Here I Am, and Here We All Are
To put it succinctly, that was a really arduous trip that I just finished from Maine to Oregon. I think in no uncertain terms that that will be the first and only time I will drive across the entire continental United States all by myself. One of those little adventures I always wished to try, but like the marathon I did, there is no frickin' way I am doing it again.
Day One
The trip started off well enough. There was a delay getting off the island because of the overabundance of people attempting to leave the island that morning. When I finally got to the mainland, I dropped off a few things at the Goodwill down Forest Ave. and discovered they had no public restroom, something I desperately needed after the two cups of tea that morning already. The car also needed a pre-trip oil change, so I found an open oil change location that was not too crowded. All said and done, I did not get on the interstate until about 12:45 p.m. Only an hour and fifteen minutes later than I planned. Not bad for the first morning...
The drive through Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts was not too bad. Traffic was good and speedy. No accidents, weather was alternating between winter grey and patches of sun. Getting into New York, I started hitting a snowstorm going over the mountains. Every so often some rain would mix in and make the way even fuzzier ahead. Eventually, through this, day turned into night. When I finally hit the exit for Rochester, I was surrounded by rain, trucks, and glare. There is nothing I like more than being surrounded by semis at night in a downpour with city lights making the whole world full of glare. Thankfully, my iPod had a sense of humor and played John Williams' Duel of the Fates.
Kind of got lost in Rochester. The conditions were pretty bad and I really only remembered that I had to get off on Interstate something-90. Well, Rochester has I-90 below it, and then I-390, I-490, and I-590 around and inside it. Choosing one, I found myself in downtown Rochester knowing that I was simply in the wrong part of town. Thanks to Google Maps on the iPhone I found my way to the general area of Debbie's apartment complex. Of course, I had to circle around for a while before I realized that I was near E. Henrietta and I needed to be down at W. Henrietta. Two streets with the same name, half a mile apart, running parallel to each other. A moment to applause city planners, please. Found the apartment complex, which was rather large and with a bit of hunting in the snow I found her building. And finally, there was Debbie with her apartment of amazing size and a cat that I found myself not to be allergic too.
Debbie and I caught up talking about the usual subjects of what friends are doing, getting older, and what direction our lives are headed. She is in medical school in Rochester and is starting to give thought to where she wishes to do her residency. While Rochester has an excellent medical school, she does not seem altogether enamoured with the city itself. Here's hoping to her getting into the OHSU residency program. On some level I think I want everyone to move back to Portland, Oregon just so I do not have to drive across country to see old friends. Lazy, I know.
Day Two
A good night of rest even with a kitty sitting on my face at one point. The next morning, through ice and snow, I left Rochester and headed towards Indianapolis. Nothing really to say about this drive as the weather cleared up and I had just a light grey sky throughout the rest of NY, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Oh, and it seems many of the rest stops in this part of the country have free Wi-Fi so I was able to answer work emails while having a second breakfast and also received a memorable email from someone on Flickr too that I had been hoping to receive for a while.
When I entered the realm of Columbus, Ohio I made my decision and turned off I-71 and headed into Westerville, Ohio for a quick visit of my pre-Reed world. I am not sure I really understood the phrase "You cannot go home again" until I did this. Westerville has really changed quite a bit in areas. An entire section of town that used to be great stretches of forest and farming is now a gigantic business and commercial district. I got rather confused because all of the usual landmarks were gone. Going through downtown though, I made my way back to the neighborhood where I lived for nine years. Little memories popped into my mind. That is where X used to live. That is where the cross country team used to run. Went sledding on that hill in the winter.
Cruised through the streets where I used to have my two paper routes. The entire forest that existed around the Cherrington Creek is now fully developed with houses. Kind of sad to see manicured lawns where there used to be a great place to explore and build forts. Finally, I arrived back at the court where the old house was. It almost looks exactly the same. Same color, same trim. Even the swing on the front porch is still there. The only thing that really has changed is that the two trees we planted in the front yard are much taller. I took a photo with my camera as I did not actually have a shot of it anywhere.
