How Did I Get Here?

Destination: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Origin: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Who: Husband, dog, and I
Vehicle: My 9 year old Malibu sedan with a trunk and backseat filled to the brim, and 2 bikes strapped to the back of the car.

Six days of driving for over 3000 miles (that 4800 km, as I am now starting to immerse myself into metric system only.) We saw 13 different states that week. The view along the way was amazing, you find out how diverse this land truly can be from mountains and prairies, forest and desert, snow storms and sun.

Day one: This was definitely the most difficult day, emotionally and physically. It was one of the longer days on the road but it was also the last day in our Pittsburgh home.
Zac woke up early and headed down to Lexington, Kentucky with our old loveseat that we gifted to his brother, then he was to head onto his parent's home in Paducah, Kentucky to spend some time there and leave his old truck for his day to use. I stayed behind to finish a few last minute chores in preparation for realtor viewings later that afternoon. My sister drove up from northern Virginia to receive a guest bed that we gifted to her and her husband. I have never been so grateful for my sister in my entire life because those "last minute chores" turned into "final hour to do list." My target ETA of 10am turned into 1:30 after everything was loaded, I pawned off my refrigerator contents to neighbors, and cleaned every single square foot of flooring in the home.
I was grateful for those last moments when a few neighbors came by for a farewell hug and to wish me luck. In hindsight I remember being so very nonchalant with their farewells, but I know I was too stressed about getting on the road to get emotional. But boy-oh-boy, did those emotions come flooding in when it was time to walk out of the door one last time. I cried like I lost someone dear to me. That final moment and realization of what I was leaving behind sunk in and hit me like a truck. Thank God for my amazing sister who was an all-star at comforting me at that moment, I know I couldn't have done it without her.
Anywho, I ugly cried as I drove out of our neighborhood and all the way to Wendy's for my late lunch, (I didn't care if they saw me ugly cry, I was leaving town and when I come back to visit I doubt dining at Wendy's will be on must-do list.)
I recall some advice a friend gave me about moving, "it hurts when you first leave, but soon the excitement of your new journey will take over and it won't hurt as bad." My goodness they were right! Later that night when I finally reached my 1st overnight stop at my in-law's Kentucky home I wasn't sad any more. I think pure exhaustion was the only feeling I had.
Day one states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky

Day two we crossed the Gateway to the West in St. Louis, Missouri. (Sorry for the crappy phone pictures that we took in-transit)

Day Two: We spent most of the morning spending time with family in Kentucky, which is certainly time well spent. Looking back I wish we gave ourselves more time in our travels to enable us to spend more time with family.
Eventually we hit the road, leaving Kentucky and crossing Illinois and Missouri it wasn't until we reached Kansas when we started to discover unfamiliar topography. The prairies were so peaceful and beautiful. I'm sure to those who live there and see this everyday it's boring to them. But to us it was new and exciting.
Thanks to my Aunt Jan, Uncle Mike and my cousin John for letting all of us crash at their home in Kansas for the night. Luckily my aunt was smart enough to document our chariot and the lovely packing that we somehow rigged.
Day two states: Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas.

Yes, that is a banjo on the roof of the car... That's how we roll.

Cotton is afraid that we would forget him, so he is on-guard next to his crate.

Day Three: So we departed from Central Kansas and continued onward on the Vancouver Trail. We made it to Denver without a bump in the road. However, as soon as we reached Denver a blizzard started to reveal itself. So we pressed on our intended route to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Day three states: Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.

Bike-cicles

Day Four: Rise and shine in snowy Cheyenne, Wyoming! We soon learn that our intended route was closed due to the storm. So after much deliberation we decided to turn back towards Denver and continue our west-ward journey thru southern Utah. Bad news; we had to backtrack and lose over 4 hours of driving time. Good news; we saw some of the most beautiful sights in America while driving in Colorado and Utah.

Day four states: Wyoming, Colorado (again), and Utah.

West Colorado

Utah, near the Colorado state line.

Southeast Utah

Day Five: Now we are getting to the part of the trip for us where all of the romance of the exploration starts to wear off. Despite our exhaustion of being in the car for nearly 40 hours in less than a week, we still somehow had a patient for each other. We were fueled by the excitement of what awaited us at the end of the road and to start the new chapter in our lives.
We stayed the night in central Washington, our last night of traveling and staying in a hotel. Hooray!
Day five states: Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

We missed the Oregon border the 1st time, so we looped around to view it again. 

Day Six: Final day for travel. Yippee!
We saw the rest of Washington, including our last major city, Seattle. Then we crossed into the amazingly beautiful British Columbia. The rest and best is yet to come.

Monument at the border. Inscription reads "Children of a Common Mother."

Welcome to British Columbia! We've made it!