It's been a while since I've blogged, but thought I would finally take the time to sum up my cross-country west coast trip for any and all who are interested. I can honestly say it was one of the most bizarre trips I've taken, for many reasons, and the time in the car gave me a lot of time to think about things that were happening in my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I posted a map of my journey at the top my my photos. This was my second roadtrip across the country. I took my first cross-country roadtrip in 2006 and did the first part all alone until my best friend flew into New York to finish the last half with me. During my west coast roadtrip, I drove completely by myself. You can read more about my east coast roadtrip in my blog archives.

Monday, June 1, 2009: Woke up early and left Schererville, IN around 7:30am. I posted a photo to the right of my two cats in the door window as I was leaving. It was cloudy with a light rain lingering over me. As I left home, the rain picked up, and was spotty at times. After about 2 1/2 hours I crossed the Mississippi River. I stopped in Des Moines, IA, took a couple pictures of the skyline (not much of one), had lunch, and got back on the road. I made it to Nebraska a few hours later, passing through Omaha. I stopped in Keanrey, NE for a few souvenirs, and got back on the road headed for Denver. The rain hadn't let up by the time I crossed into Colorado and the sky looked dark ahead of me. It began to pour and water quickly covered the highway. It got dark and continued to rain. I hydroplaned a few times and got pretty nervous, but luckily (or unluckily) I was the only one on the road. It was pitch dark out and I was in the middle of nowhere. I made it to Denver about 10:00pm, checked into the hotel, and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009: I woke up around 9:00am and headed out. It was still gloomy and raining. I drove to City Park to get a skyline photo of the city (which was only about 3 miles away) and you couldn't see the city through the rain and mist. I headed north through Boulder, CO and up to Estes Park. As I drove north, the rain let up, but it stayed gloomy and cloudy. When I got to Estes Park, I did a little shopping, had some pizza, then headed into the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. As I got into the park, the rain began again. As I climbed to a higher elevation, the fog rolled in. There was snow building as I drove higher and it got to a point where they closed the rest of the road due to snow. I saw quite a few elk, a couple birds I had never seen, a prairie dog, and that was about it. No bears, wolves, moose. Just elk. I headed out of the state park by late afternoon to make my way towards the highway heading west. I drove through Vail, which was gorgeous. The weather continued to rain on and off all the way to Grand Junction, where I stopped for the night.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009: Woke up in Grand Junction to blue skies...finally. I headed out of town towards Utah. Once in Utah, I drove to Moab to the Arches Nat'l Park. I saw many of the Arches and took some beautiful photos. About two hours into my visit at the park, I got in my car, started it, and a 'Check Engine' light came on. Sooo...I had to drive into Moab and paid $42 for a guy to tell me my gas cap was loose. After feeling like a fool and out $42, I headed west for Las Vegas. I arrived in Las Vegas just after sunset, around 8:30pm. I met up with my mom and dad, sister and new brother-in-law at Circus Circus to watch a dancing act. After that, I pretty much went back to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, June 4, 2009: Woke up early and went out to breakfast with my dad's cousins who were in town. Afterwards, I went out to the pool and laid out most of the afternoon. It was 82 and cloudy all day, and 5 hours of laying out garnered me NO tan. My parents went to see Santana, and I left and walked the strip by myself, just people watching. It's kinda cool walking through Vegas by yourself, without any purpose. I didn't gamble. Didn't drink. Just walked, and looked. Went in the Forum Shops at Caesar, and a REALLY cool art gallery by Peter Lik . After that, I went to get some NY style pizza, and went up to the hotel room (we stayed at Harrah's).

Friday, June 5, 2009: Woke up and went to the pool. Laid out for a few hours with my mom, and once again, got very little sun. It was still cloudy and only in the lower 80s. Was this Vegas? I had been here three times prior and had heat of 110 consistently. Later in the evening, the girls went out and the boys hung out at the Rio, had some dinner, then we all met up and went to the VooDoo Lounge on top of the Rio. My sister Roseann and brother-in-law Andy had a penthouse for the week just under it. They had gotten married the weekend before and this was their honeymoon. We came back around 2:00am, and I went to bed.

Saturday, June 6, 2009: Woke up around 9:00am and left for Salt Lake City shortly after. Came into Salt Lake around 4:30pm. Got to my cousin Ted and Sheila's and hung out with my Aunt Donna and Uncle Ronald for a bit. I threw stars with my younger cousin TJ and friends in the back yard, then got ready to go out to eat. Me, Ted, Bailey, Aunt Donna and Uncle Ronald met up with another cousin, Sandy, at Rodizio's in SLC and had a fabulous dinner. The turkey bacon wraps were great, but I really loved the beef. Afterwards, we headed back to Draper, hung out with the family and Sandy came too. Ted, Uncle Ronald and I listened to recordings of my cousin Amber in his recording studio. Then, I tried showing Uncle Ronald how to use facebook, upload photos, and use the chat function, which he used for the first time to talk with my cousin Sadie, who was in Las Vegas at the time. After that, I played a few songs on the piano and we stayed up talking and taking a few photos. By midnight, it was about time for bed. There is a photo on the right side of this blog of my uncle and I sitting together on the piano bench - this was the last photo he ever took. He passed away in his sleep just a couple of hours after we took that photograph. I never would have thought that photograph would ever mean so much to me. :(

