When she told me about her sons (ages 27 and 28) and grandsons (ages 2 and 4), I was confused. When she sent me a picture of her 5 identical dogs on her bed, I was intrigued. When she told me she sees me more in a Maserati than a 2003 Subaru, I was cracking up.

This is how most used car purchases start, right?

In April 2024, Blas and I were making plans to leave Argentina to spend the summer in the US. We wanted to do a cross country road trip, starting in Oregon and ending in Wisconsin, with lots of National Park stops and family visits along the way. Renting a car for 3 months was insanely expensive, so we decided to buy.

We wanted to have the car ready to go when we arrived in Oregon at the end of May, so I took to Craigslist (yes, Craigslist is still a thing.) I came across a listing for a 2003 Subaru Outback with 3 photos and a 5 word description: “nice car, well cared for.” So I reached out, obviously.

Sonali replied and it was immediately apparent that she was a character. We chatted for a while, about everything other than the car, and set up a time to see it. Well, actually, seeing as we were still in Argentina, we set up a time for my sister’s amazingly willing and kind neighbor, Lee, to go and see it.

Lee confirmed my suspicion that Sonali was one of a kind – he learned all about her identical dogs, her Hummer, and got roped into playing her taxi driver that afternoon. Luckily, he also confirmed that the car was old, but in good shape and would probably make it across the country. Sold!

So when we arrived on May 30, our chariot, which we named El Feo, was waiting for us.

MILE 0 | ASHLAND, OREGON

We landed in Oregon and spent 4 fantastic days in Ashland with my sister, Jack, and the munchkins. We went to a beautiful winery with live music and played corn hole with the kids in the rows of grapes.

We ate lots of great food, played fun games, and acted as human jungle gyms.

We also went to a lake where Ollie caught us dinner.

Our time in Ashland went far too fast, but we knew we would see the gang again at the end of the summer, which made the goodbye a little easier.

On our way out of town, we stopped for a coffee to meet Sonali, the woman we bought the car from. She rolled up in her Hummer 20 minutes late because she fell leaving the house – she had the goose egg on her head to prove it! She was exactly who we expected her to be, in the best way possible.

MILE 336 | LAKE TAHOE

Leaving Ashland, we headed south to Lake Tahoe, our first road trip destination. At a gas station stop, Blas was amazed (or was it offended?) by the size of the cups.

We arrived at my brother and Sidney’s place, just in time for tri-tip and brandy slushes. A perfect dinner after day one on the road.

The next day we celebrated Alec’s birthday with a hike down to Lake Tahoe where we spent the day paddling around the CRYSTAL CLEAR water!

Some of us were even brave enough to take a dip. 🥶

MILE 1048 | POCATELLO ,

After leaving Tahoe, we had plans to visit Yellowstone, 764 miles away. To fuel us up for the long drive, Blas suggested a diner stop. He loves diners. And we found a great one in Winnemucca, NV called “The Griddle.” I ordered huevos rancheros and Blas got the classic eggs over easy with hashbrowns and toast.

Plus we got to check off a box on our road trip bingo card!

Knowing we weren’t going to make it all the way to Yellowstone, we planned to spend the night somewhere along the way once we got tired. That somewhere was Pocatello, Idaho. A surprisingly cute little town!

We took a little walk around and stumbled upon a lively, old, locals-only type bar. The bartender was so nice, it was wing night, plus they had live music starting in 30 minutes (another bingo box, checked!)

An unexpectedly fun night complete with a much needed beer buzz so the idea of going to sleep in a car in a Walmart parking lot didn't sound quite so bad.

We slept horribly and started questioning our decision to camp in the car. But the next morning we accepted our fate, stopped for our daily ice fill up, and set off for our next destination.

MILE 1208 | YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

We arrived in West Yellowstone and entered the park for our first National Park visit. We immediately stopped at the first scenic pullout for a sandwich lunch.

We kept driving and saw herds of buffalo and even bigger herds of traffic. An unpleasant start, but we made the best of it by turning around, away from the traffic jam, and visiting a few of the less popular, but equally impressive sights.

That night we headed back to West Yellowstone. We found a place to park on National Forest land, where you’re allowed to camp overnight. If you think this sounds beautiful and quaint, so did we. In reality it wasn’t much better than the Walmart parking lot, not to mention the bear threat was significantly higher.

But, we survived, dodged a near divorce, and woke up at the crack of dawn to try and beat the park traffic.

It worked.

That day we visited some incredible places, like Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring. We saw the buffalo herds sans traffic jams, had more scenic sandwiches, and lounged lakeside with new friends.

