Great Day of Travel

Unfortunately, I've got no great way to measure my travel except by Google Maps estimated drive times. My desktop runs MS Streets & Trips, but this netbook doesn't have that. So, I am using the estimated driving times from Google Maps (GM) to measure my progress.

Thursday, I drove for just a little under 5 hours, and covered a distance that Google Maps said was 5:30. Okay, good starting reference. Google Maps puts the entire trip at 35:10, though I obviously move faster than Google Maps predicts. Today, I started out from St. Charles, MO around 8:20 and drove until almost 9:00 (8:00 local time). In that 12:40, I covered what Google Maps (GM) said was 14:00. Whatever, I'm now in Cheyenne, WY.

Here's the really great part. I've covered 19:30 GM hours out of just over 35. So, I'm over halfway there. (55% actually). Assuming things go reasonably well tomorrow, I plan on driving just over 12 GM hours and staying in Ontario, OR. That would be only 87% of today, so it should be totally doable. That would leave me less than 4.5 hours into Walla Walla on Sunday. That's a good thing, so that I can arrive well before 3:00 PST so that I can see the VIkings beat the Saints and go on to their 5th Super Bowl (and what will most assuredly be the Colts third Super Bowl, and their second loss).

Today was another good day of travel, though the weather was pretty marginal. The temps hung in the mid to high 30's, but there was fog the entire way. It was foggy all the way across Missouri, it was foggy in Iowa, it was foggy all the way across Nebraska, and the fog cleared about 20 miles outside of Cheyenne. Fortunately, the fog was of the type where you could see plenty well enough to drive fast safely. There was a good half-mile of visibility, but it was depressing. Teo again rode well in the back seat attached to his cable. We had a few walks at rest areas, but not really enough. I owe this puppy when we get to Walla Walla.

I"ve covered a lot of states in my travels so far. I was in 3 states on Thursday (IN, IL, MO), 4 states today (MO, IA, NE, WY), will be in 4 states tomorrow (WY, UT, ID, OR), and 2 states on Sunday (OR and WA), for a total of 10 states on this trip. Great explore, great fun, sort of.

I finally heard from the person in control of my temporary living in Walla Walla. She sent me an email at 5:12 (I"m not sure what time zone that 5:12 applies to, but at least I've got something) giving me the address of the condo and the security code for the garage. Once inside, I obtain the keys and garage opener (after living in downtown Madison for 17 years, I almost asked, what's a garage?). I'll be in temp living fro up to a month, then moving into my permanent home.

For the record, should anyone want to mail me anything, my new permanent address will be

950 Boyer Avenue
Walla Walla, WA 99362