Actually on line from Motel 6 in Lexington, KY!

For our last night on the road!

Here are a few posts I wrote up but don't know if I posted them or not:
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Back in Twin Falls, ID…

March 5, 2006

…and glad to be here. But it’s been a pretty long day. We slept in at Marni and Jason and Zane and Bear’s place in Portland and we didn’t get on the road until around 12:00. Then with the time change en route we didn’t get here until nearly 10:30. But I’m glad we made it this far on our first day even though we started so late; we went around 560 miles. I don’t know where we’ll end up tomorrow but we’re certainly off to a good start. And the weather has been absolutely flawless for the whole day. Hopefully Monday will be a repeat performance. Until next time,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky
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Pretty long drive today…

March 6, 2006

We left Twin Falls, ID this morning around 9:30 and drove around 660 miles and made it to Fort Collins, CO around 8:30 tonight. And the dogs and I are all glad to be here! But it was a beautiful ride and it feels like we’re getting back to Richmond. Even though we’ve got a lot of driving to do still. My car passed 120,000 miles a few hundred miles ago and it’s running like a top.

I’m looking forward to actually sitting down and doing a little bit of writing about this trip but at the moment it’s pop into a hotel – go to sleep – get up and drive again. So until later,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky

PS A couple of hours ago we were driving on I-80 East between Laramie, WY and Cheyenne WY. And I think we’ve passed two other places that said “Continental Divide” today and neither of them were higher than around 7,200 or 7,400 feet. But between Laramie and Cheyenne the interstate went up to 8,640 feet and I’m relatively certain it’s “all downhill from here,” in a manner of speaking.
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Leaving Fort Collins, CO…

March 7, 2006

…and we’re off to kind of a late start. So we’ll see how far we get today. But it’s a gorgeous, gorgeous day in north-central Colorado and if the weather’s like this as we go east, we’ll be able to make some pretty good time. So have a great day and until we talk with you next time,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky
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Made it to Lenexa, KS…

March 7, 2006

…which is a suburb of Kansas City, KS, and arrived around 10:30 local time tonight, which is only 9:30 according to the time we woke up. So we drove around 11 hours and we went 655 miles. Which puts our current mileage for the trip at 9,200 and according to the GPS we have another 1,087 to go. But after 660 miles yesterday and 655 today, we can take a couple of easy days and make it back to Richmond at a reasonable (maybe) hour on Thursday the 9th.

We’ve had a great day of traveling, actually several great days, but I think the dogs will be happy when we’re back in Richmond. I know I will. It should only take three or four hours tomorrow to make it to St. Louis and cross the Mississippi then drive another half day, spend the night somewhere and head back to Richmond.

Anyway, until the next time we write,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky
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A few images…

March 8, 2006

…from the last few days of traveling, since I haven’t posted any. None are very fascinating but they’re glimpses of a few things I’ve seen as we’ve traveled. One picture is of my car when we got up to leave on a spectacular morning in Fort Collins, CO. Another is of my two fantastic traveling companions hanging out in a rest area somewhere in central Colorado. A third picture is of a train crossing the plains. You see tons and tons of trains out here; there were a lot in Canada as well. The sign is hard to read on another picture; it says “EXIT 32 – Ranch Exit  no services.” I’m pretty certain that was in Utah somewhere. I saw a bunch of those in the past few days – probably around half a dozen. All they are is an exit off the interstate for a ranch – there’s just nothing there except a road. Having grown up on the East Coast, it surprised me that there could be an exit off the interstate just for a ranch. Whose idea was that? Who paid for it? Amazing. Anyway, until next time,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky
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Spending our last night on the road!

March 8, 2006

At a Motel 6 (who would have guessed) in Lexington, KY. In my experience, the farther I am away from home, the more I feel like staying there and the closer I get to home, the more I feel like being there. I’m not sure where I passed the point of wishing I was still away and looking forward to being home; I think it was in Kansas somewhere. But we only have to go less than five hundred miles tomorrow, after going 630 today and 650 yesterday so no big deal. But we’re going to miss traveling. The dogs absolutely love it – they never seem to have a bad day. But I think they’ll be happy when they get home. It’s going to be interesting to see how they react when we pass Exit 99 on I-64; that’s where we park when we’re going hiking on the AT and they always get excited there.

Wow. What a trip this is turning out to be. I’ll have to write some more as I digest it a little bit and internalize the lessons. It’s going to be strange to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night for the first time since February 1. I’ll have to bring home some Motel 6 soap to help me make the transition.

Anyway, until next time,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky
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So, forgive me if some of that's been posted before. We passed 9,800 total miles on the way here tonight; we'll hit mile 10,000 sometime tomorrow in West Virginia. Then I'm having lunch with Mom and Dad somewhere off 81 then heading back to Richmond.

I'll have a ton of pictures to go through when I get home and I'll post a few more. But I couldn't resist putting up a post without at least one picture. When I was in Portland getting an oil change I got done a little early so I went across the street to a coffee shop for a snack. The first shop I went in was a little too stuffy; I looked at the menu while the waitstaff converged on me and I bolted out the door. I ran across the street and this shop had a dog in front of it so I decided to go in. I ordered up this breakfast - observe it closely - and sat it on a table in the corner while I went to look for more reading material. I'm standing by the newspaper rack when a guy walks in the front door and taps me on the shoulder. He's very highly caffeinated, or at least extremely enthused. "Are you sitting at that table?" I replied that I was. "Do you realize you've created the perfect breakfast? The selections are right, the quantities are right, there's not too much, there's not too little - it's perfect!" Who knew. It's a double espresso, a cup of coffee, a cup of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, a banana and a hard boiled egg. If oatmeal had been on the menu I would doubtless have spoiled "the perfect breakfast" but fortunately I was spared the embarrassment.

Talk with you soon,

Jay, Ivory and Nicky