We made it in 20 hrs!
Monday, August 15th, 2005
Blame it on the clock:Left Vegas at 6am, we were supposed to leave at 230 am but our alarm clock did’nt work..nevertheless, plan goes through. Left our comfy niche, our humble home and took our "black beauty" dog over my in-laws the night before. Sad to say, my husband and I already missed her.
Accomplishment: In 20 hrs, we were proud of our accomplishment of driving through 4 States! the 
drive was incredible and less boring for sure, compared to our drive from YVR to Las Vegas, last year–specifically the drive enroute to Vegas from Reno is Horrible..WE thought we were going to die! die out of boredom, heat, leass stimulation and plain BLAH! the drive reminded me of a scene from lonely planet.
UTAH: On the day we drove, we first stopped by Starbucks got our grande ice mocha with whip of course. Our car was packed and the idea of having a 
cooler and prepared sandwhiches was great! we headed to our first stop Utah and enjoyed the amazing red canyons and landscape. lots of striations in the mountain side, There was never a site of lake along our drive. Wooden cabins surround these canyons, I bet winter is great in Utah. Aside from Utah, being known as the Mormon State, this state was also more industrial than we ever thought! surrounded by factories and smokey chimneys. We passed by and finished the Drive in Utah in almost 5 hrs approximately. The road signs were quite confusing, lots of SO. signs–to name a few SO. 45678, SO 32678 not really quite sure how that works, but for posterity sake I took a picture and will eventually search for answers as to how this works. Does anyone know how this actually works? all the signs had SO. (does that stand for South? what if Im going North, do I have to go through SO. first, wherein Im going South but will actually need to hit North?) Oh gosh spare me with your explanation.
IDAHO: The transition from Utah to Idaho was pretty quick, my husband seem tired so I gladly took over and drove to cross IDAHO-OREGON. The drive was less stimulating, but tolerable. Finding a good radio station after going through my pile of Cd’s is almost a torture. Radio stations are either full in Static, or just busting out some country tunes, but then again I’m not a country song fan.. but do I really have a choice, when all there is, is a country song? for that short of span of time, I got to know Leanne Rymes, Colin Raye, Jeff Stryker, and Ashley Simons to name a few (RnB fans: who the hell are they?) I was square tapping my feet, while I was driving to farm lands, surrounded by wheat, corn and some others..I kept on looking out for a potato farm since Idaho is known for it, but unfortunately could not gaze on it during my fast drive along the vast empty road. Interesting enough, I saw a dead deer, dead racoon, dead squirrel and I saw a bird lost its wing after it hit the truck just before me (ouch! poor bird will eventually die as it landed on the side of the road). I also saw a truck on fire, (over heated) and some po-po (police) on the road investigating, and hence I had to be a good girl and drive slowly, then speed up right after, when they’re out of my site.
OREGON: At last, I can breathe…by this time my husband was awake, due to my load voice singing away to country songs. He’s probably thinking that I’ve gone completely mad. And so, we stopped by a gas station, emersed ourselves with a short break with selections of snacks and off we switched. By this time, switching driver seats was probably a good idea since I’d rather enjoy the site of Oregon. It was already 4pm and yet we were rushed with adrenaline, challenging ourselves that we could probably make it to Vancouver, Monday 12am. ( I let my husband do all the talking…"WE’ll head straight to BC tonight" i’m thinking "yeah right, if you can clear up yor tired red eyes, fill in your tummy with decent food other than sanwhiches and chips, get some sleep then we’ll make it) At this point, our muscles are stiff and butts cramping after almost 12 hours-half a day of driving. Unfortunately, the sun was almost setting as we were just enjoying the scenic route to Oregon. We were completely surrounded with nothing but darkness, the coastal highways, the shore and the moon that mirrors over it, it would be much nicer if we could enjoy this in the day time. Our car was turning from quiet short conversations to silence, and all we can hear are our stomaches grumbling, asking for a decent meal and a well deserved rest. We both realized that we over challenged ourselves from making it to BC by midnight. We decided to call it a night and stopped over Dalles, Oregon. Plan in the am: Take more pics and enjoy the rest of the scenes from Oregon, (oh and shopping ofcourse counts haha).
WASHINGTON: We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’ve gone past 4 states and enjoyed a glimpse of it during our drive. We enjoyed this drive better, and now we’re already thinking of doing this route again. 156miles to BC, we can actually see the signs! after seeing warning signs with miles longer than that, we knew that this drive will be a breeze. It was almost close to nothing that we could ever define as "FAR" finally we are close to getting this jouney done. As all there ever is, it is an amazing experience sharing this with someone else-my husband. It was another mission accomplished:
Gasoline from Vegas to Vancouver BC –$150
Snacks/meals –$100
Overnight stay –$60
Being together enjoying and listening to the nature, the sunrise to sunset,
enjoying the moon as it mirrors itself on the shore, sharing the sure feeling of
adrenaline, hunger and exhillaration, seeing family and nephews, —-
PRICELESS!
