Country Crossed

Well, we did it. We started in New York, and we’re now in Seattle, which means we have literally driven cross-country. And it feels like we did all that driving today.

That’s what the GPS looked like after about 45 miles on the road this morning. And I should point out that it’s not telling us we have 529 miles left until our destination; it’s telling us we have 529 miles left until our next turn. We were on the road for 10 hours, including about an hour’s worth of stops for gas, bathrooms, stretching, etc. (We stopped in Idaho’s panhandle not really because we needed to but because I felt bad making it the only state we’d be driving through without stopping.)

By FAR the most interesting thing we saw today was a group of especially outgoing chipmunks at a rest stop somewhere in western Montana. I gave Sam a slice of bread to feed them, and within seconds he made a bunch of new friends.

Five or six hours later, though, we were not in such good moods. I was sore all over. He was bored. We fought.

The good news: we made up, we finally arrived in Seattle, Sarah’s here and will be with us for a week, and we’re staying in the same hotel for three whole nights in a row, which means I get a respite not just from driving but from unpacking and repacking the car every morning and night.

The bad news: we have two more all-day drives coming up in about a week and a half.