The drive to Portland

On March 21st, Adrienne and I decided that Portland Oregon would be the best fit for our future. The only catch to this was I would have to start my new job with CH2M Hill on April 14th, a full 5 months before Adrienne will start. So I put my two weeks in at HDC on March 24th and the planning for my move began. I am putting this blog together to chronicle my experiences in Portland.

So lets see I am moving to Portland to start a new job all by myself. The only things I will be able to bring are what I can fit into my car and drive with me. I won't sign a lease on an apartment sight unseen, so Ill have to find one after I get into town. This might be appealing to some, but based on my control freak kind of personality it was a stressful two final weeks of work.

I pulled out of Champaing on April 5th at around 12:00. I listened to my final reds game on 700WLW, as this will be the first location I have ever lived where I wont get this station. I held out as long as I could, 8 full innings, until it became unbearable with static. Now you have to realize unbearable static for the reds is extreme static. I can remember listening to reds games on the radio with my dad in Toledo growing up it was always a bit staticy. I think the static would drive most people crazy, but to me it has always been a part of the reds on the radio. On day one I drove for a good solid 9 hrs made it to Sioux Falls, SD a total of 637 Miles.

On the second day, I was heading to Badlands National Park. The park is located in western SD about 300 miles west of Sioux Falls. During this portion of the drive, snow and ice became an issue. I had to actually stop the drive and eat in a random diner in the town of Murdo, SD. The diner was called the GTO Cafe (http://www.gtodiner.com/) I was surprised to see they even had a website. So after an hour lunch I continued my drive. By the time I hit the Badlands, I had blue skys and lots of sun. A great day to drive through a gorgeous park. Lots of wildlife in the badlands, and not very many people. I saw only three other cars the entire time I was there. It was a really nice relaxing afternoon. After the badlands, it was off to Mount Rushmore. Not a bad thing to see in person, but to me it is like a monument. After you spend about 15min looking at it you have seen it with your own eyes, not much else to see. I had intended on walking the trail for different views, but snow prohibited this part of my journey. After mount Rushmore it was off to Deadwood, SD for the night. Deadwood is a great town of casinos. I don't think any building there didn't have a casino housed. I bet there were 50+ casinos in a town with really only one main street. I ate at the Gem Saloon, saw the location where wild bill hickock was shot, and gambled very little. (Not a lot of cards being played this time of year on a Sunday night).

Day three I had a stop planned for Devils Tower. Based on the weather forecast before I left Deadwood, I decided to forgo this stop to try and get north of a front coming through my drive route. Since I didn't make that stop, and the NCAA championship game was this day, I drove until this game was to start. My final destination was Deer Lodge, Montana. A quaint little town west of Butte. The view from anywhere in town was just awesome. I don't think I could get tired of looking at snowy mountains. It recently snowed and the scenery was great.

Day four I was awoken early (6:30) by someone who forgot about the time difference (Adrienne). So instead of rolling back over I just got on the road at 7:30. I thought I might stop in the Columbia River Gorge area east of Portland, but decided I needed to arrive at my destination and be done spending long days in the car. I did stop along the way and take pictures in Idaho at a rest area, and then again in the Gorge area. The drive from about 90miles east of Portland is just great. You are basically following the river the entire 90miles, and the scenery is breath taking. Several locations there are 100' waterfalls visible from the road.

I pulled into Portland on Tuesday April 8th around 5:00 PST I drove a total of 2,364 miles, averaging 22.2 MPG, using a total of 106 Gallons of gas over my four day journey. The drive was awesome, and the scenery was so pretty. By the end I was ready to be out of the car, but I would do it again in a heart beat.