Since my house is only a mile from my old high school and it was mid-afternoon, I headed there to see if any of my old teachers were still about. Alas, the parking lot was mostly deserted (odd for a weekday afternoon) and I discovered it was Spring Break. Seems I got adjusted to Reed College's spring break that occurs in mid-March, so it did not even occur to me that when the school year does not end until June that the break would be a bit later in the year. Still, I went in and looked around. Either I have grown a few inches (around the middle...?) or the school has shrunk, as I do not remember everything being so small. The oddest feeling, like I was towering over things.
Met an old science teacher friend who was getting things prepared for the restarting of classes the following week. She gave me the news on a few old teachers and I let her know what I have been up to for the past eight years since I dropped into town. Thinking that a particular close teacher of mine was still in town during the break, she thought I might catch her at home. Since it was not too far from the Polaris exit on I-71, I decided to give it a try. Alas, Janet was off in Florida with her husband for Spring Break. A silly location, if you ask me. I saw Sarah, their daughter, though and gave her a message for her mom.
That being all done, I got back on the interstate after my hour long visit in Westerville and started towards Indianapolis again. Right around the time I crossed the Indiana border the sky cleared up and the speed limit went up a nice notch, and there I was flying through Indiana in lovely sunshine. Indiana has never really interested me as a state, but I must say it cleans up nice. Not only that, I found Alisa's place on the very first try and parking was a relative breeze thanks to a church offering honor-based parking.
Alisa and I caught up for a short while before heading up to her parent's house where we were treated to a free dinner and excellent hospitality. Her father is a rather astute man, who asked me a number of really pointed questions about my work and my plans for that area of my life. Questions I had hoped others would have asked me by this point in my professional development but had not. Good to know that someone is actually capable of grasping how I think a little bit. Headed back to Alisa's and went to bed very shortly after, as for some reason sitting in a car all day and having a glass of wine with dinner makes one a bit desirable of a comfy mattress. Oh, and Alisa has two cats as well, which I was slightly more allergic to than Debbie's. Thankfully, they were a bit shyer of me, so I only had a bit of itching that a Benadryl kept in check.
Day Three
Up the next morning a bit leisurely and had a hot breakfast as Alisa had the next couple days off. Was tempted to stay an extra day as she lives right near downtown and after such a lovely welcome the previous day, I was tempted to give Indianapolis more time. Decided to continue on to Les and Laura's though as taking a break in the middle of the trip seemed a bit wiser since I was going to attempt the last half of the country in just two days of long driving.
Hm, I cannot remember much of the driving on the third day. I remember going through Moline, Illinois where I was born, but I decided not to stop and revisit those old old memories from twenty years ago. Despite Google Maps indicating that my trip should take a little over ten hours, I got into Lincoln in about eight and a half hours. And since I did not have their address in my phone, I went with dead reckoning based on my previous visit last August to find their house. I finally got to a point where I knew their house was really close, but I was not exactly sure where. Gave Les' cell a call, and Laura told me their exact address. I was on the right street, just on 40th instead of 50th. Not too bad, I thought. Yet still completely incapable of locating my marbles.
Got to their house and Les and I immediately went out for dinner at the restaurant of their friends. A bit of shop talk. A bit of beer drinking. A bit of staring off into the distance (oddly seemed like second nature to me at this point). Sophia, their young daughter, was still out when we got back, so there was a bit of talking in the living room before we headed to bed. At this point, I realized that they have a finished basement, which is where they sleep. Not sure where I thought they slept during my previous visit, but I suppose Dan and I were both so exhausted at that point that higher level brain functions were no longer available.
Day Four
Slept like a rock. Woke up a few times as Ms. Sophia made the motions and sounds of a toddler, but I quickly conked out again. The next day was my rest day, so I hung around playing with Sophia and letting her press keys on the computer using a non-administrator account. Introduced her to many fine Muppet and Monty Python videos thanks to YouTube, and we played with the built-in video camera making faces. They sure can be adorable little humans when they can say your name and indicate what they want, no?
The afternoon had a house showing, so I went to a coffee shop and did a bit of work while Les went to the park with Sophia and Laura went to elevate her heart rate at the gym. The evening was mostly dinner and geeking out on the computer. Laura befriended me on Facebook and decided to challenge me to a came of Scrabulous. I am not saying this was foolish, but I might be ahead by almost 60 points right now. I also finally completed all of the necessary work to make the new design on this site live. Validates as XHTML Strict and even looks kind of ok. Already there are things I want to tweak on it, but you know those can wait until a few other more important tasks are completed.
