Day 1: From Bend to Salt Lake City

Jake apparently has his spatial crap together as a math teacher because somehow he was able to fit what seemed like 200 cubic feet of stuff in his CRV. It is packed to the rafters – literally! Every time I turned around, he brought out something else – another laundry basket, a stack of clothes on hangers, a goodie bag his mom had given him – it just kept coming!

We left Bend about 10:30 and made it to Millican about a half hour later. Millican is comprised of a long empty store. As I remember, one of the prior owners of the store (and town) was murdered a while back. Makes for a tough sell, I guess. We didn’t stop. You can never be too careful.

From there we made the thrilling trek east to beautiful Burns, Oregon. Home of the Highlanders. Named after Robert Burns of course. It looks NOTHING like Scotland there, by the way. In our quest to not eat at a chain restaurant from here to D.C. we stopped at RJs drive in. As greasy roadside burgers, fries and shakes go, it was okay. Nothing to write home about, but I just did.

From there it was on to Ontario, where we Stopped for a short break and then to Boise where we stopped for gas. By 4:15 we were back on the road. I called my Aunt Eleanor, to see if we could spend the night at her home in Salt Lake City, where my Mom just happens to be visiting!

As we crossed the Idaho border into Utah, we pulled over so I could take a picture of the “Entering Utah” sign. Unlike when we raced past the “Entering Idaho” sign which Jake took a picture of while we were racing by with my camera hanging out the window.

Now were just about to Ogden, where we’re going to stop for gas once again. Even still, we should make it to my aunt’s house by 10:00 PM (Mountain Time). Ten and a half hours from Bend to SLC. Not bad . . .