Julie and Teddy's Great Cross-Country Adventure

It has been done 3 previous times. In September 2006 Mom and I made the drive from Calgary Alberta to Harrisburg Pennsylvania. In August 2008 Dad and I made the drive from Alexandria Virginia to Red Deer Alberta. And most recently, in February of this year, Dad and I made the drive from Vernon, BC to Toronto Ontario (and then I continued on to my final destination of Albany New York). I made this drive yet one more time, but this time my co-pilot would not be Mom or Dad…..no it was Teddy who was along for this ride.

It was agreed early that Teddy would not be able to do any driving (he doesn’t have a license) but it was also decided that Teddy would still be doing his share. At first Teddy was planning on being the official photographer but we both decided that my new camera was too heavy for him to use. Instead Teddy volunteered to navigate.

Teddy keeping a close eye on the GPS.

That should be an easy task with the GPS and all. And let’s face it…..he couldn’t do a worse job than I normally do so I gladly let him play that role. Teddy was also left in charge of managing the Peanut M&M and Skittle supply.

Yes those are 42 ounce bags of candy. Lasted the entire trip. They were massive and good.

Together we kept track of all the different license plates we saw along the way. It was a long trip, but it was a great cross-country adventure.

Travel Day One – July 5th, 2010
New York, New York to Chicago, Illinois
Approx: 1,300 kilometres (807 miles)
Travel time: approx: 12.5 hours

Day one was the longest day, the most exciting day and the day when we traveled through the most states. On this leg of the journey Teddy and I touched New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. A few things we learned along the way:

1. Ohio drivers are horrible….even worse than the drivers in Jersey (and I never thought that was possible)

In case you weren't sure, that is a BP gas station. Business has been down for many local owners due to the Oil Spill in the Gulf and it appears this guy is attempting to cut ties.

2. Pennsylvania has the most road kill in various stages of decay that I was ever seen. Gross!!!!

At least it is pretty when there is no road kill.

3. Indiana…….still one of the ugliest stretches of road I have had to drive…..but everyone drives fast so at least you get through it quickly.

4. I love Chicago….oh wait, we already knew that.

Oh the Chicago skyline. Too bad I would not be spending any time in the city. Teddy and I decided that since we would be very tired and would not get to do much in the city we would not tease ourselves and instead stayed outside the city. Cheaper hotels and a much quicker get away in the morning.

Travel Day Two – July 6th, 2010
Chicago Illinois to Grand Forks North Dakota
Approx: 1,140 kilometres (708 miles)
Travel time: 11 hours

Ok, this stretch of highway is actually prettier than I remember it being. Nice and green and a few things to look at. And then you hit the North Dakota border and it instantly became flat and boring.

I am pretty sure this is the last interesting thing you see before you hit North Dakota.

Today we traveled through the rest of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and part of North Dakota. It was a shorter drive but didn’t seem that way. I did need to stop and take a nap. It is amazing what 30 minutes of shut eye can do. But we rolled into Grand Forks safe and sound.

That is the Welcome to Wisconsin sign. It's hard to take pictures while I drive with my new camera.

It seemed we left the highway patrols (as in police) somewhere in Wisconsin and made it in what I have to consider great time. We did have a near “empty tank” situation because I kept driving past gas stations thinking “oh we’ll just stop at the next one”. Once into North Dakota however, the frequency of gas stations became less and less. Just lots of little towns with no services (but grain elevators….sounds a little familiar doesn’t it?). Eventually I found my way off the road to some little town gas station……and then continued on to find another gas station and an entire rest stop about 5 minutes down the road.

One of our stops along the way. This is Target Field that brand new home of the Minnesota Twins Ball Club. Unfortunately we could not catch a game because The Twins were in Toronto playing the Blue Jays.

Albany? What!!!! Oh wait.....that's a different Albany. We didn't make a wrong turn and end up back in Upstate New York.

