I know it can be done in two days, but the trip from Seattle to Joplin, if broken into three days, makes it less grueling. Ten to twelve hours a day in the van are plenty!
The first day's drive took us from Seattle, back across the Snoqualmie Pass one more time, passing the places where we stayed in Ellensburg and Zillah (Toppenish) a few nights before en route. It was raining on the west side of the mountains, snowing in the pass, but dried out pretty well on the east side. We had good weather all this first day, traversing Washington state first on I-90, then down to the Columbia River on I-82, then picking up I-84 diagonal down through the NE corner of Oregon and SW Idaho. We returned our tire chains at a Les Schwab's in Baker City, OR, unused and they were very nice about giving us our money back. As we passed through Boise, we remembered our time with Gary & Joyce Anderson and wished them well as we zoomed through their part of town. We spent this first night at a motel in Rupert, Idaho, where many years ago, Susan remembered visiting her Uncle "T" who was a medical doctor there.
To tell you the truth, I wasn't much looking forward to the second day's drive, thinking the scenery would be monotonous. Was I ever wrong! As we drove that part of southern Idaho, that little piece of northern Utah, and across the high plains of Wyoming, we found ourselves praising our Creator for magnificent new vistas at every turn of the highway. I was saying, "Look at that!" so often that Susan was hard-pressed to take her nap, and often interrupted in her reading. I'm talking about beautiful mountains, snow-covered plateaus, high-tech wind farms, geological formations, and even a literal sky-blue hole in the gray clouds right where we were driving on the highway! From watching the snowfall in Denver on the Weather Channel the night before, we had decided to take I-80 all the way through Nebraska to avoid the white stuff. As it was, we only had a few places where the lighted signs read, "Turn off cruise-control: icy patches on roadway ahead" or something to that effect. When we finally pulled into our motel in Sidney, Nebraska, around 10 pm, we were ready to hit the sack.
The third day was the boring one. Beautiful sunny day for driving, though. When we crossed the Missouri River into Iowa on Highway 2, and picked up I-29, we were back in VERY familiar territory. (I wish I had a dollar for every time I've driven the I-29/US 71 stretch through Kansas City & home to Joplin!) Susan drove for a couple of stretches to let me catch up recording expenses for our trip report and to nap. We stopped at Hy-Vee south of Kansas City (Belton) to buy some groceries. They have a gas station associated with the store that gives 5 cents per gallon discount off the price, if you take your grocery receipt, so we paid the least for gas there in KC on the whole trip: $1.459--quite a welcome relief from the up to $3.259 we'd been paying in the NW. By the way, did you know that Oregon is one of the last hold-out states that will not permit you to pump your own gas? That was hard to get used to.
These three days were spent listening to music from my new iPod Touch the whole way. Thanks again, Suz, for the super birthday present! As we turned off US 71 at the last Carthage exit, to traverse the last few miles to the Casey Cabin, Susan found the Hallelujah Chorus. We truly did praise the Lord for a great trip, His protection through every one of the 8,600 miles! Driving into our Indian Springs subdivision, I woke Emilee so she could enjoy the arrival with us. At the entrance to our circle driveway, I stopped the van. We sat there looking at the house the Lord has allowed us have, and were SO glad to be home. Thanks for coming along with us. It was a great trip!
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