Dear Corolla, thanks for your support

I realize I'm a little late here, but since we've driven 2,600 miles already, I figure it's about time I wrote a post about our road trip....

Let me begin by saying, my car has been fabulous ever since I got it. Fabulous. Not a trouble in the world..... Until the day I decide to start driving across the entire country.

As I mentioned before, the road trip got off to a late start... About 24 hours behind schedule, I finally finished moving and cleaning my apartment. I don't quite know if "finished" is the right word, but I was finally satisfied enough putting the keys in the kitchen drawer and closing the apartment door. #305 is sadly no longer my home. It still hasn't quite hit me yet.

Anyways, we hit the road around 8 pm on Wednesday. Clearly there was no way we were making it to Bozeman, Montana, as originally planned for day 1. Instead we drove to Spokane, where we stayed with Derek's mom. We got there around 12:30 am, and therefore were really excited when the roofers showed up around 6:30 to hammer about 5 feet above our heads.

Day 2, we set out with no particular destination. We just drove for as long as possible. Our final destination that day ended up being Gillette, Wyoming, but our goal was originally Rapid City, South Dakota. We would have made it there if my car hadn't decided to act up sometime after Missoula, Montana.

Let me tell you, my car has been fabulous ever since I got it. Fabulous. Not a trouble in the world..... Until the day I decide to start driving across the entire country.

So we started the day driving through Idaho:

I know it's super small and fuzzy, but there's the Idaho sign in the middle.

Then we made it to Montana:

Yippee!

And then we stopped in Missoula to get gas, coffee, and switch driving. I get in the car with my McCafe-- yes, McDonald's coffee (please don't judge me it was all we could find)-- and start driving. About five miles later, I notice my engine light on. At the time, I was terrified. Thinking that's pretty much the WORST POSSIBLE LIGHT the car can give you. Derek looked up what it meant in the manual: Go to the Toyota Dealership as soon as possible. GREAT. We're only 150 miles from the closest town that might possibly have a dealership!

I freaked out the entire 150 miles to Butte, Montana. Thankfully, there was a Toyota of Butte and they told us it was a minor problem. We would make it to our destination in Boston, I'd just have to take it in to a dealership when I got there. Assuring!! sort of....

Me with my "fixed" car at Toyota of Butte

They turned the light off, and then of course 100 miles later it was on again... And 1,500 miles later it's been on ever since. Love my car. Love it.

But thankfully the rest of the roadtrip has been fairly uneventful. More about that later...

Until next time, friends...