Our 2,613 Mile Drive!

Ok so im pretty sure we drove more than 2,613 miles with all our unplanned stops, detours, bathroom breaks, and wrong turns... but we made it!! We are now in Massachusetts and it is beautiful!! Beautiful doesn't mean you never feel homesick...it just means its beautiful and that makes me happy to be here. We arrived last weekend and have been busy ever since. In the last week we have unpacked (almost everything), found furniture (soon to be delivered), went downtown Boston (4th of July) and are finding our way around a new city (with the help of our GPS).

The drive across the country was a long one but not quite as bad as I imagined (easy for me to say, I sat in the passenger seat most of the time and read, slept, or ate) Mike may have a different opinion about the drive but I thought it was a lot of fun! I loved seeing all the states and how they were each so different. We took lots of pictures along the way...

Day One: Not much to see-we just pushed through Wyoming and Nebraska

 Yes, we looked forward to these signs...

Got asked by hitchhikers at a gas station in Wyoming for a ride (darn-it our car was packed to the roof and we didn't have room). 

Welcome to Nebraska

 This is what the whole day looked like in Nebraska. Corn fields.

Day Two: More Nebraska and corn fields

 Oh, I did drive a few times...

 Iowa!

 We ran over over a tire shred that ripped up the bottom of our car and the duck tape we used the day before wasn't cutting it anymore. We pulled into this tire place somewhere in the middle of Iowa to get it fixed. They were nice enough to not charge us so we gave them some Papa Jay's Jerky!

 Iowa was a fun state to drive through...around this point the scenery started getting much better :)

Day Three:

We drove over the Mississippi River as we entered Illinois. We were able to go visit a family that my Dad baptized on his mission here and still keeps in touch with.

 Nauvoo, Illinois Temple!

 LDS Church Nauvoo Visitors Center

 We didn't have near enough time here and just got to drive through the streets of Old Nauvoo. I would love to go back to Nauvoo again and spend a few days there.

 Carthage Jail, where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred on June 27, 1844. We were able to be there on the 168th anniversary, June 27, 2012. It was a really neat experience and makes me appreciate even more the sacrifices of the LDS church members in the early days. I have always read about these church history sites but seeing them personally made my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith become even stronger.

Outside Carthage Jail

 Driving into Chicago, IL during rush hour. We met up with our friends that just moved here, had deep dish pizza, walked along Lakeshore Drive, and watched fireworks before hitting the road again.

We were welcomed into Indiana with $15 in toll roads within the first hour! Yikes!

Well its getting late and Mike and I are trying to put ourselves on eastern time not keep justifying waking up really late and saying..."Well we're doing good for Utah time" so I guess ill go to bed now and finish this post tomorrow! Night!