America or Bust

Day 33

States: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts

Miles covered on this trip:

10,000 (give or take a few)

States visited on this trip (in the order they were visited):

Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

States I have run miles in on this trip:

New Jersey, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Utah, Montana, South Dakota, Illinois, Ohio

National Parks and Monuments Visited:

Ellis Island, Point Park, The Alamo, Carlsbad Caverns, Montezuma Castle, Grand Canyon, Saguaro, Zion, Bryce, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands

State license plates seen on the trip:

All 50 states!

The Weather

We have been very blessed with the weather on this trip.

In 33 days of camping, we were rained on only three times. Once in Tennessee, once at my brother’s in Arizona, and once in Ohio. All of these were at night and didn’t interfere with our plans.

Chattanooga was when we first started experiencing some heat and humidity. Then Louisiana put that humidity to shame and showed us some real heat and humidity.

In San Antonio when we were checking in, I asked the lady if the thermometer (which read 107°) was correct and she said yes and it would probably go up a few degrees more that day, too.

We stayed with the heat all the way through San Diego where the air and water temperature were the same (78°) and it was lovely.

Then it was back to the heat for a while in Utah before we froze at Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore.

As we drove back home we have returned more to our idea of normal temps and humidity but are being welcomed back by rain.

Josh’s favorite part of the trip

Philadelphia

Deanna’s favorite part of the trip

Bryce (and maybe seeing bears and not dying)

Ruby’s favorite part of the trip

Rock City

Asia’s favorite part of the trip

Cedar Point

Some musings on camping:

Now that we have been at it for 33 days, we are pros at setting up and tearing down. It has also become our new normal.

Even with as little as we tried to pack, we were overpacked. We have been putting things under seats and in bins out of the way as we have discovered we don’t really need them. And as mentioned in a previous post, five outfits has still been too many. It makes me think about all of the stuff we have at home and whether we really need it all or not.

Our idea of clean is different on this trip. I’m not even sure of the last time Miss A had a shower, or at least a shower with soap, but she’s been swimming so that has to count for something, right? And pretty much everything we own is covered in fine layers of dust and dirt from the campgrounds. But it is what it is and we’re all looking forward to clean beds and real showers this evening.

Food has really been the hardest thing and I really think it’s because of the duration of the trip. The novelty of peanut butter and jelly and hot dogs only lasted so long and vegetables are hard to keep and cook.

Things we are looking forward to at home:

Grammy!

Our own beds

My puppy!

Showering without flip flops

Eating real meals at the table with actual silverware

Walking across the hall to the bathroom instead of across the camp.

Being able to dry my hair

Seeing and talking to our friends

Our electric toothbrushes

NOW WE ARE HOME!!!

The puppers was so excited to see us he cried. We were all so excited to see Grammy that we cried. She loves us and fixed us a real dinner with real plates and real vegetables and real silverware and ICE!!!

And now we are clean and we are home. This has seriously been the trip of a lifetime and I have very much enjoyed sharing it with all of you. Blogging has been an interesting experience and I do hope you enjoyed hearing about our travels.

Day 1