In one week, Team Soell will be on the road to California! In between wrapping presents, going to various family functions, and visiting with friends who are in town we've been eagerly discussing our travels plans and the sights we want to see along the way. Â Last year, as you may recall, we took the straight-forward southern route; This year we're taking our time a bit and seeing what there is to see in the northern states. So, I present to you, The Plan:
January 1: Team Soell packs up first thing in the morning heading west through the neighbor states of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. After twelve hours of driving we plan to set up camp in Omaha, home of all that beef you've heard about.
January 2: We continue our westward push through Nebraska and Wyoming, ultimately landing in Salt Lake City. January has a strange fascination with the LDS church, so we're hoping to get there late on day two, get some good sleep, and spend the next morning visiting the temple and other big Mormon sites.
January 3: After getting our fill of Big Love, we'll work our way through northern Nevada and Plumas National Forest in California until we end up in Napa Valley.
January 4: Our apartment in Venice won't be ready for us until the 5th, so we'll spend a day in Napa Valley checking out the vineyards, drinking some local wines, and enjoying the warmer weather.
January 5: On the last day of our trip, we'll work our way down the California coast on the Pacific Coast Highway until we reach the LA coast.
If you know of any interesting places we should check out along the way that are relatively close to our travel path, we'd love to hear about them. We've already been told that we absolutely must visit Harris Pizza in Bettendorf, Iowa and we're planning doing exactly that.
We're also going to take tons of pictures and make frequent posts here and on Twitter, but you'll want to keep an eye on the main Team Soell page for the most frequent updates, including a live map of our progress with embedded status updates and pictures.
We'd also really like to hear from everyone while we're out of town. Unlike last year, we'll actually have a mailing address this year, and I promise here and now that anyone who takes the time to send us a letter (or baked goods?) will get a letter in return:
Team Soell
363 Rose Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
[UPDATE]
Change of plans once we hit California:
January 3: Instead of heading to Napa -- let's be honest, neither January nor I really know that much about wine -- we'll head down to San Francisco and set up shop for the night.
January 4: Six hours away from Venice, and 36 hours until our apartment is ready. That leaves plenty of time to do some sight-seeing in San Francisco. After we've had enough of the Golden Gate Bridge, we'll drive two hours down the road to one of the top dog-friendly cities in America: Carmel-by-the-Sea. We'll settle in, grab some dinner, and rest up for the last day of our roadtrip.