The Grand Move: Part 1

We began our move from Eugene, OR to Cincinnati, OH this Sunday.  I love to see new things, and the majority of this 2,500 mile trip is entirely new. Once we got outside of Portland, OR and headed east, I'd only been there as a fairly young child. Once we got past Spokane, WA, it began to be 100% new  AND  once we got through the Idaho panhandle, every state will be new too. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

Travelling like this can be challenging, chronic illness or not. It's been easier on both of us to admit that we need to take it slow and we need to pay attention. To our bodies, to our minds, to our surroundings. We're going in 6-7 hour spurts and taking a lot of breaks. This includes large quantities of water, chia seeds, excessive usage of yelp for decent food, and most importantly: cuddles and kisses! Jose doesn't drive manual, and I get super carsick anyway, so I am doing all the driving. Jose has to put up with me greeting every single field of livestock and train that we pass. Every one of them. That is, of course, my only flaw as a roadtrip partner.

 Our first day from Eugene to Spokane was lovely:

A sendoff from our buddies at Starbucks!

A wrong turn somewhere near The Dalles, OR

Jose hanging out at The Dalles, OR

Another wrong turn in Spokane, WA

Our second day, from Spokane, WA to Bozeman, MT was less lovely. In fact, we got downright cranky and angry. This was a result of not paying enough attention to our bodies, not being able to read where the mountain passes were in our atlas, and generally 100% not liking Montana at all. Sorry, Montana fans! This interracial couple didn't fair well there.

It started off well enough in Montana...

Then, in Missoula, it did a downpour to make us PNWers squirm.
It got worse from there. No more pictures.

Day 3 from Bozeman, MT to Dickinson, ND was a much happier day. We felt better as soon as we got out of Montana -- whether that was a psychological thing or what, I don't know. All that matters is that we got in to our hotel by the estimated arrival time. That was even with accidentally finding a national park and spending a half hour wandering it in the cold.

The only time we were glad it was cold and rainy. 

Damn, those lands are bad.

It was cold and very, very windy. Plus some drizzle!

More Badlands. Because. 

Tomorrow we head out from Dickinson, ND to the lovely Eden Prairie, MN. Not only is it our longest scheduled drive, but we also lose an hour from time zones. Oops. Probably should've planned that one better.