We even got a camp site in the park that night.

Our last day in Yellowstone did not disappoint. We saw not one, not two, not three, but four bears! And one was a grizzly.

We also took a great hike to Artist's Point and ended at Mammoth Hot Springs.

In the afternoon we left the park and treated ourselves to a luxury stay at the Bozeman Inn.

Ok, at least it felt luxurious after 3 nights of sleeping in El Feo.

MILE 1615 | MISSOULA, MT

Bright eyed and bushy tailed, we set off for Missoula, MT. On the way we stopped in a few old mining towns, like Butte and Phillipsburg. We strolled around, imbibed in the local elixirs, and indulged at the old fashioned candy shop.

We then made our way to Missoula to see Uncle Geno and Aunt Pam.

Geno grilled us up elk burgers and we had an spirit tasting with Fernet and Vermouth that we brought from Argentina.

The next day we took a hike with Pam up a mountain full of wildflowers.

On top of the mountain we made a memorial for my friend Casey – it was her birthday.

MILE 1753 | GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

We woke up the next morning and headed north with a car full of food from Pam. We stopped at Flathead Lake for more scenic sandwiches and a siesta before reaching Hungry Horse, MT.

We spent the night at Mountain Meadow RV Park, right outside the entrance of Glacier National Park, with two of the nicest park hosts you ever did meet. We had free rein of the tent sites, since everyone else was in RVs and the host gave us some free firewood. For dinner we grilled up some sausages, played cards, and called it a night.

At this point we had made a few adjustments to El Feo so sleeping in the back was a bit more tolerable, dare I say cozy.

We woke up early and headed into Glacier. It was still early in the season so the famous “Going-to-the-Sun” Road was closed and blocked with snow. But that didn’t prevent us from seeing some really stunning scenery.

This hike to Avalanche Lake was definitely a highlight. There were three waterfalls that poured into the lake – it felt like a scene from Avatar.

MILE 1997 | GREAT FALLS, MT

We headed to Great Falls, MT in search of mermaids. Yes, mermaids. Mermaids in the middle of landlocked, mountainous Montana. We were unsuccessful in our search, as you can imagine, but we did find the next best thing: an off-duty mermaid complaining about bad tippers. Let me explain.

Great Falls is a weird little blue collar town with sketchy casinos and lots of bars. (I’m sure there are lovely things about Great Falls as well, but for the sake of the post, let’s focus on the bad). For dinner we went to a Chinese restaurant turned pizza joint. The waitress was visibly pissed she had customers. It’s also home to one of the grossest hotels in the United States of America – the same hotel we booked, as luck would have it.

HOWEVER, it is also home to the Sip ‘n Dip Lounge. A tiki bar with a giant glass pool behind the bar. Enter the mermaids. Nearly every night, mermaids swim in the neon blue water for the bar-goers, collecting tips in wooden tiki bowls. It’s weird and amazing and you can read more about the history here. Very unfortunately, we arrived a little too late and missed the night’s mermaid. But we did see her after her “shift,” in street clothes, hair dripping wet, gym bag on her shoulder, complaining about how little money she made. A bit less magical.

We stayed for a couple of drinks anyway. I remember walking home, feeling like we were in the twilight zone. I don’t know if it was the Sip ‘n Dip, our weird pizza dinner, seeing our hotel neighbor selling bikes out of his rooms, or maybe a combination of all those things, but it was an absolute “where the f*ck are we” moment. We were ready for the next destination.

MILE 2408 | THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK

The next morning we got out of Great Falls as fast as El Feo would take us. We headed east until we hit tiny little Lewistown, MT where we stopped for lunch.

And another necessary roadside attraction stop in Who-Knows-Where, Montana.

Then we were off for our third and final National Park stop: The incredible, the spectacular, THE WORLD FAMOUS THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK!!!!

🦗🦗🦗

Oh, you’ve never heard of it? Neither had pretty much anyone else we talked to.

But that didn’t stop us from going. We wanted to make the National Park Annual Pass that we purchased for $80 worth it, goddammit!

I think if we did this road trip the opposite direction, with Theodore Rooselvet being our first National Park stop, we would have enjoyed it a lot more. But after seeing geysers, grizzly bears, and Avatar-worthy waterfalls, old Teddy fell a little flat.

We stayed in a campground in Medora, right outside the park. The whole town felt like an adult church camp. Everything seemed to have a religious undertone. Even the town logo looked like it was ripped off the cover of a Catholic hymnal. It was another one of those “where the f*ck are we” moments.

