Ready to Hit the Road Again

Our first trip across country lived up to its name "Destination Unknown." We loved the trip, but it lacked structure. Sometimes this was a good thing and sometimes it was not. We left with a general direction, no particular time to get there and planned on visiting friends and family along the way. Some people knew we were coming, but not when and some saw we were close and asked if we could stop for a visit. Having the freedom to change our direction was good, allowing us to stay true to our "Destination Unknown." But the stress came from not being able to see someone because they were sick and we had to move on, or not being able to see someone because it would take us too far from our course. I had to finally realize that I could not do everything in one trip. Having the choice to go anywhere is both a curse and a blessing. We loved it because everything was new, but the lack of long-term planning was a bit unsettling.

Because I did not do any long-term planning, I did not research places to visit. Therefore, we did not do a lot of sightseeing. That was okay because we were visiting family and friends as well as making new friends. The few places we did visit makes me want to visit more places on the next trip.

When we were crossing the country, both ways, we moved every day or every other day. Being on the road is stressful, even when you go about 200 miles, arrive by 2 and stay 2 days. When we could stay a week or two in one place, we loved it. There were a lot of places that I wish we had more time to visit.

Our next trip across country will start just after Labor Day. I have just started to plan our route. Right now the plan is to go along the Northern states and sight-see along the way. I have a National Parks Passport and I want to fill it up with the stamps of the parks we visit. I am hoping that we are leaving soon enough to get to Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, and the National Parks in Utah before they get snow. I will post on Facebook when I get to the planning stage so that our friends and families along that route can give us a shout if they want us to stop and visit.

Even though the thought of the ultimate freedom of "Destination Unknown" sounds good, I actually feel more comfortable with more structure than that. Our next trip will have more structure, because we are planning to go to Mexico for five weeks with at least one other couple. When the time comes, we will set a date which has to be kept. 

To sum it all up, I liked the freedom, but I didn't like the freedom. I liked traveling because it took us to new places. I didn't like traveling, because there is a lot of work to packing up and unpacking. I liked visiting friends, family and making new friends. I loved  visiting new places. I loved eating out at new places. I liked boondocking in the desert. This has been the most amazing trip and I am looking forward to doing it all over again.

Here is our itinerary for September. If you are close to our path, give us a shout and we will be glad to get together.

Our Trip September 2017

September 6 & 7

Diamond Point, NY 12824

September 8

Geneva, NY 14456

September 9

North East, PA 16428

September 10 & 11

Wapakoneta, OH 45895

September 12

Leesburg, IN 46538

September 13 & 14

Sublette, IL 61367

September 15 & 16

Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965

September 17

Round Lake, MN 56167

September 18 & 19

Rapid City, SD 57702

September 20

MT 59301

September 21 - 23

Lovell, WY

September 24 & 25

Boulder, WY 82923

September 26 & 27

Duchesne, UT 84021

September 28 – October 2

Salina, UT 84654

From Utah we will be headed into Colorado and will stay there until cold weather and the threat of snow forces us South. The rest of the winter will be spent in Arizona, California and Mexico.