We Went on a Trip

 

5600 miles and twenty-one states from June 8 to July 2.  An epic trip up to the northeastern USA.  We met lots of people, saw lots of stuff and generally had an amazing trip.

My companion, Susan, came with me for the first half of the trip.  Neither of us had been to the northeast so it was all virgin territory. 

For those who don’t know Susan, she is my friend, my girlfriend, my favorite travel partner, and all-around good companion.  Girlfriend sounds really immature for two 70+ year olds.  We are not in junior high, we are in the midst of a genuine senior level relationship.  It makes both of us very happy for so many reasons. 

I actually googled senior girlfriend names hoping AI could produce a more sophisticated title that befits both our relationship and age.  There were no better words so I’m going girlfriend, let’s just be junior high.  Let’s say I’m in a relationship with Susan and I really like it.  She is a great travel partner, great companion, and a hell of a navigator. 

We set out on June 8 from Susan’s house in Burleson, Tx.  We didn’t leave at the butt crack of dawn.  Susan doesn’t do butt crack of dawn which is one more reason she’s a great companion for this late sleeper.

We actually had an itinerary and everything.  We were on our way to Niagara Falls (Canadian side) and had mapped out a path to put us in Canada on day four.  I don’t know how we used to do this with just maps and trying to add up all those little mileage amounts on the map. 

 

June 8

We set off at about nine for a relatively short trip to Little Rock Arkansas.  It was only about 370 miles.  It was Sunday morning, traffic was light, and we made good time (everyone wants to make good time) to Little Rock all on I 30.  Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas with about 200,000 people, a nice size.

We had picked Little Rock because we had a work friend from the old days who had moved to Little Rock.  Susan had worked with Larry back in the day in and out of the call center business.  I had known Larry from my call center days and since his name was Larry he had to be a way cool dude.

He is a way cool dude from Oklahoma no less and one of the good guys.  I always thought he was one of the nice ones and Susan’s stories reinforced that judgement.  Larry, his wife Dana, and this Larry and Susan had a nice dinner and beer that night and visited for a long time.  It was good to see a friend’s face as we started our trek.

We spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express because we like their breakfast, mostly the cinnamon rolls.

 

June 9

Next stop Knoxville.  It was a 500-mile day, for me that’s about all I want.  We went from I 30 to I 40 and crossed the Mississippi River.  I’ve seen this river before and it always amazes me just how big and historic that water is, water runs through Memphis that started as a small stream in Minnesota and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico (yesh I said Mexico) and it’s more than a little impressive.

We ran through a little rain and Susan, the navigator and co-pilot, noticed one of my wiper blades was loose and didn’t look very secure.  A couple of years ago I had been in North Caroline driving from Ashville to Waynesville through a slight drizzle.  I was moving along the interstate and one of my wipers just disappeared over the top of the truck.  I had installed those new wipers myself and I was clearly the problem in that situation.  I had nothing to do with this one but I knew how to manage it.  Let the dude at O’Reilly Auto Parts install them.

We got to Knoxville early in the evening having lost an hour to the Easter Time Zone.  We checked into another Holiday Inn Express and set out to find some dinner.  We picked a local Barbeque joint that served good ribs and the cashier had a brother in Texas.  The ribs were pretty good, the brisket was dry and the potato salad was really good.

We left the barbeque joint and found O’Reilly’s and I threw myself on my sword and asked the guy to help me install them.  He looked at me and figured I was an honest soul who really didn’t know how to install wipers.  They stayed on the rest of the trip.

Next stop Columbus Ohio.

June 10

Columbus was a 350-mile day straight up I 75 (don’t you love the detail).  We drove through Lexington Kentucky and Cincinnati, two places I’ve never been but now we’ve seen.  Driving through this part of the world is a little claustrophobic for these two old Texans.  There were trees everywhere lining every highway and making it impossible to see anything but green trees.  I have nothing against green trees, I like green trees, green trees are good but it’s hard to find other scenery or gas stations or places to eat.  Between the trees and the Kudzu is a solid wall of green. 

 Columbus is the capital of Ohio and the home of The Ohio State (what is the whole THE thing anyway}.  We didn’t pick Columbus because of either of those items even if my friend David did go to Ohio State.  We picked it because it was about the right place in the world for our trip to Niagara Falls.

