Roughneck's Cross Country Adventure

[Roughneck]

Okay So some of you may know this....some of you may not. But I, Roughneck, have recently come to a crisis in my life and I don't really know what to do and such....So I figured that I just need to reboot my life. I quit my Job and Remortgaged my house for about seventy grand and I am going...well am on a road trip.

When I get back to Canada and my home in a couple months I hope to hav some things sorted out and have a sense of direction.

Anyway.....I am on this trip and I want to share with you guys.

So here is the first couple entries I have been keeping....there are pics too but my internet connection in this hotel is crappy so I won't get them up today.

 

[Roughneck]

December 29th 2006.

Well I finally got onto the road today, a little later than I had hoped for but on the road is on the road. I also kinda slept in a little bit. And, being me, I didn’t do any packing until this morning.

Packing was a funny thing, it’s really not something that should be left until the last minute when you don’t know how long you will be gone and will be hitting all kinds of different weather and climates. Typing this now I realize that I have three jackets fit for winter and only one pair of shorts, though I can always buy new clothes as I go. I washed all of my underwear last night and as I packet it up today I realized that I don’t have nearly as much as I though, and hardly enough. Plenty of socks though.

So after I got everything packed up I went around and double checked the locks on all the windows in my house, I unplugged the TVs and clocks and such, turned down the furnace and set the water heater to ‘vacation’. I took one last look around at the things I wouldn’t see for a while and to see if I forgot anything, the pink cards for my van were sitting on the counter.

After a last goodbye I loaded the cat and dogs into the van and I was off. Rascal and Punch were pretty excited so I decided to keep them in the kennel until outside of the city, I thought that this might help keep the cat a little more calm. It didn’t, as soon as we started moving Kitty freaked out and crawled under my luggage for a place to hide.

She did not, however, stay there, I wasn’t even halfway through Edmonton before I had to pull over and clean up the nice large steamer that she left right in the middle of the van. It was one of the largest ones I had ever seen from a cat her size, she was very upset with me.

Once that was taken care of we were back on our way, nothing much of interest happened. There was an airplane landing as we were driving past the Edmonton International Airport, it’s cool to see but hardy uncommon.

Just before Leduc I let the dogs out of their cage, they were a lot better then I anticipated, they both hopped up on the passenger seat and sat quietly. Rascal slowly slinked his way over and onto my lap, I let him stay there for a while, though I think driving around with a 4o plus pound dog on your lap isn’t the safest practice.

After a little while Rascal actually got up and laid down in the kennel, and Punchkin had a nap with her little head resting on the arm rest. It was clear that there were a little confused still about the whole thing.

Sadly, nothing of great interest came up today, unless you count the joy of seeing my father holding onto two dog leashes with one hand while going to the washroom in the other.

I apologies if I give little insight to the sights on this first day, it’s just that I have driven this particular route a few times as my Dad and sister both live in the Crow’s Nest Pass.

But I did drive through Calgary, now I don’t particularly like Calgary as a city, I’m not quite sure why, I just never did. Whenever I am there I just have a feeling that something is off. But there are a few things I enjoy about driving through it, first of all it is absolutely beautiful, I can look out of my passenger side window to the west and see the mountains. Mountains may not be that spectacular to some folks, but I grew up in Saskatchewan and am still awe stricken by them.

Another thing about driving through Cow Town is their downtown, driving along the Deer Foot you get a great view of it coming in, then all of a sudden you are kind of beside it and then it’s gone. It’s the strangest thing, but once you pass the downtown you just can’t see it again when you look back, it’s the angles of the road and hills, but it is a great view while you have it.

The third thing isn’t as great as the other ones but, as you drive along you come back to country and assume that you are through Calgary, but the reality is you are only about half way there. It fools me every time, I just think that’s great.

After Calgary we hit some pretty crummy weather. There were heavy winds and a few accidents slowing us up, so some time was added to the trip, nothing serious.

As we turned off of highway #2 and onto highway #3 it was just beginning to get dark, and it was then that I regretted not leaving until eleven o’clock that morning. The stretch of road as you head west towards the pass has an amazing view, there are valleys and rivers and mountains and windmills. I don’t think that is what they are called but those big propellers that spin in the wind and are used to generate energy. Anyway as you approach Pincher Creek you see the first one and it doesn’t seem very big, until you get to where you think it is and realize that it is actually miles further and a lot larger than you believed.

