The Trip Begins

We're very excited that the countdown is over and it's time to hit the road and head west.  Our plan was to leave at 7:00 a.m. this morning, and we came really close, pulling out around 7:10 a.m.  

The ride was pretty much uneventful, except for a few challenging parts of Interstate 70 that involved mountain passes in western Maryland and Pennsylvania.  Without fail, must as we gained momentum to head up an incline, some idiot in a minivan (and there were multiple idiots in minivans) would put on their brakes and drive nice and slow, effectively killing our momentum and making it harder on our engine to climb the hill.  

My only other comment on the drive is that I've been driving on various parts of the Pennsylvania Turnpike since I went to college, and after all my travels around the United States, it is undoubtedly one of the worst-maintained roads in this country.  It's always under construction and it never gets better.  

We drove through patches of rain along the day's drive, but nothing too heavy.  We stopped in Cambridge, Ohio for gas and to stretch our legs, and as we pulled in, an Amish mother and two girls were getting into their buggy (as in horse and buggy) after picking something up at the store at the gas station.  We watched them head off down the road, clippity clopping and being passed by cars as they went.

We arrived at the Cross Creek Campground around 3:30 p.m.  We picked Columbus as our first stop so we could visit Jeff's friends who live here.  It's becoming a tradition when headed west to stop here; this was our first and next-to-last last stop on our 2011 road trip.  After a long day's drive, it was nice to have dinner and hang out at a friend's house.

Early to bed tonight.  We have another long drive tomorrow.

Counting Down the Days...

The itinerary is done.  Reservations are made.  Bags are packed.  The cupboards are stocked.  Our "to do" lists have most of the items crossed off.  Obsessive planning continues.

It's almost road trip time.  Counting down the days till we pull out of the driveway...