When I started my road trip back in January, my plan was to try to visit as many states as I could - especially those states that I have never visited before. As you can see from the graphic, I made some pretty decent headway in achieving that goal in the 7 weeks I spent driving around the country. When I started this trip, I had visited 22 of our great states. I have now had the pleasure of visiting a total of 35 - adding 13 on this trip. The last 15 will be far more difficult to tick off my list. At the very least, I need to add California. Notice something about the map - a lot of really snowy and cold states from the center of the country have not been visited by me. Hmmm...wonder why that is?!
First let me give the necessary props to my Saturn Ion which went the distance without a single hiccup. No engine troubles, no flat tires, no dead battery - nothing. She was quite the trouper. You cannot ask for more than that for an 8 year old. Additionally, she was getting amazing gas mileage. Always good for 30 mpg, she was getting 34-35 mpg at times. What a good girl! She even had her own milestone during the trip - somewhere in Missouri we celebrated her becoming an adult:
As my brother said: "Mazel tov!"
When I started this trip back in January, I had some sites that I very specifically wanted to visit. The short list was: the White House, the Smithsonian, Arlington National Cemetery, the Biltmore house, Graceland, Wizarding World of Harry Potter, New Orleans, San Antonio River Walk, the Grand Canyon, Redwood National Park, the Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway, Taos Pueblo, Mount Rushmore, Las Vegas, Mutter Museum, Rodeo Drive, Los Angeles. Okay, there's still a lot I have not seen on this list. Mostly in D.C. and California. I can do D.C. while I'm here in Philly. California will just have to wait. I think Vegas and the Taos Pueblo are not going to happen.
There are sites that I visited not on the original list which I will remember in great detail and with much fondness: the MLK historic site in Atlanta, the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Lincoln Tomb in Springfield. These attractions resonate with me because they're all about either ideals/people I admire or nature at her finest. Things that are bigger and more important than my pathetic, nothing life.
But even more important than these places I've seen was spending time with family and friends. Being in Florida to see my niece walking down the aisle in her beautiful wedding dress was a dream come true. Visiting with some of my best friends from high school who I hadn't seen in 30 years - priceless. Certainly spending time with my nearly 90 year old aunt is nothing to sneeze at. Seeing old friends and making new ones all over the country was well worth the time taken.
Total stats to date:
Starting odometer mileage on January 24: 92,989
Odometer mileage on March 14: 101,182
Total miles in the 7 weeks: 8,193
Number of states visited: 25 (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia)
After traveling nearly 8,000 miles, about 250 miles from home, I was done. I thought I cannot drive one more second and then I realized "Shoot, I still have 3 and a half hours to go." It was quite the annoyance. It didn't help that I was in massive amounts of pain and had not taken any meds to combat the pain. But I finally made it back to Philadelphia around 5:30 pm yesterday. The last 10 miles in particular were the worst! Stuck in Philadelphia traffic stinks!
A reminder: this is not the end of my travels but merely a hiatus. Sadly, my little Saturn will not have the opportunity to see California, but she'll be with me when I visit D.C. and all the other places that I still need to see, especially when I make it back to Massachusetts to visit my students and other friends... once the snow melts. I'm thinking that's happening in mid-July.
Here are all the welcome signs:
After traveling nearly 8,000 miles, about 250 miles from home, I was done. I thought I cannot drive one more second and then I realized "Shoot, I still have 3 and a half hours to go." It was quite the annoyance. It didn't help that I was in massive amounts of pain and had not taken any meds to combat the pain. But I finally made it back to Philadelphia around 5:30 pm yesterday. The last 10 miles in particular were the worst! Stuck in Philadelphia traffic stinks!
A reminder: this is not the end of my travels but merely a hiatus. Sadly, my little Saturn will not have the opportunity to see California, but she'll be with me when I visit D.C. and all the other places that I still need to see, especially when I make it back to Massachusetts to visit my students and other friends... once the snow melts. I'm thinking that's happening in mid-July.
Here are all the welcome signs:
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