Travel Day Three – July 7th, 2010
Grand Forks North Dakota to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan
Approx: 770 kilometers (478 miles)
Travel time: 8 hours

Now you may have noticed that our travel days have been getting shorter. I have to tell you however…..today seemed like my longest day so far. There were a few more stops…….some of which were required by law…..the others were for naps….and food. Today we traveled through the rest of North Dakota, Manitoba and part of Saskatchewan.

Bienvenue au Manitoba and Canada. I'M HOME!!!!

I have to say over the past year I have been finding that I am having a harder time getting into Canada than I am into the USA. I think that means Canada is tightening security which is good….but the USA seems to be getting loose…..probably not so good.

Anyway, I was prepared to have to provide some extra information about the contents of my car so I had a very detailed list of all my things and which boxes they were in and so on and so forth. The guys at customs took a quick glance at it while they were scanning everything else. And I do mean everything else. They scanned through the pictures on my camera, through the recent destinations on my GPS, through my notebook in my purse, even through the messages on my Blackberry. They then went through a lot of the contents on the outside edges of my car….so glad they didn’t make me unpack anything. There was a brief chuckle when they saw Teddy seat belted into the passenger seat (good thing teddy bears don’t require any documentation or we still might be there). After about 30 minutes we were thanked for our cooperation and back on our way.

Along with the nice border guards we also ran into something else we had not seen at any other point of our journey….rain……..and hail. At one point the rain was coming down so hard it was like a sheet of water down my windshield and I couldn’t see a thing. Actually a little scary. And well anyone from Alberta or Saskatchewan is not surprised that I ran into hail.

A prairie storm off the in the distance. Always nice to look at....but never nice for the paint on your car.

Travel Day Four – July 8th, 2010
Moose Jaw Saskatchewan to Calgary Alberta
Approx: 690 kilometres (430 miles)
Travel time: 7.5 hours

Teddy and I slept in today……and it felt so good. We both decided that we needed a couple extra hours of sleep and with this being our shortest day thus far…….why leave so early? We were just going as far as Calgary where we were going to take a much needed break from the car and spend a few days visiting with friends before making the last stretch of the drive to Vernon.

Hey Teddy.....throw me a slice. Nothing better than left over pizza in the car.

Look at that...Teddy is Alberta Bound!!!!

Like I said a break from the car was very much needed as this stage so Teddy and I crashed in the city for a few days to catch up with some friends.

Looking down at the Bow River. Always a nice spot to relax with some Starbucks.

Here is baby Wil Ryan Shannon who belongs to Kane and Candice Shannon. He is just perfect that is all I have to say!!!!

A few of the girls out enjoying some drinks and some music. That's Vanessa, Laura, Jenn and Erica. It was a great night and felt good to be "home".

Travel Day Five – July 11th, 2010
Calgary Alberta to Vernon British Columbia
Approx: 560 kilometers (350 miles)
Travel time: 8 hours

Yes, I have driven by this sign many a time but knowing that this will be the last time in a while makes it all a little different.

No it doesn’t take 8 hours to drive from Calgary to Vernon…..except on this Sunday afternoon. I seemed to make great time to Golden and then it just seemed like no matter how fast I was driving we just moved slow. We did stop a few times more than usual so Teddy could play in his natural habitat but that was about it.

Teddy loved playing in the water chasing fish and hanging out in the sun.

Teddy made me stop at Rogers Pass. I can't remember the last time I actually stopped there. Always a pretty view.

Of course the big delay hit when I got close to Vernon. There was a massive fire at one of the mills and they closed the highway and were re-routing traffic around it. It was a very, very long re-route and I don’t know that area at all so I was just hoping that the giant truck in front of me was going the same way I was. The GPS actually was helping me out except for the fact that there was a lot of construction on the back roads so I couldn’t always turn when the GPS wanted me to. And Teddy was no help. He doesn’t know the area either.

The fire that forced traffic to be diverted.

The lady following me. Joke's on her..... I had no idea where I was going. I was just following the guy in front of me.

Eventually was made it home where we were greeted with food and drink and Mom and Dad. The giant task of unpacking, sorting and repacking was about to start. Good thing I have two weeks.

Julie