OCEAN TO OCEAN

On August 20, 2002 my husband Garland, myself, my youngest sister Pam and her husband Don, left our home in Sequim, Washington for a trip around the perimeterof the contiguous United States. We dubbed our trip "Ocean to Ocean" and expecting to be gone eight months, we drove off amid a few tears from other family members but with promises to keep in touch by cell phone and email.

As we drove out of town, our excitement was mingled with a touch of fear. Would we be able to travel together for so long and still be friends? We each had our own role to play; Garland, our unofficial tour director had spent months planning our route and itinerary down to the last detail; Don, with just retired enthusiasm, called Pam and my parents every night to report our adventures; Pam, preparing to launch a photography business when we returned home, was the trip photographer and I was the travel log keeper and conspiratorial letter writer. Why conspiratorial? Well, just before we left home, a friend of ours "borrowed" a pink plastic flamingo from his neighbor's yard and gave him to us to take along on our trip. It was my job to take Polaroid pictures of "Pinky" as we called him, and send them home along with a brief letter to the people whose yard he'd disappeared from. I had so much fun with Pinky that in 2004 when Garland and I took our "Inner Circle" trip, we "borrowed" him again. On that trip I wrote a poem to go with each Polaroid...but that's another story.

Garland and I had a Dodge diesel, extended cab pickup and were pulling a 29-1/2 foot fifth wheel trailer with slide outs. It provided us with all the comforts of home but proved to be a challenge when maneuvering tight places (like the 300 year old streets in Stonington, Connecticut). Pam and Don drove a black, lowered Chevy Tahoe with custom wheels and were pulling a 22 foot travel trailer without any slide outs, a bit small for a couple who, up to this point, hadn't really spent that much time confined together, but fortunately, Don likes to be outside a lot and their Tahoe got many an approving nod from young men around the country.

We were less than 200 miles from home when we made our first photo opportunity stop. Just outside of Vantage, Washington high on a ridge is a very large metal sculpture called "Grandpa cuts loose the horses". The weather was beautiful so we hiked up to the horses and snapped away, Garland with his digital still/video camera, Pam with her 35mm and medium format cameras and me with my Polaroid and Pinky in tow. This would be the first of hundreds and hundreds of photo stops and the first of many times when I would have on the wrong clothes... never try to climb a steep hill with loose rocks and dirt, in your Birkenstocks.

Garland is a retired history teacher and since he planned the trip, we were destined to have an eight-month history lesson as we traveled around the U.S., a daunting prospect for those of us who weren't exactly history buffs. That wasn't our only focus though; we visited and photographed at least 50 lighthouses, numerous covered bridges, visited art museums, college campuses, homes of famous Americans, at least eleven past President's homes, gravesites of the famous and the infamous, and a whopping 150 National Parks. All of this in addition to just about all the Civil and Revolutionary War battlefields there are plus their related of Forts, several old and new military bases, military museums, a couple of battleships and the famous submarine, the Nautilus which was a highlight for Don and Garland, not so much for Pam and me.

We visited the Bonneyville Celebration in Indiana and while the men entertained themselves by wandering through the farm equipment, Pam and I bought yarn, to crochet and knit sweaters, from a lady who raised the sheep, sheared them, spun the wool, dyed it and marketed it all herself...we were impressed!

Beginning on September 1st, Pam and I began dialing our cell phones as fast as we could trying to get tickets for the Oprah Show in Chicago. We never managed to get through to a real person and were very disappointed. However, we arrived in Chicago on the one-year anniversary of 9/11 which made going to the top of the Sears Tower a bit spooky, but free for the day. We were also given free tickets to the fabulous Chicago Art Museum for that same day. It was an odd feeling, the anniversary of such tragedy being such a beautiful, sunny Chicago day and so much fun for the four of us. Aside from one short drive going the wrong way down a one-way street, Chicago became one of our favorite cities.

