The end

10078 Miles

There you go, that's it ... 3 weeks are passed and the trip is over. Last step today was the check up the car, clean it up, have a lunch in Hoboken and drive Pifi and Matthieu to the airport for their flight at 9PM with Air India (hum .... :) )

I really hope you enjoyed all these comments I put on my blog, and all the pictures and it made you live a little bit with us during these 21 days where we saw so many things and we met very nice people all over the country.

But, Wait !!!

Do you think it's over?! no!, it's not, don't stop reading me, I am not done yet! You probably noticed, every night in my blog, I posted what we did and what we saw, but I never gave more details about it. In the next few weeks, I will go back in time, and step by step, I'll post some more information about the important things we did. Numbers, dates, history, events, why when where what ... You lived with us, now, I have to make you want to do the same in the USA or any other place in the world because they all have some to show, hidden somewhere!!

Day 20, (Friday, July 18th)

From: Baltimore, MD
To: Summit, NJ
Miles: 302 miles
Time in the car: 6 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day20

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in EST)
10:00 AM, Leaving the hotel
11:00 AM, Crossing border to Delaware
12:00 PM, Crossing border to Pennsylvania
01:30 PM, Crossing border to New Jersey
11:30 PM, Arrived at home

A special day since it’s the last one. And it was not the most resting one.

First thing we did was to visit Philadelphia and see some building around. Especially the building where the Constitution and the Declaration of independence were written and signed.

Next step was Atlantic City for a late lunch and a great walk along the beach, shoes off and feet in the water! Very nice.

On the way back home, we called Major (a class mate living in Princeton) and we passed by his place to drink a beer together. It’s been a while I didn’t see him, and even more for Pifi & Spi. And it’s will be probably a long time before I see him :S

Day 19, (Thursday, July 17th)

From: Washington, DC
To: Baltimore, MD
Miles: 185
Time in the car: 3 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day19

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in EST)
11:40 AM, Leaving the hotel
01:45 PM, Crossing border to District of Columbia
09:00 PM, Back in Maryland
12:30 AM, Arrived at the hotel

Except the event in the morning about the tires, I’ve the impression this day already happened to me before! Visit of Washington DC followed by a diner / beer in Baltimore ... and it happened few times already!!

We parked the car in Washington, close to the mall, and after a quick lunch in the old post office, we saw the White House, Washington monument, Constitution monument, Lincoln memorial, Roosevelt memorial, Jefferson memorial and the capitol! All this walking under the rain / very humid & hot air.

After that, heading to Baltimore for a diner on the old port. We had sea food (mahi mahi for me, I didn’t know that before, I like it!). We went in the Power Plant, a street in Baltimore full of bars and clubs, we had a quick refreshing beer before leaving.

And then, so happy, we arrived at the hotel for a good shower and rest our legs! Lot of walking today!!

WARNING - WARNING - WARNING

Alright ... how to say it? I kind if knew it... It's been few days I am telling everybody there is something wrong with the back tires, recently it started to be a bit noisy but I was still the only one to hear and feel it!

Yesterday, at the diner break, I noticed one back right tire was too smooth and the left one had some irregular areas... This morning, looking at it with some day light, We can see the structure of the tire... No choice, we probably could have finish the few miles with this but not without risk for sure... We don't want to crash the car few hours away from our goal!!

After the breakfast, we drove the car with Pifi to a mechanic close by the hotel and they will change both tired within an hour and a half... it's 9:30, we should be gone by 11:15 am, time to get the car back to the hotel load it and go!

So we have more than an hour to relax a little bit, some of us are watching TV, "geeking" on the laptop, sleeping, or, like me, enjoying the sun at the swimming pool of the hotel! (and giving new this bad but safe news).

I'll post pics later of the tires. for now, i am going back to the pool!!!!

Thanks a lot for all your comments and next RDV is tonight for the story of our visit in Washington and Baltimore.

Bye bye

Day 18, (Wednesday, July 16th)

From: Charleston, SC
To: Washington, DC
Miles: ~600 (The car is right next to the door, but too lazy to check the mileage)
Time in the car: 10 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day18

Today’s road:



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Events: (Times given in EST)
09:00 AM, Leaving the hotel
02:45 PM, Leaving Charleston, SC
05:00 PM, Crossing border to North Carolina
09:30 PM, Crossing border to Virginia
12:00 AM, Crossing border to Delaware
01:30 AM, Arrived at the hotel (Salisbury)

Quick one today because we had a long way, and it’s late and I am tired!!

