I wrote about the lead up to leaving for Atlanta, and I wrote about what it’s been like in Atlanta, but I skipped a whole portion in between. A 4,058km portion!
Doing a 4,058km road trip through the US was probably on my bucket list, but doing it on my own was definitely not. If you had of asked me 1, 2, or 3 years ago if I foresaw myself driving to Atlanta to meet Ryan because he was working there, I would have told you that you were crazy. Literally. If I am being completely honest, Atlanta wasn’t even on my list of American cities to visit, much less live in for a few months. One of the best (and sometimes worst) parts of life is that it is unpredictable and from time to time, throws you curve balls. For me, ATL was a curveball. Nevertheless, I was keen for an adventure, so I packed up my life as I knew it into my Pontiac G6 and began driving south.
I crossed the border at Sweet Grass, and cruised through Montana for a couple of hours before I made it to Bozeman, where my friend Chelsey lives. I stayed with Chelsey for 2 nights. We caught up over wine and beers and sushi and pizza. I hiked with her dog, Winston, while she worked, and had the pleasure of attending a yoga class that she taught. There is almost nothing cooler than seeing your pseudo little sister who you met at YTT teach a yoga class #proudbigsister
I left Bozeman on Thursday late in the afternoon, and made my way 4.5 hours east to the delightful town of Broadus, Montana. I stayed at a nice AirBnb there… I arrived fairly late, and left fairly early, and Broadus itself was nothing to write home about, so that is all I will say about that. I made my way through the rest of Montana, part of Wyoming, and into South Dakota, where I stopped at Mount Rushmore. I’ve wanted to see Mount Rushmore for a long time, so this was easily the thing I was the most excited to see on my road trip. As I drove up the winding road towards Mount Rushmore, it popped out of nowhere and I had my first glimpse of the 4 faces. I hate to admit it, but my first thought was “I expected it to be bigger.” It wasn’t until I got right up close to it that I was fully able to appreciate the grandeur and size of it. I wandered around the memorial for a while and left feeling impressed that the artists were able to hang off the side of the mountain in the late 1920’s and sculpt out 4 American presidents faces.
From there, I made my way east 
towards Wall. For those of you who haven’t heard of Wall Drug, Google it. You will not regret it. I feel confident saying that Wall Drug is the weirdest tourist attraction I have ever visited. There are billboards for about 40 miles before you get to Wall advertising the “drug store”. Upon arriving at Wall Drug, I made my way into a massive building to find myself in a fake western street. There was a western wear store, a pharmacy, a gift shop, a cafe, a store selling posters, a bookstore, a candy shoppe, and a bunch of benches with plaster statues of creepy western people. It was straight up weird. Naturally, I took a selfie with one of the creepy plaster statues and then GTFO.
I continued driving for about 4 more hours until I had crossed all of South Dakota and made it to Sioux Falls. I stayed in Sioux Falls at a lovely AirBnb, and then made my way onwards in the morning. By this point, it was day 4 since I had left Canada. So on day 4, I drove through Iowa, and then made my way into Nebraska, stopping in Omaha for a coffee. I took in the endless blue skies, and wheat and corn fields that stretched on for days. From there, I made my way into Missouri, stopping in Kansas City (which is not in Kansas – WTF?!) for lunch, before continuing on to St. Louis. For those of you who are thinking to yourselves that this seems like a lot of driving, it was. It was 9 hours of actual driving, made longer by my obsession with constantly consuming beverages and my infant sized bladder. Oh, and the occasional need to fuel up.
I made it to St. Lo
uis just in time to see the sunset. I headed straight to the lookout point for the Gateway Arch and was greeted by one of the most miraculous sunsets and city skylines I have ever seen. Jaw drop
ping doesn’t begin to describe this sight, and I am grateful to have had the chance to experience such a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, this was all I got to experience in St. Louis, as I left early the next morning, driving through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and finally, Georgia. I have never been more relieved to see a state sign as when I saw that giant peach welcome me to Georgia. Six days on the road, 5 days of actual driving, 10 states (including Georgia) and over 4,000km and I had finally reached my new “home”.