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.