Keep heading down the road and you’ll see a whole slew of them. But, unfortunately, it was already very dark by the time I got to them all. But driving through the mountain near nightfall does have its own perks. The way the sky is all dark but the sun is still behind the mountain and there is a light blue outline of it between two blacks. Well, that is worth a look in itself.

So, we arrived in Blairmore shortly after six o’clock and unloaded some things at my Dad’s place. He and I went for dinner and a restaurant just on the North East side of town called River Ridge, had some Chinese and it was actually really good, the almond chicken was the best I have had.

So it was a pretty basic day for the pre trip of my trip, I am just going to hang out here for a couple days, we are doing a Christmas thing on the 31st. And on the first of January I am crossing the border and officially beggining my cross country adventure.

 

[Roughneck]

January 1, 2007

Well this was the official beginning of my trip, new year, new month, new week and a new adventure. I didn’t quite get off to the start that I had hoped, but I was still on the road by a little after eleven am.

I took highway 3 eastbound out of the Pass and let me tell you, I am extremely glad that I was able to see it again in the daylight before I left the country. The road from Crow’s Nest Pass to Lethbridge is a progressively less beautiful drive, as you slowly emerge from the mountains around you, you eventually find yourself engulfed in endless prairie. It’s not that bad really, lord knows I have driven through some much more boring strips of prairie.

Today has been the windiest conditions that I have ever driven in, though I know it wasn’t all that windy by the regions standards. But, when I stopped for gas my jacket and hair were blowing really hard, I think I probably have leaned back into it without falling over. At least the wind was on my back, assisting my fuel efficiency greatly, though when I finally turned south I would regret that ‘helpful’ wind.

So the drive through Lethbridge should have been a fairly simple one, drive in on Highway 3 and drive out on Highway 4. That’s one turn, and yet I messed it up, I turned one block too soon. How I can mistake a small back road for an international highway I’ll never know, but I did. So, I took a little scenic tour of Lethbridge before getting back on track. It’s a nice little city, I had always pictured it as a bit of a hole. For my friend Michelle’s sake I was happy to be proven wrong.

Once I was back on track I was driving south on Highway 4 headed for the Coutts border crossing. Nothing of any real excitement came along during the trip, although I did get a kick out of the road sign that said ‘U.S.A. 87’

At one ten pm, I drove through a small little town called Milk River, all I will say about Milk River is that it was a damn shame it was one ten pm when I went through. Now that is a joke for about two people, if you want the story behind it you are going to have to ask me or my friend Mark read about it.

Twenty km later I was at the border, it seemed luck y that there were only about five vehicles ahead of me. I thought for a moment I was going to get through the border hassle free and pretty quickly, well let me let you in on a little secret. I am an idiot.

Every car ahead of me got through just fine with no hold ups at all, but should I be so lucky? Hells no. I answer all of the questions correctly, and I get asked to pull off to the side and come into the building.

I pull off and put the dogs into their cage and step out of the van and then it dons on me. An unemployed guy traveling by himself for about six weeks with no actual destination in mind. Yeah, they are gonna think that I am going down there to find a job.

So I go inside and answer all the same questions again, then I answered them all one more time, but this time on a piece of paper, then I get a smaller piece of paper to answer every single one of those questions again. A little frustrating, but believe me, if there is one place in the world to never ever get frustrated, well it’s at customs.

At customs you have absolutely no rights at all, they can look into and dig through whatever they want they can destroy and take anything of yours they want for any reason and there is absolutely not a damn thing you can do about it. So, you might as well lean back and take it up the ass, but be polite about it.

So after Officer Blank searched through my vehicle and asked me once again if I was going to be seeking any employment while on my trip he finally let me through on some sort of temporary visa thingie. He explained it but I forgot, but basically I am allowed to be in the United States until the end of February, I didn’t ask what would happen if I was any longer, but now I am quite curious.

What did I learn today about crossing the border into the United States of America? I think that when crossing the border for a length of time longer than one week you need to bring along absolutely everything that you can possibly think of that might get you through quicker. Today I could have cut my time at the border significantly if I would have brought a bank statement and the deed to my house. The deed to my house. Now those are things that I never would have thought to bring, but they wanted to be assured that I had the sixty thousand dollars in my bank that I said I did, and they wanted to be assured that I was still holding permanent residence in Canada.

I think that this is a little extreme to keep out potential employees from Canada, but how many Mexican laborers do you see working in southern California. That is all I’m gonna say on that subject, thank you come again. If I had the desire to become an American Citizen and move down there it would be easier for me to immigrate to Cuba and then come over to America. I just don’t get that.

