Day 60 and 61 (July 5 and 6, 2010)– Work and Trip Planning

For now there is nothing to do but work and plan my next adventure. For this week’s days off, I am planning a trip to North Cascades National Park with two of my friends. The current plan is to leave Wed. morning, and stop somewhere at 11:30 to watch the Germany Spain Soccer game and then drive up to the Ross Lake National Recreation Area and have some fun there. Then camp at Marble Creek Campground and the next day hike up to Hidden Lake.

Day 2 - Ending Location – St Joseph, MO

A. Start Location – Berea, Ky
B. Goal – Sweet Springs, MO
C. Actual – St. Joseph, MO
     Today was a long day. I drove just over 11 hours for Berea, KY to St Joseph, MO. My day was supposed to be Berea, KY to Sweet Springs, MO, and 9 hours of driving.
     It summer vacation and I am still getting up before 10:00 a.m. Though it didn’t help that Haleigh had class at 8 something, so I got up with her and left just before her class started. I made really good time until right before Lexington, KY. Everything was going great until someone ahead of my slammed on their breaks and brought both lanes of traffic to a screeching halt. Thankfully, I had left plenty of following room and was able to stop safely. I look-up into my rear view mirror and the guy behind me is looking scared and looks like he is going to rear-end me. As I was watching him try to stop all I could think about was “not my new car” and “please don’t hit me I have barely gotten to use it.” By some act of God, I wasn’t rear-ended. Looking back, I should have been less worried about my car and more worried about how I was getting to my job if my car got wrecked. But I was fine and so was my car so everything was good until I entered Indiana. Once in Indiana, the wind picked up with gust that could push my car around. It was kind of scary getting knocked about and watching the tractor trailers get battered around too.
     St. Louis, MO was a disappointment. I wanted to stop and take pictures of the St. Louis Arch from across the river, but there was no were to pull off or an exit that a sign pointing to a observation deck, so I didn’t get any pictures. After, St. Louis, the driving nice, except for the wind gusts and the dark ominous sky, though it never did storm.

Another intresting thing I found was the cop count in each state:
Kentucky - 5
Indiana - 6
Illinois - 0
Missouri - 5

Trip Woes

     I never realized how much work went into planning any trip. I am having some slight issues with figuring out how I am going to drive across country and visit my best friend, Mammoth Cave National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Yellowstone National Park along the way.
     I finally figured out how to drive across country. I decided that I would rather have the extra day at home so I decide to skip visiting Mammoth Cave on this trip. Here is the plan:

• 06-May-10 – Visit Best Friend 
• 07-May-10 – Drive
• 08-May-10 –  Drive
• 09-May-10 – Drive
• 10-May-10 – Grand Tetons National Park
• 11-May-10 – Grand Tetons National Park
• 12-May-10 – Yellowstone National Park
• 13-May-10 – Yellowstone National Park
• 14-May-10 – Drive
• 15-May-10 – North Cascades National Park
• 16-May-10 - Arrive at Work

     Now the only problem, I face is packing my bags so I can drive across country. I am having serious trouble in deciding what I want to take and what I need to take. I have literally taken over a third of my parent’s house.
     Besides trouble packing, I have been having issues deciding on what sleeping bag, do I want. I am having issues balancing weight with the temperature rating. I think I have decided to go with a 15 or 20 degree bag depending on price.
     In other news, I finally got Verizon to send me a replacement phone. It only took four trips to the Verizon store and one phone call.