The drive to PA was exhausting to say the least. We left Thursday afternoon and hoped to get to Nebraska by night fall. A little way out of Park City our radiator got a leak and we were losing coolant fast. We went through two jugs of coolant before we got to a mechanic that was open and had time to look at our car. He was so kind, he even drove us down the Provo Canyon to Tom and Jan's home to spend the night. He fixed the radiator the next morning and we got on the road again by Friday around noon.
Minus our detours and such the total trip from our home in Grantsville to the hotel in Mechanicsburg, PA was 2,067 miles which takes about 31 hours to drive.
Day 1:
Utah
Once we left from Heber (where the car got fixed) it didn't seem to take very long to get out of the state. Charles' comment: Utah was among the cool states that have speed limits of 75 and 80 mph.
Wyoming
I am glad that we were able to make this drive in the Spring because everything was quite pretty and had not yet died from the Summer heat. Charles' comment: Wyoming was also a great state for speed.
Here is a large engine like the ones that Charles used to be an engineer for. It was my first time ever seeing one. Charles' comment: They look much more impressive up close.
Charlie happy to be in the car looking at his tractor book. Charlie loved seeing tractors, trucks, and cars all around us.
Props to Charles for driving almost the entire time. I did take a few shifts driving, but both of us seemed to prefer our own roles. Charles' comment: I love my wife.
Can you imagine telling someone from back in the day that there would be wind farms? It would blow their mind. It blows mine. Charles' comment: Was that pun intended because it sure was punny!
We stopped for linner at Dominoes in some little town in Wyoming.
Nebraska
The good life is getting out of Nebraska. Charles' comment: At least they're the last of the fast states with 75 mph.
It rained a little bit while driving so Charlie started conducting the orchestra of rain drops falling on the car.
Henry enjoyed attacking the tiger.
Day 2:
The kids are still doing great in the car. I brought enough things to keep them happy and interested.
Henry didn't need much coaxing to be happy, he is just always happy.
Charles cleaning off the bugs from the windshield.
Moms are often the ones behind the camera, so here is an awful picture of me to prove that I was indeed on the trip, too.
Nebraska pretty much looked a lot like this the entire way.
Iowa
Here is the back of the sign. I got distracted. Charles' comment: This state was only 70 mph. This was the beginning of painful slowness.
We hit a lot of construction zones through most of the states. Iowa was actually the only state to actually have equipment out and doing construction. All of the other states just made you slow down and took away a lane for no reason.
Kids can sleep in the darndest positions.
This picture basically describes Iowa.
And so does this photo.
I blew up some balloons for the kids. Henry LOVED the balloons. He played with the for HOURS! Best toy ever. Charlie kept loosing his, but he sure enjoyed them.
Charlie also enjoyed playing with his truck.
Mississippi bridge.
Mississippi River
A barge off of the south side of the river.
North side.
Illinois
All through Illinois I thought of the fun memories of picking Evan up from his mission out here. Charles' comment: An even more painful state at 65 mph.
The great thing about driving in the Spring is that the corn hasn't grown tall yet so you still get to see all of the land scape. This picture is what describes Illinois to me.
Welcome to Indiana, the beginning of toll roads. Boy we weren't happy about that. We payed $4.40 to Indiana. Charles' comment: And we only went 60 mph.
We made a wrong turn (even with our GPS) and ended up in Michigan for a few miles before we got back to Indiana.
Day 3:
There is the back of the sign of Ohio, yet again distracted. Charles' comment: This state was 55 mph. This is where hallucination starts to set in and the thought of losing your license to reckless driving doesn't seem all that bad.
But I did get a picture of the toll ticket.
We payed $16.50 to Ohio. I don't really like Ohio anymore as a state because of their darn toll road.
Pennsylvania
We were so excited to get off of toll roads after getting into PA. Then we found out there was a $5.50 toll road entrance fee.
And then a $21.15 to get off at our exit. In total, over the entire drive, we payed $47.55 in tolls and mostly in PA! With all of these toll fees/taxes/gouging your eyes out, you would think that the roads would be amazing. NO! They are normal at best, but most of the time they are "under construction" which means that they put up comes to take away a lane and then reduce the speed to 55 (if you are lucky since 45 was also an option). There was never machinery or workers. Not happy. Luckily that's the only toll road in PA and we can avoid it now that we're here.
While I am gripping a little bit, let me get this off my chest (this has nothing to do with the picture below). Semi drivers are terrible! Yes, yes that is a stereotype, I know. Okay, many semi drivers are inconsiderate. Is that better phrased? Semi drivers seemed to have a knack for cutting us off so they could sloooooowly go around other semis. It seemed that we were always the last car in the line up and they could have just waited a few more seconds and wouldn't have to cut anyone off.
Okay, back to the photo. This photo represents Pennsylvania.
And so does this photo.
Well, that was our super long trip. More photos and info to come later.
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