By traveler 
Gettin’ Home
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I didn’t drive the most direct route from Michigan to the DMV because I had mentioned to my family the possibility of stopping in Iowa long enough to get some Iowa chops to eat. I am horrible at cooking the thick cuts of pork, but my grill master brother is wonderful at it, and it’s been a year since I last got some chops for them. So,…
Plus, I had the opportunity to meet old friends and colleagues along the way. Catherine made the drive to meet me for lunch in Davenport on Saturday, and David and I had lunch in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday. While in Davenport, I picked up sixteen chops that I ordered in advance from a local Fareway. If you are wondering what the big deal is, you haven’t had well-prepared Iowa chops before. |
I had anticipated that the drive Sunday would have less traffic than there would be on Monday, Memorial Day. It was not too bad until I reached I-270 and even worse on the Beltway, which seemed to be filled with drivers who were either drunk or spaced out. Thank the Lord for getting me the rest of the way through that madness.
Afterthoughts
The route from my trip is below:
With the five national parks I just visited, my count is now 37 with 26 left. The complete list is below with the link to NPS page and the posts on this site where the parks were discussed:
| Acadia – Maine American Samoa – American Samoa Arches (Post) Badlands (Post) Big Bend – Texas Biscayne (Post) Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Post) Bryce Canyon (Post) Canyonlands (Post) Capitol Reef (Post) Carlsbad Caverns – New Mexico Channel Islands – California Congaree (Post) Crater Lake – Oregon Cuyahoga Valley (Post) Death Valley (Post) Denali – Alaska Dry Tortugas (Post) Everglades (Post) Gates of the Arctic – Alaska Gateway Arch (Post) |
Glacier (Post) Glacier Bay – Alaska Grand Canyon (Post) Grand Teton (Post) Great Basin – Nevada Great Sand Dunes (Post) Great Smoky Mountains (Post) Guadalupe Mt. – Texas Haleakalā – Hawaiʻi Hawaiʻi Volcanoes – Hawaiʻi Hot Springs (Post) Indiana Dunes (Post) Isle Royale (Post) Joshua Tree (Post) Katmai – Alaska Kenai Fjords – Alaska Kings Canyon – California Kobuk Valley – Alaska Lake Clark – Alaska Lassen Volcanic – California Mammoth Cave (Post) |
Mesa Verde (Post) Mount Rainier (Post) New River Gorge (Post) North Cascades (Post) Olympic (Post) Petrified Forest – Arizona Pinnacles – California Redwood (Post) Rocky Mountain (Post) Saguaro – Arizona Sequoia – California Shenandoah (Post) Theodore Roosevelt (Post) Virgin Islands – US Virgin Islands Voyageurs (Post) White Sands – New Mexico Wind Cave (Post) Wrangell-St. Elias – Alaska Yellowstone (Post) Yosemite (Post) Zion (Post) |
The featured image at the top of this post is of the hiking stick medallions and refrigerator magnets from the five national parts I visited during the trip. (I am reminded that I need to buy a new hiking stick so I can add the medallions I’ve purchased over the past year plus to it.) To the left is the front of my t-shirt where parks I’ve visited so far are checked.
BTW, I am still trying to resolve the mystery of the popularity of the photos I have placed on http://singin1.com/piwigo/ or https://singin1.pics/piwigo/. I would love to know what is causing those photos to have hundreds or even thousands of hits. My best guess is that someone has linked to them from some other site.
Also, I want to take another opportunity to thank the many people who went out of their way to lend me a hand whenever needed, something as simple as an open door or an assist up stairs. Race was not an issue, nor was political leaning. It was simply good people doing a kindness. I know they won’t see this message, but I send it all the same.
As always, I thank the Lord for granting me the stamina to make the trip, the damn good reflexes to steer the Silver Bullet (SB) as she needed to be guided, and the ability to enjoy His handiwork as it whizzes by my windshield.
The Silver Bullet, or SB, has stood the test of time and miles since I bought her nearly five years ago. She has more than earned the maintenance work I’ve scheduled for her soon. I also acknowledge the reliable assistance from my GPS of choice, Waze, and my constant road companion, the Rand McNally Road Atlas I update every two years (yes, I do use the large scale so I can better see what’s on the maps). Most won’t understand why I keep an atlas, but all they need to experience is the occasion when the WiFi access is lost, and they need to find a route without it. It might not be surprising that happens in the wilds of the Midwest, but I also unexpectedly needed it once on Maryland’s Eastern Shore just a few months ago.
A last thought. While my next trip goal is to the Northeast and Maine’s Acadia National Park, I don’t see any major trips coming up for a while with the economy as uncertain as it is at present. I do, however, hope to get plenty of sightseeing around the DMV and will post about those trips as they occur.
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