Two things that I did notice while crossing were the fact that they never even asked to look at my international health certificates for my dogs, even though they knew I was traveling with two pups. Also I have a baseball bat on the floor beside my driver seat, maybe they just didn’t see it in the search.

Fifty rather painless minutes and zero dollars later I was sent on my way, all in all I think that was actually quite quick to get through.

So, with track eleven on a burned CD, Mexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo, played I drove my red 2001 Montana into Montana on Interstate #15. Now, in my mind I kind of expected it to be an entire new world when I crossed the border into another country, but the closer I got I thought of how silly that actually seemed. But, when I crossed the border I found that I was more accurate than I thought.

The first thing I noticed was that the quality of the road was a lot worse once I crossed, it was still decent to drive on, just not nearly as smooth as Alberta’s highway. The road signs were completely different, I did like that fact that the last sign before the border said ‘Great Falls 221’ and then the first one after said ‘Great Falls 115’ that’s quite a change. Yep, getting used to calculating things in miles is going to take a while to get used to.

Speaking of road signs does there really need to be a sign every single mile counting down? I don’t know if this is everywhere but once in Montana every mile there was a road sign counting down from three hundred something. I figured them out quickly, they mark intersection and side roads and stuff like that, but I don’t see why there needs to be one every mile, it just makes the trip seem to take longer, being constantly reminded of how far you’ve gone.

It also seemed to me that the yellow grass was a different shade but maybe it was just me.

So once I crossed the border I set up my GPS to direct me to the nearest Wal-Mart, it lead me straight to my planned destination of Great Falls. My initial destination for today was going to be Belt MT, but after driving through some of the other small towns I wasn’t entirely sure if Belt was going to have a motel in it.

As I got closer and closer to Great Falls I noticed that the view from here was pretty nice, they even had some of the wind mill things, but I only saw six of them….and one wasn’t even moving. So, I went to Wal-Mart and then went off in search of a motel. I drove around Great Falls to see the town a little and let me tell you, this is what I expected Lethbridge to be like. I see absolutely nothing here that is a draw to anyone from the outside world.

I ended up at the Super 8 Lodge – Great Falls where I now sit in a very chilly room with some very poor wireless internet, in fact I had to take my laptop to the lobby just to post this. I checked in around five and then, as now, my instincts told me that there was plenty of day left to keep driving. But I didn’t, and I don’t plan on making that mistake again.

My first official meal in the USA was a large meat lover’s from Pizza Hut and a can of apple juice. While I ate I watched a Myth Busters marathon on the Discovery Channel and can’t help but feel that I didn’t accomplish much, but I took the dogs for a walk before sitting down and saw that there is really nothing much to see in Great Falls.

 

[Kritish]

You quit your job and remortgaged your house?

You hardly need seventy grand for a few months of a road trip unless you do it in a Hummer.

You're gonna come back homeless.

 

[Roughneck]

Well I don't plan on spending it all, I am going to use the money left to live off of until I find some decent work so I don;t end up flipping burgers. Or Finiance myself in a new career.

 

[Canadian Rider]

Good luck Rough.

The aussies have their walk-abouts. Maybe yours is a drive about.

Be well and travel safe. For what it is worth, you will be in my prayers that you have a safe trip and get a lot out of it.

CR.

 

[Kritish]

Well I don't plan on spending it all, I am going to use the money left to live off of until I find some decent work so I don;t end up flipping burgers. Or Finiance myself in a new career.

Whatever dude, I don't care.

 

[Canadian Rider]

Whatever dude, I don't care.

You cared enough to criticize ...

 

[Roughneck]

JUst an Ass

 

[tzarinna]

You're very detailed Rough.
I wonder if that will decline the further into your trip you get. Sucks about all the time spent at customs and I do wish you could lead me to the joke about milk river.

 

[Roughneck]

Well I am begin very detailed yes, because I am writing a book as I go....This is actually a less detailed version off the stuff I am writing.

As for the Milk River thing....there is a bar there that my freind went to and he said the vartender there is really really hot and he could have has sex with her if he wasn't in a releationship. He's been telling me for months that I should drive down there and meet her.

 

[tzarinna]

Hee,Hee. IC.

Whoa,well this should indeed be a very insightful look into your book for us.

 

[Roughneck]

The book goes more into detail about what I am finding different about the US and Canada, and the mindset of the people and stuff like that.

 

[Roughneck]

January 2, 2007

Belt didn’t have a motel in it. I don’t think anyway, I didn’t drive through it but a sign listed it’s serviced and of the three of them, lodging was not one of them.