Columbus is just short of one million people and a real city.  I had picked a Holiday Inn that was on our path so we were downtown.  When we pulled up to this hotel we both kind of sucked in and thought this might not be a great place.  There was no parking to check in so I just parked in the drive through and walked in and got keys.  They gave us a parking pass for a lot not far from the hotel.  We unloaded all of our overnight stuff, put it on a luggage cart and Susan hauled stuff up to our room as I parked the truck.  When I left it I just hoped it would still be there the next day.

I got up to the room and Susan had already pulled the luggage off the cart and returned the cart. Told you, good travel companion.  We looked for places to eat close so we could just walk to eat.  We found the Mohawk Restaurant a few blocks away and commenced to walk there with me assuming the guard dog role to ward off any neighborhood miscreants.  Yeah, not my skill.

The walk was great.  The area was lovely, the houses were largely restored and there were a bunch of beautiful gardens.  Susan was entranced and took a lot of plant photos, a portent of things to come.

The stay in downtown Columbus was really nice.  You just got to give some places a chance.  Glad we stopped there. 

 Next we headed to Niagara Falls.

 

 

 

 

 

June 11

We made it, yes we did, from Burleson Texas to Niagara Falls Canada, and they let us in to the country and everything.

We only had about 350 miles to drive.

My pick-up was indeed where I left it and no windows were broken.  We set out about 9ish and drove through Cleveland to complete our Ohio circuit.  We drove through the northwest corner of Pennsylvania which means we drove through Erie.

We had seen signs for a restaurant called Bob Evans all through this trip and we decided to stop at the one in Erie.  It wasn’t very busy and seemed a bit like an upscale Dennys with the same kind of all-day breakfast fare.  I ate a BLT (I’m looking for the perfect one) and I can’t remember what Susan ordered.  We talked with the server and I asked her what she liked about living in Erie…. people she said.  There was a younger man sitting not too far from us who overheard our conversation with the server and wanted to know where we were from and where we were going.  I said Texas in my best west Texas drawl and Niagara Falls.  He said be sure to go to the Canadian side.  Everyone says go to the Canadian side.

We drove through Buffalo across the river and into Canada.  The Canadian customs agent was polite and business like.  I’m a Texas driver driving a big pick-up with a window sticker in the shape and color of a Texas flag and the words built in Texas, lives in Texas. She asks the logical questions, where are you going, what are you doing and how long are you going to be in Canada. 

Then she asked the important questions:

“Do you have any guns in your truck”?

“No ma’am.”

“Do you ever carry guns in that truck”?

“Not often.”

“No guns at all”?

“No ma’am,” I said.  “I own guns but I don’t carry guns when I’m visiting other states.””

“Have a good time. “.

We drove on.  I was a bit surprised at how much further we had to drive and drive with kilometers as the speed limits.  I spent most of the next 20 minutes or so trying to figure out if I was speeding.

We got to the hotel, talked to the valet, and figured we had to valet because the truck was too big for the self-park.  BTW, it’s a normal size truck.  Susan stayed with the truck while I went to check in.  I saw the front desk and walked right up to the front not noticing the line of people to my right checking in.  I walked straight up, stood in a short line and the registrar signaled me up.  We made our transaction with an upgrade to a room with a view of the falls and the fireworks.  It wasn’t until we walked in with our luggage that I realized I had gone to the premium member line.  Good for them for not outing me as an interloper.

After we had rested a bit we walked down to a funicular which was the best path to the falls.  The falls themselves are really pretty amazing.  When you stand close to the river as it approaches the actual falls you can see how big and magnificent the river is.

We found a spot just above the river as it turned into falls.  The water is clear and fast.  Water is enticing and brutal as it cuts through the river bottom and falls 167 feet to the rocks below.  There have been several folks that have tried going over the falls in barrels or other sophisticated devices.  One of the more recent daredevils went over on a jet ski.  It didn’t end well.

June 12

 

 

 

 

The next day we took a day long tour.  We met George our tour guide, who was right on time, in the lobby.  There were only three others on the tour so it was great and more than a little informative.  This kind of tour is a great thing to do to get the lay of the land.  After we were done we wanted to stay longer. 