Day Five
Another solid night of sleeping and I got back on the road around 8 a.m. or so. Pouring rain, which while a bit tedious did help to clean off a bunch of road salt from the cart. You know, I just have to say, Nebraska is a bloody long state to drive through. Hours and hours and hours and hours of driving. I was the one who drove across it heading East, but I simply do not remember it taking this long. Perhaps the smell of Dan after 24 hours of driving killed some brain cells. Not sure. Still, I eventually made my way into Wyoming.
Wyoming. Good old Wyoming. I was supposed to have gotten through Wyoming that day. I arrived in the middle of the afternoon, so I had plenty of time. Did not happen. Not even close. Getting into Cheyenne, Wyoming, I noticed there were some rather dark clouds up ahead. Still, I continued up over the mountains and down into Laramie, Wyoming. There was snow drifting onto the roadway, and my windshield started icing up. Had to turn the heat on full to keep it clear. Really though, if one was careful it was not so bad.
Getting down into Laramie, I-80 through the town was closed with troopers blocking the route. I needed gas anyhow, so I took the I-80 Business route around thinking it might have just been an accident that I needed to get around. Getting into the other side of town, cars and trucks were everywhere. State troopers were blocking all of the ramps back onto to I-80. I parked on the side of the road and tried the various radio stations looking for more information. Of course, nothing. Pulled around and asked the troopers what was up. They had no clue. Telling them I was headed to Oregon, they suggested going up I-25 into Montana and trying to get home that way. Required heading back to Cheyenne, so go on I-80 East and drove back across the mountains. This time the storm was already passed, so it was a fast, speedy drive. What was odd though is that there was absolutely no cars on the other side. No one was headed towards Laramie at all. I might have been a bit worried. At these moments, the zombies or aliens start advancing in the movies.
Getting into Cheyenne, I saw that there were troopers blocking I-80 east towards Laramie just outside of town. Explains the lack of cars heading that direction. Growing even more concerned, I went to the rest stop and information center in Cheyenne to get more information. Taking I-80 and heading to Salt Lake City was many hours shorter than going up I-25 and through Montana. Besides, if there was a problem in these mountains because of a storm, it seemed likely that Montana might be even worse. The nice man at the information center had absolutely no information whatsoever. Apparently, all of his information came from the internet and thanks to the power outage earlier that day, he was still without internet. Blessed what the iPhone. Going to the Wyoming DOT website, I got a list of recent closures. I-80 was on there. No information on why or when it might reopen, only that had been closed since that morning.
Calling a few people who might have faster internet access than I, I got a hold of Alisa and she gave me some road conditions and weather reports. Storms blowing across Wyoming and one looking to hit I-25 north very soon. Pondering on it, I decided that with no news about I-80 likely forthcoming and the eight hours of driving already that day that I should just get a hotel and wait until the morrow to continue on my way. Found a Hampton Inn that had vacancies and high speed internet, so I got a room and chilled out for the rest of the day. Somewhat literally. Wyoming was windy and freezing. Walking to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner was quite a trip in nippiness. Saw a group of people drive from the hotel there and I could not blame them.
Day Six
I set my alarm for 5 a.m. hoping for an early start and clear roads. The Wyoming DOT website had more closures and no further information about I-80's condition or when it might reopen. Bugger. Went to bed for another couple hours and woke up again for the complimentary breakfast. In the dining room, one of the hotel owners went around talking to people and suggesting they wait it out. Seems I-80 had had a massive accident the day before. Not only that, but a truck fire had damaged the roadway. Combine that with the winter conditions, and that was why the interstate had been closed and was still closed. Her suggestion was to wait it out until they decided to reopen it, unless you really had to get to Salt Lake City (and beyond). Your option then was to go up to Casper (180 miles or so north) and use the WY-220 road to go across the mountains (past the problem area of I-80) to Rawlings, Wyoming.
