The drive started in Takoma, Maryland. The night before we went to Virginia, and right into the downtown D.C. area where we ate at Ben's Chili Bowl. It was really cool. There was great music blaring inside, and a line that snaked around the counter to where we were finally able to order
the Chili Half-Smoke. This is apparently the same thing Barak Obama orders when he goes there. Many famous people have eaten there in fact, and there is a sign behind the counter that says, "Allowed to eat free here, Bill Cosby, and the Obama Family." Bill Cosby went to Howard University which is not far from Ben's, and he visits often. There are pictures all over the wall of famous people who have eaten there. This picture was taken outside of Ben's. There is this statue of a bear that is painted all over.From there we went to see the Capitol Building. I've always wanted to see the Smithsonian, but we didn't have time to even get out of the car. As a matter of fact, we passed all sorts of buildings, and I didn't take any pictures of them, because I was more concerned with Michele's driving. She
was freaking me out. I did manage to get this one picture though. This is where it all happens for this country. I was able to see the Washington Monument, and get a quick glimps of the Lincoln Memorial from about 400 yards away, but like I said, I was busy being worried about my life. So We packed up all the boxes from Michele's apartment into the Penske truck and loaded her car on the towing trailer, and hit the road. So far we traveled through Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland. We drove out on Sunday afternoon. On the way we passed through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and stopped in Richmond, Indiana. It was a smooth drive, and a new record for me to drive in 5 states in 8 hours.The next morning we hit the road and drove through the rest of Indiana, Illinois and almost all the way through Missouri. We stopped at a little town called Blue Springs, Mo. while we were shooting to get to Salina, KS. We were way off on how much distance we could cover in a day in that huge yellow beast.
Plus when we reached St. Louis, we stopped to check out the arch. I'd watched an episode of 'Modern Marvels' about the Gateway Arch. It was pretty cool to see it, but it was even cooler to go up inside of it.
If you never get the chance, then enjoy what I have here, and maybe one day you'll have an opportunity to post about your national monument experience, and return the favor. Here are just a few of the photos from the excursion. I've got a video from going up inside it. Those carts were tiny. So here are some pictures from the little window looking west towards downtown St. Louis. Wanna go up? Check this out? So I took these from left to right. There is where the St. Louis Cardinals play. Home of the great slugger Albert Pujols.
In the middle there is the courthouse. 
On the right is the Edward Jones dome. Home of the St. Louis Rams. 
Rumor has it that the Larry H. Miller family is going to try to buy the team and bring them to Salt Lake City. Only time will tell on that one.Here are some other great shots looking down
from the top. Here are a few more images from the arch. Me from the peak of the arch at 630 feet up.
Here is a barge pushing three loads down the Mississippi. 
It was quite the adventure. I'm glad that we stopped.
So we take off the next day and enter Kansas. This has got to be the flattest piece of earth on the planet. So flat in fact, that you can see the curvature of the earth.
I wish I would have taken more pictures, but this will have to do. This is one huge country we live in! What was really cool about the whole trip was that each state had it's own terrain. I mean, if you were to show me a picture of Wyoming, or Kansas, or Indiana, I would be able to tell the difference just from the terrain. Here is the path we took.After Kansas we drove into Colorado, and then headed north and just into Cheyenne, Wyoming. From there we were going to make it to Salt Lake City the next day around 5PM. The only problem was, while parking that night in Cheyenne, I had to back up the truck to park, and in the process I ended up jack-knifing the trailer and bent the tongue of the trailer. I was so pissed at myself, because we had managed to be incident free throughout the drive. I got some help from another trucker and straightened it out somewhat and then we hit the road again.
The next day we drove through The Cowboy State and finally into Utah. I am so happy to be home with my family again. I am also extremely grateful that we made it alive and nothing really bad happened. Driving through 12 states and one district in 5 days was more than I ever want to do again, but if I had to pick a sponsor for our trip it would have to be "5 Hour Energy" I never would have made it without that tiny little bottle. It truly kept me awake and alert behind the wheel, and I didn't have the sugar crash when it wore off either. That stuff really works. I was so motivated to get home to my wife and boys, I had to use what ever would work. I'm so thankful for technology today. That trip would have been tons worse had it not been for cell phones and hotels that have internet access. And screw ONSTAR and Qualcomm we had an even better navigation system. We had RACHEL. Not only did she have a sexy voice, and I knew she equaled that voice in looks, but she would look for Motels that we were approaching and make sure there was availability and what the parking lot situation was like for our truck and trailer, and then would call back and give complete directions including the exit to take, and how far it was. Then she would plot out our course for the next days travel. It was pretty awesome let me tell you! I love that woman. If you want to hire her, it'll be $1200 a day.
