• Roadtrip Day 5: Taliesin, Effigy Mounds, Toppling Goliath, and Rochester

    Roadtrip Day 5: Taliesin, Effigy Mounds, Toppling Goliath, and Rochester

    It may have only been day number 5 (of who knows how many to come), but I was already starting to question my pace. I felt right at home in Madison and wanted no more but to spend a few days here walking around more of the city between the two lakes and seeing what…

  • Roadtrip Day 4: Indiana Dunes, Pullman, Rockford, and Madison

    Roadtrip Day 4: Indiana Dunes, Pullman, Rockford, and Madison

    It had been a clear night, so I didn’t bother with the rainfly and was able to watch the stars through lightly shifting trees as I fell asleep. In fact I slept quite well…Until I was awoken at 4am by truck noise, since I-94 was only a mile away from the campground.

  • Roadtrip Day 3: Toledo and Sunset at Indiana Dunes NP

    Roadtrip Day 3: Toledo and Sunset at Indiana Dunes NP

    This Sunday had a slow start. I spent most of the morning creating the Day 1 post while seated on an outdoor patio of a nice little coffee shop in Ohio City, Cleveland. A neurotic composer named Isaac who was dressed all in white was seated next to me writing a symphony in a nice,…

  • Roadtrip Day 2: Cuyahoga Valley NP and Cleveland, OH

    Roadtrip Day 2: Cuyahoga Valley NP and Cleveland, OH

    I had originally not given much thought to visiting National Parks, since the black & white part of my brain figured what would be the point if I couldn’t spend a week at every location, hiking every trail and seeing every sight? But thankfully my youngest sister, who has quite a bit of experience with…

  • Roadtrip Day 1: Pittsburgh, PA

    Roadtrip Day 1: Pittsburgh, PA

    It was a spectacularly gorgeous day to begin this trip. Cool & clear, windows-down driving weather. Of course first I had to get out of Philly and through morning rush hour traffic on 76—but nothing could get me down today! I was very quickly able to leave the Zone of East Coast Urban Traffic and…

  • A Great American Road Trip Begins!

    A Great American Road Trip Begins!

    Yesterday I took a leap. I’ve begun an enormous road trip across country to at least two of the corners of the continental United States. I’m taking a meandering route over to Portland, OR, then down the Pacific coast to LA, or perhaps San Diego, and then winding my way back through the southern and…