Jackie's Blog

Last day of the road trip! Dottie won't be the only one glad to get there. We are looking forward to not packing up every morning and being able.to stay in the same place for a few days. It was 22 F when we took the dog for a brief walk this morning before getting in the car, and that was evident as we saw our first ski slopes and lots of very frozen ice on the roadside. At least the weather was still dry,  We drove from Pennsylvania, into New York State, and then into Connecticut. When we passed through Hartford, Connecticut,  I looked up where the summer camp was that I worked in the first summer I was at university. Camp Wah-Nee , which is near Torrington, now charges $11,000 per child for a seven-week (yes, that long) summer camp! I knew it must have been expensive back then  Finally into Massachusets, and only 68 miles to go... Dick has been recording the entire trip on a dash camera in time-lapse, being very careful to remember to turn ...

The car was covered in frozen rain this morning as we drove out of Columbus. It had been snowing  so it was very petty. Today the first part of the day was lots of farmland and dairy farms. The roads were much better and the traffic too. The road atlas showed how close we were to Cleveland, and Lake Erie, so not that far from the Canadian border. After that, we saw our first sign for New York City (348 miles).  We will, however, go north again before then. It wasn't long before we crossed into Pennsylvania. Lunch was the best (and healthiest) pitstop on our route at the Station 101 Pub and Kitchen . Dick was able to have a taste of the local beer and I drove the rest of the way. By now the landscape was rolling hills and trees as we crossed what I had imagined the Pennsylvania landscape to be. It doesn't look so good out of a car window with my phone though, so sorry, no photos.  We made really good time and so reached the hotel by 4.00 pm. As is ...

Today was also started with a dog walk in another St Louis County park much to Dottie's delight. We drove out past the airport and across the mighty Mississippi.  We have crossed it before but never so far north. This time the 'Welcome to Illinois' sign was prominent but also included an 'Alcohol driving limit of 0.08' sign too! Maybe it was put up prior to St Patricks Day :) There were also lots of anti-drink driving signs with St Patrick's themes today on the message boards.  Just FYI, Gas prices have been pretty consistent since we drove into Arizona- largely ranging between $2.25 and $2.49 a gallon. We crossed into Indiana and are finally on eastern time- 2585 miles driven to that point. It might be quicker on the interstate  oads but it isn't much fun when the rest areas are closed! This is now officially the longest road trip either of us have done- beating my Atlanta to Morgan Hill road trip back in February 2007 which w...

The Boots Court Motel was by far the smallest room we have stayed in, but oh so cute. We hadn't really appreciated it so much the night before. With a radio in every room- no TV, but there was wifi! Our day started with a walk around the historic square of Carthage- there had been some real money here at some point in history. This is the Jasper County courthouse, built in 1894 out of native Carthage stone, and its bell tower was said to have inspired the bell tower in the 'Back to the Future ' movies. It's like a castle with all its turrets: After a coffee and breakfast at the Mother Road coffee shop, we started our more sedate day. We saw two old garages in a row- one we could drive up to: The other (where we were personally escorted around by George), was so full of memorabilia, it was almost too much- Gary's Gay Parita Sinclair: Dottie had a wonderful time there playing in the ...

Longest day ever! Not really, we drove 412 miles from about 9:30 am to 7:30 pm though, and most of it was on route 66 but we were all tired by the time we got to Carthage MO. We drove into four states today... Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri.  That's one of the reasons this blog is late in posting. We started with a breakfast consisting of a waffle in the shape of Texas! Luckily, Thursday was one of those clear big blue sky days. We drove almost straight into Oklahoma and noticed that this was the first state that didn't have a welcome sign. Oklahoma's route 66 has mainly concrete surfaces so they have stood the test of time but they are bumpy in places, however, there are also some of the longest uninterrupted stretches of the road too. The roads are often quiet and you can drive for miles and only see a car or two. It's probably different in the summer months when more tourists are traveling route 66. It's also unusual to be traveling west to eas...