And we're off! (week 1)
In 2017, we started on a big adventure around the world. We sold a lot of belongings, rented out the house, and weren't sure whether we'd ever want to permanently move back. We packed the car for the first leg of our journey, a camping road trip through the U.S, and took off on a snowy February afternoon full of excitement and uncertainty.
We drove through forests and small haunted looking towns: Victorian architecture and peeling paint, no signs of life other than passing cars. We passed Amish buggies and a monster truck. By the time we reached Pennsylvania, the snow had dwindled to a few patches clinging to the shade. The first few days were a blur of rather monotonous forested landscapes with gentle hills. Drifting West and into the American heartland, things started feeling a little different, and the reality of our travel plans started sinking in.
We stopped at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky; the cave system is quite extensive, but we chose to take the shorter and prettier tour, "Frozen Niagara", which featured the only formations found in the entire cave system.
Apart from a tasty piece of catfish caught in an Arkansas bayou, the food was depressingly drab (as was to be expected). Town after town was littered with logos from all the default corporate fast food joints. Good local gems were hard to find, let alone fresh local produce.
Cadillac Ranch, just outside of Amarillo, Texas, was a worthwhile stop (and the best sight we found on the stretch we took of route 66) before reaching our first real destination: Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
We'd outrun the northern winter and missed a series of tornadoes in Pennsylvania by just a few days; it was time to settle in to a slower-paced routine. Our trip had finally just begun!
We stopped at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky; the cave system is quite extensive, but we chose to take the shorter and prettier tour, "Frozen Niagara", which featured the only formations found in the entire cave system.
Apart from a tasty piece of catfish caught in an Arkansas bayou, the food was depressingly drab (as was to be expected). Town after town was littered with logos from all the default corporate fast food joints. Good local gems were hard to find, let alone fresh local produce.
Cadillac Ranch, just outside of Amarillo, Texas, was a worthwhile stop (and the best sight we found on the stretch we took of route 66) before reaching our first real destination: Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
We'd outrun the northern winter and missed a series of tornadoes in Pennsylvania by just a few days; it was time to settle in to a slower-paced routine. Our trip had finally just begun!