Jun 7, 2010

After my brief nap I was up and on my way through Minnesota once again. We met up with our old friend, the Mississippi River. It's amazing that it stretches so far. And that we've made it that far.

Just after crossing that river we were in Wisconsin. I don't really have anything to say about Wisconsin except they really live up to their cheesy rep by advertising it everywhere.

We soon began seeing signs for Chicago and this was the first time that I felt like I was back in mildly familiar territory.

We entered Illinois as I was speaking to a Verizon representative about why my phone was not receiving text messages properly. I wouldn't get anything for a few hours and then I'd get about twenty at once.

In an attempt to avoid rush hour traffic while simultaneously satiating our growing hungers, we stopped at Olive Garden for a last hurrah with the gift cards we had left. I got the same old delicious portobello mushroom ravioli and soup. I ate a bunch of breadsticks and saved most of the ravioli for later. We also got dessert this time. Chocolate Almond Amore, I love you. Amaretto, Bailey's Irish Cream and Kahlua mixed into a milkshake... enough said.

We got to drive through Chicago, sadly only stopping because of traffic. I would have wanted to see way too many things if we stopped anyway. I got this nice shot of the Sears Tower over my shoulder as we drove away.

The traffic was short-lived and we were moving at the much slower speed limit of Indiana in no time. The tolls began. Indiana's tollway was fare (...) but there was worse to come..

I really like this rest stop bathroom. This is something we see a lot of.. rest stops and public bathrooms in general, I suppose.. but not something that shows up on here very often. This is worthy.

We drove through Ohio (the sign was too dark to get a shot of) and Pennsylvania, whose combined tolls were in the neighborhood of forty dollars. Really? It's free to drive everywhere else in the country but to cross the mostly flat farmland of the east coast is half a C-note? Something's wrong.

I got a little sleep between Ohio and PA as Joanna drove, but I was soon back behind the wheel where I belonged. I'm pretty sure this is the only picture on this trip of me driving. We hit some more traffic when we got closer to Philly just to make us wait longer.

This last part of the drive just seemed long. That's how it always is when you get closer to home. Once we saw the Welcome to New Jersey sign we were home free.

9,306.3 miles later my car was back in the driveway where it began. And I didn't plan on taking it out for at least a few hours.

We cleaned out the car and separated our belongings before cleaning up and relaxing inside for a little while. It's good to be home.

Total distance: 1212.5 miles. I think I can say with authority that we have a winner in the distance competition. And in.... just under 24 hours. Not too bad if I say so myself.

Jun 6, 2010

The rain didn't stop until late in the morning, keeping us in the tent sleeping longer than planned. Once we got on the road the weather wasn't so bad. We saw more formations made of living things that were created by the same mineral buildup.

This structure is really amazing. The fact that these thing are created by nature is hard to imagine. They look so well planned.

Another part of the park featured hills that rose up, looking like they had been strip-mined but this is how they form.

Even some of the trees absorb the hardening minerals and become stone. They can stand for decades in their dead state after their veins harden to rock.

We stopped and walked over to the lookout for the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone." The canyon stretched on, following the river from where a giant waterfall drops it in into the valley.

One of the last places we saw was the mud pools. It is similar to the geysers and pools that we had seen before but it is thicker, like mud and it seems slower as it bubbles. This was a big pit of bubbling mud that was being spewed out of a low opening in the rocks. One thing that was noticeable all over Yellowstone but even more so here is a pungent odor of sulfur. Obviously this is from the gases that rise up from underground continuously. It doesn't bother after a short time.

We left the park after driving a long road to the east exit and programmed GeePS for home. This was only one of the first directions, we had much farther to go.

Wyoming was actually a very beautiful drive. It seemed like everywhere you looked should be designated a National Park. That's just how it looks here. I never thought much about the state but I would certainly visit again.

I drove into the night and into South Dakota and all the way through it. The miles were going quick somehow. I wasn't feeling tired and the cities that seemed far away on the road signs were coming up fast so I just kept going.

It was morning time when we got to Minnesota. The sign was nice but a little hard to read and stashed off to the side of the road behind other signs. Nice try, MN.

The sun was gorgeous and annoying as it rose right in front of me over the Minnesota landscape. I started to feel that hot, sweaty, "I've been up for too long" feeling. It could have just been the sun but I'm sure the sleep deprivation wasn't helping things.

I decided it was time for a quick nap so I found a rest stop and pulled over for some shuteye.

Distance: 1,059.8 miles. Is that the winner? I'm not sure, but it was a long way to drive in one session.