FINALLY in Illinois!! About 150 miles to go till my parents house! So ready to sleep! On the road since 730 this morning, it's now 1035.. about 2 hrs left to go and we are done with this trip! I'd like to thank our sponsors Capri Sun, Dasani water, a ginormous assortment of trail mix, and last but not very least, fruit snacks! Also thanks to Subway for tasting good in every state!

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And we get pulled over again outside of Davenport, Iowa.. same reason, tail light is super dim. No ticket, Steve thinks it's because he showed the cop the fix it slip.. I like to think it's because I'm in the car.. ;) almost to IL!!!

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330 miles to Itasca!! :)

Woo hoo! We are in Iowa!! Finally some civilization. One thing we both can say, we do NOT miss the humidity in the Midwest! Eww!

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Good Morning from Big Springs, Nebraska! Oh man, what a night! We were planning on stopping in Ogallala, about 50 miles from our stop, I started calling hotels for availability. 95% of them ended up having no vacancy, and the ONE star rated motels were around $90 for the night! And out here, you have zero room for being picky-choosy where you stay. So as I'm calling around, Steve and I see wonderful blue and red lights flickering behind us.. yep, the police and all their glory. We get pulled over because a tail light isn't working.. seriously? We've been driving 17 hours at this point, I understand you might not have a whole lot to do in Nebraska on a Tuesday night, but give me a break. The officer was questioning us where we were going, for what, blah blah blah. Make a long story short, he let us go with a little reminder slip to fix the lights and we found a cheap(er) Motel 6. We are back on the road, bus is holding up really well for such a tough drive! We are luckily starting to decline in elevation, got up to almost 9,000 ft last night, yikes! Planning on making our way into Itasca, IL tonight! Hopefully everything goes nice and smooth! About 900 miles left to go!

Greetings from Nebraska! Wish you were here! Not really, its cold and dark and a few cars here and there, haha. About 125 miles to go before we make our stop for the night! It's been a LONG day, driving for a total of 17 hours today! So happy tomorrow is our last day on the road! (Hopefully) (Bus willing of course)

Wow. 8600 feet. Didn't think she would make it this high!! Bus is running like a champ!! Pretty darn good for 1200 bucks :)

In Sinclair, Wyoming! A whole lot of nothing to look at! About a 115 miles to Cheyenne.. we will be stopping for the night in Ogallala, Nebraska!

Rain off in the distance outside of Laramie Wyoming

Still have another 50 miles to go to the nearest gas station...

Green River, Wy! Pretty!

The rain is coming in.. ruh roh!

Just passed the continental divide! :) (whatever that means) ;)

One thing we are grateful for is no crazy heat today! Phew! 200 miles to Rawlins, Wy!

Welcome to Wyoming!! Finally! Utah took forever and a day to get through!

I'm such an excellent co-pilot, I deserved a fruit frostee! :) Happy girl!

We are in Privo, UT! Made our first food stop at a local Subway, tummies full, gas tank as well.. and on we go.. next stop, Rawlins, Nebraska!

Change of plans! Taking a detour through Salt Lake City to Wyoming to avoid the 10,000 foot elevation in the Rockies. Wish I knew how to readjust the carbs, because I really wanted to see those beautiful Rockies!

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Good Morning from Cedar City, Utah! We stopped last night at the Best Value Inn, $40 goes a long way here for a motel! Slept about 7 hours, and we are back on the road ladies and gents! Utah is gorgeous, lots of sunflowers along the highway! Today/night we are planning on making our way through the Rockies, and into Ogallala, Nebraska. No, I did not just drool over a billboard advertising McDonald's real fruit smoothies, the town is called Ogallala. :) I'm sure we will post plenty before then!

Just got into Utah! Plans were to stay in St.George, but Steve is toughing it out and driving to Cedar City! Exhausted, but we, and the bus are doing great!

Welcome to Nevada!

The sun is setting! Thank goodness, we got up to 110 degrees with no AC! Stopped at Subway for some lunch, after deciding that as good as Sonic sounded, it probably wouldn't sit well in our tummies in the heat. We are almost to Vegas, about 60 miles to go.. Planning on stopping in St. George, UT to get some rest before taking off tomorrow morning! All is good so far! :) I'm enjoying playing co-pilot feeding Steve yogurt raisins, Capri Sun and banana chips. I've also taken on the task of making sure his bandana is always cool and if not, sticking it in the cooler till it is. :)

Almost to Vegas!

Little Rock! Middle of nowhere!

See ya later L.A!!

Is it too early to start snackin'? Nope! :)

Our first photo on the road! Woo hoo!

Getting ready to leave! Going to take the 405 north out to Palmdale then cut across over to Barstow. 110 degrees here we come!!

Here she is near Ojai, CA. Went camping few weekends ago.

First post!

Its Thursday, August 25th 2011. Three more days until we embark on our journey across the Southwest dry, hot desert. Through the majestic Rockies, then it's nothing but flat, boring plains till Chicago. I have done a lot of prepping for this trip. You see, this is not a normal road trip. This is a journey. An adventure. If we were taking our 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee, it would be different. We would just, well, pack up the snacks and drive. Breaking down and being stranded doesn't really cross your mind as much. I have the top of the line warranty, why worry? Well, we are not taking the Jeep. We are taking my 1972 Volkswagen Bus. It has 140,000 miles. It has been down to the tip of South America and back. One cannot just jump and and drive without planning and plotting for at least a week prior to departure. My checklist is a full page. I have a fire extinguisher handy at any given moment. Purchased new tires. Got the carbs synced up and tuned. Oil changed. Wheels balanced and aligned. Brakes replaced. All in preparation for the trip. Hopefully by taking these precautions, it will enhance our chances of arrival. Yes, I said arrival. I will consider this trip a success if we GET to Chicago. Ok back to work, will update this weekend with some pics and more details of the trip and why we are going.