 

We saw the falls again, went behind the falls, went down close to the falls, rode a boat to the falls, had a nice lunch with a view of the falls, and then went up a big tower for yet another view of the falls.  We have pictures of the falls, lots of pictures of the falls.  It was great and we really needed one more day but alas, Portland and Matt, Sarah, Noah, and Emma were waiting for us.

 

 

June 13

It was a long drive to Portland from Canada.  We drove all the way across New York and most of Massachusetts. 

It was a 500-mile day.

The interstate is lined with trees and foliage, so thick you can’t see much of the surrounding countryside.  As an old west Texas boy I miss the vistas but love the trees and all the green.  It would have been nice to see a farm or two.

You really have to be on the lookout for gas stations and restaurants.  You don’t see them from the highway.  Thank God for Waze and those occasional signs for food and gas.  You just never knew how far off the path you had to go to get to that food and gas you really wanted.  I kept looking for the Popeyes and never found it.

One of the cool things those lovely Yankees have is an interstate service center.  Good bathrooms, coffee, Burger King, a little grocery, and gas that was about ten cents higher than the regular stops.  But man, they were convenient and easy to find. 

Good on ya Yanks.

We caught some traffic heading north out of the Boston area as we headed north up the coast to Maine.  All in all we did good and made “good time,” we got to Portland about 5 p.m. and Matt and his work team of Noah and Emma grabbed Susan and our luggage and hauled them up the stairs, the luggage, not Susan.

I drove around to find a place to park.  This AirBnB was kind of a funky, cool three-bedroom apartment close to downtown Portland which made parking a bit of a challenge.  It was in a great location.  That evening we walked to the pier and had lobster rolls.  Matt had a lot of lobster. 

Portland was a huge port in the US.  You can walk around the downtown piers and see the ocean and some pretty nice high-end boats.  It is a cool town, with lots of little shops, right on the ocean, with a lot of history.  And good ice cream.

When I saw the ocean I was reminded, Susan and I had been on the west coast in Astoria Oregon about this time last year.  For a guy who has been a landlocked Texan I’ve now seen the Pacific and the Atlantic and been to two Portlands.

The water always mesmerizes me.

June 14

Neither Susan nor I are what I would call busy travelers.  We like to take our time and enjoy our time.  We don’t schedule something every day or stuff for the whole day.  We prize our peace and easy too much.  I’m not particularly averse to any of that, neither is Susan, our preference is seeing some stuff, do some stuff, but don’t neglect the not doing stuff.

This works great for us and Portland was a great place to do some stuff and not do some stuff.

We toured the city on our first full day; checked out some shops, walked to the Portland Observatory and climbed the seventy-five or so steps to see the view.  Some guy built this in 1807 and they could watch out for ships and use flags to communicate with incoming ships.  It’s the only one of its kind in the US. 

 

We headed back to the house and walked past the park where the “No Kings” protest and found a couple of stray signs.  It was a peaceful and well attended protest.  We found a cool Korean restaurant and had a smorgasbord of Korean food, even though smorgasbord is Swedish.  We started to eat outside but it was too cool in June, not in Texas.

June 15

 

The next day we drove to the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, it was a real highlight.  Susan took so many photographs of flora she had to set up a separate photo album.  I’m sure she would love to describe all the plants to you.

Aside from the botanic stuff there were large trolls made out of thin pieces of wood.  The trolls were built to move around and they all had different names and stories and were probably twenty feet high.  Very cool stuff.

On the way back to Portland, as part of our journey, we stopped at a roadside lobster place for, lobster.  Matt got two lobsters and corn, I ate another lobster roll and Susan had a humongous piece of fish.  It was a great Father’s Day.

 

 

June 16

The next day we rode around on an old makeshift fire truck and toured the entire city and found out it had burned down multiple times and had big shooting arguments with the British soldiers. 

We then drove, toured some neighborhoods, and made our way to a couple of lighthouses.  Noah and Emma climbed rocks on the beach with their old
parents in pursuit.  