Sunday, June 7, 2009: My Uncle Ronald passed away early this Sunday morning while I was staying with him in Salt Lake City. While we all knew my uncle had some health problems for a long time, this was completely unexpected. What a horrible day, and how ironic that it happened on both mine and Aunt Donna's (his wife) birthday. I was suppose to leave and head to Wyoming that morning, but decided to stay an extra day. Besides, I certainly wasn't in any mood to set off by myself for another week of adventure. I helped put a photo slideshow together, and later Ted and I took a motorcycle ride up to Park City and had some fantastic sushi. It rained a bit and got cold on the way back, but being on the motorcycle felt great. It had been a while, and the rain or cold didn't bother me much.

Monday, June 8, 2009: Sandy, Sheila, Ted, TJ, Shauna, Bailey, Aunt Donna and I all went out for mexican. The pork tacos were great and I still couldn't finish it all. After lunch, I headed back on the road heading north. I stopped in Idaho and bought a pair of much needed sunglasses. I arrived in Jackson, WY around 6:00pm and went into town. I had a beer at the Cowboy Grill and had a burger from Billy's next door (recommended by Ted). After that, I headed in for the night and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009: I woke up and went into town and bought some t-shirts and some hoodies. I headed to Grand Teton Nat'l Park to get some photos. At one point as I was taking a photo of the famous barn, my car got stuck in the mud. It took about 20 minutes of drive, reverse, drive, reverse, but finally I got it out. There was no one nearby to help, so I was lucky! The car was completely covered in mud. I got the photo I wanted and headed further into the park. I stopped at one of the lodges and had myself my first bison burger. Delicious! Afterwards, I headed north into Yellowstone Nat'l Park. I drove to the center of the park and looked for Old Faithful. I got there just after an eruption, but decided to hang out for another hour and a half in the gift store until the next one. I set up the video camera and taped it from beginning to end. After that, I headed north, occasionally stopping on the side of the road to take a picture of something. A heard of buffalo crossed in front of me at one point (got it on video). I left Yellowstone around 8:00pm and headed north to Montana with a final destination of Billings, MT. Around 10:00pm, my dad called to see where I was and what I was up to. I told him about my trip the last two days and remarked on how many elk I had seen and how there were signs everywhere warning of elk. Just before heading into Billings, I was driving down a dark empty highway as another car approached me in the 'fast' lane. I moved over to the right and as they began to pass me, BOOM! They nailed an elk! Blood splashed up my windshield and front left side of the car and pieces of the front end of their car came over and ricocheted off my car. One of their headlights blew out and they quickly were able to pull over to the side of the road. I didn't stop since I was 5 miles from Billings and my hotel, plus I saw them safely pull over, and what could I do? So I went to sleep with mud and blood covering my car. I can't imagine what the people at the hotel thought!  

Wednesday, June 10, 2009: I woke up in Billings, MT and left the hotel around 8:30am. First and foremost, I went and got my car washed. Then, I drove east. In Wyoming, I stopped at a steak house and had elk medallions. Yum! Very lean, gamey, and tasted like venison. I left after lunch and headed east towards South Dakota. It was cloudy and rained most of the day. As I approached the black hills, the rain stopped, but a thick low lying cloud layer went as far as I could see. At Rapid City, I detoured south towards Mount Rushmore. When got there, you couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of my car because the fog was so thick. I drove there and couldn't even see it. I was pretty upset about that, and I know Uncle Ronald wanted me to see it and I wanted to put his face with the presidents. I went and had an ice cream cone, then continued east to Mitchell, SD (outside of Souix Falls) and stayed for the night.

Thursday, June 11, 2009: I woke up around 9:00am and headed east to Souix Falls, then north to Fargo, ND. Once I got to Fargo, I met up with my friend Shelly at her work, then went shopping. We went back to her place, her boyfriend came by shortly after and we all made tacos and just hung out for the night.

Friday, June 12, 2009: We all woke up, and went shopping for a little bit. We went to downtown Fargo and head lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, then headed back to their place. In the evening, we went to a minor league baseball game, which was a lot of fun! It was a high scoring game, with 5 or 6 home runs, so it was exciting. Afterwards, we met up with a couple of her girlfrends and went for a couple drinks, then headed back to her place.

Saturday, June 13, 2009: I woke up around 10:00am, and got my stuff together to head home. I left around 10:30, going through Minnesota and entering Wisconsin around St. Paul. About an hour into Wisconsin, I stopped at a big cheese place and bought 2 lbs of buttercheese (best cheese ever) and a jar of apple butter. I got back on the road, made it to Illinois, then made it home around 9:30pm.

Home Sweet Home.

jlaxsalinas@robertmorris.edu