We woke up Saturday morning from our comfortable room at the Sheraton in New Mexico and prepared to pack up the car for the ten hour drive north. Our route took us through Colorado which was nice scenery but nothing prepared us for the beauty of Utah.
Driving through Albuquerque and northern New Mexico was beautiful with all the color changes. Colorado was lush and there was a definite feeling of “our state is better than yours”…but when we hit Utah Ginger and I spoke on the two way radios hoping we did not jump too quick at Oregon. Utah has some of the most beautiful scenery in this country. Every turn we made there was a different peak appearing out of nowhere. I don’t think I ever truly understood “take your breath away” until I drove through Utah. I literally came around a mountain pass to see a windswept snow peak with the sun beaming on the top. I grabbed my radio to tell Ginger how impressed I was and actually had to fight to grab a breath. I had only read and seen pictures of Moab in my mountain bike magazines a decade ago but what a cool town. However it is definitely the “EXTREME” marketing buzz word city of Utah. Everything from mountain biking, zip lining, skydiving, and desert motorcycling is advertised on the main strip. We wondered if the locals ever get tired of seeing all the beauty that surrounds them….if so we don’t know how. One thing’s for sure…Texas you really should shut up about “everything is bigger”. I know once we get in to Oregon we will be reminded of the landscape and overall beauty that we fell in love with in the fall, so I’m not terribly worried. Besides, never underestimate the political climate of your home state. With all the beauty Utah can offer, unfortunately I don’t think the political system would be a match for Ginger and I. Hell, can you imagine the first time the locals in Utah find out my wife didn’t take my last name?
This trip has been eye opening to say the least. Rest assured real life road trips are not top down, scarf blowing in the breeze, sunglasses gleaming, and carefree. The reality is (especially if you have a destination) that they take tedious planning, lots of attention to detail, and an ENORMOUS amount of patience. Throw in the fact that we are essentially homeless right now and living on the road…it’s overwhelming. As much thought as Ginger and I have given to this move, we are continually surprised at how fast everything is happening. This puts a tremendous amount of strain on our relationship. Discussing an argument over room service is not as romantic as it would seem, especially after you were forced to spend forty-five dollars on two “average” entrees. NEVER underestimate the need for solid nutrition on the road trip. It’s extremely easy to get sucked in to junk food on the road, and it’s very important to make wise decisions. Both of us could be better at that (yes those are my “Froot Loops” in the picture, hey it’s cereal). 
This morning we woke up in Salt Lake with every intention of getting to our original destination of Pendelton Oregon, to make Monday’s journey to the final destination of Tigard a little shorter. Unfortunately the weather moved in to Pendelton and it appeared to make the roads a little sketchy, so we decided to stop short in Boise Idaho. I can’t say much about the rest of the state since we are only going through one small part. The snake river was pretty and it has some beautiful farm land but that’s about all we encountered. Our accommodations for the night are nice so again we shouldn’t complain.
Unfortunately this means that our drive tomorrow will be more like seven hours as opposed to the original five hours we had planned. We hope to be pulling in to Tigard and signing the apartment lease before five pm. We hope the roads will be clear in the morning for our early start. With good luck we will be in our new home (at least for six months) just in time for bed on our air mattress.
So far I think things are going as we both expected. We are also very thankful that we are not on a deadline; Although it would be nice to meet tomorrow’s like we’d hoped.
Portland Here We Come! 