Arrived in Burlington the afternoon of June 14 after dropping Dave at his cousin's place in Mississauga. Final leg from Blind River was around 7 hours. Kind of nice to spot the CN tower crossing the top of the city and to turn off at Appleby Line into Millcroft and home. My trip lasted 40 days, covered 15,237 km, one province and 17 states.
Here are the important stats. Spent 32 days with three great friends, Bill, Warren and Dave. Each segment had its own highlights, and perhaps my friends may see them differently.
For me, crossing the Apache Trail with Bill ranks pretty high. (Bill had told me that he had only gone one direction on the Apache Trail and really wanted to go the other way - which happened to be up.) That little journey on May 17 became the warm up for a few other great drives.
I think that being able to enter the Tioga Pass into Yosemite (some years the road would not have been cleared of snow) on May 28 was my highlight with Warren. This day holds the record for most photos (371 on my camera and not sure how many Warren ended up with). Yosemite was sensational.
Although Dave and I hit a few great spots (Yellowstone/Mount
Rushmore), we thought the highlight of our 12 days was the two days driving/golfing in Montana on June 6 & 7. This has to be the one of the most sensational states in the US. As Bev said in one of her comments "People holiday in Montana and never return".
It was great to see my old friend Garry (and June) in Phoenix, for a few days. A really comfortable stay, great food, golf and lots of nostalgic conversation. At Seattle, also had a chance to catch up with old Ottawa friends, Mike Delaney and Mike Gormley. Good time in Seattle.
Final thoughts are about Americans. We Canadians sometimes find it easy to be negative about "Americans", but individually, they are great. Over 40 days, we met nothing but nice people in our travels. Other travellers who were just plain friendly or people who served us with enthusiasm. They are still trying to get over the 2008 financial set back and it is rare to talk with anyone in the US who was not affected in some way. It was amazing how many people we met who had two jobs. The two common themes that seem to come up in all conversations were job security and health care. In many ways they are much like us and I have nothing but good things to say about our friends to the south.
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So folks, thanks for following my blog and for the many comments (published) and private Emails which you sent. My goal was to chronicle the trip and try to keep the blog interesting to read. I think I met the first goal and I hope that my poor writing (and spelling) didn't scare away too many of you during these past 40 days. It's been nice to share our journey with you. Time to sign off .. Bob
Just a short blog today. We crossed Wisconsin and Michigan arriving at the Sault Ste Marie border in the evening. Canadian customs asked us where we lived and if we had any liquor. That's it! 20 seconds and we were on our way. Always a pretty drive around Lake Superior and we finally called it quits at Blind River.
About 7 more hours to Burlington. I will prepare a final wrap up tomorrow.
Nearly home now.
Well, we seemed to have fallen a little behind. We are currently (June 12) in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, having travelled from Rushmore (South Dakota) , through southern Wyoming, Minnesota and into Wisconsin. We are tied down here for an extra day due to auto problems (failed alternator), but hope to play golf this afternoon and be back on the road tomorrow. Fortunately there was a Ford dealership right near where we ran into trouble and used the AAA to get us started (temporarily).
Seems like a while ago now, but we had a great day visiting Mount Rushmore and driving through the South Dakota Badlands as we moved east. Mount Rushmore was worth the extra mileage. The site is impressive and provides an opportunity to learn about the incredible feat of chiselling (mostly dynamite blasting) the incredible likenesses of four American Presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt (Teddy) and Lincoln. Lots of good American patriotic stuff (they really do it well) and real pretty country (South Dakota) driving in and out of the park.
As we headed east across South Dakota, took a swing up through the Dakota Badlands which surprises, since it seems to
be in the middle of nowhere. Interesting drive and worth the diversion. After that, "pedal to the metal" for a day and half to cross the American Prairies, landing in Wisconsin (America's Dairyland).
Here are some pics from Mount Rushmore and the Dakota Badlands: Rushmore
Been a while since I updated our route map: Heading East
Final note - as we get closer to home. The blog as of yesterday has had 2300 hits (Page visits)
Well, what can one say. It just keeps getting better. This is the most visited park in the US and you don't need to be there too long to find out why. The park is loaded with unbelievable scenery at every turn. You keep stopping to take photos and after a couple of hours realize you have only gone a few miles. Our plan was to cover around 46 miles of the park - impossible !
We did about 25 miles, including the must stop at Old Faithful The geyser goes off faithfully every 51 to 91 minutes without fail. In our case, I am pretty sure it was close to the 91 minutes.
We took hundreds of pictures (may have got close to your record Warren). Here are a few of the sights: Yellowstone
Now here's the thing about Montana - it's a very boring state. Nothing but hundreds and hundreds of miles of gorgeous snow capped mountains, incredible streams and rivers running down the mountains and besides the roads; beautiful valleys and pastures, pretty little towns in the mountains and sensational golf courses (we have now played four of them). Can't imagine why anyone would want to live here with such an abundance of skiing, fishing (really big in Montana) golf and an assortment of other water activities, hiking, biking etc. etc. etc. We have been in Montana (and parts of Idaho) now for two days and have not
seen anything else. We have come to a stop at West Yellowstone and will enter Yellowstone National Park tomorrow. We have been told that it takes seven days to see the park properly, so Lois - won't be home now until late June!! (Just joking Lo)
Here are some of the hundred plus pics we took: Montana
When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now,
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday Greeting, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out to quarter to three
Would you lock the door,
Will you still need me, will you still feed me.
When I'm sixty four
We had a nice day, travelling further east to Post Falls, Idaho, playing another round of golf in the mountains and settling in for a little vino, some garlic mussels and a steak dinner.
Happy birthday Dave. We'll catch up with everyone again tomorrow.
Here's our map east so far: Heading East
Notice anything a little quirky in this photo. You see, I may have lost most of my hair a few decades ago, but the little I still have is the original colour. These well coiffed gentlemen are Mike Delaney, Mike Gormley (backrow) and Dave Lefebvre (in front).
We spent a fun evening last night at our hotel and had dinner at a terrific Indian restaurant nearby.
Today Mike Gormley took us to the Pike Place Market, a must see on the Seattle waterfront. We saw the original Starbucks coffee shop, drank some Guinness in an Irish pub (sang a song for our buddy Kev), watched fish get tossed in the fish market and had lunch at an old fashioned seafood restaurant overlooking the bay. It was a fun couple of days with old Ottawa friends. For the Ottawa gang following this blog, have included a few more pics. Ottawa Gang
Dave and I headed east on old Hwy#2 through the Cascade Mountains. We found a nice mountain golf course in Leavenworth (played 9 holes) and finally settled in Wenatchee Washington for the night. Big Day. I'm writing the blog - Dave's doing zees. See ya all tomorrow.
Arrived in Burlington the afternoon of June 14 after dropping Dave at his cousin's place in Mississauga. Final leg from Blind River was around 7 hours. Kind of nice to spot the CN tower crossing the top of the city and to turn off at Appleby Line into Millcroft and home. My trip lasted 40 days, covered 15,237 km, one province and 17 states.
