Manifest Destiny FTW

Its been a while. ~2 months. The honeymoon trip still hasn't fully sunk in, but something brought it to life today.

I've been in Syracuse working since Monday(its been a long week). I was listening to music on the flight back from Syracuse to Philly, and 'Ghost Town' came up. My mind instantly went to the drive in Wyoming and where I was when that song played and the drive.

I90 getting into the state. US 16 snaking through the mountains; Worland. US 20 following a river through a valley and into a plateau; Thermopolis. Boysen reservoir. US 26 and finally seeing the grand tits of America; Grand Teton National Park.

And that was just the beginning.


That entire drive was great. The trip was great. If you ever have the opportunity to do a cross country drive, jump at it. Take US highways (stay off Interstates if at all possible). Hit up State and National parks. Stop and see why Americans thought God meant for us to have this land (sorry Native Americans, you got the shaft in that deal).

The west is calling, and the next trip is all to far away :(

oh the anticipation...

The day before a good road trip is always a good day. Its like Christmas eve when you're a kid...

- Packing of what you are going to use, knowing how and where it'll be used.
- Prepping the car for the many miles you're about to put on it. Oh the things you'll see!
- Getting the drinks/snacks for the drive. You gotta have road fuel...
- Putting everything in the car, organizing it so any passengers are comfortable, everything that should be is accessible, and you still have some vision. Although the best trips block the rear window.
- The trying to go to bed, but being so excited you don't get much sleep...


Then the morning, and BAM you're on the road :D

wedding + west

I've been counting down the months, weeks, and now days, until the next big road trip. Should be at least 8000 miles, probably not including any of the putzing at the destinations...

- Iowa for a cousin's wedding. My family is great to party with :D
- Rushmore/Badlands via a drive through
- Yellowstone(Grand Teton) camping and staying in a cabin one night
- Glacier camping and staying in a cabin one night

This is the 'summer trip', and its also doubling up as our honeymoon. The cabins are kinda the splurges, we were planning on camping the rest of the time. We're both soooooo looking forward to it. The gorgeous scenery, the drive out there and back, the camping, maybe seeing the aurora borealis, the drive back, it'll be a GREAT TIME.

Plus hopefully I'll be updating this more frequently during the trip. One of the reasons I started it and all... If I have Internet out there that is.

it was raining cats and dogs and chickens!

This morning I awoke to the sound of heavy rain. Real heavy rain. Like flood creeks in the area.

It was fun driving to work, hitting all those puddles. I didn't go over 35, even on the interstate, but it was still fun.

what a difference a day can make for the look of a house

The house has been in a not-good looking state for awhile. The front yard has been overgrown, the front bushes are being overgrown with vines/weeds/etc, the front flower bed looked sad, and the corner holly bushes were unkept at best.

Took Christine and I a day (most of yesterday afternoon and about an hour today finishing up) and the house looks 100000x better. Its like its not an abandoned house, but someone lives here!

And I've gotten the wood I need to build the shelves I need for my shot glasses, so they can be put away finally. The screen door has been mended, so it'll keep Kevin out as well as the door can be left open and keep Mindy in and pests out. I really should take some pictures, it looks good.

yay flu :(

Its been awhile since I've had the flu. I get head colds, chest colds, and allergy problems, but rarely the flu.

I left work early Wednesday because of sudden nausea, and went home to bed. After some vomiting, passing out, and an ER visit, I slept the past two days away. I'm feeling better finally, but the past few days have been a sleepy blurry haze.

I hate having the flu.



And I'm still craving a good drive; being sick hasn't helped that at all.

Jonesing for a drive

But I have work all week and am flying up to Chicago for Memorial day, so no road trips for me. So instead, here are the rules of the license plate game for anyone else traveling this weekend.

- Count each different state's license plate once
- Commercial trucks aren't allowed. Semis are cheating, they're all over the place
- You have to be able to read the state's name, not think its the state
- No changing your driving habits to see that plate that just passed you
- DC, Canadian providences, diplomatic, and Mexican plates all count
- Decide if its an overall trip count (drive up, visit at destination, drive back) or a leg count.

For the advanced players
- Count each different type of a state's plate
- Point out the furthest plate from each state you're currently in


I have yet to get to all 51 US plates (50 states + DC), the closest I've gotten is 50 (only was missing North Dakota) plus most Canadian plates and a few diplomatic plates.