to move up and down
Blue Ridge Parkway (by TmzPhoto1)
Blue Ridge Parkway (by TmzPhoto1)
Blue Ridge Parkway (by TmzPhoto1)
Blue Ridge Parkway (by TmzPhoto1)
It has now been 3 months since I actually wrote something on here, and I’d like to apologize to all of the people that were following this blog closely. I say “were” because I realize that after such a long time, you might have lost your interest and thought that you were wasting your time by checking regularly. I am sorry for that. I have no excuse, I’m just a lazy guy. I therefore decided that I would post something you would either enjoy reading, or at least found some interest in looking over.
The last update contained a map that described our itinerary back to the East coast. More precisely, our way to Blind River, ON. Why Blind River out of all places you might ask? Well, the reason behind that is that part of my family (my Grand-ma’s sister and her family) lives there. Crossing the Canadian border was not a problem, but as soon as we did get into Maple Leaf country, our cellphones stopped working leaving us bare of all maps or telephone network. The address was still plugged into my phone, but I had no detailed map whatsoever. Other issues linked to the new country is the difference in every single possible unit, except for time. We were now driving in km/h, buying gas by the liter, and paying in Canadian dollars. Not easy to get adjusted. It’s all pretty sudden. We got to Blind River rather quickly, and set out to go straight to my Dad’s cousin Glen’s house, on the river. The first impression, of the place that is, was great, really retired from the sometimes overwhelming aspects of civilization. Another first impression include the accent, which is sort of funny at first, and get adopted quickly as natural. We stayed at Glen’s for a night, and he then mentioned the other place we would stay at. They, bizarrely, called it the “cabin”, and also throwing the word “bush” around a lot. All of this new vocabulary was very icy to me and I just sat back to see what was awaiting us. The “cabin” was not a cabin, it was more of a small house on the lake, which seemed perfect, but the “bush” side of the story was a little less pleasant. Especially the first night. The word “bush”, to them, is a synonym to something along the lines of “middle of nowhere”. We got settled, and enjoyed the couple of board games the place had to offer, and set out to go to bed. The only problem was this frequent buzzing noise. The mosquitos were in, and we were in for a pleasant night. In the morning, after an amount of sleep comparable to one of a giraffe, I had been bit all the way from me toes to me nose. Let’s just say that we weren’t completely ready for it. We spent the next couple of days there, hanging out mostly, regretting not being able to fish, or at least now regretting it. After a couple of long but good days, we decided to drive down to Connecticut in one day, that is 850 miles in one day, with a halt in Niagara Falls.
And so we did, driving through some of the worst weather we had experienced yet. Remember that movie the longest day, well, it felt somewhat similar (yes, I am kidding). We left at 6AM, and got there at 2AM. Well worth it though.
Connecticut was nice, it felt like home, except that Lea’s dad was in the middle of moving, making it a little less homey, but still more than Sturgis or Durango. A couple of days into our stay, we drove up to Boston to meet up with my parents, which I hadn’t seen in 4 months. It felt weird, hard to get used to again. But great. I guess I missed them? Yes, we were in the city when the Bruins won, yes, it was awesome, yes everyone was drunk, yes, yes, yes.
So after 5 months, we went home to North Carolina. Things got back to normal really quickly. I lost track of time and here we are, on a convenient school schedule (2 days a week), doing the things I love to do as much as I can (meaning always) and everything is good.
Looking back at this trip I can’t help but think how lucky we are. Lucky for a number of reasons, all of these I can’t name, but I can’t state a few. This incredible experience could simply be summarized by all of the places we’ve been to (2 countries, 29 states), but that wouldn’t be the truth. The true essence and soul of this trip laid in the people, the people that allowed us to stay with them, the people we met, the people we learned to love. In a chronological order, we would like to thank, Vicky Goss, Ally Hoffman, Olivia Kashetta, Sherm, Curt Franzen, Dave Walker, Nate Stout, Katelyn Moore’s family, Raoul and Danielle Montim, Rob Green, Jack and Billie Going, Steve and Linda Ware, Doug Ward, Steven and Kathy House, and the rest of our families and friends that showed us support and helped us live the dream.
Let’s put it that way: We haven’t really had time to update anything, because we just drove across country (at least a big part of it) in 6 days. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything but drive and sleep. We even had to put eating on the side (to a certain extent of course).
A: San Francisco - CA
B: South Lake Tahoe - CA
C: Twin Falls - ID
D: Greybull - WY
E: Sturgis - SD
F: Fargo - ND
G: Ironwood - MI
