Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts

Monday, August 3, 2009

Day 76: Final Sunset of Trip



Tonight I have enjoyed the beautiful sunset as we left New Mexico and entered Arizona. The photo does not really capture it well. It had a nice pink color around it.

Day 76: Back in Arizona



We just entered Arizona. We are almost home as today brings our awesome summer trip to an end. I still have 14 posts to get up about the past week, but the Internet has not worked at all on the drive today. I do have them all written though, so probably get them up by tomorrow night. I also have some wrap style post ideas.

Mik is excited we are not going to get home too late, so he can play in his room right away. I am sort of sad for the adventure to come to an end, but it will be nice to be back in Tucson away from the dreadful humidity. I cannot saying will be nice to be home because my mom and her friend worked on my house while I was gone and I have to wait until they can both be there for me to see it for the first time tomorrow. Thus I get the torture of being so near my house tonight and one of the main things I miss, my reliable fast internet, and not being able to go there until tomorrow. I guess one more night is not much after being on the road since May 21.

Sent from my iPhone

Friday, July 31, 2009

Day 73: Mom Joins the Trip and Surprises Mik



A few hours ago we picked Mom up in Houston to join us seeing old family friends in Texas this weekend and then drive home with us. Mik did not know about Mom joining us until she opened the door when we picked her up at the airport. It was really hard to stall the three hours her flight was delayed, but turns out he is so oblivious when he is playing his games or iPod in the back seat that he did not even notice we drove in a sort of circle around Houston or even when we had to take the second circle around the airport pick up. He still would rather be home with all his stuff in his room, but he is happy to see Mom after almost 2 months. The two of them are yelling/singing to Billy Currington's "People Are Crazy" song in the back seat now.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 73: Fluffy Learning to Play Animal Crossing



Mik has been snugging his lion (he named it Fluffy) a lot. I even just spotted him snugging it while playing Animal Crossing on his DS today.

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Day 72: Getting on I-10



We just got on the I-10. It now really feels like the last stretch of the trip being on the interstate that we live less than 2 miles off of. It is not really the end yet, though as we are staying in Texas this weekend and the last driving stretch is not until Monday.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Day 67: Blue Angel Statue



The rest area we stopped at around 1am for Dad to sleep at was another Welcome Center one. This time it was in Florida. They have a cool large Blue Angel plane statue there. Now we are in the state of the final two ballparks of the trip. Still 7 hours until we get to campground, though.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Day 66: Cannon in Mississippi



We just entered Mississippi and stopped at the Welcome Center for a restroom stop. Across a pedestrian bridge from the parking lot is a cannon as part of the Vicksburg National Park. The hill the cannon is on gives a great view of the Mississippi River, especially with the sun setting right now.

Day 66: Back in Texas



Yesterday we left Texas to stay in Oklahoma before going to the Softball Museum this morning. Now we are partly backtracking the same route as we head to Florida. We just reentered Texas, but not for the last time on this trip, as we are coming back through and staying with friends a few days on the way home after Game 30. Anyways I thought this Texas statue at the Welcome Center on I-35 was interesting.

Internet on the road has been bad lately, so probably few if any posts until we get to Florida tomorrow other than from my phone. I do have some ready to copy and paste to post about the past few days, though, once I get a good connection again.

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Day 46: 4 States on the 4th of July



This morning we left the campground in the Boston area around 9am. Originally I had wanted to drive to Vermont and stay there yesterday and tonight, but back in March I found out that was impossible because for the 4th of July weekend you have to book three nights at a KOA. Thus we are still in Boston tonight and just drove through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont today and back to Boston. It was about a seven-hour driving adventure in which Mik did not even get out of the car until we stopped for ice cream near the campground. It was fun, though, and now the only state the three of us have not been to is Alaska.

Along the way we stopped at the Welcome Centers in New Hampshire and Maine to get photos. Vermont did not have one the few miles we were in that state, so I just got a photo of the welcome sign. Now we are back at camp doing some laundry and using the Internet. We are planning to do a campfire tonight and roast marshmallows. Mik is happy that we are not seeing any fireworks on the 4th.

Day 46: Maine

Day 46: New Hampshire

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Day 16: Late Night on the Road Again

Plenty of posts coming about today related to Game 8 at the Metrodome and other Minneapolis doings, but currently still trying to get all the photos uploaded to go with them and it is rather slow going. The internet was working great in Minnesota the other night and until we left the Minneapolis area, but since then it has not been that great, although it is still better than the pretty much non-existent service in Montana and North Dakota.

Mik was not all that happy with today and became a pill again. He seems to like being on the road way more than actually being at the places that are the point of the trip. Once we finally got on the road again and out of Minneapolis he returned to his sweet self. He is excited about not sleeping in the tent tonight and sleeping in his comfy spot on the floor of Mom's apartment. Mom just texted us that she just landed in O'Hare, so Mik is now extremely excited about tonight and seeing Mom, too. He even stated that finding out we are for sure seeing Mom (have known for a few days it was a possibility, but for those of you that know her you know it is never for sure she is somewhere until she is actually there) was more exciting than the Lakers (his NBA team) currently ahead of Orlando in Game 1 of the Finals.