Looking at Google Maps that route would have taken just as long as going up through Montana and there to Washington and Oregon. Thinking that Montana's route was still clear (no one had heard of problems) and would be a more unique drive than the one through Nevada and Idaho, I started up I-25 towards Casper but intending to continue on north. Yeah, whoops. Right beyond Casper the road started having hard snow and ice on it. Clear in parts, but rather crappy in others. Every so often it got really bad and I was never going more than 40 miles per hour. I saw three accidents in the first hour of driving that route. What finally made me turn around was when a truck with a trailer right in front of me started swerving everywhere and went off the road. Simply not encouraging.
Found an access ramp and turned around back towards Casper. The route from Casper to Rawlings was completely clear. Sunny weather and not a trace of winter weather on the road at all. Not only that but I got to go past Independence Rock, a nice thrill for a great lover of the original Oregon Trail game. There was the downside of getting put behind two rigs who were really letting loose with small rocks. My windshield is going to require a bit of work now.
Made it into Rawlings and started heading west on I-80 again. They must have just opened the route east again as there was a line of trucks going for miles that were just starting to get going. Quite a sight to see. Once I got down past the Continental Divide I gave an extremely loud whoop of joy. On my way to Oregon again!
Made it all the way into Idaho that night after about fourteen hours of driving. The only notable moment was when I stopped to get my oil changed on the Nevada border. Seems I have a leak somewhere in my engine as I am losing oil rather slowly. Does not seem to happen when I am driving though as I checked it religiously every rest and gas stop. But when I stopped for the night in Idaho, the next morning it was only about 3/4s full. No oil on the ground I could see. Did not have a problem for the three days I was in Portland either, but this morning in Bend it was down to 3/4s again. Kind of worrisome and odd, but definitely manageable until I get it into a shop to be looked at.
Day Seven
So, finally, Wednesday afternoon after cruising through some idyllic Oregon weather, I arrived in Portland where Spring (capital 'S') was definitely in attendance. As Dan was at work, I went directly to Palio in Ladd's Addition and got a cup of tea for a few hours of work catch-up. Julia gave me a call and we met at Dan's where we went to have dinner at the Hedge House. Took Julia back to Brian and Michelle's, and then I crashed for the night on Dan's futon. So ended my trip across the country. 3700 miles of driving total over the course of seven days. Hours and hours of staring straight ahead watching little white stripes flutter by. My mind having coalesced into a simple driving machine with little intellectual thought possible after the first day. Whee!
Day One
The trip started off well enough. There was a delay getting off the island because of the overabundance of people attempting to leave the island that morning. When I finally got to the mainland, I dropped off a few things at the Goodwill down Forest Ave. and discovered they had no public restroom, something I desperately needed after the two cups of tea that morning already. The car also needed a pre-trip oil change, so I found an open oil change location that was not too crowded. All said and done, I did not get on the interstate until about 12:45 p.m. Only an hour and fifteen minutes later than I planned. Not bad for the first morning...
The drive through Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts was not too bad. Traffic was good and speedy. No accidents, weather was alternating between winter grey and patches of sun. Getting into New York, I started hitting a snowstorm going over the mountains. Every so often some rain would mix in and make the way even fuzzier ahead. Eventually, through this, day turned into night. When I finally hit the exit for Rochester, I was surrounded by rain, trucks, and glare. There is nothing I like more than being surrounded by semis at night in a downpour with city lights making the whole world full of glare. Thankfully, my iPod had a sense of humor and played John Williams' Duel of the Fates.
Kind of got lost in Rochester. The conditions were pretty bad and I really only remembered that I had to get off on Interstate something-90. Well, Rochester has I-90 below it, and then I-390, I-490, and I-590 around and inside it. Choosing one, I found myself in downtown Rochester knowing that I was simply in the wrong part of town. Thanks to Google Maps on the iPhone I found my way to the general area of Debbie's apartment complex. Of course, I had to circle around for a while before I realized that I was near E. Henrietta and I needed to be down at W. Henrietta. Two streets with the same name, half a mile apart, running parallel to each other. A moment to applause city planners, please. Found the apartment complex, which was rather large and with a bit of hunting in the snow I found her building. And finally, there was Debbie with her apartment of amazing size and a cat that I found myself not to be allergic too.
