ROAD TRIP ACROSS THE USA!

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Well, we set off Monday afternoon on a trek across the United States. Okay, so not ALL THE WAY across.... but pretty far. By the time we made it to our final destination, we had been in 7 different states. Thats right folks. The total driving time was supposed to be about 24 hours. Since we didn't have to drive a big ol' U-Haul around, we decided we'd take our time and spread the driving out over a few days. It was actually a fun little road trip.

On Monday, June 30th, we loaded up our car with our most valuable belongings, a week's worth of clothing, and the newest member of our family.

Oh... you don't know about our new family member? Well, it all happened so fast and we weren't really expecting it to happen when it did. I mean, I've always wished I could have one of my own and seen how much happier life is for people who are blessed with them. But, I never imagined that someone would give her to me... and just the day before we moved! She was great the whole trip. Got us little lost a few times with her chattering. But, for the most part, she was like a little guardian angel, helping us along our whole trip! Her name is Beula. Not my favorite name in the world, but that is what her original family named her and I'm not going to change it now. Too much confusion. She is almost 2 years old. She speaks English with a British accent but can actually speak about 10 different languages!

We love the newest memeber of our family and can't imagine how we would have made it out here without her!


Beula , the GPS

DAY 1:

Estimated miles driven: 650
Estimated hours spent in the car: 9


Good Bye to Utah Mountains!

(And good riddance to Utah road construction)

Wyoming= Winding roads, windmills, wonderous clouds, and the Wild West! (a couple of those pictures were actually taken the previous week on a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with my family!)

Nebraska= Endless fields, smelled like "crop," Old Pony Express, stopping for gas again?, interesting incounter with a semi-truck (notice the picture), and the first night's stay-- North Platte. (by the way, that semi-truck that appears to be coming towards us was actually being towed away by another semi, driving away from us.... looks a bit alarming though, wouldn't you say?)

DAY 2:

Estimated miles driven: 525

Estimated hours spent in car: 8

Continued the stretch across Nebraska..... (nothing too exciting... more of the same smelly fields) and then...........

So, you heard about all the flooding in Iowa a few weeks ago, right? Well, we had made our Motel 6 reservation back before the flooding occured. When I heard about the flooding, I thought, hmmm... wonder if we'll be driving through that area. I watched the news with people standing in water up to their waist in Iowa City and Coralville.... and where do you suppose our Motel 6 happened to be? Iowa City/Coralville! Of course. Well, we assumed if there was any problem they would call and let us know. So, on that second night as we pulled into Iowa City to sleep for the night, things looked fine. Some sand bags along the high river. Not much sign yet of the flood damage yet. We kept driving, getting closer to our Motel. 1 mile to go, and still no big signs of damage that had been done. then, suddenly, when Beula told us we were .6 miles to our destination, we smell this awful smell of destruction, mold, rotting.... shops are closed, sandbags are still in place. The water was pretty much gone, but here we were right in the center of the previous weeks' destruction. Of course, we were suddenly nervous as we drove by all this.... sure that the Motel would either be closed from flood disaster or would be open but reek of mold and stuff!!! luckily, we went up hill a bit before reaching the Motel which was still there, open, and smelled just fine (you know, as good as a Motel 6 can smell). There were several people checking in to the motel that were there as volunteers to help clean up the flood damage. I thought that was neat. Anyway, that was our biggest adventure in Iowa!

Iowa= beautiful rolling fields of corn, flood disaster aftermath, second night's sleep, corn, colorful sunset, and more corn. Did I mention there were corn fields in Iowa?

DAY 3:

Estimated miles driven: 250

Estimated hours spent in the car: 4 1/2

We decided to keep day 3 a short day of driving because we wanted to stop and do some sight seeing in at least one fun place along the way. So, we drove about 3 1/2 hours from Iowa City to our hotel just outside of Chicago, Illinois.

We stayed at a pretty nice hotel that night. It is a branch off the Hyatt hotels called Hyatt Place. We liked this view of the hotel with the Jared Jewelers in front....for some reason it reminded us of Steve's best friend....... (Jared Hiatt...)

Anyway, after dropping our stuff off at the hotel we headed into Chicago! Neither of us had ever been there before. And we decided this was definitely the biggest city either of us can remember ever walking the streets of! It got a little confusing, and Beula couldn't pick up satelite reception amidst all the tall skyscrapers, but it was definitely an adventure!

DAY 4:

Estimate miles driven: 263

Estimated hours spent in the car: 6 (it should have only been about 4 1/2, but due to some confusion and then a huge traffic jam leaving Chicago... I'd say another 1 1/2 to 2 hours were proabably tacked on).

We spent most of day 4 in Chicago as well. There was plenty to see,do, and eat.... and we had a great time!

Illinois= CHICAGO! our first taste of Chicago dogs, view from the top of the Sears Tower, eating at one of the restaurants in Greek Town, an amazing aquarium, Chicago dog number two, Chicago Pizza, Lake Michigan, lots of WIND (hence my hair flying everywhere in several pictures...), the planetarium, and tall skyscrapers!

We left a little later than we had initially planned on.... then we hit traffic on our way out of Chicago (I think there was construction or something). But, finally we made it onto the toll roads....

.....across the state of Indiana.......

......and rolled into Toledo, Ohio at about 3 a.m. eastern time! Luckily, it only felt like 1 a.m. to us, but still.....

We are now at our new home where we will live for the next 4 years!

Our truck with all of our stuff on it won't be delivered until Monday, so we've been sleeping on an airmattress and fighting over the one "chair" in the house.

(Just kidding.... about fighting over the "chair". Not kidding about it being the only chair in the house right now though. hehe.) We actually had people we had been planning on staying with for at least that first night. But, we didn't think we should disturb them at 3 a.m. But thank you Jon and Keriann and all the others in Toledo who offered us a place to stay. I just hate feeling like I am just in people's way. but, we appreciate it.

We did go to a barbeque with a few families in the ward out here on the 4th of July, then watched some fireworks. We got to meet nice people and see a little of Toledo.We are excited to get to know people better and are already starting to feel at home... now if only we can get all our stuff moved in! Tomorrow should be fun!