Portland or Bust--Round Two!

Mile 298, how fast am I going? 75 mph at this speed I should be there in...4x7=280, 5x4=20, 20+280=300, so I should be there in about 4 hours. What time is it? 8:30 pm. I’ve been driving for about... maybe I should get in the right lane. Is there someone in my blind spot? It doesn’t look like it I don’t see any lights. Woo hoo that deer was the size of a cow woo! Good thing I changed lanes for no reason. Prrrrrrrrrr that’s the edge of the road, pay attention, Joel, pay attention. So if I left at 6:30 am and it’s 8:37 pm that’s 14 hours of driving and if I have 4 hours left that will be 18 hours. Can I make it? Yeah I should be fine. Oh here is another mile marker, what does it say? Mile 297.

This is what went on in my brain for sixteen hours of driving on day one, and then another eighteen hours on day two. I made it to Portland in two days, so the results are in and it seems like I am the fastest Guido of them all. Don’t listen to Karyn’s excuses of oh I’m pregnant, I towed a trailer, I got a flat tire. I won fair and square.

Beginning of the drive

Backseat packed to the max

The trunk

View from the rearview mirror

The trip was a nice mix of scenery, from the corn flats of Nebraska to the funnel cloud in Wyoming, from the salty air of Utah to the winding roads of Oregon. Overall the trip was uneventful. Most exciting was my stop at Jack in the Box, which I’ve missed dearly. I got so excited I "accidentally" ordered enough food for multiple adults.

Jack in the Box!

Funnel cloud in Wyoming

I also got to camp in Wyoming. I noticed a theme in responses when I mentioned my camping plans to folks in Chicago before I left. Aren’t you scared? Can you defend yourself? Are you taking a gun? To these I answered no, no, and yes--an airsoft gun. Either the great people of Chicagoland don’t camp much or they still think going out west is like the old Oregon trail computer game. No, I didn’t have to ford the rivers, Timmy didn’t get bitten by a rattlesnake, and I didn’t spend all of my shotgun shells on hunting bears. The west is civilized, even though it may not seem like it.

Tent

Campground

Since arriving in Portland, I have been studying for the NCLEX board exam and applying for jobs, while Karyn brings home the bacon. Please be praying for me to find a job, health for the baby (who is still healthy currently), an easy transition into our new apartment, and Timmy’s snake bite. 

My face when I arrived in Portland at 1:30 in the morning

P.S. I graduated. Yippee!

Creepy graduation picture

Portland or Bust

Through a successful brainstorming session, Joel and I came up with a marvelous plan: let's place a pregnant lady and her mother-in-law in a 2-door hatchback and have them tow a utility trailer halfway across the country. What could go wrong?


The giant blue tarp and several hundred yards of rope should have been our first clue that this was a not a well put-together plan:

John and Marilyn (Joel's parents) and I
with the finished product

we stopped about every 75 miles or so to patch a new hole

After a final farewell to my precious Portillo's polish dogs, Marilyn and I headed west. Within one hundred miles, the tarp had developed it's first hole due to the high winds of travel. It was nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix. This was followed by a few more miles of driving. And a new hole. And a bit more duct tape. Repeat.


We became duct taping experts, and by the end of the first day, all potential holes in the tarp were taped safe and sound in their duct tape bed. After this rough start, our spirits were high from conquering the holes in the tarp. Even realizing the terrible gas mileage we were getting from towing didn't get us down for long.


Westward we went, until we happened upon Wyoming. Boy, is Wyoming barren! A pretty country to be sure, but Wyoming doesn't have much human civilization. This was unfortunate, because we were in the middle of nowhere (aka, Wyoming) when the tire on our trailer blew out. Here is a re-enactment of how we realized the tire was in shreds:


Karyn: "Hey Marilyn, why are you only driving 45 mph?"
Marilyn: "Well I have the gas pedal all the way down and it won't go any faster."
Karyn: "This simply won't do. Let us pull over, and I'll drive."
We pull over and see this:

note the lack of rubber around the tire

Sigh. We can't remember the last time we saw a town. Or a road sign for that matter.  Unpacking the car to get to the tools reveals that we don't have the right size ratchety rickety monkey wrench doo-da to unhook the spare tire trailer. The dread is sinking into our guts upon this realization when a Wyoming State Trooper pulled up behind us not even one minute later. He looks a bit like this:

He just happens to have gone to Cheyenne on his day off to testify, and he just happens to pull up right after we broke down. And he just happens to be kind, and also able to change a tire. Praise the Lord. After putting on the old-looking spare tire, he warns "now you'll want to buy a new tire at the Wal-Mart tire center in the next town, which is 50 miles from here. Be sure not to go over 45 mph on that spare tire."


Yes, sir. Over 45 mph we did not go.

We finally see a town, our exit, and the trusty Wal-Mart tire center.  We simultaneously hear a loud, repeating, thud, thud, thud. Still on the off-ramp to the exit, I pull over and see we have only one lug nut remaining in our spare trailer tire. The rest have stripped out and our tire is at a 30 degree angle. Not good for driving. Marilyn calls the direct Wyoming State Trooper hotline which the nice man had given us earlier, "just in case something else goes wrong", and they dispatch yet another nice state trooper to our aide. It's a good thing he is young and healthy because in the mile and a half to the Wal-Mart parking lot, we have to stop three times so Mr. Trooper can again jack up the trailer and re-tighten the lug nuts. An hour after the second state trooper arrived to our aid, we have never been so pleased to arrive at a Wal-Mart.


When we find the tire center to be closed for the night, we must resort to wheeling our luggage down the road to a hotel and collapse into bed. After finding the correct lug bolts for our ancient trailer wheel at the 7th specialty store we try in the morning, we get on the road after lunch. It's been real, Wyoming. It's been real.


Compared to Wyoming, the rest of our trip was uneventful. Unless you count the unexpected blizzard that slammed us in northern California. Of course.

We arrived safely in Portland! It only took me half a dozen attempts to back the trailer into the storage unit. 

we went to P.F. Changs that night to celebrate
being free from the trailer!

We are thankful for:
-safe travels
-Marilyn being willing and able to accompany me on our adventures
-a wonderful couple in Portland who hosted us upon our Portland arrival for a week, even though we had never met
-Joel being able to soon join me again after graduating and becoming a male nurse