cross country road trip day 4 {last day} – omaha to denver

What a trip this was. We were so sad to know that our road trip together was coming to an end. We had really had the best time talking, laughing, playing catch phrase and spotting things along the ride. We didn’t rush to get on the road. We had breakfast at the hotel and then packed up and hit the road by about 10am.

I drove the first few hours of the trip so Al could get a few calls made that he needed to follow-up on. It was a dark, gloomy day with rain sprinkles here and there. Made it harder to drive and not want to just take a nap!

We saw a lot of bails of hay as we drove through Nebraska. A really lot. The sights were much of the same from the last day, a lot of farms, cows, birds, open space, hay, corn and fields.

One thing that was quite fascinating to me was how dark black the cows were. They were jet black. They always looked pretty cool in a big field together.

We hit the 2000 mile mark on our new car and when we reached Denver our total mileage for the trip was 2019.5.

Overall our trip was great. We only wished we could have made it longer, stopped in more places and visited more things along the way. We still loved seeing our friends and family along the way and we loved our time in Omaha.

Now, we’re staying with friends while we look for a place to live. Hopefully this weekend something will come through and we’ll be getting settled in no time. Two totally tired faces after driving for 32 hours and 4 days straight!

Hope you’ve enjoyed following us as much as we’ve enjoyed chronicling the trip for you. Thank you for all your well wishes, good thoughts, kind words and prayers. We’re so excited for this new adventure and will continue to keep you updated.

Next week I plan to share some tips on moving cross-country and preparing for road trips…two things I wish I was able to find more info on before our move. Stay tuned, and have a great weekend!

cross country road trip day 3 – chicago to omaha

Today was a cool day of driving because, well, neither of us have ever been to Iowa and there were some interesting sights there!

Al started his day with some beef jerky. He ate a lot of beef jerky during this road trip. I’m convinced his sodium levels are through the roof.

This day of travel was an exciting one. We were half way through our trip and we were both excited to see what Omaha was all about. Along the way we stopped in Des Moines, which was not that exciting of a place! We also passed the world’s largest truck stop, lots of wind turbines and so many trucks. So. Many. Trucks.

Cool thing about the trucks was that each one was always carrying something different from the last. We saw massive trucks carrying parts to the wind turbines. Like the huge blades strapped to a truck. They’re like 150 feet long!

We also saw a whole lot of farming equipment and machinery being transported. And so many of the trucks were wide loads. Humongous wide loads.

We saw a truck that was loaded up with train wheels; just the wheels. I think that was my favorite one out of all of them.

Once we got to Omaha we were tired and hungry. We checked into the hotel and just our luck it was complimentary beer and wine night! We decided to walk downtown while it was still light out and check out a little of the city.

Quite a beautiful city it was. We stumbled upon this massive building that was a candy store, antique mall, small dinner, movie theater… and a whole lot more things. All in this one place!

After that we walked downtown around what they call the Market to find a delicious steak. We ate at a great brewery that had tasty beer and even tastier food.

Omaha was a pretty fun city, we only wish we had more time there. I think we might actually make a trip back for longer in the future! We were pretty pooped after dinner so we headed back and I was out cold by 9pm. Great night sleep that was. More later on our last day of travel…to Denver!

cross country road trip day 2 – buffalo to chicago

We got a bit of a later start than we hoped for, but we had to do a major re-org of the car. It looked like a tornado; things were rattling, shifting, shaking and it was a disaster. So we got up and took everything out before putting it all back in to solve the issues. Visibility is better, we can reach our food better and the darn golf clubs aren’t rattling for 10 hours straight!

Once we did get on the road it was smooth sailing. No traffic and nice flat driving. It’s so cool to see all these different states. The pumpkin patches in the fields on the sides of the highway are amazing in Ohio! After about four hours of driving we stopped in Cleveland at a Panera to stretch out, grab a cool drink and use a little Internet time to catch up on a few things. Was a quick stop and we were back on the road in no time.

Al has been a champion driver. I contributed a whole two hours yesterday. I don’t mind driving but if he’s happy to then I don’t complain either! We’ve been trying to stop every few hours even if to just stretch our legs out. The stops usually coincide with either a fuel up or bathroom trip so it’s been working out well.

At one of the stops I noticed that the whole bumper was speckled black. I got a little closer and it was seriously like a bug cemetery. I couldn’t believe it! I mean it was totally gross but fascinating at the same time.

There were some beautiful things to see along the way, that’s for sure. It was just so flat everywhere, the sky was so big because it was so flat!

We also put the first 1000 miles on our new car in just 8 days! Don’t worry Mom, we weren’t speeding. Limit is 70 out in the flat lands!

We were psyched when we were able to see the city line of Chicago. Though it was a quick trip, Al loved it (I’ve been before).

We’re definitely going to plan a trip back for longer than 12 hours. We had a great time visiting Al’s brother Jack, his fiance Mici, and Emily and Peter. Thanks for hosting us Em and Peter!

Next up – Omaha, Nebraska. Stay tuned!!

cross country road trip day 1 – boston to buffalo

This week we’ll be chronicling our journey from Boston to Denver to keep all of our family and friends updated. Enjoy!

We are officially one day into our road trip to Colorado! Things like this are bittersweet in the toughest way possible. The good byes that took place over the last few days were really tough. But, this is also such an exciting time for us and we can’t wait to embark on this adventure. So, our emotions are currently all over the place!

Day one of traveling went pretty well. We bought a new car a week before we hit the road, which has been great. We had some issues with the cargo carrier on top of the car. We tried out three different ones and not one of them fit properly. By the third one we had to just make it work because we needed the additional space on the roof. That lasted about two hours. We got to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts and knew we had to do something. Our gas mileage was comparable to a small box truck and the car felt like it was dragging pretty badly.

This world of technology we live in is amazing. Within minutes I was able to use my computer connected to the Internet from my phone, look up a store, use one phone to call to have them hold a new cargo carrier while using the other phone to map the directions.

We usually buy everything through REI or LL Bean (lifetime guarantees!) but neither had a store anywhere in the vicinity so we found a Sears and was able to get a much better cargo carrier. The whole process set us back a little over an hour but it was totally worth it. Gas mileage was better, it was larger, so fit more in it, and the entire ride felt so much smoother. It was hilarious trying to get it installed. I literally had to climb in it to get it secured to the roof. But it worked and we felt a lot better about the rest of the trip.

After stopping at the Sears we decided to take the scenic route back to the highway. I was so glad we did. It was absolutely gorgeous. The foliage, the lakes, the barns. All of it was so beautiful. I did my best to capture photos but it was tricky to do while driving

We didn’t hit any traffic so overall the drive was great. Our friends Maria and Jack hosted us for the night in their new home in Buffalo. By the time we got there we were ready to stretch, eat and have a beer! We had a great time with them, and even though it was nighttime and pitch black out they still gave us a great tour of the city, showed us the beautiful Lake Erie and shared their new city and home with us.

The best part for me yesterday was the fact that when we got off the highway to go to the Sears we were in the exact area we were when we got engaged. We passed the restaurant we ate at, hotel we stayed, stores we stopped at and the mountain Al proposed at. What are the odds?! We had no clue until we were driving along the route and it was all so familiar. I also loved driving through western Mass. I know I’ve been as a child but I don’t think I’ve ever been (or if I have I don’t remember it) during the peak of the fall season. It was amazing.

More later, to fill you in about day two!