Days Sixteen & Seventeen - Tuesday & Wednesday

Sorry for the delayed update, but the last couple of days have been crazy. Tuesday and Wednesday kind of melded into one day on the road, so thus they are combined in one post. We got out of Miles City, MT at around 4:30pm Montana time on Tuesday. We drove and drove and drove some more, finally making it home to Minnesota at around 4:30 am Minnesota time. So, we'd been on the road for about 11 hours at that point. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep and then got up to get some laundry done and get repacked to head back to Milwaukee. I got back to Milwaukee around 7:30pm. In the end, the trip ended up being about 7, 230 miles for me. Don't get me wrong, it was a ton of fun and I got to see a lot of God's awesome Creation. However, I'm definitely happy and content to be back home...in Milwaukee that is. So, that is where the notes from the road end. I will add a few more details when I have them handy to this last post as well as to the list of town names, but for now, thanks for reading and we hope you have enjoyed our notes from the road.

Until we are crazy enough to go again........Katie (& Kathryn even though she's in Seattle now) :(

Day Fifteen - Monday

Well, just as week three of the trip was getting started it came to a crashing stop...literally at 3:41 pm! Somewhere about 30 miles East of Miles City, Montana we hit a deer. I made it 5, 770 miles, with Kathryn for 4, 460 of them, with no problems, and then my mom arrives.:) My mom was driving, but it scared me nonetheless. The car would have been driveable except for the fact that anitfreeze was leaking from somewhere. So, we called directory assistance and got the number of a towing place and body shop. The tow truck man called the highway patrol because they showed up a short while later and said the two people had called. So, the cop wrote up an accident report and then the tow man showed up. I must say people were quite friendly...two stopped and backed up on the interstate to make sure we were okay and had help on the way. We got to Miles City, MT and a hotel around 5:40 pm.

So, that was the excitement for today. We left Butte, Montana around 10:30am and were going to try to make it all the way home to MN tonight, but clearly that isn't happening. So many thousands of miles and almost home and something has to happen. But, I must say the crash could have been a lot worse. It also could have happened when Kathryn and I were in the middle of some freaky state like New Mexico or Nevada. So, I guess in the end I should be thankful.

End of the story is we are stuck in Miles City, Montana for who knows how long. They will look at the car tomorrow (everyone is closed because of Memorial Day) but no one in town stocks parts, so it may take a day or two to ship a radiator or whatever is leaking antifreeze in from somewhere as well as any other parts that are needed to make it driveable.

There is one less deer in Montana tonight.

Quote of the Day:
"The road of life can only reveal itself as it is travelled; each turn in the road reveals a surprise. Man's future is hidden."

Day Fourteen - Sunday

Today was a drive through the clouds. Literally, it was raining/misty/cloudy from the time we left Seattle until we stopped in Butte, Montana. However, it was pretty cool to see the clouds just sitting on the mountainsides at times.

My mom and I slept in a bit and then went to a church in Seattle called Mars Hill. The pastor has sermons on iTunes and he's pretty good. So, we got a later start out of the city, not until about 1:00 and headed East. Eastern Washington is pretty ugly honestly...looks nothing like the western part of the state once you get past the Cascade Mountains. We made it to Idaho around 5:30ish and were in that state for just over an hour. Driving through the mountains in Idaho though we saw an awesome rainbow. It started on the trees on one side of the road and arched clear across to the other side. Pretty cool for sure, though pictures cannot really capture it. After Idaho came Montana around 6:40 which was really 7:40 because we lost an hour at that point. Nothing really exciting, the trip now is pretty much just to make it home so I can make it back to Milwaukee. Only a couple more days. The views are still beautiful though of course. I'm not looking forward to leaving the mountains of Montana behind for the boring landscape of the midwest again tomorrow. Well, it's midnight and I'm tired. G'nite.