In the morning, we visited Charleston, just walking around and seeing all these nice houses with the colonial style. In the bay, we saw some dolphins!! First time I see some completely wild!! Then, we visited a bit farer away from the city, the fort Moultry (which should remind something to my cousin & his wife!!). Very interesting and nice souvenirs :P

We left and drove all the way to Delaware, taking the Bridge / Tunnel to cross the bay! Kind of cool! :)

Day 17, (Tuesday, July 15th)

From: Orlando, FL
To: Charleston, SC
Miles: 395
Time in the car: 6 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly rainy
Traffic conditions: OK (Traffic in Jacksonville, FL)
Pictures:

Day17

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in EST)
09:00 AM, Leaving the hotel
04:00 PM, Leaving Kennedy Space Center
06:30 PM, Crossing border to Georgia
08:30 PM, Crossing border to South Carolina
11:00 PM, Arrived in Charleston, SC

During this trip, we saw a lot of nature, a lot of cities, and we didn’t visit places too much. Being in Orlando was the occasion to go to Cap Canaveral, to the Kennedy Space Center and visit the site where all the Apollo missions (and many other) took off. We visited the site, had a tour in the different places to see a lot of stuff, very interesting. Some attractions were very nice, other, very disappointing (the launch simulation doesn’t worth the one in EPCOT).

Back on the road after this cultural moment, we drove up to Charleston, a great city we will visit tomorrow! On the way, we had a lot of rain. Showers that don’t even wash up my car ... useless! lol

Day 16, (Monday, July 14th)

From: Miami, FL
To: Orlando, FL
Miles: 539
Time in the car: 11 hours
Weather conditions: Rainy
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day16

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in EST)
08:00 AM, Leaving Miami Beach, FL
11:30 PM, Arrived in Titusville, FL

Early departure for a big day I was waiting for a long time: Direction Key West, the southern point in Florida and in the USA!! I was told many times this place is absolutely fantastic to see and to visit.

I started driving and thanks god the road to get there has some very nice landscapes around because it’s pretty slow to drive and there is no way to go over the limit, cops car are everywhere. It took us more than 2 hours to get to Key West taking the route 1 up to the end. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t with us, all the way there, it rained few drops of huge showers and the sun never showed up.

Arrived there, we parked the car to walk around and see what Key West looks like. We visited the house of the famous writer, Ernest Hemingway, kind of interesting :) Then we headed to the southern point of the USA for a picture close to that big thing, we were there!!! In the plans, we wanted to get a bath in the sea but before, a good lunch was required! We stayed in a “restaurant”, it was a “booee booee”, just a kitchen surrounded with many many things coming from all over: the piers, the road, pieces of wood, metal or plastic... And all these gave a real “charm” to the place. The food was pretty good. We enjoyed :) Once this done, we looked for a beach and get dressed for the bath! But no way to find a correct beach and the only public one we found had some signs all over to warn us about important bacteria activity ... we gave and get back on the road to drive up the Titusville. A place close to Cap Canaveral, place we will visit tomorrow!

Day 15, (Sunday, July 13th)

From: New Orleans, LA
To: Miami, FL
Miles: 656
Time in the car: 11 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly cloudy / Rain
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day15

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in EST)
10:00 AM, Leaving Herve’s place
08:30 PM, Arrived in Miami, FL

Good we drove a bit yesterday night, that was a long run and we didn’t have to rush too much to arrive in Miami. The road didn’t have much interest today. Landscapes in Florida are a bit different with much more trees (Pines mostly) and swamps all over. We took a different road to cross the everglades instead of heading on a highway we will have to take tomorrow again.

For lunch, we stopped in a great restaurant ... Hooters!! We had to try it after my experience for my birthday 2 years ago. I was at this time really disappointed... and now, the food is still not that good but the waitress were much better ;)

Arrived in Miami, at the hotel, we met Laetitia, a friend from France who will join us for the rest of the trip!! Welcome and enjoy these last steps with us!!

