This part of the website is dedicated to Beth and Ben's drive from Belleville, IL to Pleasant Hill, CA, a mere 2,400 miles or so of driving. The drive was done in one week, and included lots of amazing sights, as well as some rather boring 'sights.' We left on the evening of Tuesday, June 3 from Belleville and drove to Concordia, MO, about 60 miles East of Kansas City. No pictures taken, no pictures necessary.

Day two of the drive took us from Concordia, MO to Silverthorne, CO. The drive consisted of about 600 (420 miles in Kansas) miles of flat, sometimes rolly terrain. Of the 11 hours of driving, Beth drove about 4. It rained for about 4 hours of the drive. Guess which 4. An example of Kansas and the rain can be seen here.

After about 9 hours of driving, through a hazy, cloudy Denver evening, the Rockies appeared about 10 miles ahead. Instead of stopping in Denver, as initially planned, we decided to ascend into the mountains to see what we could find. After the first "mountain pass" at an elevation of ~12,000 feet and a brief, June 4 snow shower, we saw a little ski resort town called Siverthorne in a valley ahead, and decided to stay there for the night. It was absolutely beautiful, and a welcome change from the usual Illinois landscape.

This picture is pretty self-explanatory, so we'll let it explain itself.

On the 3rd day when driving along through Western Colorado, Ben spotted a sign for Fruita, CO, and this seemed familiar. That's right, Fruita, CO is the home of World Famous Mike the Headless Chicken. Not going to let this opportunity go by, Ben had his picture taken with a monument to this determined, robust chicken.

After getting out of Colorado and into Southern Utah, Ben and Beth headed toward Arches National Park. We spent about 2 hours driving through the area, amazed by the natural formations that had formed there over millions and millions of years. Notice the natural arch formationin the background. Though it may look small, in reality it is extremely large.

Still in the 3rd day, and still in Arches National Park. This picture was also taken while driving through the park. From Arches, we went to Moab, UT, which was about a 10 mile drive, where we stayed for a night.

On the 4th day of driving, we went from Moab, UT to Las Vegas, NV. On the border of Utah and Arizona was this formation. It was fantabulous.

Included in the 11 hours of driving from Moab to Las Vegas was a 3 hour detour to the Grand Canyon. A bit hazy, but still amazing......