Debbie and I caught up talking about the usual subjects of what friends are doing, getting older, and what direction our lives are headed. She is in medical school in Rochester and is starting to give thought to where she wishes to do her residency. While Rochester has an excellent medical school, she does not seem altogether enamoured with the city itself. Here's hoping to her getting into the OHSU residency program. On some level I think I want everyone to move back to Portland, Oregon just so I do not have to drive across country to see old friends. Lazy, I know.
Day Two
A good night of rest even with a kitty sitting on my face at one point. The next morning, through ice and snow, I left Rochester and headed towards Indianapolis. Nothing really to say about this drive as the weather cleared up and I had just a light grey sky throughout the rest of NY, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Oh, and it seems many of the rest stops in this part of the country have free Wi-Fi so I was able to answer work emails while having a second breakfast and also received a memorable email from someone on Flickr too that I had been hoping to receive for a while.
When I entered the realm of Columbus, Ohio I made my decision and turned off I-71 and headed into Westerville, Ohio for a quick visit of my pre-Reed world. I am not sure I really understood the phrase "You cannot go home again" until I did this. Westerville has really changed quite a bit in areas. An entire section of town that used to be great stretches of forest and farming is now a gigantic business and commercial district. I got rather confused because all of the usual landmarks were gone. Going through downtown though, I made my way back to the neighborhood where I lived for nine years. Little memories popped into my mind. That is where X used to live. That is where the cross country team used to run. Went sledding on that hill in the winter.
Cruised through the streets where I used to have my two paper routes. The entire forest that existed around the Cherrington Creek is now fully developed with houses. Kind of sad to see manicured lawns where there used to be a great place to explore and build forts. Finally, I arrived back at the court where the old house was. It almost looks exactly the same. Same color, same trim. Even the swing on the front porch is still there. The only thing that really has changed is that the two trees we planted in the front yard are much taller. I took a photo with my camera as I did not actually have a shot of it anywhere.
Since my house is only a mile from my old high school and it was mid-afternoon, I headed there to see if any of my old teachers were still about. Alas, the parking lot was mostly deserted (odd for a weekday afternoon) and I discovered it was Spring Break. Seems I got adjusted to Reed College's spring break that occurs in mid-March, so it did not even occur to me that when the school year does not end until June that the break would be a bit later in the year. Still, I went in and looked around. Either I have grown a few inches (around the middle...?) or the school has shrunk, as I do not remember everything being so small. The oddest feeling, like I was towering over things.
Met an old science teacher friend who was getting things prepared for the restarting of classes the following week. She gave me the news on a few old teachers and I let her know what I have been up to for the past eight years since I dropped into town. Thinking that a particular close teacher of mine was still in town during the break, she thought I might catch her at home. Since it was not too far from the Polaris exit on I-71, I decided to give it a try. Alas, Janet was off in Florida with her husband for Spring Break. A silly location, if you ask me. I saw Sarah, their daughter, though and gave her a message for her mom.
That being all done, I got back on the interstate after my hour long visit in Westerville and started towards Indianapolis again. Right around the time I crossed the Indiana border the sky cleared up and the speed limit went up a nice notch, and there I was flying through Indiana in lovely sunshine. Indiana has never really interested me as a state, but I must say it cleans up nice. Not only that, I found Alisa's place on the very first try and parking was a relative breeze thanks to a church offering honor-based parking.
Alisa and I caught up for a short while before heading up to her parent's house where we were treated to a free dinner and excellent hospitality. Her father is a rather astute man, who asked me a number of really pointed questions about my work and my plans for that area of my life. Questions I had hoped others would have asked me by this point in my professional development but had not. Good to know that someone is actually capable of grasping how I think a little bit. Headed back to Alisa's and went to bed very shortly after, as for some reason sitting in a car all day and having a glass of wine with dinner makes one a bit desirable of a comfy mattress. Oh, and Alisa has two cats as well, which I was slightly more allergic to than Debbie's. Thankfully, they were a bit shyer of me, so I only had a bit of itching that a Benadryl kept in check.
Day Three
Up the next morning a bit leisurely and had a hot breakfast as Alisa had the next couple days off. Was tempted to stay an extra day as she lives right near downtown and after such a lovely welcome the previous day, I was tempted to give Indianapolis more time. Decided to continue on to Les and Laura's though as taking a break in the middle of the trip seemed a bit wiser since I was going to attempt the last half of the country in just two days of long driving.