About 2 and half more hours until Chicago and I think we are all happy about a night in the apartment. I like tent camping and all, but not when I am also trying to use the Internet and my laptop does not work as a laptop because the battery has not held a charge for over a year. At least we do have a few electric sites further on in the trip including Saturday in St. Louis. Dad, of course, is happy for a night sleeping on sort of a bed.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Day 15: Bismark to Minneapolis Area

We did not get to Bismark until almost 5am this morning. It seemed a waste to put the tent up, so we just slept in the car at the campground. We then hit the road again around 10am. We pretty much drove straight through again, except the hour and a half stop at the mall to see the Roger Maris Museum.

We got to the wrong campground around 5:30pm and then ended up having to drive another hour to the south side of Minneapolis to get to the one we actually had the reservation at. I meant to get the reservation at the one we first ended up with, but apparently I accidentally clicked the wrong KOA when I made the reservations. At least this one is still about the same distance from the ballpark and I did not have it mixed up the other way around or we would have been backtracking to the one we first stopped at.



We set up camp and had mac and cheese for dinner. Mik is excited about tomorrow being the first night of the trip we are staying at Mom's apartment in Chicago. Right now he is bugging us to go to bed, so I am going to take him back to the tent and let Dad stay here in the laundry room on his computer.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Day 14: Long Driving Day



Today we got up around 5am to pack up the tent and leave for Bismark. We got on the road a little after 6am. We have pretty much driven straight through the day only stopping for gas, bathroom breaks, and to get a late lunch/dinner. We also made a stop in Idaho at the Welcome Center to take a photo of Mik and me by the Welcome to Idaho sign since it is the first time we have both been to Idaho.

We are currently still in Montana with Dad’s GPS currently saying we will get to the campground in Bismark around 3am. Tomorrow is another mostly driving day, but only about 7 hours of driving to get to the campground in Minneapolis. Also, we are going to stop at the Roger Maris Museum in Fargo, ND, hence why we did not make the stretch to drive straight through to Minneaoplis and just sleep at a random rest area.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Day 11: Finally Out of California/Oregon State Line



After nine days in California we have finally left that state. We packed up the tent and finished packing up the car and hit the road around 9am this morning. About an hour into the drive we reached the Oregon border on US Highway 199. They had a pull out so we stopped and took photos with the Welcome to Oregon sign. That is something nice about the US Highways versus the Interstates.

Also, nice about the past few days was driving on the US Highway 101 and all the little towns you actually drive through and not speed past like on the Interstate. Now, however, we are on Interstate 5 and speeding along. That is good for a lot of the trip since we do kind of have to get places at certain times, but the drives on the lesser highways are more interesting. At least the scenery is still nice.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Day 7: Driving from Anaheim to Oakland



Our goal was to leave the hotel in Anaheim for Oakland by 9am and for once we actually left a few minutes early. There was some traffic in the Los Angeles area, but it quickly cleared up as we headed north out of Los Angeles. It has been smooth going and we just stopped at Subway for lunch. Dad's GPS currently says we should get to the Coliseum where the Oakland Athletics play around 3:15pm. That is way early for the 7:05pm game start time, so we are going to try to find a nearby grocery store to get some food for breakfast at the campground the next few days before we head to the game.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Day 2: In California

Pretty much uneventful road trip once we finally got on the Interstate. We stopped for dinner at McDonalds in Yuma as usual for a Tucson to San Diego road trip. It was somewhat slow going for a while after we were in California, as there was a Border Control temporary stop right after the permanent set up one. Pretty much normal, though. About another hour and a half to San Diego.

A few photos from today are below including Mik taking a nap, entering California, and the sand dunes.

Day 2: Finally on the Road

Despite Day 1 of the trip being almost two weeks ago today is the second day of the trip, although also kind of the first real day as now we have actually left Tucson and are not returning until August. Originally I had planned that we leave somewhat early in the morning for the drive to San Diego, but Mik had his baclofen pump refill appointment at 12:30pm today to top off before the trip and to be good to go until his appointment for a refill in the Boston area in July.

We were going to leave town straight from the appointment, but that did not quite work out. It was pouring raining and Dad was slow at loading the last stuff because he was sort of trying to wait it out. Then we thought we were on our way to stop at Eegee's and Gamestop before the appointment, but Dad forgot his wallet. Better before than later down the road, though. We did at least still get to Eegee's before the appointment because we were all hungry and Mik got his promised last chance for the Flavor of the Month, Orange Dream, which is his favorite Eegee's flavor, before the trip. He was afraid it was going to be the flavor in June or July and he was going to miss it this year.



There was not time for Gamestop on the way, so we stopped there after the appointment. Originally Mik was just going to return his used game that he bought last night because he did not like it. Then on the way to the appointment he discovered his DS Lite was broken with a big black pressure spot in the top screen. Thus we ended up all going in so he could look into getting a replacement. Dad ended up getting him a used one as an early birthday present. Mik then used his return and some more of his saved up money to buy four DS games and one PSP game to be stocked up for at least the beginning of the trip. I also got one DS game to use some of my Gamestop credit I had and then let Dad use the rest of the credit towards Mik's new DS.



After Gamestop we finally officially hit the road for the trip at 1:40pm. We are now just getting on the I8 towards San Diego. So glad the trip has finally really begun.