Day 14, (Saturday, July 12th)

From: Houston, TX
To: New Orleans, LA
Miles: 660
Time in the car: 9 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Traffic conditions: OK with some road work
Pictures:

Day14

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in CST)
09:30 AM, Leaving Herve’s place
12:00 PM, Crossing border to Louisiana
05:15 PM, Arrived in New Orleans
10:00 PM, Crossing border to Alabama
11:15 PM, Crossing border to Florida
12:30 AM, Arrived at the hotel


After a great French breakfast with some croissant (BIG thank you again!!). We took the road to reach Baton Rouge which was the first stop we wanted to make in Louisiana. There is the city where the capitol state is and the Mississippi river pass by. With the hot hot weather there, we didn’t stay too long and went back on the road to go to New Orleans.

Once arrived there, we parked the car close by the French quarters (also known as Vieux Carre). We walked around to see this specific style which actually comes from Spain and not France (see the pictures). We had diner in a nice place. I had some blue crab... the one who loose the shell. We walked around and especially in Bourbon street where we can see 2 things: Music (mostly jazz, but other kind of music are there) and sex business. I was a bit surprised to see this in there ... but what can I say!! The effects from Katrina are absolutely not present so we tried to go by car around and see. Since we didn’t know where to go, we couldn’t find the place to see, not a big deal. We stopped by the lake which was the cause of the damages (The lake Pontchartrain).

With the road we had to do tomorrow, we decided to drive few more hours before finding a hotel. We went 4 hours farer than what we expected for that day, it will help us tomorrow before reaching Miami!!!!

Day 13, (Friday, July 11th)

From: San Antonio, TX
To: Houston, TX
Miles: 392
Time in the car: 8 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Traffic conditions: OK
Pictures:

Day13

Today’s road:


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Events: (Times given in CST)
09:30 AM, Leaving the Hotel
03:45 PM, Arrived in Houston, TX


Since we were late from the day before, we had to catch up the road we didn’t do the day before. This means we had to wake up earlier or arrive later in Houston. A mix of both solution came out and we spent only few hours in downtown Houston. Anyway, as you can see on the pictures, there is not much to see.

After the visit, no hotel to find because we were very nicely welcomed by a friend of mine leaving in the city. We arrived there around 7pm and started with a little relax time in the pool. Weather is really hot in this area, and a bit humid. We prepared our room and had a great diner: some good meat cooked on the BBQ, my favorite :D We had time to play with the 2 kids there and tell the story of our trip. Which is not that short by the way!!!

Early bed time, and we were happy of that! It’s been a while we are sleeping ok, but not catching up the time lost in vegas :S But, don’t worry, we are still driving safely and we change driver as often as needed to not play heroes behind the wheels.

Herve and all your family, thank you very much for this night spent in your place, it was a pleasure to see you again!!

Day 12, (Thursday, July 10th)

From: Tucson, AZ
To: San Antonio, TX
Miles: 692
Time in the car: 10 hours
Weather conditions: Rainy / Mostly cloudy
Traffic conditions: Loaded in El Paso, TX
Pictures:

Day12

Today’s road:



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Events: (Times given in MST)
09:30 AM, Leaving the Hotel
11:15 AM, Crossing border to New Mexico
02:00 PM, Crossing border to Texas
10:00 AM, Arrived in Sonora, TX

Wake up, wake up, wake up!! They couldn’t wake me up this morning, even after Pifi jumped on my bed!! Lol. A good breakfast / coffee arranged the thing and we took the road to go to El Paso. I was driving first while the 2 others finished there night :)

Weather is not too good, lots of showers and we had to stop the car few times because of one of the wipers which get a bit tired. Its sliding out of the rail, but I think I fixed it for good now. It will finish the trip like this and, hopefully, we won’t have more rain!

