Done A lot in 4 Years

When we left Ohio in 2011 who would have thought it would take us 4 years for us to come back to visit?  Sure, each of us has flown back for visits, but never together.  I usually flew back to Cleveland in November and Dave in April.

Dave and I were talking last night about all we have seen.  Here's some recap.  Have walked in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, swirled our hands in the headwaters of the Mississippi in the upper reaches of Minnesota; walked in the surf in the Pacific Ocean and marveled at the freighters passing us as we walked along the shore of Pugent Sound.  We have been on a boat in Canadian waters (Pugent Sound of Washington), on a boat in Voyagers National Park on the boundary waters of Canada, watched dolphins swimming along with us as we boated on the waters off Brownsville, Texas.  Whale watched on a boat off Cape Cod and San Diego, California. Followed our dream of visiting as many Lewis and Clark sites in the West.  We kayaked with manatees on the Suwanee River in Florida and have seen the 5 Great Lakes of the United States.  We have seen the furthermost eastern US town (Lubec, Maine), watched the sunset off the California beach, seen the furthermost northwestern area of the US (Neah Bay in Washington), the southwestern (San Diego), the southern (Brownsville, Texas), the south eastern (Key West, Florida), and the most northern point of the US (Voyagers National Park in Minnesota).  Seen countless waterfalls.  Ridden over the mighty rivers of the US (Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Platte, Snake, Columbia, Rio Grande, Yellowstone, and countless others).  Been over and back all the mountain ranges in the US and marveled at how big this country is.  We just haven't seen enough!

Color of state gets filled in only when we spend the night 

We have hiked the Appalachian trail, the Continental Divide, crossed the US two times, hiked along the Tundra Trail at the highest Visitors Center of the US at Rocky Mountain National Park.  We have seen black bears, brown bears, moose, all kinds of waterfowl, marmots, big horn sheep, mountain goats, various deer species, and too many different flowers that we have lost count.  Watched moose graze outside our RV in Yellowstone, camped in 45 states, put over 36,000 miles on the RV, met numerous people and some have become great friends.  Visited over 80 different national parks/monuments/historical sites/battlefields/scenic rivers and byways.  Been lucky in visiting places that were celebrating their birthday (centennials) and shared in the excitement.

In our travels we discovered that some states are not worth going back to see again and others where we can't wait to get back to.  We learned that camping in heat is very uncomfortable and just as bad as waking up in the morning and finding lots of snow and your water hoses frozen up.  Not fun.  We changed how we see the US from pulling an RV with a big diesel truck to riding in a motor home and have a small car being pulled behind it.

How we travel now - very fun!

Would we change anything?  No, we have found we have not seen enough and look forward to another 4 more years of fun.