 Susan found a great bench and a way to lay down while protecting Sarahs’s purse.  We ended the day at a great seafood restaurant.  I don’t think Matt had lobster but Emma did.  It was a good day.

 

 June 17

The next day we rode a ferry to a small island off the coast of Portland.  Along the way we went past Fort Gorges.  It was built in the Civil War era and was never used.  We rented a
couple of golf carts and drove around the island in a couple of hours.  We went past an old army installation that had been given back to nature and overtaken by cool graffiti.

June 18

Let me just say anyone who travels needs a Sarah in their life.  She figures out what and where and when and makes plans and rents cars and drives and navigates and lets Susan and I sit behind her and Matt like grateful senior citizens. 

I also have to, no, not have to, want to say what great travel companions that whole crew are.  The kids are helpful, smart, willing to do almost anything and will eat anything.  It's a great crew to hang with while exploring the world. 

Matt and crew flew to New York City for more vacation.  Susan’s flight back to Dallas wasn’t until late that afternoon so we walked the town, had a nice lunch, and then went to the Portland art museum. 

Susan left in the late afternoon.  It was sad seeing her go, we had a wonderful time.   But, Skip, my long-time friend and hiking buddy flew in right after she left.  We didn’t go far for dinner, just across the street from our weird Airbnb.  I had some good risotto and we talked to the server about living in Portland.  She said you had to be tough to live there because of the weather.  She didn’t look tough but I bet she is.

 

 

 

Skip is my best friend from home, I mean really home, the old home in west Texas.  We have known each other since the sixties, which is a long time ago.  We have travelled a lot over the last years and we do well together.

 Skip is one of those travelers who enjoys going to new places.  He is also one of those travelers who doesn’t want to be over scheduled and who doesn't want to drive too many 500-mile days.  He and I both are easy travelers, meaning we want it to be easy.

June 19

The next day we headed from Portland to Bar Harbor to hike in Acadia National Park.  We have always tried to get to a park early enough in the afternoon to do a quick drive through to check out the crowds and see some of the places we want to go. 

I was pleasantly surprised the roads were not jammed with cars.  There were people but it wasn’t too bad.  We drove through, found where to go to Cadillac Mountain the next day and generally reconnoitered the park.

We found Thunder Hole, one of the big draws of Acadia, by accident.  It’s right on the tan rock coast of Acadia and the main road through Acadia. We drove by and saw parked cars; we found an open parking spot and we stopped to check out the view. Skip identified it as a place we wanted to see.  As the tide rises more water comes through the craggy openings on the coast and pushes through some crevices about thirty feet down from where everyone was standing to hear the “thunder” as the tide pushed in more and more water.  It wasn’t a big boom but it was cool to watch the waves crashing against the rocky coastline.

Bar Harbor is another one of those cool little tourist towns overrun by, well, tourists.  We drove downtown for dinner, couldn’t find a place to park my behemoth of a truck, and went back to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. 

Our server was from England.  I commented that she didn't talk like me.  Not many do, I have a finally honed, well used west Texas accent.  She was pleasant and had come to the US to work and see the sights. 

 

June 20

The next day we got up early and drove to Cadillac Mountain, reservations are required.  That’s Skip’s job and he does it well.  It was a short, lovely drive and the higher we went up the mountain the foggier it got.  Yep, we got to the top and you couldn’t see anything but the fog.  You could kind of see the wind, which was howling, because the moisture and the fog would move past you.  It was an experience and frankly picture worthy.

We drove down the mountain while laughing at our luck.  I
even got up early.  Oh well, what are you going to do, nature.

We got lucky and found a place to park to check out our first hike.  If you ever go to National Parks you will find, as we do, park in the first available parking spot you find that’s reasonably close to your preferred destination, they get parked in early.  We weren’t lucky with the fog, we were lucky with the parking.  I like being lucky with the parking.

We wanted to check out a hike called Beehive trail.  It’s a bit too much for this old fat man as it requires using a ladder and metal hand holds up a steep incline.  Skip tries to talk me into this kind of stuff, I resist, he talks some more and I agree to go see for myself and then more time than not try the hike.  That’s our dynamic.  He’s the gas, I’m the adult. 

