Washington - We Arrived!

After four days of mostly driving, we are in a new state for both of us: Washington! The drive across the US gave us a picture of our country especially on this last drive where we alternated from prairies to wasteland to mountains. The mountains were so much more majestic than our Eastern ones and some still were snowcapped. We stopped to look at the view of the Columbia River.

Then we headed to Snoqualmie Falls about 20 or so miles West of Seattle.

 After viewing the falls from the popular viewing spots, we took a trail down through rainforest-like growth to the base of the falls.

Who's peeking out from behind that tree?

We camped at a well-kept county park where we needed to wheel our gear over a suspension bridge to get to our campsite. The area had yurts and containers, as well, but we stayed in our tent.

 

Day 4 Stats 

Butte MT to Carnation WA

571 miles

3125 total miles

South Dakota to Montana - How to Launch a Missile

Fairly close to the Eastern entrance to Badlands National Park is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  This small and relatively new park offers tours to 6 people at a time every half hour to view the launch facility for a former Minuteman Missile. The tour includes the above ground living quarters and then takes an elevator to the underground launch room.  We ended up with extra time before the tour to poke around the Badlands and have breakfast.  We spent much more time there in 2004, but it was delightful to return. 

Then we took the tour.  It was interesting to look back at a little piece of the Cold War.  Our tour guide was actually a former missileer who had been stationed in that launch site.  A curious profession: demanding readiness while being a relatively boring job.  In case you want to know, there is no big red button to push – it was all designed with every possible security.  We also saw a former missile silo. 

And how does one launch a missile?

Two missileers are assigned to an ultra-secured underground launch site while a security force and cook are stationed above ground.

The siren sounds.

Encoded instructions come in.

They both decode the message.

They each open a padlocked box containing the launch keys.

They both go to separate ends of the room.

They both insert their keys

And they have to turn their keys within two seconds of each other.

So glad at least so far that the US has not had to activate one of these missiles.

As we continued along we saw the Bighorn Mountains in the distance.

Day 3 Stats - Thur 6/19

Interior SD to Butte MT

694mi for the day (including excursions)

2544 mi total

42 state license plates spotted

4 provinces

Illinois to South Dakota - A Giant and Falls

On our previous Northwestern trip we drove this same stretch of I-90.  We got off the highway in Blue Earth, Minnesota to get gas and who should we see, but the 55-foot Jolly Green Giant.

Well as we drove away, Barbara regretted not taking a picture.  You don’t run into a giant every day.  Well today, ten years later, she got her chance.  She got her photo op with the giant and two letterboxes to boot.

We noticed quite a few wind turbines that we didn’t see on our previous trip.

We went to Sioux Falls to see the falls from an inviting park with lots of good viewing spots.  We’re glad we stopped.

The glitch of the day was finding out that someone made unauthorized purchases with Bill’s credit card, so the card is now blocked.  A little complication we hope to resolve by having a new card sent to someone along our route that Barbara met through letterboxing.

Day 2 stats

Peru IL to Interior SD

798 miles 

42 state license plates spotted so far

Massachusetts to Illinois - A Math Problem

How long will it take one to drive 3000 miles at this speed?

That was our speed going through Danbury, CT – a moment when the traffic prompted that calculation.  (Barbara used to be a math teacher.)  Fortunately it wasn’t like that the rest of the way, though we did have pockets of congestion here and there.

Later on we saw a fire engine on a bridge over the highway.  Then the next bridge had a fire engine as well.  The third bridge had a fire engine with a large US flag hanging from the raised ladder.  We knew something was up.

At the next rest area we figured it out.  An honor guard stood at the entrance, another huge flag hung from a crane, and a sea of motorcycles were lined up behind the flag. 

 

We asked a scruffy biker and he politely told us this was honoring a fallen serviceman who lost his life in Afganistan.  The procession was heading 100 miles to West Point for the burial.  We later spotted the funeral procession several miles down the road heading toward the rest area.  There is a summary article and video here.

Day 1 stats

Sudbury MA to Peru IL

1052 miles driving

18.25 hours driving

35 state & 2 province license plates spotted

Hooray! Hooray! We're on our way!

"Hooray! Hooray! We're on our way. Our summer vacation starts today!" The opening line of The Bears' Vacation by Stan and Jan Berenstain fits quite well today. After months of preparation and last week scrambling, we hit the road this morning.

Trailer ordered.

Options picked.

Route planned.

Reservations made.

Supplies purchased.
Installations complete.

Hair cut.

House cleaned.

Lawn mowed.

Food prepared.

Clues printed. 
Tank filled.

Car packed.

And off we go…

Tue Jun 17, 2014

0 mi yesterday

0 mi total

Connectivity

Our connectivity, even cell coverage, will be somewhat limited on the trip.  Love this reminder from Glacier National Park.  Looks like my old phone!

Once on the road we will update this blog as often as possible, but uploading posts requires wifi and wifi isn't readily available in many of the parks we expect to visit.  So we'll do our best at posting.

In addition, Barbara will have a different phone number when in Canada and she won't know the number until she gets there.

All that is to say, we love hearing from you all. Email and texts are probably best, but bear with us if we don't get back to you right away.

At least we aren't dependent on people calling park rangers to get us a message…

Packing What We Need

It's hard to believe, but we are a mere 3 days away from our departure date.  No eating at the dining room table right now, as that became our collection point for all we need to bring.

 This does not include everything.  The goal is to fit everything in the 4Runner.  The ideal would be to provide a place for Bill to nap.  We'll see.

Lots of planning... lots of details... Bill under the car creating a bracket for a transmission cooler.  Barbara reminding the upholsterer that, yes, we are leaving this week so it would be nice if he finished the arm rests for the bench seat in the trailer.  Kate making a special trip here to lend Barbara her Frogg Toggs.  Showing Carrie how to close up the house.  And lots more details...

So while we plan and pack and prepare, the trailer manufacturer continues to work on our trailer.  It might be hard to see the changes, but we see a few things this week that we didn't see last week.

  

And here it is.

 Looks like an overcast day in Chilliwack, British Columbia, but our trailer is still shining.