But before that I woke up for some of that sweet Super 8 free breakfast, anyone who has had this will know what I mean. There were a few too many people in the tiny little room designated for breakfast, so I just grabbed a cinnamon bun (about a third the size of a standard one) and went on my way. I was intending to get on the road before eight but then I started watching TV, the Prince of Egypt of all things.

But, by nine I was on the road, I stopped at a Target before leaving Great Falls…..I bought some toys. After that I was on the road to Yellowstone Park and Old Faithful. My GPS was telling me to go back onto I-15 but I really wanted to drive through belt, I don’t know why, probably because it’s a town called Belt.

I am actually really glad that I took the route I did, it was the most phenomenal drive I have ever taken in my life. I really don’t know how to describe it but it actually was breathtaking, I lose my breath a few times. If you are ever in Montana and looking for a hell of a drive then I suggest that you take Highway 89 south through the Lewis & Clark National Forrest.

Driving down that strip of highway took a lot of time out of my trip, but that’s the point isn’t it? I am doing this to see the nation and the beauties that it holds. The towns that I drove through showed me some of it.

Monarch and Neihart were tiny little mountain towns that one would swear time stopped there a long time ago. And they weren’t the only ones, every town on this route was like driving through a living picture of another era.

I kept on 89 south all the way until Livingston and as I said before the drive was phenomenal. The entire time the view was mountains and trees like I have never seen before and then all of a sudden all of that went away and I was in the middle of prairie. Mainly pastures by the look of it but once again really damn windy. Windier than yesterday for sure.

So, there was a short span on I-90 and I decided to turn off into Livingston for gas, that was a mistake. I recommend not doing that unless you really need gas. The off ramp and everything is straight forward it just takes about twenty minutes to get down the short road to the gas station. And to top it all off that particular gas station didn’t have any squeegees, not like they were gone, there was just no place for them.

Once I made it out of Livingston and back onto the highway, this time I just followed the GPS’s directions without double checking the map, that might have been an error. I would have preferred to stay on 89 but I wasn’t paying attention. I was headed over to a place called Bozeman, I was fine with it because earlier I checked and that was the nearest Wal-Mart.

So, I went to the Bozeman Wal-Mart, I didn’t get anything. Taking a sharp left out of their parking lot, I tipped over one of my Large Tupperware tubs of dog food, so now there’s a lot of dog food in my van and the dogs got an early dinner.

By this point I am driving down Highway 191 towards Yellowstone, the view is pretty good but nothing like the sights on 89. I saw a sign for one of those historical landmark turn offs, and decide to stop and read it, mainly just wanting to clean up the dog food. I get up to the sign and it is just two posts, I just kept driving. I may never know what piece of historical information I missed out on today. I guess I don’t really care.

There is a small mountain directly ahead of me as I drove into Yellowstone Park, there were clouds around its peak and it was another wondrous site. I have a pic somewhere.

I also learned a thing or two about music and driving today, if you are driving in the right place and listening to the right music it can be very inspiring. So, if you ever plan on driving through Yellowstone take along with you a copy of the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack. Also, coasting down a hill while listening to Comic Castaway by Electrasy has about the same effect.

So, I was driving down, what I now know was, the western edge of the park and admiring the beauty of it when I came to the town of West Yellowstone. I followed my directions to head towards Old Faithful and the Geysers only to find that the road further into Yellowstone is closed off to wheeled vehicles in the winter. I was a little dejected by this, I checked my map and it even says right on it that the road is closed in the winter. According to the map only two roads into the park are open in the winter, can you guess one of them? Yep, Highway 89.

I was a little choked about this so there was no way I was staying in West Yellowstone and giving that town any money (not like it’s their fault) so I checked my GPS for the nearest Wal-Mart and decided to stay there. The nearest one was in Rexburg Idaho.

Before leaving I wanted to go and get a picture of the sign that says Yellowstone for the hell of it so I went back into Wyoming. About ten feet in anyway. And there was a family of about 8 taking their pictures one by one, and taking their sweet ass time. I was going to get a shot of my dogs sitting in front of the sign, instead I got a picture of the back of this family and about half the sign, I didn’t want to waste any time.

I was off to Rexburg, though I did stop and clean up the dog food, well after I intended to. Nothing great happened, Idaho is lovely but after the drive down 89 it was not really comparable. Thought the roads in Idaho were much smoother. I drove along and at one point heading down a hill I put the van in neutral and just coasted for a while as Cosmic Castaway played on a CD.