We wanted to see the hike for ourselves to see if it was as daunting as it sounded.  We walked up without our gear and soon found ourselves on another trail that took us to the top of the Beehive trail.  It took a while but we walked past a large pond, through a bunch of rocks and roots, and then up to the top.  It wasn’t socked in like Cadillac Mountains and had some great views of the clouds on Cadillac Mountain.  And the ocean and the rest of the park.  It was worth the hike.   

We went back to the truck to open up our great parking spot, hydrated and then headed back to Thunder Hole and tried to get a little closer to the hole and this time we did hear the thunder better.  We then hiked a trail that went down the coast to the end of the park and then we walked back to the car. 

We were done for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 21

Acadia Park is all along the Atlantic coast outside of Bar Harbor.  It’s really three separate areas and if you have the tolerance for driving some miles go to Schoodic Peninsula.  We went to avoid the weekend crowds, and we did.  You could drive anywhere and park anywhere you wanted.  We did a couple of hikes, one of which was short and hard.  Lots of rocks and steep for the first and last part of it. 

I was amazing.  So was Skip, bless his heart he has hiked behind me many miles.  He hikes behind me so he can pick my fat ass up or catch me before I fall.  Bless Skip.

We had a good day and there were no crowds and some amazing views of a different part of the coast and you could hear a rather haunting horn in the distance.  We could hear the horn as we hiked and it would come and go and get louder and softer in a regular rhythm.  I’m still not sure what that was.

We went back to the hotel in Bar Harbor and sat on the small balcony and watched the Atlantic. We were headed for Mt Washington in New Hampshire the next morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 22 -23

We left Bar Harbor and headed to Carroll New Hampshire which isn’t so much a town as a mailing address amidst the Hemlock trees, mountains, and rocks.  It was an easy drive to our Airbnb, which was great.  It was a log cabin right off the highway to Mount Washington and on a small creek which meandered down the highway.  You never know how these houses are going to turn out.  This one was great.

We went to a nearby gas station and got some sandwiches for dinner and unpacked, again.

We had tickets for the Cog Railroad which goes up Mount Washington on an impressively steep angle so they have a huge bicycle chain running down the middle of the railroad tracks, much like on a roller-coaster.  It helps, along with a bio-diesel engine, pull you up to the top of the 6020 foot mountain.  It averages a 25 % grade and is the second steepest railroad ride in the world.  I bet Google would help you find the first.

The seats on the train are built at a downward angle and are decidedly uncomfortable until you start going up the steep incline, then the angled seats fit perfectly as you lay back against the back of the seat.  They are angled down for going up and when you are going up they work great.

Mount Washington is known for its weather and has seen the highest recorded winds in the US, 237 miles per hour.  There is a full-time weather observation post, a restaurant and souvenir shop at the top.  The shop is held down by multiple large chains anchoring the building to the mountain.  It’s the real deal.

When we were there, we had the ghosts of Cadillac Mountain haunting us.  It was completely socked-in and you couldn’t see more than about fifty feet.  The wind blew, the clouds moved but the top was wrapped in clouds. 

That’s okay.  We got there, we saw it, we did hike about fifty feet of the Appalachian Trail and we got to ride on the Cog Railway.  It was great.

Going down they flipped the seat over so the front part of the bench was higher than the back making it a comfortable ride down. 

The heat wave that hit the northeast at the end of June was upon us and the heat was real.  We explored a couple of small towns around us and then found a pizza place that was close to our house.  It was great pizza but they had no air conditioning.  We took it home to eat.

 

 

 

June 24

We headed east and south about 9 a.m..  We were going to spend the night in Mystic Connecticut because Skip thought the city had a cool name.  No, I don’t think the town of Mystic has anything to do with Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic,” but it was the location for the movie Mystic Pizza which was one of the first roles for one Julia Roberts.

We had to go through or around Boston to get there which took us through Concord Massachusetts, so we had to stop at Minute Man National Park and see where “the shot heard round the world was fired.”  I really liked that.

From there we wanted to go to Walden Pond where Henry David Thoreau did his thing.  It was so crowded with people trying to get in the pond to cool off they closed down the whole thing.  We saw the pond from the road and headed to Mystic.

