From the Road

Alex and I pulled out of her driveway at 7:08 p.m. EST on Thursday, June 30. Mapquest had us following I-74 west over to I-80, rolling on I-80 for about 1000 miles, and then hopping off on I-84 in Utah.  The worst part of the trip was the first part: Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.  We finally got out of Nebraska at 8:30 a.m. Wyoming time.  Speaking as the co-pilot that drove through Nebraska in the middle of the night, Omaha seems like it’s actually a big[ish] city. 

Currently, we are in the middle of the lower part of Idaho.  The countryside is beautiful here; the sky is huge and the ground is very, very green.  I don’t know what the people here are growing (potatoes? I have to ask), but there are lots of sprinklers in the fields.  It’s reminiscent of south Oregon here.

We had anticipated arriving in Portland Saturday afternoon, but we have made killer time and it was more likely that we would arrive at five in the morning, so we are booking it to Bend tonight, spending the night in a hotel there, and heading to Portland tomorrow afternoon as previously planned.  The friend that she is, Alex wants to know where I’ll be living, working, and playing during the next few months. I love that she cares.  It’s really cool to be able to share this town with someone from back home.  Even more so, I can’t wait to share my West Coast family with her.  Hugs from any and all of my little cousins are in my top 10 list of things to hurry up and get to this week.

I cannot believe that I’m actually on this trip.  It hasn’t hit me that this is the drive I’ve been dreaming about for the last six years minimum.  I used to fantasize about getting on 70 West and just going until I hit the Pacific Ocean.  I may not have used I-70 and I’m not going straight to the ocean, but I am “headed off to the West Coast” as the Kenny song says.   “Grab the wheel  and turn it West” from the Miranda Lambert song.  All of my favorites have played once, if not twice, on this drive.