After a long week of packing and many trips to and from our storage unit (as well as one very last minute smog check), we set off from Walnut Creek on July 20th, 2024.

Our first target was Boise, a 10 hour drive. We passed the time with podcasts, conversation, and Jolly Ranchers.

We found ourselves a good trivia podcast which included a series of questions we really liked based on anagrams. The host gave descriptions of two words that are anagrams of each other, and the goal was to determine the two words. We liked it so much that we then spent a while coming up with our own.

Among the various pitstops we made was one spontaneous stop at Crooked Creek State Park in Oregon, which is the tiniest state park either one of us had ever seen. It had a nice big meadow backed up against some beautiful cliffs, and we let Winnie off-leash to run around for a while. Daniel went into only mild cardiac arrest with worry.

Just as we entered Idaho from Oregon we started to get a taste of the smoke-filled air that would (spoiler alert!) plague us in Boise. The sun was an alarming shade of orange, reminiscent of the orange day. But it made for a beautiful view.

We finally arrived at our Airbnb at around 10:30pm, stepping out of our car into 90 degree air. Another unwelcome omen of what was to come. That said, our Airbnb had a very powerful AC and comfy beds, so we settled in quickly and started to look forward to exploring Boise! Our trip had begun.