USA - a 6 Month Roads Trip -First Quarter

USA Road trip –the ultimate 6 month journey.

Almost every American and many people from other countries would love to do a really big road trip around the USA. Few ever actually do it. The reasons are manifold; cost, time and simply the decision to get up and go. So it is left on a wish list and there it remains for the rest of their lives. Sadly it remains just a wish! .

When Audrey and I retired we decided to do it and many thought we had gone mad. We are not well off, but having the time after we finally retired we took our pension pay out and decided to do it.. So far there have been no regrets.

We are now well into the trip and with help from our good friends the Goin’s in Woodward, Oklahoma we have managed to complete the first quarter of the trip. We have travelled from Oklahoma to Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington State in our 20 year old Ford Econoline named Matilda.

These are not the usual places that are visited by tourists from other countries who go to New York, Washington, Florida, California and the Grand Canyon. What we wanted to do was visit places off the beaten track and so we made no bookings but simply moved as the spirit lead us. If we liked a place we staid longer and if not we simply moved on.

As we were self sufficient with a tent and camping gear and even a place to sleep in our vehicle in an emergency, places to stay were not a problem. State Park camping grounds have been our first choice, but in an emergency a public camping ground or even Wall mart would do.

We have already visited the Cheyenne Bottoms, the Arches National Park and other stunning places along the way. We have been amazed by the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada and the Redwoods, the beauty of Lake Tahoe and the breathtaking scenery of North California and Oregon Coast. The mountains and forests, rivers and birds have kept our cameras clicking and we have really only started. We have swum and fished in rivers and sea and have only met kind and helpful people.

High lights have been the Moab National Park where we visited places of breath taking scenery and sunsets! The mountains and rivers of Utah hardly make a mention in most travel brochures, but amazed again and again. Lake Tahoe was on our radar but also surprised us, and so we staid an extra couple of days. But it was the Redwoods and the "Avenue of Giants" that blew our minds away. What a great experience to camp nearby and walk through the forest. At a camp ground near Portland a young ranger told us about the famous explorers Lewis and Clark and so we have been following their experiences and places they visited.

Tomorrow we travel on to the city of Seattle and the NW corner of this beautiful country and soon we will be making our way towards the NE corner, pausing on the way to see the leaf changes in New England. This is our only dead line that we have set and so we need to keep that in mind as we travel and are often tempted to linger. On the way we plan to visit the majesty of Niagara Falls so that we can compare it to our own Victoria Falls in Southern Africa.

. So far we have not been disappointed in any way. We have recorded our journey so far in our diary and with our cameras. We will continue to do so and invite you to come with us, that is if you have the time!