Onward!

MILE 2836 | FARGO, ND

Theadore Roosevelt NP to Birchwood, WI would have been a 10 hour drive. So instead of killing ourselves on the final day, we opted to stay in Fargo, ND, about halfway in between.

I don’t have a single picture of our time in Fargo, which tells you everything you need to know.

That night we stayed at a basic little hotel where the receptionist had the most “you betcha” accent you’ve ever heard. Home was close. ❤️

MILE 3315 | BIRCHWOOD, WI

On June 15, El Feo arrived in Birchwood, WI. I remember when we pulled up to my parents’ house I felt equal parts excited and anxious. Happy we had a great road trip and even happier it was over. Excited to see my parents and to spend the summer with them. But also nervous about what Blas was going to think about my old stomping grounds and Birchwood, WI, population 406. 😳

Spoiler alert: He loved it.

And became a cheesehead in no time at all.

REMAINING 3726 MILES

For the next three months and 3000-some miles in El Feo, we worked hard and played harder. We took a few weekend trips, got into golfing, and got on the water whenever possible. Here are a few highlights from our Wisconsin summer.

#lakelife

Would it be a summer in Wisconsin without living the #lakelife?! We spent lots of time cruising around on the pontoon with my parents, fishing, kayaking, swimming, repeating.

NEWFOUND LOVE OF GOLFING.

I hadn’t golfed in years and Blas had never been. But golf got a hold of us this summer and it was so much fun. We were able to go for free at Lynndale’s Golf Course thanks to my mom’s wheeling and dealing with the owner.

FULL GROWN ADULTS SPEND THE DAY AT NOAH’S ARK WATERPARK.

One weekend we drove down to Milwaukee to visit friends Nina and Caleb. We explored Summerfest, a big music festival held every year, laughed a lot, and found a big box of free beans in the park. (Yes, we brought them home if you’re wondering.)

When Sunday came around, we weren't quite ready to say goodbye. So we all hopped in El Feo and headed to Wisconsin Dells for a day at Noah’s Ark, America’s largest waterpark. It was sort of chilly that day, but that meant shorter lines for all the rides. Most people go to Noah’s Ark with their kids. We are not those people.

SEAFOOD BOIL ON THE BIG LAKE CALLED GITCHE GUMEE.

For 4th of July weekend, we got together with Nina and Caleb once again, but this time up North. Caleb’s uncle has a house on Lake Superior and invited us up to spend a couple days. When we arrived we almost immediately got onto a boat with Captain Nina. We were whisked away into the great gitche gumee with coolers full of beer and fresh seafood.

After an hour of driving we anchored at a remote island. We spent the day exploring some of the nearby islands, playing beach games, drinking said beer and eating said seafood.

WEDDINGS! PLURAL!

We closed out the summer with my friend Jen’s BEAUTIFUL wedding at a greenhouse in Solon Springs. She grew all of her own flowers for the event! It was a perfect night and so much fun seeing old high school pals.

Blas and I also had our 2nd wedding fiesta! We hosted it at a small vineyard in the Blue Hills owned by family friends, Lorraine & Chuck. My mom’s friend Angie catered amazing food, family friend Steve smoked the pork, my mom’s coworker made the cake, Jen brought beautiful garden flowers, old neighbor Betsy took photos, and a musical tag-team with Uncle Jim DJing and Uncle Mike on the guitar.

A real “takes a village” style affair. So grateful for all of the help and everyone who celebrated with us – a perfect, casual, fun day we’ll remember forever.

All of our pictures from our 3-part wedding tour are here :)

The week in between the wedding festivities, Jen and I had a conjoined bachelorette party. We had some serious double-bride-luck with a sunny day even though the forecast predicted 100% chance of storms. We cruised around on the pontoon boat with Captains Erin and Maggie at the helm, stopping at fun, weird little bars around the lake. SO MUCH FUN.

ADIOS, EL FEO.

After an incredible summer, we left for Spain at the end of August, saying goodbye to friends, family, and El Feo. Leaving was harder than I think either of us anticipated. But all good things must come to an end, so we put ol’ El Feo back on the market – he’s now spending his days near Ashland, WI with new owner Jeff.

Before leaving we sent Sonali a message telling her El Feo had made it through the summer. She replied with a picture of her healing head from her fall back in June, on the way to meet us.

This post is dedicated to Uncle Geno who passed away on Oct 16. Our summer wouldn’t have been the same without you. You were something special and will be missed more than you know. ❤️

Hi.

Oct 20 7041 MILES IN EL FEO