Westward ho! Summer 2012

We're finally on the move again. With the end of Eli's summer soccer season on July 18th (well, actually his season ended the week before with a pulled hamstring but he wanted to support his teammates through their last two games) we could finally squeeze in a trip west before high school soccer starts on August 6th. Here's a brief synopse of the first leg of the trip. 6:45pm, Marshfield, Wisconsin. On Thursday (July 19) we left Marshfield after Ellen finished work--Dad and Eli in the trusty Sienna van that has 213,500 miles on it and Tony driving the Honda with Mom as co-pilot. 9:45pm, Minneapolis, Minnesota. We dropped off the Honda at the Minneapolis airport parking and proceeded onward with Tony sleeping on the floor and Eli on the back seat while Doug tuned into the Hunger Games audiobook. 12:30am, Alexandria, Minnesota The first of many gas stops. 4:42am, Bismarck, North Dakota We filled up with 13 gallons and saw TV headlines about a shooting that just happened in Aurora, Colorado at a theater. We drove through a remarkable lightening storm that lasted for well over an hour--first on all three sides of us and finally pouring down and striking closely around us. We're glad when the storm lets up and we start to see the early morning dawn. 8:32am, Miles City, Montana We filled up with 12 gallons of gas and two quarts of orange juice. Ellen took over at the wheel after Doug needed to remove his lenses. Three states done, four to go. 11:36am, Bozeman, Montana We filled up with 14.8 gallons. Tony took over driving since the straight roads were behind us. 3:10pm, St Regis, Montana We stopped for a bathroom break, bought out the convenience store, and Dad took over at the wheel again. It took three drivers to get us all the way across that huge state! 5:05pm, Liberty Lake, Washington We filled up east of Liberty Lake with 17 gallons and then pulled into a McDonalds to use the wifi to make motel reservations. For some reason we couldn't get 3G coverage in the mountains of western Montana and northern Idaho! 5:40pm, Spokane, Washington We arrived at a slightly aged Comfort Inn in Spokane, Washington. Mom and Dad walked next door to Qdoba for dinner but Tony and Eli stayed at the room! 10:30am, Friday, July 20th We pulled out again after Doug found some dry ice to freeze the thawed out ice packs that were needed to keep 4 weeks of insulin cold. 3:30pm, Troutdale, Oregon So after driving through the beautiful Columbia Gorge, we stopped at an outlet mall so Tony could get some socks and a swim suit while Dad filled up the van. 4:30pm, Portland, Oregon We arrived at the Holm's and were greeted with weLcome signs and hugs from two excited girls and their parents. Nana was ecstatic to be with the girls. Doug was just glad the first 1900 miles of our journey was complete.