Introduction In the later Winter / early Spring of 2023 we drove across the country and back to visit family and friends. Our Subaru Ascent towed our 19′ Intech Sol Horizon travel trailer. The trip took 56 days and we covered 7,668 miles. Here’s the full story. Thoughts on the Trip The Blog Wait? You’re still doing this? Yes, we are, but this is the last post. Are we glad we blogged? Yes, absolutely. We loved being able to reach a close circle of friends, and later, a wider circle of friends from the various Internet groups we belong to. We apologize to that extended circle that we decided to…

April 15, 2023 – Day 3 What’s it like to be home? It is both weird and comforting. The house feels huge to us, gymnasium huge. You have to pause at times to remember where something is or how to operate it (the dishwasher comes to mind). The fridge is empty except for a few groceries I bought on day 1. Three days later the trailer and the car haven’t been unpacked. We do have an excuse, the first day back was a rest day. And yesterday, well, we ran an errand and the car’s thermometer read 91 degrees! It is going to be much cooler today so we’ll empty…

April 12, 2023 – Day 56 Home, we’re finally home! Let’s back up to the last night though. After a wonderful visit with my brother we tried to find a Harvest Host for the next night. We were fussy though, we wanted one that served food. We couldn’t find one so we had only two options, stay at a Cracker Barrel or make the big push to home. Checkout times are usually 10 or 11AM but this campground had a 3pm checkout! The Fishkill NY Cracker Barrel was only 175 miles from the campground and 185 miles from home. We could have an easy morning then make the quick run…

April 10, 2023 – Day 54 Travel day today, not much to say or even photograph. But, I wish I had taken a picture down in DelMarVa. You see, we only traveled 250 miles but we went from the flat farmlands of DelMarVa to the rolling hills of PA. Surprisingly, we didn’t travel all that far. This might have been the biggest daily terrain change we’ve seen all trip. The fields in DelMarVa were flat and covered with hay, barley, or straw. We know that because we could read the signs on the farms and the signs on the insurance agency, “Hail Damage Coverage – Hay & Barley.” Susan told…

April 9, 2023 – Day 53 The cold and wind was still here but we learned from yesterday’s adventure and went for another walk today. The paths were either boards or just a wide, obvious path. Perfect paths for hiking. The scenery was quite nice also. This section was full of bird song. Merlin Sound id’d two new life birds for us, but we were unable to spot them at all. Susan watching Brown Pelicans, I think. The Coral Honeysuckle was beautiful. Back at the house it was time for board games, we finally were in the mood, i.e., not tired at night, to play the new game, Evolution, that…

April 8, 2023 – Day 52 We sat around much of the morning doing nothing because it was raining and windy, very windy. Remember how Susan put out the awning yesterday? Neither of us anticipated the winds coming but I was roused out of bed by the flapping of the awning. It can break from the wind so I went out to bring it in. After that neither of us wanted to go outside. So we looked for driving things to do. The Blackwater Wildlife Refuge has a good driving loop, but that is almost 3 hours away! There isn’t much point in driving up and down Route 13 because…

April 7, 2023 – Day 51 Day 51? How did we get 51 days here? We actually noticed Day “half a hundred” yesterday but I forgot to blog about it. Probably be cause we’ve engaged in the Glamorous Lives of the Travel Bloggers. It seems crazy that we’ve been on the road this long. I asked Susan this morning, should we turn around and head back West, see Bryce? She said both yes and no. I’m with her on that. Being on the road is great, but it is also the opposite of great. There are people and things we miss. Now that we’ve slowed down our travels we certainly…

April 6th, 2023 – Day 50 Today was a travel day and we got to do a “No Highways” day. ) We both prefer them but we don’t like the extra time it takes, sometimes it is as much as 50% more, and that’s not acceptable. Sometimes, like in Louisiana, you can get off the highway and find a 55mph road that parallels the highway (that has an awesome lunchtime restaurant spot!), other times like West Texas you just wonder why the hell you’re on this terrifying road where people drive like idiots. But to get from Durham NC to Cape Charles VA it was about the same to take…

April 5, 2023 – Day 49 We drove today, what else can we say? So did Kevin, remember him, the cactus. He attacked Susan again. We’re not sure how, but she stepped on some spines this morning. I pulled them out of her foot, expecting to see some weird North Carolina burr, but, it was from Kevin. I’m not sure why we take good care of him! He got 2 tablespoons of water a few days ago and Susan puts his “crash helmet” on during transit so he doesn’t get hurt (a bowl over the plant). But Kevin, come on man, there are a lot of trash cans in rest…

April 4, 2023 – Day 48 I had had a bad night’s sleep so today was going to just be an easy day, no super long hikes looking for birds or anything like that. We planned on making the short hike to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. Curiously, I had thought it was the highest point in North Carolina also since the NC/TN border lies along the ridge there, but NC also has Mount Mitchell, which is higher. I just wanted to take it easy in the morning, doing nothing, have lunch, then head out in the afternoon. The hike has a 330 foot elevation gain, but that’s…