Three years ago, we had a cross-country road trip planned: we were going to drive out to New Jersey to visit Tyler's parents and visit LDS church history sites along the way. We were packing and ready to go on Saturday, June 27th. Unfortunately, on Wednesday, June 24th, the governor of New Jersey said that if anyone from Utah wanted to come and visit, they had to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.
Ah, COVID-19 was a delight, wasn't it? So we pivoted and visited Bryce Canyon National Park, Arches National Park, Washington State's Olympic National Park, and my family in the Pacific Northwest. We made some lovely memories and called it a win, and we were disappointed to have missed out on our long-awaited road trip to New Jersey.
This summer, we were finally able to take that super-massive road trip, comprising 22 days, 5704 miles, 18 states, four packages of Dramamine, 40 hours of audiobooks, and 1 hubcap.
Traveling East
Day One
We left Sunday, June 25th right after church. The teenagers were in rare form (i.e., super grumpy that we were making them take some much time away from what they really wanted to do, which was sit around and read--you can see how this is a major conflict from sitting around in the car reading. I joke! Kind of. They were also annoyed that they were missing out on time with friends and working, and instead, they were spending time with their obnoxious family).