Throughout the past couple of months Karen has written the notes of our daily experiences. I would occasionally add thoughts or clarifications, but Karen covered each day very well.
Even now as I sit here in my recliner at home I find it hard to believe that we actually did this. So often we talk about taking a trip, or even a drive over the mountains to Medford, a mere 80 miles away, and quickly talk ourselves out of it. But here we are – 9000+ miles and innumerable experiences later pondering so very much. We met many great people throughout the trip, from hotel employees, transit workers and riders, park rangers and guides, and other tourists.
Beyond the initial planning the trip seemed to be broken into three distinct parts: sightseeing, historical, and returning.
Sightseeing
Amtrak to Milwaukie was interesting, especially watching the transition from the mountainous Glacier National Park region of Montana to the flat eastern prairie. The Upper Penninsula of Michigan was great. Water falls, lighthouses, and the incredible Pictured Rocks of southern Lake Superior. Then onto Niagara Falls, and the northeast.
We hadn't actually planned the trip in attempts to view the fall colors, but we certainly did see much. Upstate New York around Lake Champlain nothing like what we saw a few weeks later around New York City. The Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire was as colorful as we could ever dream of.
The Canadian Maritime provinces were vast. We both agree that Nova Scotia was our favorite. We were taken back with each gas fillup in Canada. Since their gas pumps are not 'chip-enabled' we would just fillup, and then go into the convenience store and pay the cashier – a level of trust we just don't see often in the states.
Historical
We hear so much about the historical roots of the United States being centered in the east, and rightly so. But with three major wars – Revolutionary, 1812, and Civil – we often came away feeling perplexed. Now which time period was this? Williamsburg Virgina was tops here, with the portion of town set aside as a monument to the original colony.
Though interesting, the history in the Boston area was so hard to get a grasp of. Too much traffic, and modern high rise buildings surrounding the historical buildings. After seeing Gettysburg Pennsylvania and the battle site we have talked about seeing again the movie, Gettysburg, which we were told was fairly accurate.
The Return
Charlotte North Carolina was the pivot point for the last portion of the trip, the return. With that we drove longer days, and stopped less. With this leg of the trip we actually begain stopping at McDonalds for coffee, and an occasional lunch – something we had not done prior.
Early on we had discussed the return trip. Do we try to take Amtrak back home? What about flying (thank you TSA for making that decision for us). Or driving. We opted to drive.
Seeing the geographical transitions was interesting. From the mountainous eastern ranges, to the flat midwest, to the Rockies each had its own beauty, and challenges.
Nuts and Bolts
Karen often mentions that she just drives, but I know that is the hard part – staying alert for hours, dealing with traffic on all sides.
We are thankful for the GPS navigation provided by our smart phones. Without it many sights would have been missed, and we could have easily been lost in the endless mazes of freeway on and off ramps in some areas.
We kept information in an application called 'Evernote'. This had everything from lists of sights we had collected over the months prior to the trip, to our car rental agreement, powers of attorney, and even advanced directives.
Even with free WiFi in all the motels we stayed in we did not use it for any banking or anything financial, using cell data instead to minimize the chance hacking. Our cell provider had a new data plan come available just before we left, so we bumped up the data. The plan also included Canada, so we had service there just like here.
Again?
More than once we have been asked if we would do this again, or what would we change.
We began this adventure knowing that we would not see everything, and what we did see would be at a point in time. Maybe a bit less extensive. We covered a lot of ground, saw a lot of sights. As we are now able to sit back and digest the trip, looking through pictures and notes, we may actually have an answer to those two questions. But for now all I can say is, "Wow, we did a lot."
Thank y'all
We were so blessed to spend time with family and friends along the way.
John and Pat
Steve and Laura
Tom and Kari
Curt and Bev
Chance
Rick and Sue
Ruth Ann and family
Hannah
Mason, Jenny, Emma, and Molly
Pat and Erika
Thanks to all of you for you interest, encouragement, and prayers.
We love y'all.
Chuck