Arrived in El Paso, we parked the car and walk around to figure out the Mexican ambiance. It’s kind of nice, Hispanic music in the street, a lot of stored selling... whatever: clothes (lots of), kitchen stuff, music, or other crappy things! We saw the border with Mexico: lot’s of queue coming from Mexico (we all know how the custom are in the USA ;) ) and pretty fast to go the other way. To make sure we don’t run into some troubles, we didn’t cross it. Looks easy to go but not to come back! Instead, we looked for a restaurant, a typical one with Mexican food (taking the risk to have to stop many times on the highway for bathroom!!). We couldn’t find something good enough, we just got something in a Chicken Church fastfood :)

Back on the road, we decided to stop before reaching San Antonio. The thing is that now, we are crossing the country from West to East and instead of gaining hours with the different timezones, we are loosing hours! We passed 2 hours already today, so it’s 2 hours later, so we have to wake up 2 hours earlier ... following? Me, yes and it sucks!! Lol (Actually, to mess around a bit more with this, we didn’t crossed 2 timezones. The state of Arizona doesn’t apply summer time change. Still following?)

Day 11, (Wednesday, July 9th)

From: Las Vegas, NV
To: Tucson, AZ
Miles: 630
Time in the car: 10 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Pictures:

Day11

Today’s road:


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Events:
09:00 AM, Leaving the Hotel
10:30 PM, Crossing border to Arizona
05:00 PM, Taking off from Grand Canyon airport
12:00 AM, Arrived in Tucons, AZ


Waking up after a ling day driving is hard, but OK. Waking up after sleeping 2 hours is almost impossible! But we did it! We had to drive Nat to the airport. He is leaving us (going back to SF). We had a really good time with him, lot of fun too :P

After a last ride on the strip, we left to cross the desert and go to Grand Canyon. Not too many problems with the heat but we fill outside is like in a oven! Around 4, pretty close from our goal, we stopped to eat in a diner with a great ambiance: the flinstone family!! Leaving it, I saw one of the brochure to fly over Grand Canyon and we decided to do so. I called the guys in the car to make sure it was still possible and reserve 3 seats! Arrived on site, the 3 seats we had the OK for, were taken... little but hungry, I argued with the guy and the finally found a solution: A small place, with only us inside, and the pilot!! We took off and had that fantastic flight over Grand Canyon. The views are wonderful, magic... It’s a bit like YellowStone... I am so impressed... Look at the number of pic and you will understand! We flew for 50 minutes with the pilot explaining some stuff about the all thing.

Back on the ground, we headed to Phoenix and then Tucson, our goal of the day.We arrived late, really happy to be there after that great day!!

Day 10, (Tuesday, July 8th)

From: Los Angeles, CA
To: Las Vegas, NV
Miles: 602
Time in the car: 10 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Pictures:

Day10

Today’s road:


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Events:
08:05 AM, Leaving the Hotel
12:00 PM, Arrived in Hollywood, CA
07:45 AM, Crossing border to Nevada
08:30 PM, Arrived in Vegas


We started the day early to finish the road we couldn’t do the day before and reach LA as soon as possible. We decided to park the car in Hollywood and walk on Hollywood boulevard, pass by the Chinese theater, Kodak theater and view the things around (and have lunch :P). Before leaving to go to Vegas (couldn’t wait for that!!), we went in Beverly Hills by car to see what it was (it’s the same than in the movies :P)

I took care of my ticket. To summarize, I have to pay a ticket in Basin, WY. I have a cashier check from the main bank of Hollywood. I will mail it in Vegas in a Best Western (hotel) envelop. The judge is going to hallucinate! Lol

On the way to Vegas, we had the first effect of the desert! We first stopped the AC after the engine temperature was too high. We then opened the window, put the heating and enjoy the heat... It finally went down a bit. Oooofffff :D That part was scaring me...

Arrived in Vegas, we parked the car, checked in the room in our hotel: The Bellagio, settle down in the room and had a huge buffet diner. I think I couldn’t make my plates with more various things, everything was really good. And then, starts the night in Vegas: playing machines and roulette. I didn’t invest much and I didn’t win anything ... I can just say I lost the all thing! The good point is that I didn’t sell my car!! The night went on, we moved around on the strip and other place. What I did? Hummm... what happen in Vegas .... ?

Day09 (Monday, July 7th)

From: San Francisco, CA
To: Los Angeles, CAMiles: 148
Time in the car: 6 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly sunny
Pictures:

Day09

Today’s road:


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Events:
06:40 PM, Leaving San Jose, CA
10:30 PM, Stopped in a hotel

First time we have to wake up for an appointment!! We had to be in SF, Pier 33 at 9:30 AM for the visit of Angel island and Alcatraz. We took the boat to visit first Angel Island. Not much interest in there which was the one of the immigration: Elis Island of San Francisco. We had a tour in a small old trolley pretty crappy. Alcatraz then was much more interesting! We walked by ourself first and then had an audio tour included in our expensive tickets bought online 3 days before!!

