I'M HOME!

Lots of good memories!

19,250 miles

6 months plus 1 week-4/20-10/28/15

25 states plus 1 Canadian province in this order: (I went through some states more than once)

California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Canada New Brunswick, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

I visited about 45 national parks, historic sites, or presidential libraries:

Lake Mead &  Hoover Dam NV

Grand Canyon AZ 

Petrified Forest AZ

Petryglyph National Monument NM

White Sands National Monument NM

Carlsbad Caverns National Park NM 

San Antonio Missions TX 

George W Bush presidential library TX 

New Orleans Jazz NHP LA 

Natchez Parkway LA MS TN 

Great Smoky Mountains Park TN NC

Blue Ridge Parkway NC VA

Shenandoah National Park VA

Harpers Ferry WV

Gettysburg PA

Eisenhower NHS PA

Independence Historic Park PA including 

Liberty Bell, Independence Hall,Congress Hall, Betsy Ross House, Christ Church

Valley Forge PA

Blackwater National wildlife refuge MD

Assateaque Island MD

Colonial Williamsburg VA

Jamestown VA

Yorktown VA 

Cape Hatteras National Seashore NC

Wright Brothers Memorial NC

New River Gorge WV

Niagara Falls NY

Women's Rights NHP NY

Franklin D Roosevelt Home NY

Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library NY

Eleanor Roosevelt NHS NY

Fundy National Park NB Canada 

Hopewell Rocks NB Canada 

St John Reversing Rapids NB Canada

Roosevelt Campobello International Park NB Canada 

Acadia National Park ME

Cape Cod National Seashore MA

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP VT

Fort Ticonderoga NY

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP 

Bill Clinton Presidential Library AR

Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library TX

Saguaro National Park AZ

Joshua Tree National Park CA

As I was driving up highway 5, it rained! Maybe I brought some of that rain I had in the east with me!

Thanks for following along with me on my great adventure!

Last Leg!

I'm pretty close! I'm driving around 200-250 miles a day and stopping to see things on the way. I am having good weather and it's much easier to drive. My first greeting of New Mexico was the stark beauty of cactus and the jagged mountains rising steeply but with little vegetation, or at least without the forests and trees I am used to. Not enough rain in southern New Mexico for many trees!

I was warned of rattlesnakes, scorpions and tarantulas!

There is a pink glow at sunset and sunrise this time of year. I camped at Deming, New Mexico.

Next stop was outside of Tucson. The Saguaro cactus are awesome! I stayed at  the Tucson Mountain County Park. 

I was fascinated with the different types of cactus. I explored the Saguaro National Park. I drove the RV on a very bumpy dirt road that the ranger said was not to be missed! I couldn't turn around so I kept going ! It was beautiful, but I wouldn't drive it again!

I was up to see the desert sunrise and took a walk in morning light. I heard the coyote and saw their scat and saw the hoof print of the pig-like Javelina. 

Beautiful mountains!

I spent several hours at the Desert Museum of Tucson. I am fascinated how plants and animals adapt to Tucson's 12 inches of yearly rainfall. I admired the beauty of the many  varieties of cactus.

I next drove to a county park just north of Phoenix. I saw the sunrise over the mountains just east of the city.   

I stopped in Quartzsite, Arizona, for a look at Hi Jolly's memorial. He was a camel driver for a herd of camels brought over by Jefferson Davis for army communication in the 1850s. The camel experiment failed and the camels ran loose in the desert for years.

Soon I crossed into California! I went to Joshua Trees National Park for a couple of days. I camped among the rocks and Joshua Trees.

The Joshua Trees are not actual trees with growth rings but the trunk consists of small fibers. It only grows about 1.5 inches per year. The largest joshua trees are estimated to be around a thousand years old!

I am have been getting up early and enjoyed another gorgeous sunrise! I have not adjusted to the changing time zones.

Joshua Trees were plentiful.

My last camping experience was at Taft CA at a county park by a lake. I was one of 4 campers and it was peaceful. Rain was coming and it was breezy and cool.