By the time I got to Rexburg it was darkening and I was ready to stop driving, I really don’t like driving on the highway at night, especially in strange territory. So, I would head for the Wal-Mart and then find a motel.

I followed the GPS’s directions again and was growing a little concerned with where it was taking me, it seemed like a mostly residential area. Crossing one street there was a huge dip and a smoked the front of my van into the road, I was pissed off by this. There is no reason for a dip like that, I wasn’t even going that fast. Anyway, my GPS tells me that I have arrived at my destination but there is pretty much nothing anywhere, just a couple apartment buildings, definitely no Wal-Mart.

By this point I am really upset with Rexburg and I don’t want to spend any money there either. I check my GPS for a Target and it tells me to head to Idaho Falls. It was only thirty minutes away so I went for it. By now it was really damn dark so I had to get behind another car and basically follow them.

I found nothing at the Target and ended up checking in at another Super 8, this time with much better internet service. I got lazy and tired and ordered Pizza again, despite the stomach troubles I had from last night’s pizza. This time it was from Domino’s and I also got wings.

So I am typing this while watching Spider-man II on FX and plotting out my drive for tomorrow. I am currently thinking about driving straight from here to Reno, but that’s about nine and a half hours so I doubt I’ll be doing that.

I guess you will find out tomorrow.


As for right now, I am taking my pups for a quick walk then going to bed.

 

[tzarinna]

Ah,thanks, Montana sounds just like my kind of place.
That's one drive I'm sure you'll always remember.

 

[CyberFaust]

Have fun on the trip, may it give you a new outlook on life.










*subscribes to thread*

 

[Roughneck]

I hope it does give me a new outlook...I was thinking about that today....if I was just suddenly supposed to thing dfferent....but then I though it must be like a sensory epravation thing, you know when you cut off your senses you will start to hallucenate stuff.

Well on this trip I am cut off from my Life, So I imagine one day I WILL just see stuff differently.

 

[Roughneck]

January 3, 2007

Well, I got off to another late start again today, I had a really good sleep and didn’t want to get up and since I’m not on any real schedule, I didn’t. That and when I did finally get up Death to Smoochy was on TV. I should really stop turning it on in the morning.

So it was about ten thirty by the time I gassed up and left Idaho Falls, and I found myself once again on I-15. It was windy again today but not nearly as windy as the last two days. Again I became unimpressed with the Idaho view, mostly plains and prairies again, nothing too spectacular.

It was about one hour into my drive where I decided to just go for it and skip right through Elko, Nevada and straight onto Reno. My GPS estimated I would be there around eight pm, but with my clever driving (ie speeding) I would be there by seven or so, and with the time change that is actually six, plenty of time to gamble.

Though, when I came upon the town of Twin Falls, I thought about staying there and going for the ‘Falls’ hat trick. Then I thought about the no-stop-light-impossible-to-turn-left intersection off the highway in Rexburg, as well as its phantom wal-mart and giant assed dip. And the insanely long stop lights in Idaho Falls, thinking of those things made me remember that I was not a fan of Idaho. I wanted out of Idaho as quickly as possible, soothe thought was a very quick one.

The city of Twin Falls didn’t help the theme of crappy city planning in Idaho, the Highway that goes right through the place goes through two school zones. Now what kind of city planner would decide that I highway detour through a city needs to slow down to 25 mph twice? That does not make sense folks.

More wind and prairie went by me as I sped my way through Idaho, I did pass four other vehicles from Alberta, that made me realize I need to get further south.

Very close to the Idaho/Nevada border, Idaho had some redemption in the view department. Though, there was a mountain earlier in my drive that would have floored me a couple years ago, even a couple days ago I would have been impressed. But the redemption came with the Hansen Bridge and Snake River. It was like a mini Grand Canyon, though once I see the Grand Canyon I won’t even remember this, but for today it did the trick.

Then I was in Nevada and it all changed in an instant. It was still flat for a very brief time, but the ground was orange under the light layer of snow. Well, actually the town of Jackpot was first, and then came the different landscape. There were more mountains than Idaho and the colors were different, I am actually amazed at the difference between two states so suddenly.

Nevada held for me two firsts on my trip, probably more but two significant ones. The first one was some road construction, the thing that makes this one interesting was that every day I have spent in the States (Both of them) I have seen many different signs saying that there would be road construction for the next so many miles. But today in Nevada was the first time that there actually was construction. I really wasn’t expecting it.