Quote of the day:
"Rainbows apologize for angry skies." - Sylvia Voirol

Day Thirteen - Saturday

For those of you keeping track, it is just me (Katie) now. It was a tearful goodbye this morning, but reality probably won't really sink in until August when we don't go back to school. For now, it just feels like summer. It's crazy, you live with someone for three years and spend nearly everyday with them and then all of a sudden they're just gone. It is at that point that you realize how much you enjoyed their company. But, on to the travels of the day.

I left Kathryn's house fairly early and successfully found my mom at the airport. Then we headed down to the Space Needle which was a cool view of the city, although it was quite cloudy today so you couldn't see very far. After that we headed to Pike Place Market to explore a bit and see the fish market. The original plan was then to take a boat ride out on Puget Sound. However, my mom really wanted to see the real ocean. So, after looking at the map we decided we could make the 130 or so mile trip to the ocean and back to Seattle. So, off to the ocean it was.

We ended up in Ocean Shores, Washington which is by far the coolest beach I have seen. You can literally drive right into the ocean if you want to. For as far as you could see it was nothing but beach, ocean, sky, and pepole and their cars along the beach. There were only a couple hotels and even those at least several hundred yards off the beach. It wasn't overdeveloped or a tourist money scam. You could simply drive to the water, park your car, and enjoy the ocean. It was my mom's first time seeing the ocean so she was quite excited. And I can now say that I have been to both the Atlantic & the Pacific Oceans.

After some time at the beach we made our way back to Seattle and found the church I want to go to tomorrow morning. Then the challenge was finding a hotel...not an easy feat outside of downtown Seattle. After over an hour of driving around we had success and now I'm calling it a night.

Quote of the day:
"Nothing is waste that makes a memory." - Ned Rorem

Day Twelve - Friday

We are in Edmonds, Washington!

Today we started out the day by having breakfast with Katie's friend Ryan. It was a lot of fun, we went to IHOP and had our only "real" breakfast of this entire trip! After some good food and conversation we were on the road again!

The drive up to Seattle was pretty quick. We left at 11ish and got to my house at around 2:30. On the way up we got to see some pretty mountains and some of the city. We made a brief stop at the University district to buy a Huskey jersey for someone but we were unsuccessful. However, it was a nice break from driving. I need to get used to spending lots of time in this area since I'll be going to school at the UW. After a stop at Dick's Drive-in for lunch (a true Seattle favorite) we were back on the road.

When we got home we were unable to find any peace and quiet! However, this was ok because my sister and her two friends were over and we had fun cooking and baking real food!!! It was exciting to not have to eat out! Once everything was ready we headed down to the beach for a BBQ with a couple of friends. We all had a good time, the water was beautiful and we had quite a few adventures involving a mini-theatre production and bird poop. Although not in the same adventure. So now we are back at my house just hanging out. Katie and her mom are going to bum around Seattle tomorrow and see the sights and I am off to dance practice in the morning and then Folklife Festival at the Seattle Center in the afternoon. It's been a fun journey of 4460 miles and I'm sad to see it end, however, stay tuned for Katie's adventures as she heads back to good old Milwaukee!

Quote of the day: "A friend is a person who thinks you're a good egg even if you are slightly cracked." Anon.

Fun Mormon Fact of the Day: Mormons believe in three levels of heaven. In the highest, man can eventually become like God.

Day Eleven - Thursday

Well, tonight finds us in our last night in a hotel. Tomorrow will be our last day on the road as we make it to Seattle and that means home for Kathryn. We will be at her house tomorrow night and then my mom will fly into Seattle on Saturday and Sunday we will begin the much quicker, less adventurous journey back to MN and then I will continue on to Milwaukee. But, on to the adventures of the day.


We left Central Point, Oregon a half hour ahead of schedule this morning...we were quite proud of ourselves. After hitting the grocery store for some much needed fresh fruit we have been craving we hit the road to Crater Lake. It was another one of those "scenic routes" which meant it was beautiful but a narrow curvy mountain road a lot of the way. We went through a variety of state and national forests along the way as well. We got to Crater National Park a little before 11:00am. Before we paid to enter we began seeing snow on the ground. And not just little random piles, I mean snow cover. So, we should have known adventure may lie ahead. When we entered the park we discovered our timing was just right. The ranger said that most of the rim was closed, but the west rim drive would be opening today at noon. And that was the direction we wanted to go to get out of the park.


