Well, the time has finally come! after spending the past nearly 11 months in a hotel room in Iowa, I now sit in the corner of one of the two rooms in a dilapidated Shanghai hotel which has been configured to exclusively handle travel-related quarantine, where we will be spending the next 14 days in hard quarantine (read: you do NOT leave the room for any reason at any time). I will thus use some of this time to chronicle our thoroughly planned and fairly well executed process to Return to Chengdu!
Phase 1 would be a 6 day drive across 6 states and over 2100 miles, to get from Cedar Rapids, IA to San Francisco, CA, where our flight to Shanghai would depart. After lengthy discussion, Doug and I decided driving would be significantly safer than flying, especially as Covid-19 cases spiked across the country while American families travelled at an all time high during the Thanksgiving holiday. We would sightsee in the mornings, drive in the afternoon, and work at night each night!
Day 1: Thanksgiving Day 2020, Drive to Lincoln, Nebraska
On Day 1, we left our home for the last 10 months, the Residence Inn Cedar Rapis!
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| Our last home cooked meal in Cedar Rapids! Turkey Leg Ramen |
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| Packing once again! |
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| Saying Farewell to Andrea at the Residence! |
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| Loaded and Ready! |
Our first driving day was light, as we bolted across the state of Iowa until arriving in Lincoln, Nebraska. First stop? The University of Nebraska at Lincoln!
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| A lot of football history here! |
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| Cardboard cutout fans - the ultimate symbol of College Football in 2020! |
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| Nebraska State Capitol |
Day 2: Drive to Denver
On day 2, we would end up in the Mountain Time Zone after driving the lonely drive through Nebraska. We stopped at a few curiosities along the way:
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| One of what would be many historical Pony Express stations we would pass on the journey! |
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| Closed :( |
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| Got a photo through the window! |
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| Boot Hill, a veritable Cowboy graveyard in Nebraska |
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| A cameo at Broncos Stadium in Denver! |
Day 3: From Colorado to Utah
Day 3 would be our most interesting drive to date, as we drove across the Rocky Mountains on Highway 70, and into the eastern part of Utah. I was amazed at the diversity of landscapes on this drive - there were snowcapped pine mountains in Colorado, the amazingly picturesque Glenwood Canyon drive (unfortunately, no photos here as I didn't pull off at any of the view points!), and finally the red rocky mesas in eastern Utah!
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| Buffalo Bill's grave near Golden, Colorado |
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| The first views in Utah |
Up next, we keep heading west for more amazing views!