After the visit, back home in San Jose to get all our stuff, load the car. There, Delex (A good friend from school, “hello delex!!!”) passed by for a coffee before we took the road. We finally left San Jose to go to Santa Cruz and see the sunset (which was opposite to the beach...) but we had fun in a arcade room!! 4 little boys! Nat joined us until Vegas, we are now 4 in the car and could fit everything in the trunk (I was good in tetris :P)

Bad news, we didn’t reach LA at night. To not arrive a 4AM, we stopped 250 miles before and will wake up early!

Day 08 (Sunday, July 6th)

Staying in: San Francisco, CA
Miles: 130
Time in the car: 6 hours
Weather conditions: Foggy / Sunny
Pictures:

Day08

Today’s road:


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Events:
11:00 AM, Leaving San Jose, CA
08:00 PM, Back in San Jose

Breakfast at Nat’s home before going to San Francisco. 50 miles to get there from San Jose. So far, weather is pretty sunny but weather is well known in SF to get foggy pretty easily ...

We started with the Golden Gate Bridge. Crossed it by car both ways but no way to see the all thing at once. There was a lot of fog as you can see on the pictures. Maybe we will have more chance tomorrow while we visit Alcatraz and Angel Island. We continue by car going to Lombard street (that street with some many curve in one block: 9). We went then to the steepest street in SF. The car was going in there and I still could see the road!! Driving in SF is pretty nice, going up hill or down hill all the time at each block, kind of fun!! Then, we parked the car to walk in Pier 39 and see Alcatraz and the sea lions. A great area with a lot of people, animation, restaurants, ... We saw the cable cars but way too much line to get in there. We just saw the end where they rotate them manually!!

Next stop was to eat!! A restaurant on the ocean called Cliff House. We had some shrimp & crab in a huge salad, good to eat :) we walked then on the beach and had a quick taste of the temperature of the water: COLD!!!

Back in the car, we went on top of the twin peaks to get a great view of the city and the bay. We went down then in the Ashbur / Haight to walk in there. Lots of hippies and lots of homeless people. Some stores selling clothes (cheap or super expensive), music, or other messy stuff!! Even if it was sunny, temperature was really cold. Ocean influence is really impressive. After a quick round by car in the downtown of the city, we came back in San Jose. I drove the all day in SF and it’s pretty nice :)

Back home, we ordered pizza, grabbed some beers and spent the evening in the Jacuzzi / Pool to relax!!

Day 07 (Saturday, July 5th)

From: Philomath, OR
To: San Jose, CA
Miles: 605
Time in the car: 12 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly sunny
Traffic conditions: Good
Break down: 1
Number of stops: 4
Todays road:

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Pictures:

Day07

Events:
09:00 AM, Leaving Philomath, OR
12:56 PM, Crossing border to California
05:40 PM, Car broke down
09:00 PM, Arrived in San Jose, CA

Early wake up with the family to start with some coffee and a nice breakfast: for the occasion, Glenn cooked some small pieces of deer and elk, very tasty :) Galen left to go to work and we stayed there talking a little bit before starting to prepare the car for a big day on the road. With Glenn, we checked the car (oil, tire pressure...), everything ready, it was time to say goodbye. I have to say I was really sad with that little thing in the throat!!

Glenn, Deanna, Galen, THANK YOU so much for your hospitality, my friends and I had a really good time and I was really happy to see you again! I was looking forward for this step of our trip. Time went really fast for this moment with you, because it was a good one!! I am now looking forward to see you again! Already!!!! (PS, I left a little something for you in the house! Did you find out?)

I started driving with a little tear in my eyes! Heading South. Matthieu took over after he finished his night in the car! We stopped for lunch in Mount Shasta, a mountain 14162 feet high). There was a street fair in the city, we walked around and saw some real hippies! Quick lunch and we got back on the road.