Then something interesting happened, well it was a while later, but the time in between was really boring, I was listening to some talk radio and everything. Anyway, I pulled into a Shell station in Wells to get some gas, and I did, then as I was hopping into my car some guy was looking at my tire. That guy was Mike, he worked there at the Shell station and he pointed out to me a bubble on my rear tire. He offered to put it on the hoist and take a look, I wasn’t gonna say no to that.

So up on the hoist we see a much larger bubble on the other side of the tire. It’s a damn good thing he saw that cause I sure wasn’t checking for that and the way it was that tire wouldn’t have made it from Wells to Elko that’s for sure. So, I bought two new rear tires and two new front ones too actually.

Now before you go thinking that I got bamboozled into buying new tires you are wrong, that tire was going to go at any moment. And the front two were my idea, I noticed a hell of a wear on the inside track of them both. The passenger side was worse, so I actually kept the river side tire, when I get a change I am going to pick up a rim and keep it as a full sized spare.

Also, while the van was on the hoist Mike and I both noticed that the shocks were gone. I will once again point out that I know a thing or two about cars so I know that the shocks actually were gone.

While this was all getting done I walked across the street to a little diner called Bella’s Espresso House. It was either that or Burger King and I had no intention of going to BK. Bella’s was a wise decision on my part, the beer barley soup was without a doubt the best beef barley soup I have ever had. So good that I overhead the waitress joking with the cook, “I’m going to tell the rest of the customers that it’s horrible so I can have it all for myself” as she ate her own bowl of the soup.

The soup combined with a great BLT made it a lunch worth stopping for, if you find yourself in Nevada on I-80 then when you pass by Wells, you should stop for a bite at Bella’s Espresso House.

So the repairs only took about an hour and I decided that Reno was still possible. I headed out of town and back onto the highway Reno bound with a tiny little headache starting. This headache was really small and had actually been coming and going since Bozeman Montana. But now it was coming on with a vengeance.

I had to make up some time so I was driving a little faster than might have been recommended, and I was actually thinking that I haven’t seen a singe cop on my entire trip, both days. And then I saw my second first of the day. There was a set of lights ablaze behind me, and I pulled over hoping that he was in a hurry to a crime somewhere else. He wasn’t. So, I got the second speeding ticket on my life, unless you count photo radar.

The officer was actually really nice about it and only wrote me up for doing 80 mph in a 75 zone, even though he clocked me at 89. So I have until Feb 1st to get this one hundred and seven dollar ticket paid.

Now this ticket deal and the lights and driving right into the sun really didn’t help my headache, I was now starting to feel nauseous. It was barely four thirty (eastern time) but I really didn’t want to go any further, I checked my GPS for the nearest hotel and went the few miles onto Carlin, Nevada. It wasn’t nearly as far as Reno but it was past Elko, so I at least passed my initial destination.

I checked into the Comfort Inn and had a two hour nap right away. Once I woke up I felt really good and kind of wanted to head onto Reno, but I’d already paid for the room and it was far far nicer than the previous Super 8 rooms I’ve had.

I hit up the vending machine for a Crunch bar dinner and am going to bed early for a change. I am going to wake up at a decent hour and try the free breakfast here before hitting the road. Tomorrow’s destination is Eureka, California, as opposed to Eureka Nevada which is actually pretty close. My Eureka is about a ten hour drive, but I plan to go for it anyway, tomorrow I will see the ocean for the first time in my life.

 

[Roughneck]

Me Driving

The Wonderful View of Idaho

Pretty Nevada Rest Stop...a sign told me not to put trash in the toilet cause it's hard to clean out and I thought "Yeah but the **** must be a real pleasure"

 

[Assassin]

haha Mid life crisis

 

[tzarinna]

Love the picture with you and the mountains in the background.
What GPS do you have?
That soup sounds so ****ing good.

 

[jaguarr]

Glad you're having fun. You seem to have driven through nearly every part of the ass-end of Idaho, though. Seriously. You should have headed up towards Sun Valley and maybe even towards Boise and McCall. I've spent time in all of those areas....all of them are jaw-drop gorgeous. Rexburg, Idaho Falls and Twin Falls are all sh1t-stains.

jag

 

[USMC]

You have to stop in ZION, UTAH.

Just do it, you'll understand why.

 

[jaguarr]

You have to stop in ZION, UTAH.

Just do it, you'll understand why.

Yeah, I second that.

jag

 

[Roughneck]

Is that near Moab? Cause I plan on hitting Moab.