Song of the day: “Never be the same”
by Camilla Cabello. It tends to linger in my mind. Wonder if that means
something.
So, yeah, it’s happened. The big
road trip has been over and done with for several days now, and already it seems
like an eternity. It was an exciting event, involving so much new adventures in
just 20 days.
It started early on the 2nd
of October, with the three of us heading for the bus station around the corner,
and leaving behind a running dishwasher, because, of course it somehow didn’t
run the night before. Aaaaargh. Hate that, but what can you do. Housesitters
were going to have to take care of it, right?
Anyway, we headed to Amersfoort by
bus, then by train to the airport in Amsterdam. Were nicely on time, too,
meaning we had quite a bit of waiting to do before we were going to board the
plane. But we did, naturally. Firs the connecting flight to Zurich, which went
fine, except that we were running late, which meant that we literally had to
run to make our flight across the Atlantic. Because, of course, our flight left
from across the friggin’ airport! My poor foot was not amused. And here I
thought my foot was going to have a well deserved vacation to get better after
all the running around at work the past few month. Grrrr.
Be that as it may, the flight was
interminably long, the seats small, the food good, and the staff friendly. I
didn’t manage to sleep a wink, mind you. My knees were literally squeezed
between the seats and practically everything hurt by the time we finally
arrived in Boston, and had to take the shuttle bus to the car rental agency.
Luckily it wasn’t too far.
Since we had basically taken all
safety precautions in regard to insurance and whatnot, they tried to have us
upgrade to a bigger car (which would increase the price by “just a bit”,
naturally) but we decided to be frugal and stuck to the sedan…good thing, too.
Because when we got up to the parking area they had two cars left, of which
would could take our pick. We took the massive (twice the size of what we paid
for) red Nissan Pathfinder in a New York second, and didn’t regret it for even
one second. I mean, seriously. We had head space, legs space and luggage space.
And to think we had almost paid for that but didn’t have to…it was bliss.
The first bit of the drive went a
little iffy, partly because the TomTom app we had hit the occasional snag. But
we reached the booked hotel before midnight, just barely. Not the best of
hotels regarding maintenance, but the service was good, and it was clean, which
are the most important aspects in my book.
We drove through some gorgeous areas
those first couple of days, which included The Pioneer Valley, the Mohawk trail
and the mountains bordering on New York State in General. Loved that bit…and
Niagara Falls, for that matter, which we managed to reach just before
nightfall, meaning that the light was awesome. I was very impressed with the
sights.
There was lots of traveling involved,
yes, in the end we travelled more than 5250 miles (8000km) and despite being
tired, and sore from all the sitting, and the fast food, and the microwave
food, it was still something I wouldn’t trade for the world.
There were friends to visit. Long-time
friends that I have been chatting with for ages and ages, and whom I’ve been
wanting to meet for years. There was Terry in Michigan, which meant a much-anticipated
detour on our route to Detroit where we would meet for a wonderful dinner with
her and her husband. Terry was…well, Terry as I’d imagined her over the years,
although her photo doesn’t do her justice. Regretfully we got in a bad traffic
accident on the way back, where someone died, so that was kinda rough.
The driving is a little “looser”
over there. Everyone drives at least 10mph over the speed limit, when stuck in
a traffic jam, some folks will just drive over the shoulder of the road, to
cross to the other direction lanes, and try to integrate there while cars are
speeding past at a 110. Downright scary, I tell ya. In fact, at some point I
saw this fella in an old beat-up truck, on the phone, and one foot sticking out
of the driver’s window. How he even managed that, is a mystery to me.
Then things got flat, and that
flatness stayed a long, long time.
There was an area in Indiana that
was absolutely lovely. And the climate was mild there, so in regard to places
to live, it was definitely worth another visit in the future. This is where we
visited the lovely Archer, whose cedar cabin was perched on this lovely spot in
the middle of the woods, so far out that we would never have been able to find
it if she hadn’t met us at the local Wendy’s. We might have found the road
through maps, but it kept going so far, that we would definitely have started
doubted about the accuracy of the direction within the first fifteen minutes. I
got to know Archer for real, and it was grand. We petted dogs, petted horses,
and went out in a big 4x truck so we could travel over dirt roads, creeks and
whatnot. It was great…followed by a crock-pot meal that did well in filling the
empty corners of our stomachs. Hah. We were all sorry to say our goodbyes that
evening, and head on over to our motel, which was downright dirty compared to
the ones we had visited in the days before. Not recommendable, that one.
Our next visit was near Kansas City,
where C.W. and her husband lived, and who kindly invited the three of us to
spend the night there. It was awesome to meet her finally, too. And the plans
they had for us…oh my. So much to see in the area. We went to Union station,
visited the Hallmark company, toured around the city a little, and then went to
the local shooting range where we got our first shooting lesson. I kid you not.