While I was sleeping, Pifi woke me up a bit nervous asking why the car wasn’t responding to the gas pedal, why the oil light was on and why the brake pedal wasn’t doing anything ... So I asked him to move to the tight lane and pull over on the emergency lane. A quick check revealed that we were out of gas :( Pifi asked me before if we shouldn’t fill up as we were at a quarter of the tank. Looks like our gauge has a little problem because it should have last much longer! The engine just stopped while driving without giving us the gas warning light. We called AAA, ine the next 15 minutes, somebody was here to give us 3 gallons of gas and we went back on the road!! (and fill up the tank!). Nice story we needed to have for this trip! And it finished in a good way even if I got very scared and a bit pissed at that moment!!

We arrived in San Jose at our friend’s place: Nat welcomed us with his wife. We had a Korean diner and we went then in a bar / club for a drink and see the night life in this city!! See the pics, we enjoyed it :D

Day 06 (Friday, July 4th)

From: Seattle, WA
To: Philomath, OR
Miles: 273
Time in the car: 6 hours
Weather conditions: Cloudy + few showers
Traffic conditions: Heavy traffic leaving Seattle area.
Number of stops: 3
Todays road:

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Pictures:

Day06

Events:
12:00 PM, Leaving the hotel by car
02:22 PM, Leaving Seattle area
05:07 PM, Crossing border to Oregon
07:08 PM, Arrived in Philomath, OR

After a great & heavy breakfast in the hotel, we left the car in it to go on top of the space niddle. Our thing to visit a city is to have a view from the top!! Time is a bit short, we chosen to take the car, top down and run a bit in downtown before heading the Redmond, to see the Microsoft buildings. July 4th, of course, everything was opened except these guys, so just left to drive south. Traffic to exit the Seattle area was pretty heavy, people are driving pretty slow on all lanes. Showers doesn’t help to move the traffic. I finally passed the wheel to Matthieu, I was feeling a bit tired.

Arrived close to Philomath, we just filled up the tank and arrived at the house of the Wilson’s family. I was so happy to see them again after 8 years!! Deanna, Glenn and Galen were here, waiting for us. Presentations done, we started pretty fast with diner which was really good :D. Real american BBQ, home made tarts (blue berries & cherries, absolutely delicious, thank you Deanna) and home made ice cream (thank you Glenn!!). Then, I showed some pictures from YellowStone. I am still amazed by what we saw there!! And to finish the evening, before going to bed, it was 4th of july here, Galen had prepared some stuff so we had our fireworks (and dynamite actually :D, Thank you Galen!!)

Little contest: On the next pictures, what is this thing used for?

Day 05 (Thursday, July 3rd)

Day 05, (Thursday, July 3rd)

From: West YellowStone, MT
To: Seattle, WA
Miles: 879
Time in the car: 16h00
Weather conditions: Mostly Sunny
Traffic conditions: Good
Number of stops: 5 + the ones in the park
Todays road:


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Pictures:

Day05

Events:
06:25 AM, Leaving West YellowStone, MT
06:26 AM, Crossing border to Wyoming
12:52 PM, Leaving YellowStone national park
12:53 PM, Crossing border to Montana
07:34 PM, Crossing border to Idaho
08:37 PM, Crossing border to Washington
12:30 AM, Arrived in Seattle, WA

Another early wake up!! This one was decided to spend more time in the park. The time we spent the day before just convinced us to put the clock at 5 and leave at 6 AM.

Before entering the park, we filled up the tank of the car and headed up to the park which is approx 22 seconds far from the hotel we were. Nice hotel by the way. See the pics, all made of wood, very “rustic”.

We entered the park to go south on the main loop. We stopped in many places. So many things to see (see the number of pics!!). We put the top down of the car pretty quickly to enjoy the view!! But the most amazing one was the old faitfull geyser. We can say we are kind of lucky. The geyser is supposed to erupt every 50 to 120 mins. We just seated there and 10 mins after, the show! Great :) but wait! It’s not it!! We decided to keep walking a bit to see other things around: including another geyser supposed to erupt every 10 hours to 5 days! And there you go, the eruption right for us!! Amazing. Simply amazing! We were really close, and it last for few minutes so I had time to shoot many pics, and even a video!! We exited the park going north to get back on the way which is taking us to Seattle: 1125 km to go!

