Monday the 2nd: DAY 5

I guess we never mentioned that it is Jamie moving to WA, not Ashley. So just to be clear, Ashley is the amazing friend and roomie who offered to take the ride of her life across the country, just to make sure Jamie got there safely. It is true: Jamie is spoilt! "I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy or friend!"

I woke up early to go running in the hotel exercise room. I then got Jamie up and we headed out around 7:30 after enjoying a lovely breakfast at our hotel. Today was a long day, but super exciting! We were headed to Salt Lake which would take about 12 hrs but about 14 hrs knowing us. So the beginning of the day was pretty boring! We drove a lot. I actually started driving today which was a change of pace. Jamie bought state magnets to show all the places she has been in the U.S and to kind of document our trip. Other than that we were pretty much on the road, listening to Eat, Pray, Love which we happened to finish this day.

So once we made our way into Wyoming on the long stretch of Hwy 80 we ran into some major traffic in Rock Springs. We literally moved less than a mile in 30 minutes. We decided to use our GPS, Dale, to give us an alternate route. We knew this route might take us away from the amenities, so we fueled the truck and checked the air in the tires. As we began to follow this “alternate route” we were led onto a dirt road which looked as if it would switch back along the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, the road was a more direct route taking us straight up the mountain. It was rough, I'm not gonna lie. About 8.7 seconds into the first hill of this “alternate route” our tires began to slip on the gravel, as Jamie quickly switched the truck into 1^st gear, to give what little more girt we could, she calmly stated, “This is the time when we start praying!”

(Breathe)

After making it up this portion by weaving and faith, we looked for a place to turn around because heaven knows we can’t back up the trailer. We found no loop to turn around (as there was a healthy ditch on either side of the road) so we kind of just stopped.

(Can I just say, I prayed so hard: nothing eloquent, but one of those stupid prayers that need immediate answers, “Please, please, please, please!” I tried to stay calm, for the sake of all involved, but I just knew any second I would hit a bolder- filled- pot- hole wrong and lose a tire to the gaping ditch. The dust and heat did not help, and this is the very moment I learned what rear wheel drive actually means!~Jamie)

Luckily, there was a bigger truck descending the mountain. Jamie flagged him down and explained our problem (6 cylinder truck, 2 wheel rear drive, 2 ton U-haul trailer, on a steep loose-rocked dirt mountain). He was so nice and offered to turn the truck around for us. Don’t worry Jamie took her wallet and phone and we kept an eye on his truck idling nearby. He was so kind though and turned the truck around so we could proceed down the mountain. We were very blessed and grateful for his help.

So the other problem of standstill traffic had not disappeared by this time, so we decided to see a movie at the local theater, which was right off the exit. We saw Dinner with the Schmucks which was kind of crude but mostly hilarious. Jamie liked it more than I did but it was a fun adventure.

We also saw the advertisement for the movie of Eat, Pray, Love which we are both excited to see. It comes out August 13^th. We decided to compare notes on the movie since we won’t be together to see it L

After the movie we continued our trek to Salt Lake after eating Taco Time for dinner and taking a dinosaur ride. Note: we got what we though was the vegetarian taco, and it had sunflower seeds in it. Turns out that's a good choice for soft TT tacos!

(I must chime in again to emphasize that we had Taco Time Drive-thru! It was the first and last time I tried that one. Nothing bad happed, but I was so stressed the whole time about how things where lining up and where all my corners where that I couldn't eat my burrito right away! Ashley doesn't know this, but that is really why we took the dinosaur rides!)

We found our way to Salt Lake but needed to head to Lindon, Utah to Amy’s house for end destination. Apparently there are two zip codes for the Lindon area, so at 1am in the morning we went to the wrong area of Lindon. After calling Amy, and getting her correct area code we made it to her house where we hit the bed as soon as possible.