Last X-Country Trip by Prius

Road Trip Album at:

November 23–December 13, 2016

Overview

The primary goal of our Cross-Country Road Trip was to drive the Prius home to Washington to leave her there, making this our last X-Country Trip in the Prius. We had decided that 2017 would be the year to buy a Big Truck & Airstream.

We picked our general route to drive much of our trip west along I-80, and to spend time in Kentucky & Nebraska (Mark’s last 2 states…our State #44 & State #46, respectively. We also drove through Kansas (our State #45) and stayed in Utah (our State #48). We visited 14 states total and stayed in 12 locations:

Spring Lake Heights to Bellevue, Spent the night in:

Highlights

We planned a few family & friend visits along the way, too. We started out, spending Thanksgiving Weekend with Mark’s Brother Dave-V & Joy & visits to Brother Dan-V and cousin Patti-S & Mike. En-route to our overnight in Ohio, we stopped in Steubenville to visit Gail’s cousin Jane-A & Bob.

When we got to St. Louis, we caught up with other friends and family. We had lunch with Jim & Dennis, 2 of Mark’s “old” work friends, and visited Jim’s Corvettes. We unexpectedly had dinner with Gail’s ex-sister-in-law Audrey-G & Joe, who just happened to be visiting St. Louis from Colorado, the same weekend. Some good can come from posting your whereabouts on Facebook!

From Twin Cities, Idaho, we were going to drive all the way to Kennewick, Washington to spend our last 2 nights with Gail’s friend Gaye-T. However, due to a Snow Storm in NW Oregon en-route, we turned back to stay in Baker City, OR the 1st night. Our 2nd attempt to make a night in Kennewick, we had a Big Blowout driving out of La Grande, OR. So, once again, we turned back for the night, this time, after getting some help from AAA. We ultimately did at least have lunch with Gaye in Kennewick!

We visited 11 National Park Sites in 6 States enroute:

• Three of the Presidential Sites-Midwest:
  • Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (#90), Indiana
  • Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (#91), Missouri
  • Harry S Truman National Historic Site (#92), Missouri
• Gateway Arch National Park (#1-Revisit), Missouri
• and the Expansion West (for 2 Sites)
  • Homestead National Monument of America (#93), Nebraska
  • Scotts Bluff National Monument (#94), Nebraska
• Two of the Fossil National Parks:
  • Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (#95), Nebraska
  • Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (#99), Idaho
• Two of the Rocky Mountain Historic Parks:
  • Fort Laramie National Historic Site (#96), Wyoming
  • Golden Spike National Historical Park (#97), Utah
• One of the WWII Japanese Interment Sites:
  • Minidoka National Historic Site (#98), Idaho

And followed a bit of 5 National Historic Trails

• Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail
• California National Historic Trail
• Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail
• Oregon National Historic Trail
• Pony Express National Historic Trail

Interesting Tidbit – the California, Morman Pioneer, Oregon, and Pony Express Trails all followed the Platte River Highway through Nebraska. It was also the route of Nebraska’s portion of the Lincoln Highway, the nation’s 1st coast-to-coast highway, and Interstate 80 through Nebraska, America’s 1st coast-to-coast interstate!