Cross Country Road Trip 2019!! (Patreon)

This spring we were offered the generous gift of one of the Turcich family cars, a rad 2011 Toyota Rav 4! The only catch being the car was in Pennsylvania, and we live 3,000 miles away in Washington. 

The perfect opportunity arose when I made plans to fly to the East Coast for my youngest sister's college graduation. We would load up the car in Pennsylvania, drive down to Virginia for the graduation, then drive back to Seattle. 

Of course we would savor our perhaps one-and-only cross country road trip opportunity, and are lucky enough to have jobs that allow us to take our time getting back to the West Coast. What resulted was a gorgeous, adventurous, exhausting, and energizing trip that I would love to share with you all! I hope you enjoy, and I thank you for your patience while I took this opportunity and slowly recover from the routine shake-up.

55 Hours, 3,583 Miles, 15 States, 7 Stops

PENNSYLVANIA (Pursue your Happiness)

Zach's childhood home of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and the first stop on the journey! A great chance for Zach and I to see his parents, two younger brothers, and Schnoodle Maggie, as well as to transfer the title of the car and load it up with whatever stuff he wasn't able to fly across the country. 

In Pennsylvania we:

• Got vegan Philly Cheezesteaks from Blackbird Pizzeria 
• Saw a few of Zach's high school friends, one of whom is engaged and pregnant (wow, I'm still just getting used to taking care of a cat!)
• Made pizzas and sat around a bonfire with Zach's brothers and parents.
• Went through and packed up a bunch of Zach's childhood things (we brought back the complete Harry Potter Book collection, a full set of the original Pokemon Cards, an Xbox 360, GameCube, and so many video games.)

VIRGINIA (is for Lovers)

After transferring the car and saying goodbye-for-now to Zach's family, we drove through the craziness that is I-95, swung by D.C. to pick up my sister Kenna (who flew in from Colorado.) With Kenna in tow, we slogged our way through the traffic to Newport News, Virginia, home of Christopher Newport University and alma mater of my youngest sister!

My youngest sister, Nora Land Dickard, graduated in May 2019 from Christopher Newport University with a degree in Accounting and a minor in Business Leadership. While at school she was very active in her sorority Phi Mu, for which she acted as treasurer and planned a couple big events. She also had an awesome internship at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Virginia, and after school she is headed back there for her Real Actual Adult Job!

  I'm SO PROUD of her!

Virginia was mostly hot and humid while we were there. I think of that May mugginess every time a Seattleite complains about a dry 80 degrees in July. A 'hot summer day' is like a breezy Easter morning on the East Coast.

After celebrating Lane's graduation with family, celebrating Mother's Day in my hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia , and packing up a few more things, Zach and I set off on our road trip!

We had to stop and take a picture at our first state border of the trip, West Virginia! Can you feel the stormy humidity from this picture?

Kentucky (Unbridled Spirit)

Our first road trip stop was Lousiville, Kentucky! Zach's birthplace and the home to much of his extended family. We had the joy of staying with his Aunt's Kathy and Carol and his grandmother Mimi in their lovely home. They were wonderful hosts for my first visit to Kentucky, and showed us so much of their lovely town in the one day we had to stop by.

Kentucky is known for BOURBON, and as Zach and I love taking Production Tours while visiting cities, his Aunt Kathy took us on the Old Forester tour on Bourbon Street.

I'm more of a beer and wine drinker than liquor, but bourbon far outranks vodka, gin, and tequila on my list. I always love getting a rundown of 'how to properly taste' different drinks, and it was funny seeing these macho southern men acting all superior at the bourbon tasting. 

A couple years ago Zach visited Kentucky and came back with $300 worth of whiskey bottles. They've been waiting for him in Pennsylvania, and we were finally able to bring them back to Seattle with us. Our liquor shelf is definitely full now! 

Among the other Louisville highlights was visiting Morels Cafe, a vegan diner that makes copycat versions of popular fast food, with the awesome motto of "The Future is Fake".

