Oct. 30th, 2005|12:36 am: Got up at 7:30 this morning, got everything left in the house packed and was on the road by 8am. Stopped at Angel Cream for donuts. Man, I’ll miss their donuts. Anybody who has not had Angel Cream donuts simply does not understand how great their donuts are. So I drove all day and it was very uneventful. Traffic was light and boring. A saw an 18-wheeler tipped over in Missouri in the middle of the road with all it’s contents spilled out of the top. I ate nonstop today - donuts, Fritos, Oreo Blizzard, Pepsi, water, Pringles. I was really tired for awhile in the afternoon so I kept eating in hopes of staying more awake. In the evening I finally stopped being tired.

I got about as far as I expected - Wyoming. Right now I’m pulled into a truck stop for the night. In fact, I noticed after I pulled in here that I’m at the exact same truck stop and in the same spot as I was earlier this year. It’s 37 degrees out right now but it doesn’t really feel that cold. The low tonight is supposed to be 35 and no snow.

I didn’t end up writing anything on my car window. I suck. Maybe I’ll do that in the morning. Tomorrow I expect to make it to Montana before stopping for the night. I think that’ll take me about 11 hours to get there from here. I think I’ve set a personal record for myself for the number of states I’ve visited in a single year. I’m not going to try and list them all, but I think I’ve been in 20 - 25 states this year. Maybe less, depending on which way I drove to Oregon and back earlier this year. I think also a record for the most vacations I’ve taken this year and the number of airports I’ve ended up at.

Time for sleep.

That’s what I saw pretty much all day today. It was boring. I think I’ve made this trip by car 9 times in the past year and a half. Like, 5 times to Oregon from Illinois and 4 times to Illinois from Oregon. Or maybe it was just 7. Still a lot, though. Nothing interesting happened today. I ate lots of junk food and listened to lots of random radio stations and mp3s. Listened to lots of public radio and lots of religious shows. Those religious shows are like stand-up comedy to me. My phone stopped working halfway through Wyoming so I couldn’t talk to anyone without paying crazy roaming charges.

Stopped in a hotel tonight in Montana. I’ve got lunch with a friend in Polson tomorrow, then I’m going to Idaho for a day or two, then to Oregon.