The way to Seattle is really long. While I was sleeping, Pifi saw one of these boxes to put the cat inside, on the middle lane of the highway. I really hope it was empty!! Lol. I also called the family I met in Oregon to let them know we were on time!! They are expecting us tomorrow for diner on 4th of July! I am really looking forward to see them again after almost 10 years. Pifi drives, Matthieu drives and I finish up the thing by night to arrive at 12:30 AM at the hotel, happy to be there. The landscape was really beautiful all the way, we crossed the rocky mountains, and every day I am filling up my brain with all these pictures. We also stopped (and go) in a really really weird local gas station with only one pump and no price displayed. We left pretty quickly, but after taking (and laughing about) a great pictures: A display for the testicle festival!!!


Right now, I am kind of tired! I am writing this post from the hotel, seating by the window, looking at the space needle. A little jacuzzi time before going to sleep :)

Day 04, (Wednesday, July 2nd)

From: Rapid City, SD
To: West Yellow Stone, MT
Miles: 537
Time in the car: 12 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly Cloudy then Sunny
Traffic conditions: Good all the way to the national park where we had to slow down
Number of stops: 4,5
Number of tickets: 1
Today's road:


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Pictures:

Day4

Events: (Times given in MST)
10:00 AM, Leaving Rapid City, SD
10:47 AM, Crossing border to Wyoming
04:00 PM, Pulled over for speeding in a 30 mph area 
07:10 PM, Entering Yellow Stone National Park
09:59 PM, Crossing border to Montana
10:01 PM, Arrived in West Yellow Stone


Early wake up again, but not really wanted this time. We spent this time doing some reservation for our hotel in Seattle, check some dates / ticket to visit Alcatraz in SF and send you all these posts and pictures!

I started driving. I was really amazed of the exits on the highway: A little path made of dust!! Then I convinced Matthieu and Pifi to take a smaller road instead of a highway (Already got bored of them!!) and we started to see some really nice landscapes around. I took over the wheel because I wanted to drive my “titine” in the mountains... Few minutes after we left the scenic view area, Matthieu figured out he cannot find his camera. We looked everywhere in the car, not there. We finally came back to the place we were and it was waiting there, right next where we park! It must have fallen from his pocket. So, I drive again, what an idea I got there... In a small city of 10 people, called Basin, I got pulled over by a cop who had finished his coffee probably. I was going 41 mph in a 30 mph area... No comment, I am pissed, first ticket of the trip and probably last one (anyone wanna bet?!)

Then things started to get interested. Pifi took back the wheel and we entered the YellowStone National Park … and what a … let me find the word : spectacular? Fantastic? Wonderful? Magic? Natural? Crazy? Unbelievable? No, no words to say, but you got it, it’s some amazing. See the pics I put, I would love you to feel the same thing I feel looking around and seeing these bears, bison, pelican or just trees and rivers going around and making this place unique. To give you an idea, if you know that comic “petit pied”, it’s the same thing when they discover the big land. Or try to feel like these people in Jurassic Park, same way, discovery of something magic & amazing.

It took us 4 hours to cross the park, stopping in a lot of places to see the wild animals, or the seismic activity. Very quickly, we put the top down of the car, even if the temperature is pretty cold. It worth it!!! We are at 2700 meters if altitude.

Great great day today, tomorrow, we will spend few more hours early in the morning to see more of the park and then head to Seattle.

Day 03, (Tuesday, July 1st)

From: Chicago, IL
To: Rapid City, SD
Miles: 896
Time in the car: 12:30 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly sunny
Traffic conditions: Heavy traffic to exit Chicago area (Road work), Good after that
Number of stops: 4
Today's road:

View Larger Map



Pictures: HERE

Events: (Times given in CST)
06:47 AM, Leaving Chicago, IL
07:30 AM, Crossing border to Wisconsin
11:57 AM, Crossing border to Minnesota (Mississippi river)
02:30 PM, Crossing border to South Dakota
07:00 PM, Arriving to Rapid City, SD

Early departure from the Sofitel to try to avoid traffic from the city and not arrive too late in Rapid City (there is a pool there :)). I start driving while Pifi and Matthieu keep on sleeping to finish the night! Some heavy traffic due to road work at the exit of Chicago area but things get really good after that. Pifi took the wheel and Matthieu do so couple of hours after. It was pretty hot out there, but probably nothing compared to what we will have in Arizona!

