Friday, Aug 20^th 2010 – Miles: 456 – Tickets: 1

 Finally on the road!

Our first day did not start so great. Since 3:00 PM, when we left Queens, traffic jams were following us through most parts of NYC and New Jersey. Plus dozens of road works along I-80 through Pennsylvania, delayed us for more the 3 hours. On top of that is speeding ticket that we got as soon as we “step” on Ohio Turnpike.

The plan was to see Dayton, OH, “Birthplace of Aviation” and the Bosnia/Herzegovina Peace Agreement. However, because of delays, we fall into our beds tired and disappointed.

We took a few pictures and only that we could see are endless forests and mountains through Pennsylvania.

Saturday, Aug 21^th 2010 – Miles: 416 – Tickets: 0

Second day of our cross country trip we started around 11AM. After a good night’s sleep and breakfast, we left Cleveland, OH towards Chicago IL. On the way to Chicago we stopped and visited two areas along I-80 road: Toledo, OH and Gary, IN.

Somehow, both areas look grim and unfortunately, we heard about Gary as “abandoned town”. Beside that, it is childhood home town of Michael Jackson. With empty streets and ruined buildings, Gary looks like town from horror movies. That’s probably why the remake of “Nightmare on Elm Street” was filmed there.

Rain was following us through whole Indiana and finally we saw some sunshine little bit before Chicago.

Sunday, Aug 22^nd 2010 – Miles: 210 – Tickets: 0

The third most populous city in US was very quiet last Sunday. Just how we like it!

It seems that all of those millions of citizens and millions of tourists took a “ day off”. Most of the stores and restaurants are usually closed on Sunday so we were walking through (compared to NYC) “empty” streets. But it is still beautiful city with many things to do and see. We visited “the tallest building in the World” (?), Willis Tower also known as Sears Tower and enjoyed Chicago Water Taxi rides on Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Around 8PM we left Chicago towards Davenport, Iowa.

Monday, Aug 23^rd 2010 – Miles: 450  – Tickets: 0 ( 1 Warning: we "looked suspicious" !!! )

On Day 4 the plan was to cross Iowa and visit some places along the route I-80. We left Davenport, IA and started our “sailing through the fields of corn”. Where ever you look, it is just corn and nothing else. Finally, about 90 miles before the border with Nebraska we saw something different then corn in the fields: wind turbines. Thousands of them spread on horizon...First stop was Iowa City, nice, small town full of students. Because of the University, the average age on the streets of Iowa City is 20, I guess. Next stop was the capitol, Des Moines. Beautiful city with nice and clean streets, but “deadly empty”. Rarely we could see anybody walking around on the Monday afternoon. Third stop before we reached the final destination for Day 4 was Omaha, Nebraska. Nice city but even more “empty’ then Des Moines. We stayed overnight in Grand Island, NE.

Tuesday, Aug 24^th 2010 – Miles: 530  – Tickets: 0 ( 1 Warning: Speeding )

On Tuesday morning we left Grand Island, Nebraska on our fifth day on the road. This time we tried to avoid main highways and took mostly narrow local roads (that’s way in one moment we end up on unpaved road, but long story…). It is beautiful state with beautiful scenery and finally we exchange flatland with hills and highlands. First stop was Alliance, NE, small town in north-west Nebraska where we found some interested junk yard art: CARHENGE. “Replica” of Stonehenge but this one is formed of vintage American cars. After few photo shots we proceeded towards our first destination in South Dakota: Rapid City.

Wednesday, Aug 25^th 2010 – Miles: 130  – Tickets: 0

Rapid City, SD (actually “Rapid Town” :) was our starting point and the closest location to visit Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills area. We planed to spend the whole day here, somehow it happened to be too much time. It is beautiful place and lovely nature: mountains, lakes and forests. From Mt. Rushmore we headed towards Spearfish, SD but we stopped in the small historic town Deadwood. There are still cowboys on the streets :) After Deadwood we passed through the Spearfish Canyon and arrived to Spearfish where we’ll stay overnight.

Thursday, Aug 26^th 2010 – Miles: 380  – Tickets: 0

On Thursday morning we left Spearfish, SD towards Wyoming. There are several interesting locations we wanted to see. First stop, just about 20 miles after we started, was Aladdin, SD. It is "one house town" about 150 years old with population of 15! Same family owned it all of these years. The house does not look "great" but there is a store, Post Office, gas station and jail in the basement. Next destination was Devils Tower National Monument. It is volcano core millions of years old. It looks really impressive. We saw many climbers who were trying to get on the top. The final destination for the afternoon was Cody, WY, a town very close to the Yellowstone National Park but the road to Cody was something that we’ll remember. Narrow local road led us through Ten Sleep Canyon, along Bighorn River. We reached Cody in the evening and stayed overnight in the Buffalo Bill Village.

Saturday, Aug 28^th 2010 – Miles: 345   – Tickets: 0

Just before Rigby, ID car odometer passed 3000 miles and it was time for an oil change. Thanks to the guys in Chevrolet Service in Rigby it was done quickly as first thing in the morning. Around 11AM we started our trip towards the Nevada border using mostly local roads. Compared to other states, corn fields were replaced with potato fields and beautiful scenery through the whole Idaho state. Getting close to the Nevada border, nature completely changed and we were seeing prairies and mountains. As soon as we crossed the border and reached  the first city in Nevada, we were welcomed by many casinos and hotels. It is not a surprise that the name of the city is Jackpot. Today's trip we finished in Elko, NV where we'll stay over night.