 

 

 

June 25

We loaded up the next morning, after the above rolls, and headed to Washington D.C. for a couple of days.  To get to DC from where we were you have to navigate New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.  It was a bit of a daunting task.

Skip was driving and I was navigating mostly because Skip hates my driving more than I hate his and I can work an iPhone to answer the perennial question of “what’s that” as we would speed by something that looked interesting.  And, I had to do Wordle.

With Susan I generally drive and she is the navigator supreme and frankly maybe a little better than me.  But with Skip, we have our roles and mine is to tell him not to tailgate and tell him where to turn, hopefully before we get past the turn.

New York City was a predictable bear of a drive and somewhere we missed a turn and had to back track once but that only set us back a bit.  Philly and Baltimore weren’t near as bad as NYC but busy, nonetheless.

We were actually staying in Arlington Virginia and as we drove into town it was pretty clear my pickup was not the best vehicle to drive around this town.  Skip and I have this thing with round abouts.  We mess them up every time, we have messed up round abouts in a lot of states of this fine union.  We are both bright capable men but those suckers elude us.

When we got to our hotel Skip was done.  I think all of that city traffic may have broken him.  I walked for food.

The following day we Ubered to the mall and hit the Museum of Natural History.  It was hot outside and crowded inside.  Note to self: April might be better than the end of June to see DC.  We saw that museum and then headed to the National Air and Space Museum. 

We needed more time and cooler weather, but we did DC, went back to the hotel to rest for our next stop.  New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia.

 

June 26

Washington DC to West Virginia is really an uneventful drive.  We did get off at Silver Springs to eat and in our wanderings to find a place we drove by the Greenbrier, a famous resort and golf course.  I stayed there with Marty and her family to celebrate a big anniversary for her parents.  It was really nice and one more golf course where I embarrassed myself with bad play.  It was Fall and they had a 2-minute leaf rule, you could only hunt for your ball for two minutes in the leaves and then you got a free drop.   Worked for this duffer.

New River Gorge National Park is the newest of the country’s parks established in 2020.  The gorge is formed by the New River (duh) and is deep and heavily forested.  Skip and I drove to the first visitor center we found to get a lay of the land.  

The ranger suggested a couple of things to do and we decided to drive and find Sandstone Falls.  Once again we set off in the wrong direction.  I promise, neither one of us is stupid but boy we can act like it.  We found our way to the falls, enjoyed that, and then drove to a couple of other potential hiking spots and then headed to Beckley.

 

 June 27

The next day we drove over the newer bridge crossing the New River, that’s the one that you see in pictures.  We also drove on the original road and bridge people used to cross the river.  It takes a lot longer to get from one place to another going down those old windy roads. 

We then hit a couple of hikes and saw tunnels of rhododendron.  It was worth the hike to walk through those little caves of vegetation.   I’m not sure how when hiking there you can go uphill going and coming but that’s the way it felt.  It’s rocky and rooty, but really beautiful and incredibly peaceful.  I like hiking in the woods.

 

 

 

 

June 28

Skip’s cousin lives just outside of Pinehurst North Carolina, which is where Pinehurst Number 2 is which is where multiple US Opens have been held and where the late Payne Stewart won his second Open in 1999, which is 26 years ago, which blows my mind. 

We had lunch at 18th Green with the cousin Scott and his wife Courtney.  It was a real treat.

Scott and Courtney were great hosts.  We drank a couple of beers and watched barefoot players on the Par 3 course.  It was really hot and everyone out there had a great time. 

We stayed up late drinking wine and talking.  Courtney’s father was in the state department under Kennedy and helped establish USAID to help counterbalance the Soviet Union’s attempts at wooing other countries into working with the communist state.  We, the US, didn’t like that so we came up with USAID.  It was a wonderful conversation.

 

June 29

The end of June and we had a goal to be in Dallas by July 2.  I asked ChatGPT to map our way home and AI and I were perfectly simpatico.  Susan and I had visited with a guy in Niagara Falls that had used ChatGPT to map out his two-week trip.  I may have to do that sometime.

We had to go about 1200 miles and we planned on breaking that up over three days.  We weren’t in a hurry.  And we like easy.

