Oregon to Texas in September 2007

I'm still getting over the monster West Coast Road Trip I just returned from, my second one this year. This time around there was a specific mission at hand and I have to say it was executed perfectly from planning to actual driving part. However 12 hour days behind the wheel at 80mph from dawn to dusk, and 800 to 900 miles covered through three to five states at a time, it was exhausting! Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and have really experienced a nice chunk of America. Speaking of it, I've always enjoyed Roger Johnson's "Welcome to America" web site where he posted some very useful information for my trips, the pictures of the welcome signs. And this year, his newest venture 50 States in 50 Days in May '07 really inspired me to make a little extra effort and take advantage of a rare opportunity to add some bragging rights under my belt. So here it goes...

Portland, OR

Naturally, every opportunity I get lately I go with Jet Blue and this trip was no exception. It was a logical choice really. The flight was much cheaper than a nearest competitor's fare, to the tune of $300 to $400 less. In fact, after booking the flight from JFK to PDX, the fare dropped significantly and Jet Blue is one of the only airlines willing and able to refund the difference into your frequent flier account, which was much appreciated as this road trip was certainly done on a budget. One bad thing about the flight was the fact that it arrived rather late at night, with only one flight between New York City and Portland, my day was shot, we got in at midnight and after picking up my vehicle I quickly made my way to the hotel to spend the night.

My choice of lodging was obviously the cheapest rate I could find, and with my 15% alumni discount the Choice Hotels option was quite obvious. I stayed at the Rodeway Inn on the outskirts of Portland right by the airport and just a few miles south of the Washington State border. This was no accident, I knew I had to leave on my journey early and the WA welcome sign was the first stop on my agenda. I headed Eastbound on I84 and for the next few hours enjoyed the beauty of Oregon and its pine covered mountains. Mt. Hood was definitely a permanent fixture for the early part of my trip, but since the highway follows the Columbia River Gorge the view es of Oregon were blocked by rather tall mountain on the right side of the highway, Washington State across the river was much better visible and it was impressive to see the change of scenery as I got closer to Idaho and the temperatures rose quickly.

I wasn't going to tell this story because its kind of embarrassing but I might as well. As I approached Idaho and its 104F dry heat temps, there was much construction along the highway, mainly on the bridges which I assume had something to do with the recent bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Anyway, as I got closer to the border I noticed the detour (the Westbound lanes of I84 used for Eastbound traffic) would take me right past the Idaho welcome sign, I decided to stop between the giant cones and back up the highway on the construction site, this being Labor Day I didn't think I would get in any one's way as the construction site was unmanned. Well, I backed up as far as I could and reached a five foot drop in the pavement where soft sand awaited concrete patches of highway to be layed in place at a later time. Naturally the rest of the way to the welcome sign was on foot. I was so excited that I walked right past it not even realizing it. The next sign was about a mile away so me walking in triple digit heat brought on the sweat rather quickly. And I felt like a total fool when I got to the sign and it read "Oregon Thanks You for the Visit, Come back soon" D'oh!

I was much more careful on the rest of the trip. The next stop was on the Utah border where I could have taken a much better picture of the Idaho sign on the other side of the highway without any walking at all, but who would of thunk it, huh? As I got out of the car to take a picture with the Utah sign the smell of crap hit me like a brick. I thought to myself, damn somebody ripped a big one, but as I looked just beyond the sign I saw a whole pasture of cows, a sight I was going to see throughout the rest of my trip many a times, and the movie about global warming came to mind how it claimed that cows produce much more CO2 in methane than other industrial inventions, I certainly agreed with that assertion because of their stench on the Utah border, lol



After about an hour drive looking at the same tall mountains in front of me, going over some big ridges, and basically trying to go around the bigger peaks, I approached my destination for the night.

Salt Lake City, UT

I arrived in Salt Lake City just before sun down. My plan before I embarked on this journey was to spend the night on a town, explore the sights, and just enjoy the visit while spending the night, but the reality of the matter was slightly different. After taking a shower and grabbing a bite to eat, I was too tired to do anything and promptly crashed at another Choice Hotel I was staying at. Of all the Econo Lodges on my trip this was the nicest one by far, but of course it was the most expensive one as well, so I guess you get what you paid for.

The most impressive thing about Salt Lake City was how tall the mountains were in the background. I thought the city had some impressive high rises, but against the mountains they were puny, it seemed like the peaks soared thousands of feet above the city and since I'll be taking a possible trip with a layover in SLC towards the end of the year I got slightly worried of what would happen in bad weather either landing or taking off in a plane.

The next morning I left bright and early and after hitting some traffic on the I15 and I80 interchange I was high up in those very same mountains I described above. It was neat to say the least. The distance to Wyoming was rather short and soon enough I was in yet another ecological setting. Stupidly enough I didn't get gas just before Salt Lake which was quite cheap for the area at $2.49/gal for regular, I was thinking it would get cheaper, but as the Low Fuel Light came on I was forced to fill up at $2.99/gal wasting a few bux unnecessarily.

