I first got the idea to this cross country trip when I first contemplated leaving
the US permanently. I was determined to first visit all the sights I'd been
meaning to check out, but hadn't gotten around to on 3 weeks vacation per year.
The only "must see" destinations were the Pacific Northwest with Seattle, Washington
State, Vancouver and Oregon, and Monument Valley near the Arizona/Utah border.
Everything else kind of developed from there. A first calculation put the distance
at around 8500 miles, which is not far off from what it turned out to be.
Except that I took the train back East when originally I had planned on driving.
(Coincidentally, the other long-hatched plan was leaving the US on the QE2.
That didn't work out because she only sails until October. And now she's retired.)
The only constraint was that I wanted to be back East in December, so I could be
home by Christmas. The route was made up as I went along. Some places were added so
I could visit friends, others were recommended by fellow travellers on the road.
Sometimes I would leave a place earlier than I had planned, sometimes stay longer
because I liked it. This kind of freedom is a wonderful thing.
These pages are based on emails I sent from the road September to December 2002.
I added links to the parks, places and brewpubs I visited along the way,
as well as to the pictures I took. The text has also been edited and extended in a few spots.
TripPart1 - TripPart2 - TripPart3 - TripPart4 - TripPart5 - TripPart6 - TripEpilogue - Photos