I'm almost home!

Westward Ho! TN, AR , OK, TX

I'm making good time driving on the interstate! I try to stop and see something interesting on my way so it is not so boring!

I had a great visit with my cousin Nancie and her husband Bob in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Nancie took me to her quilt guild meeting and I was inspired to get home and quilt. Think I can make something like this? It is bright and cheerful!

I headed to Jackson,Tennessee, for the night and then on to Memphis to visit the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr was assasinated in 1968. It was a sobering museum with much information about Black history. Afterwards I had a delicious dinner of barbecue! 

Then I was on to Wynne, Arkansas, and camped at the Village Creek state Park. This was not far from Little Rock. The next day I spent some time at the Clinton Presidential Library. This is a great high tech library and well done! I had an informative tour given by a retired history professor.

I then drove to Lake Dardenelle state Park in Russellville Arkansas. Beautiful sunset and a site on the water! What a great view from my campsite!

The next day I arrived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a nice visit with Barb and Gary. Barb is Peg's sister and we become good friends when we were taking care of her in Oregon. It was great to catch up on our lives! They took me to a movie where dinner was served as we watched the movie.

Soon I was in Texas enjoying a visit with Laura. I stayed in a RV park for a night and then went to Cedar Hills State Park south of Dallas for a few more days. The park was pretty but dry! They need rain too!

Laura and I had a nice visit. We had some good meals together.

We went to the Cowgirl museum in Fort Worth. Fun.

We also went to the modern art museum of Fort Worth.

Soon it was time for me to head home and Laura back to work. I drove to Austin and went to the LBJ presidential library. It was a low key library but interesting. 

Then I had a nice visit with my niece Deanna and Carol and Bill in San Antonio. 

I was anxious to head west because a storm was coming. I drove to Fort Stockton and weathered a night of wind and heavy rain. There was a tornado watch but it did not touch down! In the morning the rain had stopped and I headed for New Mexico. My last stop in Texas was in Van Horn for an interesting visit at the quirky Clark Hotel Museum.

Then I was finally out of Texas! It is a wide state!! Parts of it so flat and never ending. Other parts hilly with a little variety. 

They did have a lot of rain after I left!!

Finally Heading West!

I am saying goodbye to Vermont and to the beautiful fall colors and heading towards home! 

I had my first long driving day in a month across part of New York to the Finger Lakes region and camped in Waterloo, New York. I learned that my friend Sandy's husband died and I was too far away to support her. It feels like it's time to get home.

Golden Hills State Park lighthouse 

The next day was a drive through Rochester NY on my way to Golden Hill State Park in Barker, New York, on Lake Ontario. Rain was coming and the wind whipped up the waves and the lake looked much like the ocean. It was very different from the mild weather and people swimming during the summer when I camped on Lake Ontario.

The next day the rain was gone and I took a cruise on the Erie Canal at Lockport. We went through two locks and a change of height of 50 feet. It was an interesting tour and I learned about the canal system and the transport of goods from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. The canal was completed in 1825.

After the lock cruise, I drove to Erie Pennsylvania and stayed there for the night. The next day I drove through Presque Isle State Park in Erie. The park is on a peninsula which forms a protected Bay for Erie, Pennsylvania's only lake port. 

Then I headed south to Alum Creek state Park in Delaware, Ohio, outside of Columbus. It was a pretty park on a reservoir and I had a nice walk after a day of driving. 

Colors are pretty but not as vivid as Vermont!

Then it was on to Louisville. I think of the Kentucky Derby when I think of Louisville so I toured the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs racetrack. It was fun to hear about the races and the culture around it.

I was close to President Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky, so I stopped for a tour. He was born in 1809 in a one room log cabin similar to this one. The actual cabin disappeared in the Civil War and this was a neighbor's.

The cabin is surrounded by a marble building, which is is stark contrast to the humble log cabin.

Then I was on the road again heading to Nashville. I stayed in a rv park near the Grand old Opry. I took a backstage tour of the Grand Old Opry and heard about its origins in 1925. It was fun! There is lots of country music on the radio, especially in the south!