Sunday, Aug 29^th 2010 – Miles: 510  – Tickets: 0

Tenth day on our trip was full of surprises. We left Elko, NV on a sunny morning with the temperature around 70F/22C. As soon as we reached the prairies on the road to Reno, NV, clouds covered skies, rain with strong wind started and the temperature dropped to 45F/7C. Everything backed to normal when we came to Reno except our expectations: Reno is unattractive city where we could hardly stay more then two hours and could not wait to leave it. First contact with California, after we passed "Agricultural Check Point" was a surprise too: bad roads, traffic jams and drivers attitude same like in NYC. We reached San Francisco in the evening, as our final destination for today.

Monday, Aug 30^th 2010 – Miles: 0  – Tickets: 0

After one day "on the road", we arrived in San Francisco on Sunday evening. Our hotel was located in the area called "Russian Hill" that is a walking distance to the most of SF attractions: Fisherman Wharf, Lombard Street, Cable Car etc. In the afternoon we took a bus to Golden Gate Bridge but when we arrived, the bridge was completely under the fog. Second day, we visited the bridge again and we were unlucky again. We spend about one hour there and left SF toward LA along the Pacific Cost Highway.

Tuesday, Aug 31^th 2010

Tuesday, Aug 31^th 2010 – Miles: 450  – Tickets: 0

They call it "The most beautiful highway in US" and definitely it is. It is an old, narrow and curvy road that pass along the most of Pacific coast of California. We made many stops along the road. Among those was one in Monterey. It is well known touristic destination but it was almost "empty" due to cold weather and low temperatures. Like in San Francisco, unfortunately most of the coast was covered with fog. Still we made a lot of photos.

Wednesday, Sep 1^st 2010 – Miles: 353  – Tickets: 0

After the whole day spent on California's Route-1 (Pacific Coast Hwy), we arrived to LA in the evening hours. We stayed in a hotel located in the Sunset Boulevard area so next morning we were ready for the city tour. We had no plans where to go and what to see. We were just "cruising" around. It cost us some time but it was OK for us. Most of the time we spent in Hollywood and Hollywood Hills. Later we stopped on Hollywood Boulevard to see famous Walk of Fame. As the most of our generation remember TV show "Melrose Place", we wanted to see that place too. Actually, it is a small street in Westside LA. Nothing special but close to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive so we decided to have short walk over there. In the afternoon we decided to see the famous Venice Beach, few miles South from LA. Another disappointment! Usually they call Venice Beach as "one of the most beautiful beaches in US". Beach itself maybe, but whole area looks bad: parade of trash, low life and Pit Bulls. Something completely opposite was what we saw nearby in Santa Monica and Malibu. In late evening we reached Las Vegas, where we stayed over night.

Thursday, Sep 2^nd 2010 – Miles: 515  – Tickets: 0

Arriving to Las Vegas was really spectacular. Passing through several small towns before LV, we thought "that's it" because they were too shiny and fancy for "our standards". But not yet! To get to Las Vegas we had to pass some steep mountain road but you could see city lights miles away. We stayed in the Stratosphere Tower Hotel and from their 109 stories high tower we could see the whole Las Vegas area. "Sin City" in real life is exactly what it's nick name says. In the afternoon we proceeded with our trip back to East Coast, over Nevada to the final destination in Grand Junction, Colorado. As we going back home we'll spend more time on the road with fewer stops. Unfortunately, some areas we shall not be able to visit (Grand Canyon, AZ, Arches, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, etc.). We hope we can do it some other time.

Friday, Sep 3^rd 2010 – Miles: 580  – Tickets: 0

It was long day on the road through beautiful nature of Colorado. As soon as we left Grand Junction, CO we were "welcomed" with high mountains. As time was passing, they were higher and higher. We thought that high mountain roads are behind us since we left Wyoming where the highest peak was more then 9000 feet (almost 3000 m). But surprise came with lovely ski center Vail, CO and it's Vail Pass, 10603 feet high (3231 m). Then even more: Colorado Summit with several peaks over 10000 feet. So, we switched Pacifica to "manual transmission mode" to reach the top of the summit. As soon as we reached Denver, the landscape completely changed and after high mountains we were again in corn fields. In the evening hours we arrived to Hays, KS where we stayed over night.

Saturday, Sep 4^th 2010 – Miles: 460  – Tickets: 0

We left Hays, KS late in the morning. It was a day with most of the time spent on the road, however we made several stops as well: lunch in Topeka, capital of Kansas and Kansas City, where we could not avoid the second largest Cabela's store in US and thousands of interesting things inside and out. We stayed over night in Warrenton, MO.

Sunday, Sep 5^th 2010 – Miles: 540 – Tickets: 0

We run out of time but still there are so many places to see. As the first thing in morning we visited Saint Louis, Missouri. Very nice city on the confluence of rivers Mississippi and Missouri. It was “ballgame” day and the park with famous Gateway Arch was full with people in “red shirts”. St. Louis is also well known for big Bosnian/Herzegovinian community, mostly located in suburb called South City. On Sunday morning most of the stores were closed but we found               café ZLATNE KAPI where we had great food and excellent sweets. Thanks to staff of Zlatne Kapi and their delicious food, we’ll remember St Louis for long time and always look forward to visit it again. Later that day, we arrived to Indianapolis, IN, a beautiful city famous for car races (among other things) where we saw more motorcycles then cars. Late that night we arrived to Zanesville, OH. It was our last over night location on this trip.

Monday, Sep 6^th 2010 – Miles: 495 – Tickets: 0 - Total Miles: 7130 (11474 km)

In the afternoon hours of the 18th day of our trip we finally arrived to NYC. We shall need few days to think about everything and probably to write the final notes. But this chapter and photo gallery we would like to dedicate to our the best friend, someone who did not let us down even when times got tough. She is little bit shy in front of camera objective but very reliable and  accountable. Her name is Pacifica, Chrysler Pacifica.