Trip Out West - Part 1 Driving to Utah

We are starting on our trip out west. We will travel through 18 states and about 5000 miles. Kira has been visiting us at home for about a month and we will be taking her back out to Salt Lake with us. Since we are taking a bunch of Kira's stuff out to Salt Lake and we are driving, this qualifies as a "trip," not a "vacation." That is not a bad thing.

Kira's stuff loaded in the car

DAY 1

Most of the packing had been done the day before, but on Thursday, 22 July we were actually leaving. I had to work and JoAnne had a conference she was attending. I had hoped to get home a little early, but a power failure at work just before I left had me scrambling to get out of the office. JoAnne and I both got home about the same time. Since I had to still change clothes and pack up some last-minute stuff, she and Kira took the dogs to the kennel, then we were on our way by 5 pm. Our first day took us to Spartanburg (where we saw a pretty good downpour), Asheville, over the Blue Ridge Mountains to Knoxville, then to Cookeville, where we spent the night at the Country Inn and Suites. Check off South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Tennessee has some of the best welcome centers

Our hotel

Day 2

Taking time on Friday morning only to get breakfast (which was pretty good!) we are on the road again pretty early.

We go through Nashville, and then St Louis. We had planned on taking I-70 across Missouri, but traffic on the interstate was pretty heavy. In addition, we were going to get to Kansas City around rush hour. So we cut up some two-lane state highways to get on US-36, and interstate wannabee that took us to St Joseph, Missouri. Great choice. Avoided KC and still at freeway speeds. We spent the night at the Hampton Inn in Lincoln, Nebraska. We had dinner that evening at Chevy's - a Mexican restaurant that was a little higher priced than it should have been. Add Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska to the list of visited states.

Day 3

Up early again on Saturday to open the breakfast line at the Hampton Inn. Breakfast was really good. They had the fixin's for steak breakfast fajita's that were really good. Driving directions are easy from Lincoln. Get on I-80 and stay on it until you get to I-215 in Salt Lake.

At this point I will note that were set to arrive in Salk Lake on Pioneer Day weekend, so I could not help thinking about my pioneer ancestors who made this same trip by wagon train or handcart. Crossing Nebraska on I-80 for the first 1/3 of the trip follows the path of the Mormon/Oregon trail ( from about Grand Island to Ogallala). It would take us about 10 minutes to cover the same ground as they did in one day. My impression of crossing the plains was how much everything looked the same. I can't imaging walking 10-12 miles every day, and when stopping everything looks just like it did the day before. The winds across Wyoming were pretty strong, and right off the nose of the car. It did not help gas mileage but we still managed about 32mpg. There was a lot of highway construction across western Nebraska and all the way across Wyoming. They would close down half of the freeway essentially making it a two lane road. Good news was the speed limit was usually set to 65 mph in the construction zones. Bad news was there was always someone in front of you that would not go that fast. I-80 rejoins the Mormon trail at Ft Bridger, Wyoming and follows it down Echo canyon in Utah. At that point the trail turns right to go over big and little mountain to Emigration Canyon, where I-80 turns left to go down Parley's canyon. We get off on I-215 in Salt Lake to go to Cottonwood Heights and Peter and Jessi's house. Add Wyoming and Utah to the list. THIS IS THE PLACE!

These sculptures were at some of the rest areas in Nebraska