Moving to the United States

The Mapquest instructions fit on a page, the first eight steps were to get to Detroit, the next was "Turn right onto I-80W for 4000km". It was a long four-day drive. My Jeep was slow, I think I passed three vehicles.

It took a lot longer to pack than I thought, and I ended up leaving at the end of departure day rather than the intended early start.

It started snowing and one of the freeways was closed, so I took a detour.

Of course I got lost, and of course the trailer slid off the road into the ditch. Good thing I had a Jeep to pull it back out!

I got to the border in Detroit at 2am. The guys with the guns couldn't get the trailer open. I was preparing myself for "pull over there sir" and instead got "well don't blow anything up".

After that it was easy! Just go west.

It wasn't easy to get money, I didn't have a US bank account and my Canadian bank cards didn't always work.

I spent a bunch of time at gas stations.

I saw a few accidents. The RV was in Wyoming, it blew over. The tractor trailer had radioactive warning signs on it.

The climb up the continental divide was slow going. The Jeep was underpowered, undergeared (I didn't change the gearing after adding the big tires), and pulling the trailer.

I almost hit a herd of deer in Nevada. No idea how I dodged them all.

California at last! Three days of driving and there's snow again.

Pulling into Santa Rosa on day 4 was awesome. I called Larry Studebaker, my soon-to-be-boss at Centellax, and he said "William who?". Hahaha!