Return Trip: Final Day

Traveling around with Tora everywhere including having him sit at my table when I eat at outdoor cafes, reminds me of a really strange guy we met in Kathmandu. He was wearing a plastic garbage bag and if I recall correctly he had one on his dog as well. The whole time we (Guy and Mikey and I) sat at that cafe, the dude carried on a conversation with himself or his dog. I wonder if I am getting like him...
The trip back was long, hot and uneventful. Made it back home around 6:45pm despite a traffic jam on the bridge.

Return Trip: Day 6

Was worried last night. There was a fire along the road into Yellowstone and there was some chance they'd close the road. Luckily, they didn't. Instead, we were left with a nice, "campfire memories" type smell.
I found the two parks on either side of Yellowstone, Shoshone National Forest and Grand Tetons, to have much more awe-inspiring. Especially, the later which are the most awesome I have seen.
To me the attractive part of Yellowstone is more like a zoo. There are wandering wildlife. Tora totally freaked twice when we had to stop to let bison cross the road. I think he screamed the dog equivalent to "Hey, watch where yous goin'!"
Old faithful was a bit of a let down. I was expecting some awesome spout. Instead, it is not much higher than a public fountain. Hell, I could spit higher than that!
Drove to Twin Falls Idaho today.

Return Trip: Day #5

It was a hard decision.
It may be the world's largest graffiti, but I cannot say that I was that interested in seeing Mount Rushmore.
That said, I was quite glad to make the trip. The site itself was beautiful, but more for the natural rock surrounding it. The Black Hills (home of Rocky Raccoon) are quite attractive.
From there I drove through Bighorn National Forest. This may be the most beautiful forest I have ever seen with dark green rolling hills and rugged stone mountains in the distance.
From there we went through some very ugly farming areas.
Along the way we passed:
Crazy Woman Creek
Crazy Woman Canyon
and
Crazy Woman Cafe

Return Trip: Day #3 & 4

I took one day off to visit with my father and his wife, Jan.
Tora also enjoyed it greatly since there were squirrels all over the place and my father's dog Erma to play with.
On Monday I started driving again, going from Minneapolis to Wall, South Dakota, home of Wall Drug. This was no surprise since from 355 miles away there were signs for their main shop and they continued the whole trip.
South Dakota seems to be the billboard heaven. There were signs for every cheesy tourist stop along the way. My favorite was the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD.
The Jeep has to have some of the worst aerodynamics of any car out there. I was blown around like crazy every gust of wind.
Today was the first day that I did some actual tourism. I went to see the Badlands. They were quite beautiful. To get into the right mood I played Ry Cooder's soundtrack to Paris Texas. It totally fit the scenery except for the fact that I listened to it twice and was still driving. Toward the end I came really close to running out of gas which is probably not a good thing to do in the Badlands.

Return Trip: Day #2

The 2nd day was quite uneventful. I drove from Toledo via Chicago to my father's place in Minneapolis. During the trip I made one mistake which cost me 30-45 minutes.
The photo with the statue below was a somewhat offensive statue of an American Indian at a gasoline station.

Return Trip: Day #1

It was so so nice to spend more than a month in the summer in Matunuck.
What added to the pleasure was the knowledge that I was getting just as much work done while there than I would if I were back in SF.
Tora also seemed to really like it. Liz said that Bella panicked after Tora left, looking all around the house for him. I am sure the feeling was mutual.
On the final morning I packed up the car. Although he normally never leaves my side, this time he would not leave the side of the car.
I got a relatively late start of just before 9am but was still able to get to my destination, Toledo OH, on time.

Last week in Matunuck

Tora Playing with his cousin.

Tora enjoying Matunuck

Tora in Manhattan

What a nice pose!

Day 4: Joliet IL to home, Matunuck RI

Today I just blew my wad.
We drove straight through from 7:30am till just past 2am to get here.
Was able to get through 2 more audio books ("The Dharma Bums" & "Nixon and Kissenger") and just drive through.
I cannot say I thought much and probably neither did Tora.
We were just automatons driving and driving.
But, boy, is it good to be here!
Now we can relax and recover before we have to go to NYC this Friday for some meetings.
We'll have to see if we want to drive straight through or take it leisurely on the way back to SF.
Arrival time:

Home:

Tora the backseat driver

Day 3: North Platte NE to Joliet IL

Today was probably the least scenic of all. Fields upon fields.
Finished "The Invisible Man" audio book today (20 hours!)
It was quite good and with a lot of little sub-plots it was good entertainment for the drive.
We stopped much more frequently today to see if it helped Tora.
By the end of the day I could tell it did.
We spent the night in Joliet IL, home of the famous Joliet Prison of Jake and Eliot (Blues Brothers) fame.

Day 2: Salt Lake City to North Platte NE

Today was another long day of driving.
We covered just a part of 3 states: Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska, ending as planned in North Platte NE.
The scenery was beautiful much of the way but the driving it numbing.
Tora seemed to have been affected more than I. He has started limping (probably due to being cramped up all day) and he was hyperventilating at night. Tomorrow I'll try to go easier on him.
At the end of the day we were a little short of half way through.

Salt Lake City

Motel6 is normally families, people with pets, and older people. For some reason the Salt Lake City one attracted a red neck/white trash clientele.

Let the Marathon Begin

Things have started off quite well.
We left only a half hour late: 5:30am and made it to our initial target destination of Salt Lake City.
Still, it was quite tiring.
I found myself counting what percentage of the trip I had completed with each hour (2%), with each 100 miles (3%), and with today's distance 25%.
Tora spent the first part on his bed in the back, chewing on his blankie. He then moved up to the front, alternating between looking out the window and sleeping with his head on my lap.
With the temperature in the 100s we were not able to stop for very long which I think stressed Tora a bit.
Sites on the way included smoke filled Sierra Mountains, uninteresting desert, and stark salt pond landscape in Utah.

Background for the Trip

"A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has a personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike." John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley
When he wrote Travels with Charley, Steinbeck said he was looking to rediscover America.
I cannot say that that is the motivation behind my trip.
In fact my motivation is very simple: to get to the other side.
Of course, it would be much easier and less expensive to take a plane.
But, I cannot do that. I don't want to leave my friend, my 4-legged son for such a long time alone.
I would like him to meet the rest of my family and enjoy playing on the beach in Rhode Island.
So, it seems I have no choice but to drive across the country.
According to Google maps driving directly across the country is about 3000 miles and 45 hours of driving...
Going out my plan is to leave early on Friday the 11th and to make it to a meeting in NYC at 11am on Friday July 18th.
I hope to average 10 hours a day and take a break in Chicago and/or Mars, PA.
On the way back I hope to take a more leisurely and scenic route, taking in a national park or two.