One of Pam's favorite days was our visit to Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, a beautiful town where you can take a tour of a home designed and lived in by Frank Lloyd Wright, then walk the neighborhoods and see several other homes designed by Mr. Wright. After our neighborhood tour, we had lunch in an upscale tavern where the ladies restroom turned out to be a real eye opener. We decided to use the restroom at the same time as a very well dressed lady in her late 70's or early 80's. We stepped in the door one after the other and simultaneously gasped as we were greeted by a life size poster of a very wet, very handsome, nearly naked couple in a somewhat compromising position! Actually, there were several posters to grab your attention and when we came back out and told our husbands, they couldn't wait to see what was waiting for them in the men's room. Alas, nothing interesting.

We saw a D-Day re-enactment in Conneaut, Ohio where I met a young man named Michael (five years old), who made the "wawar" much more entertaining than it might have been otherwise. It just happened that before the "wawar" was ready to start, one of the landing craft got stuck on a sandbar. It was taking a lot of time and engine revving to try and dislodge it. My new friend, Michael, wanted to know why they couldn't just "stop all that foowin awound and stawt the wawar!"

In addition to traveling the perimeter of the U.S., we went to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I was excited to see the area where Lucy Maude Montgomery had lived, worked and wrote "Anne of Green Gables". One evening we talked to guys into watching "Anne of Avonlea" with us. It's a very sweet movie and, somewhat tongue in cheek, our husbands were now in love with Anne. The movie did however start a new precedent, we decided that whenever we could we would watch movies made in and about whatever area we were visiting. These were always highlighted by Don's popcorn making abilities!

In the town of Sydney on the island of Nova Scotia we unexpectedly arrived in time for the opening event of the ten day Celtic Music Festival. What a fantastic evening, the music was simply outstanding with performers from all over the world. As a bonus Pam and I noticed the high number of red heads in the crowd (Pam is a true red head, I have a little help) and Garland noticed their stature...most were Pam's and my height...about 5 feet give or take a few inches...we felt like we'd come home!

Just outside of Halifax is a town called Peggy's Cove. I don't think I'll ever forget the stunning yet wildly raw beauty of that area. Peggy's Cove sits atop gigantic granite boulders, the few homes that are there are painted in bright, primary colors and there are small, colorful fishing boats moored in the midst of a quaint harbor in the center of town and all of this is surrounded on three sides by the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. As I stood there on the edge of the ocean and felt the pounding of the surf against the granite, I was mesmerized by the power and awesome beauty of our world.

Back in the U.S., we found out the hard way that the northern part of the east coast is a bit less RV friendly in the late fall and early winter than the southern portion. Most RV parks begin closing for the year by late October or early November and for good reason...those freezing temperatures make it difficult to keep the water running and the pipes from freezing. I probably shouldn't admit this, but Wal-Mart parking lots became our best friends.

When Garland was still teaching we would take student groups on educational tours to the east coast, Boston, New York, Williamsburg etc., so we had been to New York City a number of times before and had even taken students to the 110th floor of the Twin Towers where the views were understandably spectacular. It was heart wrenching to approach the city and see the skyline so dramatically altered and seeing Ground Zero was beyond sad.

There were so many memory making people, places and adventures that it could take me years to write them all down, like;

It was the trip of a lifetime.

We returned home on March 29, 2003, after seven months and one week, with memories to share forever on video, in scrapbooks, in beautifully framed photographs and in my trusty logbook.

We traveled four times zones from home, saw 38 states, three provinces and all four corners of the contiguous United States. Lubec, Maine the most northeast corner, Key West, Florida the most southeast corner, San Diego, California the most southwest corner and Neah Bay, Washington the most northwest corner and just 75 miles from our home. We drove over 21,000 miles, nearly the same as once around the world at the equator and we're still not tired of traveling!

Once the dust settled and Pinky had secretly been returned to his home, we sold our truck and fifth wheel and purchased a wonderful little motor home called a Rialta, which Garland, Pinky and I took on our 2004 "Inner Circle" trip. We loved it so much that Pam and Don sold their travel trailer and just recently bought a matching Rialta, next stop (and our last state)...Alaska!

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