Hm, I cannot remember much of the driving on the third day. I remember going through Moline, Illinois where I was born, but I decided not to stop and revisit those old old memories from twenty years ago. Despite Google Maps indicating that my trip should take a little over ten hours, I got into Lincoln in about eight and a half hours. And since I did not have their address in my phone, I went with dead reckoning based on my previous visit last August to find their house. I finally got to a point where I knew their house was really close, but I was not exactly sure where. Gave Les' cell a call, and Laura told me their exact address. I was on the right street, just on 40th instead of 50th. Not too bad, I thought. Yet still completely incapable of locating my marbles.
Got to their house and Les and I immediately went out for dinner at the restaurant of their friends. A bit of shop talk. A bit of beer drinking. A bit of staring off into the distance (oddly seemed like second nature to me at this point). Sophia, their young daughter, was still out when we got back, so there was a bit of talking in the living room before we headed to bed. At this point, I realized that they have a finished basement, which is where they sleep. Not sure where I thought they slept during my previous visit, but I suppose Dan and I were both so exhausted at that point that higher level brain functions were no longer available.
Day Four
Slept like a rock. Woke up a few times as Ms. Sophia made the motions and sounds of a toddler, but I quickly conked out again. The next day was my rest day, so I hung around playing with Sophia and letting her press keys on the computer using a non-administrator account. Introduced her to many fine Muppet and Monty Python videos thanks to YouTube, and we played with the built-in video camera making faces. They sure can be adorable little humans when they can say your name and indicate what they want, no?
The afternoon had a house showing, so I went to a coffee shop and did a bit of work while Les went to the park with Sophia and Laura went to elevate her heart rate at the gym. The evening was mostly dinner and geeking out on the computer. Laura befriended me on Facebook and decided to challenge me to a came of Scrabulous. I am not saying this was foolish, but I might be ahead by almost 60 points right now. I also finally completed all of the necessary work to make the new design on this site live. Validates as XHTML Strict and even looks kind of ok. Already there are things I want to tweak on it, but you know those can wait until a few other more important tasks are completed.
Day Five
Another solid night of sleeping and I got back on the road around 8 a.m. or so. Pouring rain, which while a bit tedious did help to clean off a bunch of road salt from the cart. You know, I just have to say, Nebraska is a bloody long state to drive through. Hours and hours and hours and hours of driving. I was the one who drove across it heading East, but I simply do not remember it taking this long. Perhaps the smell of Dan after 24 hours of driving killed some brain cells. Not sure. Still, I eventually made my way into Wyoming.
Wyoming. Good old Wyoming. I was supposed to have gotten through Wyoming that day. I arrived in the middle of the afternoon, so I had plenty of time. Did not happen. Not even close. Getting into Cheyenne, Wyoming, I noticed there were some rather dark clouds up ahead. Still, I continued up over the mountains and down into Laramie, Wyoming. There was snow drifting onto the roadway, and my windshield started icing up. Had to turn the heat on full to keep it clear. Really though, if one was careful it was not so bad.
Getting down into Laramie, I-80 through the town was closed with troopers blocking the route. I needed gas anyhow, so I took the I-80 Business route around thinking it might have just been an accident that I needed to get around. Getting into the other side of town, cars and trucks were everywhere. State troopers were blocking all of the ramps back onto to I-80. I parked on the side of the road and tried the various radio stations looking for more information. Of course, nothing. Pulled around and asked the troopers what was up. They had no clue. Telling them I was headed to Oregon, they suggested going up I-25 into Montana and trying to get home that way. Required heading back to Cheyenne, so go on I-80 East and drove back across the mountains. This time the storm was already passed, so it was a fast, speedy drive. What was odd though is that there was absolutely no cars on the other side. No one was headed towards Laramie at all. I might have been a bit worried. At these moments, the zombies or aliens start advancing in the movies.
Getting into Cheyenne, I saw that there were troopers blocking I-80 east towards Laramie just outside of town. Explains the lack of cars heading that direction. Growing even more concerned, I went to the rest stop and information center in Cheyenne to get more information. Taking I-80 and heading to Salt Lake City was many hours shorter than going up I-25 and through Montana. Besides, if there was a problem in these mountains because of a storm, it seemed likely that Montana might be even worse. The nice man at the information center had absolutely no information whatsoever. Apparently, all of his information came from the internet and thanks to the power outage earlier that day, he was still without internet. Blessed what the iPhone. Going to the Wyoming DOT website, I got a list of recent closures. I-80 was on there. No information on why or when it might reopen, only that had been closed since that morning.