Next stop will be to visit family in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Vermont is beautiful!

I spent 12 days in Vermont waiting for the leaves to turn color. I could see the yellows and oranges, but I wanted to see the vivid reds! People kept saying the colors will turn "any time" so I explored southwest Vermont while waiting.  First stop was Woodford State Park just east of Bennington. I had a great spot on the water. I could see the color coming! Great place to hike around the lake.

From Woodford I headed North on scenic highway 100 and enjoyed great views. I stopped at the Vermont country store.

I stopped at the birthplace and boyhood home of President Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. He was born in a small house behind the general store. He became president following the death of President Warren G. Harding on August 2, 1923.

I camped at Coolidge State Park in the Green Mountains.

The next day I went to Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park in Woodstock. This park focused on conservation and restoration of overused forest and farmland. After the American Revolution, settlers cut down most of the  trees in Vermont causing severe erosion. George Marsh was born on the land and wrote of methods to restore the land. Frederick Billings used his wealth to buy the property and put his ideas into practice. The conservation practices are evident in the green and lush forests of Vermont today.

I also went to the Billings Farm and museum across the road. This restored farm successfully put conservation and modern farming methods into practice. Vermont produces large crops of rocks and farming is difficult.

I also walked through the streets of charming Woodstock, Vermont with lots of other tourists.

I camped at Gifford Woods State Park in Killington. I hiked the nearby Kent Pond and observed a pair of rare loons.

The next day I toured the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor. Marble has been quarried on the site since 1880. There were many examples of beautiful marble carvings and sculpture. Vermont Marble has been used in state buildings all over the world, including the US Supreme Court. Below are marble busts of some of the presidents.

Then I was on to a camping spot in Salisbury at Lake Dunmore rv park. The next day it was on to Button Bay State Park in Vergennes. I had been there with my sister and found camping on Lake Champlain wonderful. I had a site right on the water! I hiked to the point and in the woods. Button Bay was named for the many button shaped clay rocks that were found on the Point.

The next day I explored the Shelburne Museum. Electra Havemeyer Webb was a collector of Americana -- an eclectic collection of folk art, quilts, carriages, train memorabilia, waterfowl decoys, buildings, and my favorite, carved circus figures.

That night was the moon Eclipse and I watched it as it rose over Lake Champlain. Amazing! My camera can't do justice!

The next day I was up early and saw the sunrise.

Then I drove to Burlington, Vermont, and went on a bay cruise on Lake Champlain on The Spirit of Ethan Allen.

The next day I drove an hour to Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The Fort is a star shaped fort built by the French in 1755-58 during the French/Indian war. It was taken by the English, then by the Americans during the American Revolution, and the again by the English. It was an interesting afternoon. I camped at Champs RV park in Whitehall, New York. It rained heavily! It was a quiet, nearly empty campground at the end of the season.

The next day I drove in the rain to Bennington, Vermont. The colors were brighter there than farther north because they had more rain and I decided to return. I stopped at the Robert Frost stone house where he lived and wrote poetry in the 1920s.

I met some fellow campers at the laundromat who were staying at the Bennington Walmart. I joined them at Walmart and a group of us went to dinner at a brewery and had a great evening. 

The next morning I went to the Bennington Battle Monument which was built to commemorate a pivotal Revolutionary war battle in 1777. This is Vermont's tallest structure and the view from the top was fabulous!

Then it was on to Woodford state park, just 12 miles east of Bennington, but at a higher elevation. The colors had arrived! I had a great spot by the lake and hiked among the beauty!

Lake walk

It got cold -- down to 34! I got out an extra sleeping bag for warmth and layered up during the day!

Everywhere I looked I saw signs of people preparing for a cold winter! Wood stacks were big! 

The ranger said the caterpillars had an extra furry coat, which is an indication of a cold winter to come.

I'm getting eager to get home! Now that I've seen some Vermont color, I'm heading west! Tomorrow I'll be driving in New York