So the story goes like this: Maddie, Russell, and I went on a road trip across the country, from Boston to Seattle. Why? It makes no sense - Maddie lives in Boston and is going to Africa this summer and I have a job in Boston that requires me to start the day after we get back. Well, because it's an awesome thing to do. At one of Erika's gatherings, Russell mentioned that his plans for driving across the country with Jeremy, a grad student, had fallen through because of some thesis issues. He wanted company on the trip and of course Maddie and I said yes, because we've been talking about driving across the country for some time now. I was surprised that Russell agreed, knowing that Maddie and I are crazy, but I'm glad he did.
The plan was to basically take I-90 all the way from Boston to Seattle, stopping in Niagara Falls, southern Illinois at Russell's uncle's, Chicago, The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Glacier National Park, and finally Seattle. Then we were going to hitch a ride from another friend (either Christy or Lila) to get to Portland, spend an afternoon in Portland, and fly back to Boston. Of course, the trip turned out something like this instead (more elaboration to follow later):
5/24/2011 - Start at 9pm. Boston, MA -> Niagara Falls, NY
5/25/2011 - Niagara Falls, NY -> Plainfield, IL
5/26/2011 - Plainfield, IL -> The Badlands, SD
5/27/2011 - The Badlands, SD -> near Yellowstone, WY
5/28/2011 - near Yellowstone, WY -> Mt. Rainier, WA
5/29/2011 - Mt. Rainier, WA -> Seattle, WA (leave Russell here)
5/30/2011 - Seattle, WA -> Portland, OR
5/31/2011 - Portland, OR -> Boston, MA (red-eye)
That is the rough date breakdown, with more details and times to come. But we crossed 14 states: Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon. There were many more adventures within each of those states, with a total driving distance about 3600 miles: Google map.