Calling a few people who might have faster internet access than I, I got a hold of Alisa and she gave me some road conditions and weather reports. Storms blowing across Wyoming and one looking to hit I-25 north very soon. Pondering on it, I decided that with no news about I-80 likely forthcoming and the eight hours of driving already that day that I should just get a hotel and wait until the morrow to continue on my way. Found a Hampton Inn that had vacancies and high speed internet, so I got a room and chilled out for the rest of the day. Somewhat literally. Wyoming was windy and freezing. Walking to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner was quite a trip in nippiness. Saw a group of people drive from the hotel there and I could not blame them.
Day Six
I set my alarm for 5 a.m. hoping for an early start and clear roads. The Wyoming DOT website had more closures and no further information about I-80's condition or when it might reopen. Bugger. Went to bed for another couple hours and woke up again for the complimentary breakfast. In the dining room, one of the hotel owners went around talking to people and suggesting they wait it out. Seems I-80 had had a massive accident the day before. Not only that, but a truck fire had damaged the roadway. Combine that with the winter conditions, and that was why the interstate had been closed and was still closed. Her suggestion was to wait it out until they decided to reopen it, unless you really had to get to Salt Lake City (and beyond). Your option then was to go up to Casper (180 miles or so north) and use the WY-220 road to go across the mountains (past the problem area of I-80) to Rawlings, Wyoming.
Looking at Google Maps that route would have taken just as long as going up through Montana and there to Washington and Oregon. Thinking that Montana's route was still clear (no one had heard of problems) and would be a more unique drive than the one through Nevada and Idaho, I started up I-25 towards Casper but intending to continue on north. Yeah, whoops. Right beyond Casper the road started having hard snow and ice on it. Clear in parts, but rather crappy in others. Every so often it got really bad and I was never going more than 40 miles per hour. I saw three accidents in the first hour of driving that route. What finally made me turn around was when a truck with a trailer right in front of me started swerving everywhere and went off the road. Simply not encouraging.
Found an access ramp and turned around back towards Casper. The route from Casper to Rawlings was completely clear. Sunny weather and not a trace of winter weather on the road at all. Not only that but I got to go past Independence Rock, a nice thrill for a great lover of the original Oregon Trail game. There was the downside of getting put behind two rigs who were really letting loose with small rocks. My windshield is going to require a bit of work now.
Made it into Rawlings and started heading west on I-80 again. They must have just opened the route east again as there was a line of trucks going for miles that were just starting to get going. Quite a sight to see. Once I got down past the Continental Divide I gave an extremely loud whoop of joy. On my way to Oregon again!
Made it all the way into Idaho that night after about fourteen hours of driving. The only notable moment was when I stopped to get my oil changed on the Nevada border. Seems I have a leak somewhere in my engine as I am losing oil rather slowly. Does not seem to happen when I am driving though as I checked it religiously every rest and gas stop. But when I stopped for the night in Idaho, the next morning it was only about 3/4s full. No oil on the ground I could see. Did not have a problem for the three days I was in Portland either, but this morning in Bend it was down to 3/4s again. Kind of worrisome and odd, but definitely manageable until I get it into a shop to be looked at.
Day Seven
So, finally, Wednesday afternoon after cruising through some idyllic Oregon weather, I arrived in Portland where Spring (capital 'S') was definitely in attendance. As Dan was at work, I went directly to Palio in Ladd's Addition and got a cup of tea for a few hours of work catch-up. Julia gave me a call and we met at Dan's where we went to have dinner at the Hedge House. Took Julia back to Brian and Michelle's, and then I crashed for the night on Dan's futon. So ended my trip across the country. 3700 miles of driving total over the course of seven days. Hours and hours of staring straight ahead watching little white stripes flutter by. My mind having coalesced into a simple driving machine with little intellectual thought possible after the first day. Whee!
– Sunday, 2008 April 06 @ 9:16 AM | 1 Comment -