We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog for a TRAVEL Blog...

I'm on the road and having fun and adventures for the next week. Pardon my regular blog notes for a play by play (as much as I can) of my Pacific Northwest adventures.

Today is Day 1 of my travels. I left Salt Lake headed for Idaho Falls, Idaho to meet up with my dad and step-mom and younger siblings Rebekah and Carson. The first day of travel is just me and my dad. We're heading to Washington for a situation with my brother Matthew and then we're meeting my step-mom and Bekah and Carson in Oregon Saturday.

After a 3 hour drive to Idaho Falls I happily arrived long enough to stretch my legs and load my bags into the car we were taking and then we hit the road.

We headed North from Idaho Falls to Butte, Montana and then west to Missoula, Montana and Spokane Washington and ending in Moses Lake, Washington.

Rural Montana and Idaho are sparsely populated and full of trees. Much of the area is very dry and I imagine in Spring it looks beautifully green. The cities are nestled among the curves of the mountains along with many casinos and truck stops. Many of our fellow travellers were truckers.

My dad likes Flying J for his fuel stops. The first time we stopped at a Flying J I was excited for the "WiFi Available" sign that appeared in the window of the station. Beware that their wifi is not free. I wasn't interested in paying $5 to use the wifi along our journey when I could wait and use it for free at the hotel later that night. Besides, being disconnected from email, internet, and facebook for a whole 9 hours was quite enjoyable.

At about hour 7 of our 9 hours in the car I noticed a sign for Gonzaga University in Spokane. This was exciting to me because my good friend Wes moved to Spokane just yesterday and I had no idea our travels were taking us through Spokane!! He and his wife were so busy before they left that I didn't get a chance to spend time with them before leaving. Realizing I was in their new hometown I called Wes and after explaining why I was 5 miles from him we met up with him and JoAnne.

It was great to see them and welcome them to their new home! Small problem though - their apartment wasn't ready so they were spending the night at a motel. Wes explained he had filled out all the paperwork and been in contact with the apartments several times before the move. He was a bit frustrated and seemed relieved and confused to be telling me this face to face. Hopefully they can get into their apartment tomorrow and get the UHAUL unpacked by the time its due. And I hope for them that all this chaos in the beginning only means the next 3 years of Wes' law school will be smooth sailing!!

I took a couple pictures with Wes and JoAnne and said the "see you laters" we didn't get to have before they left Utah and then I headed into the sunset to the evening's destination of Moses Lake.