Day 1.2

You must cross the river in order to continue. What would you like to do:

1. Attempt to ford the river

2. Caulk the wagon and float it across

3. Use the accompanying bridge

4. Wait to see if conditions improve

5. Get more information

Day -1

Many kinds of people made the trip to OregonWashington.

You may:

1. Be a banker from Indianapolis
2. Be a web designer from Chicago
3. Be a teacher from Bourbonnais
4. Find out the differences between these choices

What is your choice? _

I cannot help but think of the old game from my childhood as this trip begins. We travel a road worn well by the many who have gone before us.

I sit here not even packed yet. I guess that is the benefit of not having an early day tomorrow. Here is to sleeping in.

Day 1.1

It is 1848 2015. Your jumping off place for Oregon Washington is Independence, Missouri Chicago, Illinois. You might decide which month to leave Independence Chicago.

1. March
2. April
3. May
4. June
5. July
6. Ask for advice

What is your choice? _

For some weird reason we choose April. Hehe... Silly us.

It was a very pretty morning when we left Chicago. It devolved into a torrential downpour after I took over driving the truck. It was a little harrowing, but we persevered.

Day 1

What is the first name of the wagon leader? _

1. gRegor

What are the first names of the four other members in your party?

1. gRegor
2. Kraz
3. Mommer
4. Joe
5. Lori

(Enter names or press Enter)

Preparing for this trip required at least one play through of Oregon Trail. It had been some years since I made the trek so I needed to brush up on the verbiage.

Friday consisted of a lot of Illinois and Iowa. We also sprinkled in a little South Dakota. Overall I was not that impressed with Iowa. South Dakota ran the gamut from endless flat land from horizon to horizon to scenic vistas overlooking gorgeous river valleys. I'm just kidding about Iowa.

I am comparing this trip to what I know, Indiana and Illinois (though I could mix in a little Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia too). There is so much space. I thought Indiana and Illinois was flat and full of farm land, but then I saw Iowa and South Dakota. It really is enormous.

Indiana and Illinois farmland is broken up by tree lines. It is weird having endless fields from one horizon to the other.

South Dakota introduced hills. It reminded me of the dimples on a golf ball. Just large, jagged hills. These aren't the rolling hills that I remember from Kentucky. They reach points in the sky and then drop precipitously down to begin a new hill.

The icing on the proverbial cake was the hotel. gRegor's mother and her husband travel frequently. They love Hampton Inns and now I do too.  Pool, spa, fitness center, hot breakfast, and wonderful beds has made the travel worth it.

Day 0

Traveling to OregonWashington isn't easy! But if you're a banker, you'll have more money for supplies and services than a teacher or web designer.

However, the harder you have to try, the more points you deserve! Therefore, the teacher earns the greatest number of points and the banker earns the least.

Press SPACE BAR to continue

I'm calling Day 0 the packing day. It was a pretty long day. We moved stuff from the third floor down to the truck from 12:30 to 7:30. I put my amazing Tetris skills to use and helped packed the truck up pretty well.

My new bff, Chris, helped us out. Gregor continually stated that if he wasn't already scraping the bottom of the barrel he would have had anyone else help him. I believe it was his available help that allowed him to come to the conclusion that he will hire movers to do this from now on.

Altogether it wore us all out. We were pretty beat up by the end of the night.

gRegor treated everyone to a farewell Giordano's dinner. It was a well earned reward.

There are absolutely no other stories or shenanigans to share from this day. Non what-so-ever.