One Month Later

 

Exactly one month ago Pam and I left the comforts of Minnesota in order to live the life we are currently living. Winter is coming and we're chasing the warm weather. It took a lot of planning and research to make this happen. It wasn't easy, but then again anything worth doing takes some effort. Though it's only been a month, sometimes it feels like it was long ago. Pam and I were just talking the other day about it being only a month and it somehow feels like it may as well have been a year ago that we left. Perhaps it has to do with all of the things we have done and seen in just thirty days.

Jefferson Estate

The above picture was taken at Thomas Jefferson's estate in Virginia. You may recognize the building, or maybe not. It is the building on the back of the nickel. It was Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia, called Monticello. It has been pictured on the nickel since 1938. He grew up only two miles from this house at the bottom of the mountain. The views were spectacular, I can see why he stayed! Jefferson is also buried on the property and his monument is the largest in a graveyard which is reserved for family members. Yes, the author of the Declaration of Independence actually died on July 4th on the 50th anniversary of its signing!

Traveling

We only travel on the weekends because Pam has to work (yes, I am still looking for a job!). We typically will travel all day on Saturday and part of Sunday to reach our next destination, which means we stay for one night without accommodations. We got a membership with Harvest Hosts to alleviate parking in truck stops or rest areas, and it has been a fantastic experience. 

Harvest Hosts are typically farms, churches, breweries or golf courses. So far we have stayed at a small local airport, a K9 training facility, a farm that makes maple syrup by tapping 9,000 trees, and the latest was a farm we thoroughly enjoyed that had live music and a quaint little store/coffee shop. They were serving BBQ that night. Let me just say that they don't BBQ in N.C. like they do in Kansas City, Tennessee or St. Louis, but we had fun anyway.

Trip-Planning

Part of the travel experience includes the requirement for planning. We typically book our reservations three to four months out. It is currently the end of October and we just finished booking some of our time in Texas in February. Trip planning can be both an arduous task and an enjoyable one. We like to figure out where we want to go and what we want to see, but booking places to stay can become laborious. First we have to pick where we want to go (preferably somewhere we've never been), then find a campground with availability (not an easy task considering we are dragging a 43' trailer), and then plan our Saturday Harvest Host overnight stay.

After we get those booked we figure out how we're going to get from A to B. We cannot go on small country roads with the trailer, especially if you come upon a sign that suggests your-size trailer is not recommended for that particular road (read my previous About post). It's best to stay on the interstates. However, the interstate is not always an option due to its proximity to where we are, and for when we get closer to our destination. Because of this, we need to look ahead for low bridges and attempt to at least stay on U.S. highways since they usually won't include low overpasses.

Gettysburg, PA

Prior to seeing the Jefferson estate in Virginia, we spent a week in Gettysburg. I am a history nerd, so I have always wanted to go there . . . so we did, because we can. We saw battlefields, the graveyard, and toured the countryside. It isn't really that much of a tourist trap (like St. Augustine!), but there are things you'll want to do and see if you go. 

I would highly recommend seeing the battlefields. It's kind of surreal knowing that there were soldiers with muskets and cannon balls fighting each other on the spot in which you stand. The fields are rich with statues and monuments and filled with a seemingly endless amount of cannonball guns (rather than relics, they're remakes). The above photo is a dedication to the Minnesotans who lost their lives on this field. This same field has a monument dedicated to Union soldiers who died there. Their names are etched into the wall of the monument. 

The graveyard in Gettysburg was somewhat of a disappointment. I don't say that in a morbid way, but I was expecting it to be much larger considering the number of people who died fighting there. However, it was still a great experience. The graveyard is also the place where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address speech.

The above memorial is in the Gettysburg Cemetery. There are plenty of fields to explore, and make sure to go to the Visitor's Center. Those people are packed with historical information that they're eager to share with you.

9/11 Memorial

We had an opportunity to visit the 9/11 Memorial while in Pennsylvania. It was part of our trip-planning process. We were staying at the farm that tapped trees for syrup, and it was only a short drive to the memorial. It is a sad place because so many brave Americans lost their lives there. The memorial has a lot to offer, with the trip culminating where the plane actually went down in the field pictured below. The first picture of the field is from a distance, but the second includes a large rock that marks the spot where the plane actually hit the ground. The wall in the first picture has the names of all the occupants who died there.

We have been blessed enough in this trip to do many things that we likely wouldn't otherwise do. In order to do them outside of this lifestyle we would need to take a week off of work to go and vacation in one of these places we've been. For instance, we spent a week in Gettysburg, two weeks in Virginia, we have now been in N.C. for almost a week before we head out for Florida for two months. From there we have plans to stay on the Panhandle for a week with two of our dearest friends before we head into Texas for a few weeks. While in Texas we will stay near Houston for a couple of weeks so that we're near an airport because Pam has to fly back to Minnesota for work, then we will head to southern Texas and, hopefully, visit the Alamo and work our way northwest through Texas for our eventual destination of California where Pam's sister lives. We couldn't possibly do all these things while planted in Minnesota, and that's just the first four months of travel for us! We will head back to Minnesota sometime in the Spring and stay for the Summer. Until then, there are lots of things to see and do. So that's what we're going to do . . . stuff and things. Please feel free to leave a comment, and please sign your name to it so I know who you are. Happy trails!

Jefferson 

Natural Bridge

Virginia caves