11th Annual Trek Cross Country

In three more years, I'll have spent as much time in Seattle as I did in Madison. That's what I find most... unsettling about this anniversary. 

I missed last year's posting of this re-treading of the trip Seth and I took from Madison to Seattle, but I promised myself not to miss it this year. Why? Because the trip was significant to me. It changed many, many things about my life. The best of which was finding Julia and marrying her.

So, I figured reliving this little chapter of my life might be kind of nice.

I hope you enjoy it!

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SEPTEMBER 27 - Madison, Wisconsin (0 miles) 

We haven't left town yet, and we're already running late. It's nobody's fault, really: packing up the truck took a bit longer than planned, but we still could have made it out of town with time for plenty of progress...until it came time to go back to U-Haul to hook up a trailer for Jon's car. 

"Looks kinda heavy," says the guy at the shop, and suggests we go across the street to the recycling center and use the truck scale. Driving the 17-foot truck directly across four busy lanes of traffic is a bit daunting, but I brave the task while Jon starts to deal with the trailer. 

Pulling up onto the truck scale just as the recycling center just as they prepare to close the gates, I jump out and read the label on the side of truck: 'LIMIT 11,000 LBS. GROSS'. Then I look over at the digital readout on the side of the building: 14568. 

I take the truck back across the street and deliver the bad news. The garage is closing, so there's no time to come back for the trailer. Instead we hook up the car and trailer, then return to Jon's house and spend a couple hours unloading two tons of books and comics that will have to go down to Jon's parents in Burlington for storage. 

SEPTEMBER 27 - La Crosse, Wisconsin (161 miles) 

We made a quick stop at a gas station and a Taco Bell in Tomah, but it's here that we decide to stop for the night. It's 11:30, and there's no point in burning ourselves out on the first leg of the trip. The AAA guidebook lists a Hampton Inn that offers a discount, so that's where we crash. Uh, sleep. 

We're up by 8:30, pack up, partake of the free breakfast, stop by a nearby Woodman's grocery store so I can mail off a birthday card to my mom, and then we hit the road. 

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See you tomorrow!