I purposely missed my exit in Cheyenne, WY to go the extra few miles to the Nebraska border, after a quick turnaround I was heading south on I25 towards Denver, Colorado. At the Colo border I came across a family of cowboys taking a picture with the same welcome sign, it was pretty neat to see that... they were in an old pick up truck, all wearing boots, jeans, and cowboy hats... Howdy, ya'll!

Before I left on the trip I was planning to spend some time in Denver and visit with friends, but since I booked a hotel room in Kansas and was running out of daylight I decided to bypass the city entirely and took the loop directly to I70 which after a few more boring hours took me to Kansas.



One thing that pissed me off about Kansas was the hotel rate. I could understand spending $69 bux for a cheap motel room in South Beach, Florida but in a middle of a corn field, come on?!

Oakley, KS

The hotel was about another hour from the border and it had gotten really dark by the time I got there. No highway lights along the interstate in this state, just a bunch of stars shining with the moonlight, it was simple life at its best. Google Maps of course got me very lost getting to the hotel which wasn't exactly right off the highway. Before I knew it I was on a dirt country road in a middle of a corn field. I realized the mistake and turned around when out of nowhere some redneck came flying along in an old Pontiac with high beams on, which scared the crap out of me because for a moment he was heading right into my car!

Yet another Econo Lodge and a complete night and day difference from the last one. As soon as I stepped out of the car to go check in I got hit hard again with the stench of horse crap! Not that I mind, I grew up on a farm back in Ukraine but after 13 years in America I hadn't experienced it in a while and frankly it took me by surprise. About the biggest attraction of the town was a big bronze statue of Buffalo Bill that was all light up at night. The rest, reminded me a lot about Ukraine, with the rolling hills full of wheat fields, corn fields and sunflower fields... I remember getting fresh sunflower on my grandma's farm just after it opened up in the morning and eating the soft seeds. Fried ones were my favorite but I didn't have the patience to let the flower dry...

The biggest surprise of all though was Wichita. It really skeeve'd me out seeing a sewer in the middle of I35... I could understand the water drying up in the summer heat but the stench was bad and I couldn't wait to get out of there. Shortly after I was in Oklahoma. The biggest surprise there was Oklahoma City, it was the complete opposite to Wichita. The city was nice, as seen from the Interstate, and I was really impressed with the clean new buildings and all the businesses along the way, I was under the impression Oklahoma was poor, it certainly didn't come across as that on my drive by.



The final stop for the night was a few miles north of Dallas in Lewisville, Texas. I had to make an emergency trip to Wal Mart as my driver side wiper blade totally failed at doing its job, I drove into a few rainy clouds in the previous states where it was perfectly sunny throughout but for a 1 or 2 mile patch of the highway, it got dark and rained, but the sun was still visible all around. I didn't think I would be so lucky in Texas as it was about to go dark and I didn't want to lose my ability to see the roadway. If it had started storming which was forecast ed for the night I would have had to pull over and wait it out or crash.

Dallas, TX

Luckily it didn't rain and although I was just under 250 miles from my destination I decided to spend the last night at the hotel and relax because after two days of driving for 12 hours straight each day it was taking a toll on me and I really do enjoy driving.

So I hit the local Cracker Barrel for dinner in the same complex as the Lewisville Econo Lodge which was a recently re badged MicroInn, and totally sucked. I got so many bed bug bites from that place I will avoid it like a plague from now on. However the food was good and I was really craving some grits and gravy and I got plenty of it there.

One of the biggest worries of my trip was that the car wasn't going to make it. I did everything I could to make sure it does, checking the oil along the way and just taking it easy for the whole trip as well as driving during the day to avoid road debree but the last leg of the trip almost earned me a ride on the tow truck for the rest of the journey. I started out really early on my drive to Houston because I decided to go on an earlier flight, and about an hour into the drive just south of Dallas I almost got put into a divider by a tractor trailer whose rear tire decided to blow out at 70mph. I saw a big poof of smoke, slowed down and braced myself as the car went over a huge tire thread that landed right in front of me as the truck pulled off the road. I heard a loud thump and quickly checked the dummy gauges to see if I had punctured any engine vitals, but God was good and luckily the car cleared the impact no problem.

I got to the destination early. Got dropped off at Hobby International and before you know it I was aboard a Jet Blue jet bound for New York. Since I actually had a good half an hour to kill I visited my Texas tradition as it is becoming lately since I visit this chain every time I'm in town. Pappassito's restaurant really hit the spot with a big chicken quesadilla. A few hours later I was in the NYC Subway heading to the Port Authority Terminal in midtown Manhattan. Got home and crashed from exhaustion. What a trip! 2,550 miles in 3 days (2 extra days were spend on getting to and from the destination on the planes which doesn't really count)

Can't wait to do it again, although if I should be lucky enough to attempt this I would definitely take the southern route through California. For this particular trip it would have been 200 miles longer but driving closer to the sea level is probably a little easier and more relaxing.