We were supposed to arrive around 7:30 PM in Rapid City and we made it at 7, including all the breaks we took. Speed limit is a bit higher in the states we crossed and we usually add another 5 / 10 miles over it ;)

Arrived at the hotel, good surprise when we saw the room according the price we paid! With the early time, we decided to go and visit Mont Rushmore at night to save time in the morning. We took the car again and had to ride another 30 miles. We passed by some villages with this old tourist style, kind of cute!! And we saw, finally, the 4 presidents in the rock :D : Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. See all the pictures we took, it’s kind of impressive, nice to contemplate. To finish this work, they removed 45 000 tons of stone, 90% with dynamite.

Day 02, (Monday, June 30)

Staying in: Chicago, IL
Miles: 0
Time in the car: 0 hours
Weather conditions: Sunny
Pictures: HERE

Events: (Time is giving in CST)
08:30 AM, Wake uuuuppp!
10:30 AM, Leaving the hotel
11:30 AM, Arrived in Chicago Downtown
10:00 PM, Back to the hotel


No so early wake up today to try to compensate previous ones! After showers and refill of the cooler with ice, we are heading to Chicago for our first tourist day. The bus is taking us from the Sofitel up to the train station in Rosemont. A direct train takes us to the loop, the heart of Chicago.

To have an overview of the city, we first climb at the top of the Sears tower (a 110 stories building). Few fact about it, it’s the tallest building in the USA, its base is made of 9 tubes and they stop at different levels, which gives him a nice and original architecture. It was for a while the tallest building in the world. Built in 1973, the Sears company decided to group all resources in a single building. It is now for sale, if anybody has a billion dollars, it’s yours.

After a lunch in an old fashion bar / restaurant, we walk and take the subway to go up town, to the History museum where couple of “bricoles” are shown there. Thanks god it was free, some nice things displayed, but not WONDERFUL!!!

We spent then the afternoon walking, from Lincoln Park, Chicago beach, Nay pier and inside the Loop. See the pictures … 

General impression about this city, I really like the architecture, buildings are original and nice to contemplate (most of them :P), people are nice too, ambiance is much more quiet than NY where everything runs too fast…

Diner in a fashion Italian restaurant. Nice food but the greatest moment was the bathroom!! Yes!! Like in Del Friscos (for the ones who knows), there is a gentleman giving you towels, holding the door, … this one was doing all this, but also some “claquette” while I was doing my little affair :D Pifi and Matthieu still don’t believe me, but, whatever, I had my show!!

Back to hotel with the same train, we fall asleep pretty fast after that long walking tourist day!

Day 01, (Sunday, June 29)

From: Summit, NJ
To: Chicago, IL
Miles: 798
Time in the car: 13 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly Cloudy / Showers
Traffic conditions: Good until Chicago area, the messy
Number of stops: 4
Today's road:

View Larger Map

Pictures: HERE

Events:
06:30 AM, Leaving Summit, NJ
07:19 AM, Crossing border to Pennsylvania
11:57 AM, Crossing border to Ohio
03:47 PM, Crossing border to Indianna
06:35 PM, Crossing border to Illinois
07:33 AM, Arriving to Chicago

After an early wake up (Pifi and Spi used to the French time...), loading the car with all our stuff (luggage, food & other useless things!!), we finally took the road at 6:30, direction to Chicago! First step of our great trip, but not the smallest one since Google & TomTom indicates a big good 13 Hours driving without counting the stops!

I first drive to get out of Summit and get on the US80 and then Pifi take the wheel for the first time (Kind of scary .... hum), and then Spi took over. Driving in the US is not that bad ... it's the others not very easy to drive with!! hahaha

Conditions were OK, we had couple of heavy showers but most of the time, cloudy. So not too bad at all to drive. We stopped few times for gas & stretch legs. The car is pretty comfortable to be 3 inside. 2 in front and 1 in the back with the cooler!

Arrived to the hotel, Sofitel of O'Hare Airport in Chicago, we got all our stuff in the room, and we enjoyed the pool / sauna & gym room to relax after that first long day. We had a nice diner with a weird pizza (famous in Chicago, deep dish), and a great night.