The Open Road

Hi everyone! As Dena explicitly called me out in the last post, I must now oblige (although technically this is her responsibility as our family's Chief Communications Officer). Dena has given you a number of updates on our pits stops on our way out to California, so I thought I would give you an update on the driving portion of our adventure. First of all, check out the NASTY cake of dirt and filth that accumulated on our car as we drove across the country (through two snowstorms). Fortunately, once we arrived at Napa we had the opportunity to wash the car and change the oil, so our Pontiac is now much happier. One of the most difficult tasks of cleaning the car was picking out the traces of tumbleweeds from the engine compartment (in particular the radiator). On the way into Denver from Chicago we drove through seas of rolling tumblweeds, some as big as the car. It was a very windy, and they kept tumbling across the highway. At first we tried to avoid them, but then we gave up and starting running them over, which turned out not to be a big deal at all... A few of the highlights of our drive were (see pictures on the right, in order): Crossing the Rockies a day after a snowstorm Driving through Glenwood Canyon Visiting Colorado National Monument Park Chasing a beautiful sunset in the western Colorado desert Gazing at the vast expanse of the Great Salt Lake Driving past the salt flats in western Utah For those of you who are interested, here are the key driving stats of our trip to date: Total Miles Driven (including city driving): 3,757 Total "Road-Trip" Miles (excluding city driving): 3,451 (52% Dena, 48% Amit) Gas Mileage: 140 gallons (average of 27.1 MPG) Gas Cost: $251 (average of $1.81 / gallon, max of $2.37, min of $1.35) Tolls: $31.35 (none between Iowa and California) Two more important notes before I sign off. First, to simplify the lives of our dear followers, we have now enabled email subscription to our blog (enter your email address on the right and click "Subscribe"). Second, Dena's mom was aghast that our car has no name, so we are beginning a car naming competition. To enter, please submit a comment below with your suggestion. The winner will be selected by myself and Dena no later than January 3rd, and will receive a marvelous gift from the trip to be named later.