Track 1 - The Women Head West
Day 0 - 16 June 2006 - Friday
--- Starting in Massachusetts ---
Kristina's family left Cape Cod and drove to Ithaca.
--- Entering New York ---
They arrived safely somewhat late Friday evening.
Day 1 - 17 June 2006 - Saturday
They left at 6:30am, at the same time my ride to Boston finally showed up.
They took I-90, the same road I was on, but in the opposite direction.
They made good time, stopping at their house in Buffalo to make sure
things were in order there. They had to make a small stop to get an atlas
because the one we had was left behind.
--- Entering Ontario, Canada ---
They took the shortcut across Canada, which went fairly uneventfully.
--- Entering Michigan ---
They then crossed back into the US at Port Huron, and headed to Saginaw
to visit with a friend of Kristina's mom.
Day 2 - 18 June 2006 - Sunday
They left at 8am, headed for Des Moines with a mission to deliver
a package to Kristina's mom's friend's son
(complicated enough?) who goes to school there
(at Drake).
--- Entering Indiana ---
They gained an hour on entering the Central Time Zone.
--- Entering Illinois ---
They passed through the construction near Chicago w/o many problems,
and got onto I-80 which they'd be on for the next few days. They
kept going past the southern Quad cities and into Iowa.
--- Entering Iowa ---
They managed to deliver the package in time, stopped to eat
(at the Cheesecake Factory of all places),
but decided to press on to Nebraska.
--- Entering Nebraska ---
They wanted to stop in Omaha, but the
College World Series
was going on at the time so they had to press on to
Lincoln to find a hotel room.
Day 3 - 19 June 2006 - Monday
Nebraska, as I understand it, is long, flat and somewhat boring. Here is a
representative picture of what you see from the road in many of the
Plains states: cows, flat fields, and trains (
don't forget the hay):
They left at 7am, and gained an hour when entering Mountain Daylight
Time. The highway just misses Colorado as it enters Wyoming.
--- Entering Wyoming ---
In Wyoming the scenery apparently gets more rugged almost right away,
and oil wells start sprouting up everywhere.
They went by Cheyenne but stopped in
Laramie to see the
University of Wyoming Geological Museum. (
We went to see the apatosaurus skelteon, one of five in the world).
They pressed on,
crossing the continental divide at 7000 feet or so. Kristina
was disappointed with the height of the Rockies in this part of
the state (wimpy!). They were in the Great Divide Basin, which actually doesn't
drain to any ocean at all, so they got to cross the continental divide
again.
They stopped at Rock Springs for dinner, then stopped in
Evanston for the night.
Day 4 - 20 June 2006 - Tuesday
They left early and got to Salt Lake City around 8:30AM.
--- Entering Utah ---
In Utah they passed a town where hot air balloons were being launched:
After much driving (very much driving)
they found the site of the 2002 Olympics speed skating venue:
Here is the speed skating rink:
Here are the ski jumps:
They went to Temple Square, here is the Mormon Temple
( it had very pretty, green, flowery gardens):
And here is a cool building Kristina liked that had a waterfall
built into it:
They then drove through the Bonneville Salt Flats, and stopped at
a rest area with a disturbing warning:
--- Entering Nevada ---
They drove on to Nevada, gaining one last hour as they entered
Pacific Daylight Time. They drove the whole way across the state,
stopping in Reno:
They even gambled a tiny bit at the slots
(We were sorry later when we had no
quarters left for tolls the next day). Then they kept going, on
to Carson City, where they stayed for the night.
Continue on to Yosemite and Day 5