I ended up driving the business part of 151 which took me right through the city... Ok fine, I saw what a midwestern city is like (not very different than any other city!).

The highlight of the day was a bald eagle flying low above my car when I was just entering Cedar Rapids. So beautiful!

And I kept on driving...

What Cheer if you live in a town called What Cheer!

Where is the cheese?

2008-12-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

Books on tape are really great for long distance trips. I only had one more cd to finish "The other Bolyen girl". However, they can also be distracting, because you are paying attention to the story being narrated and not on the road!

And that's what happened to me! I really liked the story and was listening so attentive to the last chapters that I missed all the cheese in Wisconsin!

My late morning drive was also slow. I was taking my time, looking for cheese but not really paying attention to the exits. Initially I took 151 North instead of South off of Madison, took one exit that had no cheese, and then I was already crossing the Mississipi into Iowa! Then I really got off the road to take a good picture of the river, because the batteries died just before crossing the bridge! At least I had a spare one with me.

Madison, Wisconsin

2008-12-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

Gautam, Maral and I had dinner last night at a Nepalese restaurant. Very good food! Then we headed to an Irish bar to have a few drinks. I didn't last long and was soon very tired. It was also very cold because of the wind and the only picture I took was of the Capitol.

In the morning before heading out Gautam prepared breakfast. I am very fortunate to have all these friends I can visit! That's indeed the best way to travel; it gives you a sense of purpose, another objective besides just driving to get to the final destination! I love my friends!!!

Then it was time to leave. The clock marked 11 AM. It seems to be a good time for start driving. I didn't have a particular destination but was thinking I should try to make it to Lincoln, NE. And so another driving leg started!

DAY FOUR

2008-12-30T05:50:00.000-08:00

Today I start heading south towards Colorado. I still need to figure out where I am going to stop for the night. If I had left very very early I could possibly have driven all the way to Colorado (~ 14 hours), but I decided to make it in two stages. That way I get to hang out with my friends in Madison a little bit more and I'll still make it to Jon's on New Years' Eve.

I just looked at the weather map too. I'm loving all these high pressure systems all over the place! :)

DAY THREE

2008-12-29T18:12:00.000-08:00

I made it to Madison, WI, and I am hanging out with Gautam and Maral. We are going out soon to eat so I'll catch up with the blog and pictures later!

The weather is fine, a little bit cold, a little bit of ice and snow on the ground (but not on the roads!). More later! ;)

P.S. I crossed one time zone!!! hehehe

Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin

2008-12-29T17:30:00.000-08:00

Not much excitement on the road. I saw farms, and farms, and also farms. More farms. Especially going up on route 39 in Illinois towards Madison. Everything is so very flat! This part of the trip is already new to me since the most western I have driven was to Michigan, two summers ago.

I left Carla's house (Amber's mom) around 8:30 am and made it to Madison around 5:30 pm, with 2 stops for gas and one for lunch and to see the lake. Not too bad!

Miles driven today: (to be updated soon)

The pictures that follow are actually only from Illinois, in case you are wondering. Just random stuff...

Leaving Michigan!

2008-12-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

I tried to have an earlier start today, after having breakfast with Amber.

The day was gorgeous and I knew the drive to Madison, WI, wouldn't take as long as the one from New York to Michigan. Most of the way I was listening to "The other Boleyn girl" on cd, which I had gotten at Cracker Barrel the day before. My first audio book!

Before leaving Michigan State, I decided to leave the main road and have a peek of Lake Michigan. I ended up in the town of New Buffalo, almost on the border with Indiana. It is a nice little town where I also found a beach that was covered in ice and snow. Very cool!

DAY TWO

2008-12-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

If you are wondering where I am right now, I decided to spend the day hanging out with my friend Amber and her family. As I said before this trip is also about visiting with my good friends along the way.

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to the blog and tomorrow I'll hopefully catch up with it some more. And tomorrow I'm off to Madison, WI, to visit my friends Gautam and Maral.

Amber, Carla, Ron and I had brunch at Cracker Barrel. They have this deal that if you buy an audio book you can return it to any Cracker Barrel and be refunded but for a small rental fee. Since I didn't have the time to check books on tape from the Boston library I decided to get two different titles for my trip. I purchased "The other Bolyen girl" and "The wall and the wing".