We bought two Chik-Faux-Le Sandwiches and a Farby's (yeah, fake Arby's) sandwich. Zach's Aunt ate her Chik-Faux-Le sandwich and said, " This is VEGAN? Don't tell anyone, but... This is better than the real thing."

They also had a cute little vegan store in the back where we bought all-vegan jerky for camping, marshmallows (which we made in the rice crispy treats,)  poptarts, and a cupcake. I didn't do the adorable wall art, but I wish I had.

After getting a speedy tour of Louisville, eating vegan fast food and hot browns, meeting to chat with about half of Zach's sweet extended family, we packed up and headed for our next stop!

KANSAS (Simply Wonderful)

Kansas was the halfway point between Kentucky and our next stop, Colorado. And it seems like the state knows they're just a stop in the middle. Having heard a lot of bad things about Kansas (It's just totally flat and empty, nothing but corn, super boring, watch out for tornadoes) I was determined to find the good in this state!

It definitely wasn't as flat or empty as I was expecting based on what people said, there was a lot of rolling hills and it only flattened out occasionally. But as much as I was looking for the good in our short trip there, a couple of things added up to make the state feel vaguely  threatening or ominous. 

For one thing, driving through Kansas caked our windshield with so many enormous bugs that you would think we were driving through a plague. Grasshoppers, maybe? There were also a lot of farms with fallen down barns and creepy anti-choice roadside signs. Whew, spooky. 

Despite the threatening atmosphere, Zach and I found a place to camp in Paxico, Kansas (population 221.) We were the only tent in this trailer-filled railroad track-side campground. $20 to camp sure beats a $100 motel! 

Our campsite had some interesting decorations at the entrance, perhaps it was formerly the town gas station?

Speaking of the 'town', I had to snap some pictures of the strip of 5 buildings in the middle of farmland that constitute the main street. It looks like it functions as a small tourist destination some part of the year, but as we drove through it was completely empty. Again, spooky.

I think this is Paxico's only bar and restaurant. Totally empty both at night and in the morning.

Goodbye, Kansas, you spooky, weird place. 

COLORADO (Colorful Colorado,  Fresh Air and Fond Memories Served Daily)

Home of my middle sister, Kenna and her Australian Shepherd, Jasper. My sister studied Psychology and Non-Profit Studies in college, served in Americorps in Denver, and is now working as a social worker in Boulder. So! Cool!

Like me and Zach, Kenna loves the outdoors and hiking, and as soon as we arrived she took our tired selves up into the mountains outside of Boulder for a beautiful sunset view.

Our main excursion in Boulder was to visit the gorgeous Red Rocks Amphitheater where we watched a little bit of the coolest High School graduation ever, and took a quick little hike in the adjoining Red Rocks Park.

We snagged some lunch from local vegan chain Native Foods Cafe, then played a game of Settlers of Catan in a Boulder microbrewery. Because 1: We play Catan obsessively with Kenna like some families play Monopoly, and 2: Boulder-Denver-Fort Collins are known as the "Napa Valley of Beer" due to the number of microbreweries.

After visiting Colorado we had planned to drive north to Yellowstone and spend a few days there before heading west to Seattle. But with the forecast calling for snow and storms in Yellowstone during our planned visit, we instead decided to head directly west from Boulder, to UTAH! 

The drive through western Colorado is absolutely gorgeous, and I wanted to share some shots of the area with you.

Zach described this mountain part of Colorado as a 'much drier Washington.'

In the Rocky Mountains of Western Colorado on the way to the deserts of Utah we stopped at a snow covered rest area. You could tell which visitors were there to cross-country ski and which were stopping through on their way to warmer areas. Can you tell which I am?

Driving down out of the snowy mountains our temperature gauge swung 30 degrees higher within an hour or two, as we approached the wide, gorgeous, spacious natural wonders of Southern Utah.

UTAH (Life Elevated)

Back in Moab, Utah almost exactly a year after I first visited. Zach and I took Kenna's old park entry pass that would expire at the end of the month and headed out in search of a Bureau of Land Management campground on a Saturday afternoon. After past the 20+ all full BLM campsites for an hour, and laughing at the $70 a night privately owned campsites, Zach read online about "The Ledges." 