I shot several guns that day, and I was pretty darn good with several of them.
Woohoo. I so need to see about learning more about that. Had a wonderful time,
getting to know C.W. better. She was just like I imagined her, too, which is an
odd realization to make…but also something that implies that somehow you’ve managed
to become true friends, even through the internet. Oh, and they took us to eat
real Kansas City Barbeque, which sure was something. Big brother and Lisa (our companion)
actually tried most of it, while I managed to enjoy some of the grilled
chicken. Woohoo. Seeing as our hosts were so great, and the place lovely, I was
sorry to leave there the next day…did see live buffalo, though, which was awesome
I friggin’ loved the Ozarks!
Seriously. If you’re a nature buff, and if you like the hills, it is a place
you HAVE to visit. It is gorgeous. You have towering trees, flowing pastures,
winding little rivers. It was so beautiful, even in the cute little towns with
its old Victorians and colonial buildings, that at times it absolutely took my
breath away. The Wandaroo lodge is definitely a place you want to stay when you
go there. Nothing fancy, but a lovely atmosphere. They’re still working on it,
but have reasonable pricing. Really enjoyed our days there. Went on several hikes,
near the lake, through Eureka Springs, the trail to King River’s overlook,
which was grand. So beautiful there. Even took the car on some dirt roads
(which wasn’t really allowed with the rental, but what with the TomTom having
gotten us lost several times already, on dirt tracks too, we figured what the
heck. A gorgeous place to further explore, for sure. Missouri was beautiful.
Our next big stop was New Orleans.
There we met JR and her son, who once again, was exactly how I expected her to
be. It was awesome meeting her too, especially the second day when she, her son
and his girlfriend took us out on the town for a proper look-see. New Orleans
was nice and warm. In fact, for a while it seemed like we were right back in
Spain on a humid day. Some beautiful sights in the Big Easy. So much history in
the French Quarter, lovely old buildings, friendly folks and many places where
you could stuff your face. JR, in fact, took us for a late lunch at the Gumbo
shop, where big brother tried gumbo, and I had black grilled chicken with
garlicky mash potatoes and creamy spinach. Yummy. We saw quite a bit of the
town, and though I still find it fascinating, a big city is just not my thing.
I would have liked to explore some more, for sure, but I also looked forward to
heading east.
Farther than we planned for the
first day after New Orleans, actually. We had decided that we wanted to see
Maine after all, which meant skipping one planned stop and driving straight
through one time. So, the motel in Birmingham, Alabama got picked, and the
others we had already booked rescheduled, which didn’t go as easily as we’d hoped
due to the approaching weekend. But big brother persevered, and they all worked
out in the end, thankfully.
After New Orleans there was a
really, really long drive, through Missouri, Alabama and straight to the Smoky
Mountains, a place we have all wanted to see a long time. We had an old motel
near Sevierville, from where we could head on up into the national forest and
truly see some of the nature there. It was so beautiful. I wanted to get lost in
those woods. They were haunting and amazing, doing their name justice with
narrow tendrils of clouds drifting between the mountains like smoke. Gorgeous!
We also visited the reservation of the Cherokee nation there, which was just as
special as the rest of the area. And amazing place…where we spent quite a few
hours driving around before the end of the day approached and we had to return
to the hotel.
The day after, was another long
drive, but this time there was a bit of time limit, because we were going to
meet Elsie at her place. I LOVED the Appalachian Mountains even more than the
Smoky mountains, or maybe just in a different way. The area east of Boone, I
want to explore that further some day. The plan had been a late lunch at Elsie’s,
but by the time the TomTom app finally got us there, well, by then we had given
into the inevitable and opened up maps, it was close to four o’clock. Luckily
she didn’t mind.
It was so nice to finally meet her,
too. We’d been chatting for quite some time online, and now we got to while
away the afternoon talking of her wonderful home, perched above an old quarry,
and comparing notes about publishing books. We had so much fun doing it that we
completely forgot about the time. In fact, while we had planned to leave around
seven (we still had some distance to travel that day) we didn’t actually get on
the road until almost ten in the evening. * sigh * Can’t say I regret it,
though. It was a great afternoon, where I got to meet some wonderful, wonderful
people.
It did make getting to the booked
motel of the night not all that easy. We rushed our way through North Caroline
and Georgia at top speed. Still it took a long time. In fact, I could barely
keep my eyes open, navigating those roads, but we did manage before midnight,
so all was well.
The next day we hit Washington DC,
which was an experience on its own. We had some business to attend there, and
regretfully that took longer than expected, so guess what, we got stuck in traffic,
which was absolutely horrid. Seriously, I think it took about an hour to
navigate out of the city, making us late in reaching New Jersey, where we
planned to spend the night. Did the Pentagon, and the Washington Monument, the
obelisk, and the of course the Smithsonian and the Senate, which were all grand
sites to see…if only from a slight distance. * sigh * The loss of time did
cause that we could only see Philly by night, however impressive that still
looked with all its lights and towering buildings.
