Rest of the trip

Second Day on the Road
Highlights…
1)Got on the road at 6:50 this morning.
2)Last night we stayed at La Quinta - the same hotel we stayed in for all our stops out to the East. We loved them the last time. Not so much this trip. A few hiccups: messed up our reservation so instead of a king bed we had two doubles (Derek and the dogs slept in one, and I had the other!), much messier, & super smokey! But it was a place to sleep, there was a subway next door for dinner and they did have breakfast.
3)We liked Nebraska the best. The speed limit was 75!
4)We passed Buford, Wyoming – The Nations smallest town - Population 1; 8000 Square Feet
5)Nebraska was very flat. Wyoming has lots of rolling hills and very windy. It also is basically barren. Lots of big windmills. (After I wrote that we passed mountains and then flat land in Wyoming. It’s got lots of different looking parts. It got super hot driving out through there too)
6)The dogs were antsier today. Bear jumped over the dog barrier and into the front multiple times to sit on Derek’s or my lap. Gracie even attempted to come into the front a few times. I took them out and ran with them a little while Derek got lunch so that helped a little. Tomorrow should be interesting!
7)I actually drove for 110 miles! It was very stressful with how heavy the car was and how windy it was outside, but I survived.
8)Stayed at the Red Lion Hotel in Salt Lake City and was VERY pleased with everything about it.
9)Total Traveling For Day Two = 13 Hours & 25 Mins, 918.2 Miles

Third Day on the Road
Highlights…
1)We left at 6:45 this morning.
2)We left Salt Lake this morning and as we drove past the lakes and mountains towards Nevada, we couldn’t help but make the observation that the surroundings made us think a little that this might be what hell is like. It is hot, barren, nothing as far as the eye can see, the only water is extremely salty, smells like sulfur, and nothing but weeds growing. Oh yeah, and it made us think of pillars of salt.
3)Lovely sign in Nevada: “Prison Area – Hitchhiking Prohibited” Derek thought it should have said “Don’t pick up hitchhikers!”
4)I love that we are now west enough that all the bathrooms have toilet seat covers!
5)Stopped at a pilot gas station in Nevada that had a casino in the food mart. Nice.
6)Once we hit Sacramento we also hit what has been foreign to us for the past three years – traffic. This is also very new to Bear seeing as he has never been on a freeway surrounded by cars all stopping and going at 5 miles an hour. He was scared and had to bark at all the cars for the first five minutes until he realized we were not getting attacked.
7)We stopped in Sacramento to say hello to Kelli, Mark, and the boys!!!!
8)Arrived in Oakland, CA at 6:15pm!
9)Total for the entire trip = Just about 2600 miles!
10)I only slept for a total of 20 mins on the first day and that is all!!!

Sunday Aug. 23rd
We are here in Oakland and hanging out with Lauren and Jason!! Having so much fun and loving being here at my grandmas! Thank you everyone for your prayers for a safe trip. It was a wonderful trip and so much more enjoyable than I could have ever imagined!