So, we headed to the visitor center where we watched a short video about the finding of the lake and snow removal. They apparently get a lot of snow each year. The snow removal which begins in April doesn't end until mid-May and that still leaves piles of snow which can last until July. After stopping to get a spectacular view of an absolutely beautiful lake we got in line to wait for the ranger to open the road. At noon, as promised, the ranger opened the road and he led a line of cars towards the exit to the park. As we drove out we were surrounded by walls of snow on either side. It was absolutely crazy to see that much snow.


We eventually, after another scenic drive, made it back to the freeway and to civilization. From there it was a couple hours to the Portland area where once again we had impeccable timing and hit rush hour traffic. After stopping to get gas at the second they pump your gas for you station of the day, which by the way freaked me out, we sat in traffic for quite some time and eventually ended up in Vancouver. Washington welcomed us at 5:41 pm. We found a hotel on the north side of Vancouver...a Holiday Inn Express for the 3rd time on our trip...we've come to like them. After discovering that there were no movies and no good shows to watch on TV we decided to go see a movie.


We ventured into Vancouver and found a theatre despite bad directions. We saw "Georgia Rule" which was a great movie. Now, we're waiting for pizza from some very crabby sounding pizza people.


Tomorrow we will head out early enough to bypass Seattle before rush hour traffic and head to Kathryn's house. We are anxious to cook and eat a homemade meal after what will be 12 days and over 4,000 miles on the road. Well, pizza's here...that's all for tonight.


Quote of the day:
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." - St. Augustine


Mormon Fun Fact of the day:
Mormonism is the richest religion in the United States


Questions to Ponder:
~How does Crater Lake not overflow?
~Umpqua - person, place, thing? (it's the name of a river, park, bank, schools, etc in Oregon)
~What is the 45th parallel and why is it important?

Day Ten - Wednesday

Hello all! We are currently in Central Point, Oregon. Today was fairly uneventful. We left San Francisco at around 10 and drove up along the "scenic" route on the coast. Katie is sure that "scenic" is code for "curvy, narrow, steep, mountain road". However, it was absolutely beautiful. We drove through several groves of redwoods, it was amazing! These trees are so tall and huge! The forest was just so peaceful and the light drifting down to the ground just looks so cool. I kept trying to take pictures but the batteries ran out so I don't know how many came out. Driving along the coast was also really, really beautiful. The ocean is so awesome! I could look at mountains and water all the time. Now I remember why I LOVE the west coast! Near the border of Oregon we cut back inland in preparation for visiting crater lake tomorrow. So that should be nifty. We drove up to some little town a little closer to crater lake but they didn't have any place to stay and the next little town only had "motels" and "inns", which we have been trying to avoid, lol! So we hopped on the interstate for a few more exits to a more civilized town. Today wasn't all scenery though, we saw a photo shoot for the people who hold the slow/stop signs for road construction. It looked very professional. I also saw a black bear walking through someone's back yard. I thought it was a cow and I got all excited because I like cows but then I realized it had fur so I thought it was a dog but then as we got closer I realized it was too big to be a dog and it was actually a bear! It was nifty. Anyways, I think that's all for now. Katie and I were so careful to get to a hotel in time to watch Lost, although we couldn't decide if it was on at 8 or 9 so we were here at 8 and this hour is just a stupid recap episode...*sigh*....oh well, night all!

Quote of the Day: "Beauty is an all-pervading presence...it waves in the branches of the trees and in the green blades of grass...the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and the setting sun, all overflow with beauty...the greatest truths are wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this their natural and fit attire." William Ellery Channing

Fun Mormon Fact of the Day: The Mormon church has over 120 temples worldwide.


Questions to ponder:
How did the redwood trees get so big and what keeps them from falling over?
What is a/the "confusion hill" in California?