Later in the afternoon we met Amber's dad, Ken and her brothers, aunt and cousins. We had sushi and watched "Four Christmases" on the movie theater. Then we hang out with her dad at his house, where I could work on my blog.

Michigan at last!

2008-12-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

I left Ballston Spa at 11 AM. And arrived at Amber's house at 10:30. Eleven and a half hours of driving (counting stops for gas, food and bathroom). Not too bad!!!

So far, I have driven 870.3 miles, all the way from Boston.

My soundtrack today: Novelle Vague, Chill: Brazil cd one, Alison Kraus, Frou Frou, The Mamas and the Papas, Surf's Up Soundtrack.

When I arrived my friend Amber and her mom Carla came to their house to pick me up and go back to her aunt's house. They had been there hanging out with family (which I had met before) and were expecting me much later.

Her uncle Karl offered to cook me some venison. YES, BAMBI'S MOTHER! And it was delicious!!! We were awake until roughly 3:30 am, so the chances of waking up early the next day were very dim. It was nice to see them all again!

After New York: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan

2008-12-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

Initially my plan was to take a picture of each State welcome sign along the way. That proved to be more difficult than I thought from the beginning.

It took me 45 min to drive through PA. And I got confused about the exit numbers: they increase in NY State, decrease in PA... Go figure why each State has their own way of labeling exits!

For sure, Ohio has the best and nicest road side stops (so far!).

It was also in Ohio that I was hit by a huge downpour. Very scary for a moment. All of a sudden this wall of rain falls down for about 5 min. Out of nothing for it was not raining. It was dark already but the sky looked like the sky of those movies with tornados at night. For a moment I expected hail, and then to hear the wind blowing... But it was just rain!

The other few cars in front of me almost stopped because it was really hard to see the road, and we all had our alert lights for a few minutes. And then it was gone!

Driving through New York State!

2008-12-27T20:37:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten how long New York State is. It took me the whole day to finally reach Pennsylvania. And the more I drove, less snow was on the ground. But then it was raining a lot in the first 3 hours of driving and since the temperatures were above freezing, the snow kept melting away. Actually there was a mist coming from the snow covered ground; really pretty!

And then, finally the rain gave way to blue skies!

And a curious site: I wonder how much toll they charge for a helicopter?! hahaha

Visiting Rachel and her family

2008-12-27T09:40:00.000-08:00

There was still a lot of snow on the ground in Ballston Spa, NY, but temperatures were above freezing and we had rain during the night and in the morning. I decided to hang out with my friends, play with Graham (kid), and Cosmo (dog), and Hampton (cat) before hitting the road again. It had been a while since I'd seen them last.

I decided this trip is going to be about not only moving but hanging out with my friends along the way. The forecast so far looks good and I'm happy about that.

I ended up living their house at 11 AM (Eastern time), under heavy and steady rain, but ready for a long day of driving to Michigan.

DAY ONE

2008-12-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

Upstate New York - visiting the Roe-Dale family!

2008-12-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

Weather was fine, traffic was light, road conditions until Ballston Spa were also good. So far so good! We might have some freezing rain tonight so I'm not planning on leaving early tomorrow. But the forecast says temperatures are going to be high! Weeeeeeee!

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures. I'm pretty tired and must sleep now.

I tried taking some pictures of the signs on the road but they didn't come out that nice... But, I did leave Massachusetts.

And I arrived in New York's Capital Region. Weeeeeee!!!

Loading the car and hitting the road...

2008-12-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

I left Boston around 6:30 PM after visiting Laurel and Portia (and going backwards trying to find an exit to I90 from Newton). Didn't leave early because it took me one hour to load my car. So much for traveling light...

THE ATLANTIC!

2008-12-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

Finally, before I left Bean Town I had a picture taken at Boston Harbor to show the most eastern point I could reach! Wait until the end of this adventure and you'll see the Pacific!!! :)

Leaving Boston!

2008-12-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

I definitely enjoyed living in Boston, especially because of good friends I left there. So here are a few pictures of things that will be much missed on the West Coast...

Cannolis at the North End, friends and room mates (from left: Erin, Laurel and Shirley), and the cats Little and Gordo (YES! Even the cats, but that is another story, for another blog...).

I also had the chance to hang out with my friend Juan who had just come from Germany for the Holidays, and my friend Vivian with whom I had brunch the day I left.