The Ledges are the Moab campsites that apparently fill up last "due to their further distance from Moab." He uncertainly directed me to "just keep following the road" I was on. The road we followed turned in to a bumpy gravel road with only tiny ATVs, and a steep dropoff with no shoulder. I felt sure I wasn't supposed to be there in my 'regular' car, that I was going to be run off the road or get stuck and have to somehow turn around with all the ATVs honking at me... until we finally came to a parking lot full of other 'regular cars'.  We weren't even sure if this crazy road was leading us to the campsites, so we briefly debated sucking it up, turning around and paying for a hotel. 

We checked a map in the parking lot and it looked like we were going in the right direction. I looked around at some of the other people in the parking lot and said "I deserve to be here as much as any of these people, and our car can handle it." And we carefully continued on the bumpy crazy road.

I'll always remember coming to a particularly windy, steep, and scary part of the gravel road, and seeing a small sedan making it's way up toward us. I paused my car to give the other time to make its way up. As it drove past us, the older man driving it gave us a big, solid thumbs up. 

That thumbs up said to both of us: "You've got this. Driving on this is hard for all of us, not just you. Thanks for waiting, and don't worry, others will wait for you too."

We drove carefully down the canyon to a couple big campsites with blessed empty spaces.

Shaken and tired, but empowered, we set up our camp. And made plans to try to find a closer campsite in the morning.

Which we did! We succeeded in finding a new campsite in the morning, after giving the previous campers time to pack up and head out. 

The gorgeous Colorado river view from our second campsite. 

The day we set up our second campsite was very windy, and we had a really rough time hammering in our stakes to the very hard ground without a hammer. We were able to nail some of them partway in, and put our big pack of firewood inside to weigh it down. It seemed solid to us, but after a long day of hiking in windy conditions we were afraid our tent might not still be there.

Apparently our tent had almost blown into the beautiful Colorado river during the day, but our kind camping neighbors saw and tied our tent to the table. They literally saved our brand new tent, and even gave us one of their old hatchets to help with hammering in the stakes. 

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

While our tent was getting thrashed around by the wind, we got thrashed around by the wind on some trails in the AMAZING Arches National Park! I recommended the Delicate Arch trail first, as it seems like a perfect example of an Arches trail, is fairly difficult and interesting in parts, and is always very busy (therefore good to get out of the way.)

I won't be able to fully explain the science part of Utah's geology, so the simple version is the area is an ancient dry sea bed that was compressed in to sandstone, and then the sandstone was pushed up like the wrinkles of a rug. Then, water and wind eroded part of the sandstone down to huge, varied shapes and formations. 

Shapes like arches that people like us love to look at and take pictures near!

Delicate Arch, pictured above, is one of the symbols of Utah and the Southwestern U.S. Even on a cloudy, extremely gusty Sunday afternoon dozens of visitors of all ages and around the world were literally waiting in line and shouting at each other to take their picture with it. 

I prefer solitude and physical challenges to these kinds of spots filled with people jostling for a picture, but it's still fun to check it out.

One of my favorite of the physical challenges is one of the longest in Arches NP, the Primitive Trail at Devils Garden . When I first visited it in 2018, I was almost scared off by the 8 mile length and 'difficult' warning. But now it is my favorite trail in the world. It feels like an obstacle course made by nature, and I love it.

About halfway through the trail we came across a trio of backtracking hikers who couldn't find their way ahead, and that it got "really scary". I told them that you just follow the small cairns and go up and over the rock fins. They replied that they had tried but they were turning back. "Good luck!" They warned as they left. 

Another group of hikers came our direction and said "the trail gets really dicey up ahead!" I knew exactly which part they were talking about, and said "Oh good, my favorite part!"

According to the National Park Website " The obstacles in this segment include difficult route finding, steep slopes, narrow drop-offs, and rock scrambling."

