On the Road

Day 6 and we are finally on the road!

Scott said he wanted to leave by 9am. I knew that really meant 10am...

We did some last minute cleaning around the house, loaded up the rest of the stuff, and started the drive right at 10. Just like I said. 

Two stops later (office and UPS store) and we were really on the road at 11am.

And after another stop for groceries in Reno, it was noon. Not quite the early start we wanted. 

OH - and we stopped at Wal-Mart for the groceries. To keep my streak alive. #WalMartViews ;)

The goal was to make it to Salt Lake Cuty, Utah, for the night. 8.5 hours, according to Google Maps. Factor in the van only going 70mph and a few bathroom stops, and we were looking at a 10 hour drive. 

I drove all 10 hours while Scott worked from the passenger seat. He bought a mobile hot spot yesterday so he could have wifi anywhere. 

We stopped for gas in Lovelock and for dinner at a Mexican place in Elko (both in Nevada). 

Other than that, it was a whooooole lot of this:

And this:

Poor Scott. After working most of the day, he then had to rate, sort, and edit the pictures from the Flume Classic race he photographed on Saturday. Over 16,000 pictures, narrowed down to around 2,000 to keep. That's still a lot! 

I pulled the van in to Park City, Utah, (just past Salt Lake) at 10pm. 

We decided to park in a Starbucks parking lot for the night so the photos could upload overnight using the free wifi, but we couldn't park close enough for it to connect, so that didn't happen. 

Scott was still editing from the passenger seat when I went to bed at 11pm. 

And he got up at 6am to go in to Starbucks to finish editing and uploading. This race photography is no joke!  

My morning view ^^

I woke up at 8am, slowly got moving, and he was still at it. Made some smoothies in the van for breakfast and we finally got on the road at 9:50am. 

Day 7 of Unemployment -- and another 8 hours of driving for me! 

No, I haven't touched my hair ^^

Nothing too special today, but some more incredible views like this:

(It really sucks when the speed limit is 80 and the governer on the van will only let you go 70!)

And more of this for Scott:

I said I would do the first 6 hours, and he could do the next 6. But when we made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, (6 hours) I was in the middle of watching a documentary (yeah, not safe, I know, but it passes the time!) and Scott was still working. So I kept driving 2 more hours to Sidney, Nebraska...

(Nebraska - a new state for us!) ^^

...where I chose to stop at...Wal-mart (!!) for a bathroom break and a few veggies for dinner.  The streak continues another day. 

 #WalMartViews 

A quick stop for gas there, and we kept going. Scott in the driver seat this time! 

Which meant I could hang out the passenger window and take pictures of the sunset behind us while going 70mph down the interstate...

...until I convinced Scott to just stop for a picture before I killed myself. ;)

We eventually pulled over on a little side road and he whipped up a delicious dinner in about 10 minutes...while I sat on my phone with my feet propped up. And then he cleaned up, too! (#keeper)

Couscous, chicken, and veggies for dinner!

The goal of making it to Lincoln wasn't happening by that point. Especially since we lost another hour with the time change. So we drove another two hours and ended up in a Hampton Inn parking lot in Kearney, Nebraska, for the night a little after 11pm. 

7 more hours to Colona, Illinois, tomorrow, where we will take a break from the driving for a few days. Spending time with Scott's family in his hometown, including a wedding reception on Saturday and a birthday party on Sunday!