National Road Trip - Home Stretch

Here we are. 500 some miles away from home. From my own bed. My own shower. My laundry machine. And of course, from Liz :D

It was sad to be leaving the Barklow's, but it was nice knowing that the miles that laid ahead of us were nothing in comparison to those we'd already crossed.

We hoped on the road around 7:45 and before we knew it, we had a choice to make. According to the weather reports, the route we wanted to take (Snoqualmie Pass), had gotten a ridiculous amount of snow and if the pass was open, chains were required. Eric did not have chains. Even if he did have chains, they wouldn't fit on his little-itty-bitty-modified-homemade-kit of a car. So, without too much debate, we decided to hug the Columbia River and take I5 from Portland. The unfortunate part was that we weren't going to be able to stop at my mom's for a short visit.

Sorry Mom.

And because it would be the middle of the day when we hit Portland, we weren't going to be able to stop and see Shawn.

Sorry Shawn.

Of course, as soon as we made the decision to stay in Oregon, it started snowing. And before long we found ourselves driving about 30mph on iced roads with horrible traction. Eric seemed to have things under control so I decided to close my eyes for a few minutes. I fell asleep to these images...

And before I knew it, Eric was pulling over at a rest stop and this was the view.

I was quite surprised. I couldn't believe that I had been asleep for that long. And long enough to pass through a complete climate change. I was even thinking I was dreaming. But nope, I had just really been that tired. So then it was my turn to drive. I finished the drive all the way back to Tacoma. These are the last pictures taken before Washington.

And wouldn't you know, it hadn't been but five minutes into Washington state, and it started raining. Not the mist rain that most people complain about, but the kind of rain that makes you wonder if we were experiencing a second flood. It was intense. But it was nice to be back to the familiar.

Here are the times that we entered the remaining two states:
PST
07:30am - Oregon
01:38pm - Washington

So, after 42 hours, 12 states, 3060 plus miles, $219 in gas, 15 or so bathroom stops, 3 or 4 naps each, 49 cigarettes (smoked by Eric), 2 fast food meals, 6 Red Bulls, 3 sermons, 3 episodes of The Office, 1 bag of chips, 5 candy bars, 0 salads, countless songs on Eric's iPod, almost being pulled over once, 3 semi trucks trying to run us off the road for blinding them with Eric's headlights, and Eric telling me to go easy on his stupid 'Lambo' doors 4 times we made it across the country.

Welcome home Eric.

Amazing Race??