This is the part I'm talking about, rock scrambling! It's similar to rock climbing but much less steep, and much easier. I think I should take up rock climbing because this kind of thing fills me with joy. Again, it's like an obstacle course made by nature and it's AMAZING!

On the second half of our long hike the trail was completely empty, as rain was in the forecast and the weekend was almost over. We reveled in the emptiness of such a normally busy trail.

2019 vs 2018

Is this was absolute joy looks like? I think so.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

For our second day we drove an hour out from Moab to Canyonlands National Park. I won't belabor this park too much as this is a SUPER long travelogue. Canyonlands National Park is similar to Arches but more... Canyon-y. I remember being absolutely enthralled with the vast distances you can see while gazing out over the canyons when I first visited last year, and the effect remains the same.

Cloudier, chillier, and a little quieter on this Monday visit, we walked a few of the more popular trails and soaked in the views.

One of our favorite hikes was Upheaval Dome, a mysterious geologic feature in the middle of a huge crater. It's theorized to either be a salt dome, similar in movement to a glacier, or the impact site of an ancient 1/3 mile diameter meteorite. Either way it has a hike with many people in the first part, and a more difficult second hike with much fewer people. And much more of that good good rock scrambling.

Most excitingly to me and Zach, we were standing alone looking out over the crater, when we heard what sounded like the faint buzz of a fly. No, a cow mooing? When we listened more closely we realized it was the bleating of a sheep or mountain goat somewhere in the crater. It baaa-ed a few more times while we tried desperately to spot it, and then it stopped.

Whenever I look at a picture of the Upheaval Dome I'll remember the soft sound of an animal calling in the distance.

We were tired from our miles and miles of hiking, chilly, and it was starting to rain softly, but we were determined to visit one more place in the park. We pulled in to the EMPTY parking lot for the Aztec Butte Trail and set off on the empty trail. The Pueblo Granaries tucked in to cliff side felt mysterious with no one else around. It felt like we were discovering them for the first time. 

It definitely seems like a place that would be swarming with people taking pictures on any other day, so it was a lovely, quiet final  way to end the Moab trip.

Wildlife Break! Check out this RAVEN! You all know I love the Seattle Crows so you better believe I was excited to see the Moab Ravens. Did you know they are roughly the same size as a Mallard Duck? That's a big corvid.

WASHINGTON (The Evergreen State)

And so with Washington in our sight, with tired legs and inspired minds we headed north from Utah. This travelogue is getting pretty long so I'll try to quickly summarize our last two days of driving!

• Driving by Salt Lake City felt like a literal hellscape. Apparently it normally only rains 4 days a year, but while we were driving through there was crazy rain and thunderstorms. On top of that there was tons of traffic and construction, 5 lane highways, everybody drove the same fast speed and there was a weird amount of plastic surgery billboards. It was like the Twilight Zone.
• Parts of Idaho was gorgeous, but had a lot of warnings signs (High winds, Blinding Dust Storm Area, Severe Storm Area, Wildlife Migration Area.) There was also an upsetting amount of muddy crowded cattle farms and trucks stuffed full of cows. 
• We camped for the night at Bruneau Dunes State Park, which was beautiful, but we were a little to tired and rushed to fully appreciate.
• Watching the transition of arid Eastern Washington to lush Evergreen Western Washington was beautiful. I look forward to exploring more of my chosen home state, especially the wineries of Eastern Washington.
• In each state that we passed through Zach read aloud to me the Wikipedia page for that state. He loved learning about the politics and history of each state, and I especially loved learning about the major industries and culture. 

And thus concludes the Great Cross Country Road Trip of 2019. Our first and definitely not our last. My next road trip goal is to travel down the California coast and back.

I'm still not totally back in the art saddle after our trip, but I need to be soon, as there's lots to come! In the meantime I hope writing this travelogue out will help me process the trip a little better, as it still fills like a bit of a blur.

I hope you enjoyed this quick-ish tour through my big adventure for this month! I hope this car will enable even more adventures in the future, both for myself and for my business.

Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting me, and thanks for caring.

xoxo

Ragon