1381 photos
We’ve always been intrigued by the Mighty Mississippi River. This trip started with a plan to go to the origination of the river and follow it the entire length to the Gulf. Then we discovered that the “headwaters” were nothing liked we had expected. So then we were just going to go to the start of the Great River Road and follow that down to St. Louis. But heck, we’re going to be this far east, let’s just swing over to Chicago and check it out. And those Great Lakes look pretty interesting! And since our traveling companions, Bruce and Donna have never been to Niagara Falls, we couldn’t resist.
Our tentative big loop was approximately 7500 miles. We planned to check 10 National Parks off of our bucket list. My passport stamp book is our guide. We’re trying to hit all of the National Parks and Monuments in each state we pass through. It takes us off the main roads and into some pretty remote areas we’d never see otherwise. Most are worth the extra effort. A few, not so. As always, we try to stay off major Highways.
We use the Harvest Hosts app as much as possible. We’ve had some amazing stays all across the country.
Our original plans were altered because number one, it was way too ambitious for our time frame. Number two, we were waaaay over on our mileage estimate. We knew before we left that Washington and Oregon were out, but we still planned on getting to Idaho before we turned south.
On our new route, we were still able to travel back roads and see parts of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico we had never seen before.
The final trip was 9,875 miles, 9 National Parks, 42 National Monuments in 49 days.
It was amazing!
Our tentative big loop was approximately 7500 miles. We planned to check 10 National Parks off of our bucket list. My passport stamp book is our guide. We’re trying to hit all of the National Parks and Monuments in each state we pass through. It takes us off the main roads and into some pretty remote areas we’d never see otherwise. Most are worth the extra effort. A few, not so. As always, we try to stay off major Highways.
We use the Harvest Hosts app as much as possible. We’ve had some amazing stays all across the country.
Our original plans were altered because number one, it was way too ambitious for our time frame. Number two, we were waaaay over on our mileage estimate. We knew before we left that Washington and Oregon were out, but we still planned on getting to Idaho before we turned south.
On our new route, we were still able to travel back roads and see parts of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico we had never seen before.
The final trip was 9,875 miles, 9 National Parks, 42 National Monuments in 49 days.
It was amazing!
© Alison Hixson Photography
