Our last post - We got up and decided to go to our local Costco to get a membership and buy a toaster and coffee maker. Well, that dang Costco cart is so big which we ended up filling it above and beyond. It was strange seeing fireworks being sold at Costco. Wouldn't happen in California. One of the best things being here (which we know might sound strange) is having AIR CONDITIONING!!!! We've been four years without and have suffered much. Woot Woot!
Day 7 - Well, we woke up decided to got for it. We hit the road and drove straight here for 3 1/2 hours without stopping. It was strange driving and seeing signs for trucks to only drive in the left lane! We finally got into Hershey and made our way to our new place. WE MADE IT!!!!! We really appreciate all of your prayers for us to get here safely. Your prayers worked! We started at 19,330 miles on our odometer and ended up with 22,380 miles. We drove 3,050 miles to get here and what an amazing drive it was. We saw so much of America and it was one of the best times of our lives!
Day 6 - We left Champaign, Illinois early this morning with another time change. It is strange to think we have gone through 3 time changes driving to PA. We drove and passed many trucks through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and finally Pennsylvania. Stores have different names here, so I had to ask SIRI a couple of times what kind of store it was. We snacked along the way and finally found a very uncrowded Chick-fillet near our hotel. Most of the terrain here was farmland and really green. The atmosphere doesn't feel humid yet, but we will keep you posted. Final destination tomorrow! We are so ready to sleep in our own beds. FYI: the movers already moved everything into our new apt. on Friday. So happy un-packing to us for the next week!
Day 5 - Not a lot going on today EXCEPT...for our morning wake-up call. I woke up this morning and looked at the clock and noticed we had 5 minutes before our alarm was to go off. Right before it went off, the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate. Unfortunately, we were on the eighth floor so that meant going down 8 flights of stairs to the bottom. Turned out to be a false alarm but since we were at the bottom floor, we were able to grab breakfast before most others. Nothing but driving today and spending the night in Champaign, Illinois. We had deep dish pizza delivered and we'll get to bed early. We can't believe our road trip is almost over!
Day 4 - We had a good rest and met Rachel for a coffee and breakfast to go. It was nice to see where she lives - my first time. Started out for Omaha, NE with Januck driving and then me. I was so happy to find a polite driver to follow at the speed of 80 MPH and around trucks. He waved to us after following him for about 2 hours on the road. We also experienced an ambulance trying to pass a truck but I don't think the truck driver knew it was behind him/her - not sure, but very confusing for us since we moved over to the right lane to let the ambulance pass. We walked around old town Omaha (view a brick road below) and found a candy store with a Jelly Belly statue out front. Januck has such good memories of taking his class this year to the Jelly Belly Factory in Sacramento. The gas prices are so low here but the bugs are triple the amount. LOL! I tried to take a picture of an iconic building in Lincoln but wasn't successful. Thunderstorms may come tonight and off to Illinois tomorrow.
Day 3 - We left early and headed for Denver. Nothing much happening except for the AMAZING scenery! Our whole trip was so beautiful especially driving through the Colorado Rockies. We were almost driven off the road three times by a van, a truck, and a semi. No biggie. We made it to Denver and had dinner with Rachel and her boyfriend Matt. Ready for tomorrow!
Day 2 - It was a long driving day from Reno to Salt Lake City, but we did it trading off driving. I was so excited to see the speed limit on I-80 to be the speed limit of 80 MPH! I was able to fly past the trucks-not really. We saw snowy mountain tops, dry salt lakes, and really big crickets. They reminded me of my childhood in Karuizawa, Japan. Not a fond memory! We went to a really good restaurant tonight where we shared a salmon and pineapple pita and a blackened chicken salad. We feel better sharing meals, especially when we are traveling. Tomorrow we get to see our daughter, Rachel in Denver! Very excited about that! We were having a really hard time enjoying the change to paper straws in CA, so when we ordered our soda today in NV we rejoiced over getting plastic straws. Silly, I know!
Day 1 - The day started great! We got some good rest last night and we were making great progress until...the freeway completely stopped. We were near Baxter on the I-80 and we could see CalTrans down the road blocking the freeway and we couldn't move for about an hour. Finally, we were told to get off the freeway and turn around and go back the other way. It turns out a semi truck overturned and went partway down the embankment. We were told to go to the 174 to Grass Valley and then take the 20 to rejoin the 80 at Yuba Pass. We were supposed to get to Reno at 3:30 PM but ended up arriving at 6:00 PM. We did see some beautiful scenery on our side trip. Off to Salt Lake City tomorrow.
