The wood has been laid!

[featured-img][/featured-img] Our porch redesign project has been moving forward for the past few months. Despite following the usual DNA of construction project flaws and delays we managed to rally this week and hit a momentous milestone yesterday. Winding through over 1200 stainless screws with just as many blisters and splinters; the decking has been installed! … Continue reading

Happy Easter!

Josie was SO excited about her Easter basket! She pulled each thing out, examined it, and then wanted to put it away. She cannot wait to eat her big chocolate bunny. She’s also wearing pajamas that she’s growing into, so she has to hold them up when she walks. It might be the cutest part of the whole thing.

Tour de Home

We have moved in but our stuff is still in New York. Since we forgot to take pictures and show them off over Christmas we took a video walking tour instead. We hope to have an updated “after” video by the end of the year.

Fremont Oktoberfest 5K

We got up today with a 10am game time for the Fremont Oktoberfest 5K. In lieu of rooting on our fantasy football team – what up Dream Team Dumbo! – we got a quick 5K race in followed by a free Rainier beer at the finish line. Now we stand with tickets to the Fremont … Continue reading

Car Porter

Strange brew: Seattle Nights with Brian and Alicia. Seattle is a beer town. A good beer town; with the focus on hops and extra hops. A true local will order a hand crafted iPA from around the corner. We are four weeks into our stay and I feel the urge to get a beer so … Continue reading

Happy Birthday, Brian!

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Rainer in 30 Days! 6,640 miles – Brooklyn to Seattle.

The numbers are in after driving the last leg of our cross country journey arriving at Alicia, Brian and Josie’s home in Seattle. I love math. If you also love math, please read the following:

Driving for a total of 6,640 miles over 30 days using 268 gallons of premium fuel at an average of $3.969/gal and 24.8 MPG. Clipping along at that pace we spent 16ยข per mile averaging $35.42 per day in fuel. All the while driving with 400 lbs. of belongings loaded in our Subaru.

Further stats:
24 states
23 fill ups
289 miles per fill up (Avg)
221 miles per day (Avg)
9 gallons per day (Avg)
9 National Parks
6 National Forests
3 National Recreation Areas
2 Raceways
1 Indian Reservation
1 oil change and tire rotation

Of course there is a spreadsheet compiled with all the data: Notice the on-board computer in the car states 1.6 MPG more that actually incurred. I assume the Subaru engineers try to make us feel better about the vehicles efficiency.
Brooklyn-Seattle_TripLog

The following is a list of notable locations we visited and many of the sites are stamped in our Passport to the National Parks:

Shenandoah Natl Park (drove thru)
Great Smoky Mountains Natl Park
Arches Natl Park
Bryce Canyon Natl Park
Grand Canyon Natl Park
Death Valley Natl Park
Yosemite Natl Park
Golden Gate Natl Park
Redwood Natl Park (drove thru)
Red Canyon Natl Forest
Blue Ridge Parkway, NC
Trail of Tears, NC
Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, AL
Purdue University
Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI
Lauritzen Gardens, Omaha, NE
Kenefick Park, Omaha, NE (2 of the biggest Locomotives ever built)
Original Pony Express Station, Gothenburg, NE
Green River State Rec Area
Fish Lake Natl Forest
Red Canyon, Dixie Natl Forest
Glen Canyon Natl Rec Area, Page, AZ
Antelope Canyon Navajo Res, Page, AZ
Inyo Natl Forest
Kaibab Natl Forest
Manti-La Sal Natl Forest
Humboldt-Redwoods State Park
Lake Mead Natl Rec Area
Route 66, Northern AZ

Here’s the updated map showing the last few days of mileage logged:

View Rainer in 30 days in a larger map

Alicia: proof of Cat camping

We’ll take a night photo at our next site, but here is Cat fixing the tent before bed in Bryce Canyon. She wanted me to say, “and how would I know how to fix it if I hadn’t slept in it?!”

Omaha to Moab

We followed the Mormon Trail (jk) from Omaha to Moab with a stopover in Denver to see Emily. The drive through Nebraska was exactly as C remembered it from years past. I was in love with the amount of space – and steaks. Er….cattle. We stayed at a super luxury, 5 star La Quinta Inn … Continue reading