We left the cousin’s house that morning and headed to our first stop on the west side of Atlanta with the goal of not driving through downtown Atlanta at peak times.  Skip already was exhibiting PTSD signs from that New York City drive.

It turns out the town of Augusta Georgia was right on our way to Atlanta.  We had just been on a legendary PGA course so we had to drive around and find Augusta National, home of The Masters.  The part of Augusta we saw was best described as nondescript, but a huge part of golf history.  We drove around long enough to see some of the fence around Augusta National and finally found the entrance.  We were there long enough to get a picture of the sign and off we went.

We made it through Atlanta just in the nick of time and found ourselves at a Holiday Inn Express, the rolls you know.  When Skip and I travel we don’t spend much time or energy on where or what we eat.  If something local really hits hard, maybe, but mostly we find tried and true eateries like Chipotle, the only Mexican food safe to eat east of the Mississippi.  We always start out looking for something healthy with vegetables.  It mostly doesn’t happen unless you consider fried okra a vegetable. 

June 30

We didn’t get in a hurry to leave the next day, we didn’t have hard miles ahead, interstate driving.  We savored our cinnamon rolls.  There was a group of young men, age 16, coming into the breakfast area in small groups.  As a new guy came in they went around the room and greeted all of their teammates and coach.  They were from New York playing in an area tournament.  They could eat.

July 1

Cinnamon rolls, Holiday Inn Express, yes, they are good.  We had decided on Ruston Louisiana as our last stop.  It was a little over three hundred miles, all interstate driving.  Boring but easy, and even easier because Skip was driving, I was providing commentary and controlling the radio. 

Skip and I generally have the same taste in music and the same political proclivities.  He does tend to like new Country music, I tend to like old music.  I spared him Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. 

We stopped in Meridian Mississippi thinking small town small crowds at the local Chick Fil A.  Wrong.  There was a bus load of kids there so we bailed on that good idea.  We then went to Taco Bell.  It was locked up with a sign that said open at noon.  It was noon fifteen and there was no sign of opening so up the hill we went to Popeyes, famous for the spicy hot chicken sandwich.

We made it to Ruston late in the afternoon, checked in and chilled and set out to find a Bar B Q joint close to our hotel.  On the way there we came upon a Whataburger.  I hadn’t had Whataburger in a month so we bagged the barbeque idea and went for the burger.  It was a good choice.

July 2

Ruston is only about three hundred miles from Skip’s sister’s house in Carrollton Texas, an easy drive, and an easy way to avoid the north Dallas traffic.  Skip lives in Austin but on these kinds of trips he drives to Dallas to fly so I don’t have to drive him to Austin when we get home.  We blasted straight down I 20 and made it to Skip’s sisters house about 3:30 or so. 

I kicked out my buddy of many years, greeted Jane and Matt and hit the road to my apartment in Dallas.  I hit the traffic just right and was in the parking lot of my apartment building about ten minutes before Susan. 

It was really good to see her smiling face.  She smiles at me, she laughs at me and apparently likes me a lot.  That’s good because I like her a lot. 

July 3, 2025

Susan and I hit the road again the next morning for my home on Richland Chambers.  My son-in-law Lyle, which apparently means father of many daughters in Czech, was bringing his four girls and Matt’s daughter Emma for the fourth of July celebrations on the lake.  I had ordered food at HEB in Corsicana so we were set for grub.

We got to the house about 3 p.m.. 

This was a long trip.  I was tired for several days after, it was a marvelous, wonderful, fulfilling expedition.  I saw some stuff, I did some stuff, I spent quality time with people I love and I met some new people who live in different and interesting places.  I covered ground I had never seen before and I have determined that people, in all the places are just like me.  They are decent, kind, caring folks who to a person treated me and mine with kindness and respect.  It’s exactly what I would have expected.

I didn’t discover anything earth-shattering but I have concluded a couple of things: Columbus Ohio was a pleasant surprise, as was Hot Springs Arkansas.  We needed more time in Niagara Falls, a little less at Acadia and more time in New Hampshire and DC.  Susan is a better navigator than me and Skip is one of the best hiking buddies ever, he just can’t do roundabouts.

I can’t say much more but it was a good trip and I will remember it all for a long time.