Alas time was limited, and our aim,
Maine. New York came next, and we didn’t even bother with the poor TomTom app
by then. Heck, even maps had trouble in New York, and even though we had
planned to stay out of the city entirely, we saw Queens, we saw Harlem, and
swore like the heroes in a Tarantino movie. Impressive city, and I got some
gorgeous pictures of it along the way, but it took so friggin’ long to get out
that by the time we finally exited the city and found a place with a restroom,
I was ready to slap both big brother and Lisa on the back of the head if they missed
that turn. Aaaaargh! It felt like an eternity, and then when I went into the “Dunkin
Donuts” the restrooms were closed because they needed cleaning. What’s worse,
there were already four women waiting, and while I joined the wait, another three
arrived. The poor guy who had to do the cleaning got so worried about the
glares, he told us to go ahead, he would clean up after us. Haha.
With some difficulty we reached our
destination that day just after nine, because the privately owned motel had a
closing time of 10. Not an easy thing when navigating the horror traffic around
the big cities like New York and Boston, but regardless, the nature started
becoming beautiful as soon as we reached the outskirts of the city. Oh the
colors it was astonishingly beautiful to see fall already in full swing.
The last hotel was a lovely spot to
spent our last day in the US. It was nothing fancy, and they definitely needed
a boost in income in order to improve on the accommodations, but I loved the
old bits of it most. We went for a walk our first day, the weather still good
enough, even though the sky was overcast. Went to this small wildlife preserve,
along the salt marshes and it was great. Got to talking with three lovely
ladies, one of which ran a girl camp up in Vermont, and she wondered if I wanted
to check it out and see if I might be interested in a summer job cooking for the
girls that would come there in summer. Everything, including my trip and stay
would arranged, which sounds very tempting. I will have to give it some thought,
even though I think it won’t be possible what with my job. Still, it was nice
to be asked.
The next day we left early, leaving
our supplies at the hotel, with a note saying we hoped they knew someone who
needed them. And then we were on our way, with regret in our hearts, to Boston
and our flight back to the Netherlands. It was a Sunday, so traffic was light
at least, and we made good time along color flanked roads back to the big city.
Reach our gate went nicely fast, too.
Delivered luggage, went through friendly, if somewhat impatient customs, and still
had an hour and a half to spare when we got there. Of course, after an hour we
discovered that our connecting flight had a delay, and when that went over an
hour, I headed for the steward to talk about making our connecting flight from
New York to Amsterdam. It took him but a minute to figure out that we weren’t
going to make it, and decided to rebook us on a direct flight from Boston
instead. This, I didn’t mind. It would shorten our journey by at least three
hours…but it did mean fetching our luggage from baggage claim and going through
the whole check-in progress once again. Including customs, who were, at this
time, starting to get a little frazzled with the increase in passengers. Still,
they remained friendly enough, and the lady patting me down even laughed with
me when I told her this was the second time I was going through this procedure.
She sent me on my way with a smile, and then we were through.
We were boarding our direct flight
at the same time our connecting flight departed from Boston, and half an hour
before our original flight left New York. Added to that, the seats were better
than on the way to, the meal not as nice, but doable, and the flight less than
six hours in total. It was amazing, especially since the way too almost took eight
hours and was so very uncomfortable. Before we knew it, we were back in the Netherlands,
going through customs, picking up our luggage again, and then rushing through
our goodbyes with Lisa, who needed to go a different direction, because we all
needed to make our trains.
Ours got us to Amersfoort within 45
minutes, and there we had to wait another thirty for the bus to drive us home
in 40 minutes. At the break of dawn we were walking down the road to our house,
and entering the clean and wonderful house that I call home at this time. It was
lovely to be home, if surreal.
Puttered around a bit, and held out
until 9 in the morning, local time. Slept for several hours, then did some
groceries after picking up the keys of big brother’s fixed car, and then came
home in time to greet our friend and big brother’s colleague, dropping of our laptops
and keys. Had a nice chat, talking about work and the trip, but we were both
fading fast by then, so we cut it all short asap. More than enough time for
that when we meet up for real in the near future.
But that about sums up the grand road
trip for now. It was amazing, it was special, and I want to do it again some
day, but until that time, I’m going to have to focus on work, the books and
life in general.
If you want to see a, basically, day
by day report of the trip, with pictures and everything you can check it out on
our website where I maintained a blog. You won’t regret it. The pics are
lovely! http://www.samayatyoung.com/blog
I hope you’ll go and read it…and
enjoy.
Late now. Gotta go. I’ll be back.
