Time to get excited – or maybe apprehensive – about our long-planned, double-cross-country route trips June 24 – August 9, 2019: US #2 from Maine to Seattle; US #101 around Washington to Oregon; US #30 back to Atlantic City. Yep, 21 states (+6 from Richmond to Maine) and 2 provinces, 48 days, almost 9,500 miles! Squint your eyes, eat your hearts out, or laugh your heads off . . . Whatever, you are welcome to come along with us for a unique view of America.
Route 2 is divided into two sections. The eastern route runs from Houlton, ME to near Rouses Point, NY, where we cross into Canada, visit Montreal and Ottawa, and basically follow the Trans-Canada Highway, returning to the USA at Sault St. Marie to pick up Route 2 near St. Ignace, MI for the western route, ending at Everett, WA near Seattle. (Our only rest stop on the trip is a few days around July 4, when our daughter, Susan, and her Scott fly in from LA to meet us for sightseeing in Michigan, where Scott spent his younger years.)
Route 101 journeys down the western coast of the US from Tumwater, WA. Our original plan was to follow 101 to visit Susan and Scott in LA; however, AAA advises that the recent fires have caused much of this highway to be covered in mudslides and debris, necessitating detours and delays, not to mention burned-out areas and obstruction of some of the scenic highlights. So, we will complete that route at another time.
Route 30 begins in Astoria, OR and ends at the beach in Atlantic City, NJ, following the Lincoln Highway from Wyoming to Pennsylvania. The Lincoln Highway is one of the earliest transcontinental highways, formally dedicated in 1913 and stretching 3,389 miles from Times Square to San Francisco.
We are well-prepared (we hope!): 200-miles-a-day AAA TripTiks, 41 motel reservations, gas and food gift cards, new tires and vehicle inspection, mail/newspaper stopped, online accounts for bill-paying, toothbrushes . . . and lots of underwear. Are we forgetting anything?
After the initial planning of 200-miles-a-day segments, making sure there are motels and restaurants in each area, and researching must-see sights and enticing adventures, the most time-consuming preparation is convincing doctors and pharmacists to fill our prescriptions for more than 30 days. (After hearing our itinerary, most of them believe we won’t make it a month anyway!)
We are off to see America – the real America. We’ll re-discover the devotion, vision, and leadership of famous patriots at Valley Forge and Philadelphia, in Gettysburg and along the Lincoln Highway. We’ll walk in the anonymous footsteps of nomadic Native Americans, westward-bound pioneers, African slaves, Amish farmers, and millions of immigrants building new lives. We’ll sense anew the creativity, compassion, sacrifices, and perseverance of the masses, who continue to make this nation great and our world a better place.
We are eager to experience the magnificent vistas of well-known natural treasures (Glacier National Park), as well as the obscure delights of roads less-traveled (the geographic center of the world). We’ll see the man-made Parliament buildings and the Liberty Bell, the Space Needle and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. We’ll discover gristmills and covered bridges, totem poles and cemeteries, statues and monuments, murals and parks. We’ll marvel at the multiplicity of rocks and trees, birds and animals (and hopefully not too many insects and reptiles). Are we missing anything?
We’ll also bring back to our dear children at least a 2-hour “slide show,” but it won’t be sights we’ve all seen on postcards or in National Geographic. And, it won’t include souvenirs they never want to see, like ashes from Mt. St. Helens or dried bison poop. No, it will be pics of hilarious signs and ridiculous situations (prayerfully, not ours), giant frying pans and towering teapots, Lucy the Elephant and Miles the Monster. And, maybe, if they’re good while we’re away (and the plants get watered!), we might gift them our special spoons from the Turkey Hill Taste Lab or Ben and Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard . . . Must get packing . . .
On the Road Again 