I'm a few days into my epic coast-to-coast road trip and finally settled down from days of hard driving so I figured I should post the first in a series of trip updates.

On the first day we drove the bulk of the day and stopped at Salt Lake City. We found a nice inexpensive campsite near a reservoir with a lovely mountain view. The next day we found a similar free campsite near a reservoir outside of Lincoln Nebraska.

#roadtrip #vanlife

The next day we drove to Hannibal, Missouri and checked out the boyhood home of Mark Twain and explored the cave that inspired Tom Sawyer. In the evening we went on a riverboat dinner cruise down the Mississippi river and got caught in a lovely rainstorm that ended in a nice sunset.

After that we drove to Indiana and spent the day catching up with some family. Then today, we drove to Lansing, Michigan and set camp next to a lake. Tomorrow we start the less hectic parts of our trip.

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Next stop is Niagara Falls, Ontario. We arrived yesterday afternoon and spent the evening walking along the falls. The volume and power of the water, and of course the natural beauty, are absolutely incredible.

We decided we didn't get a close enough look, so today we took a cruise right up to the bottom of the falls. We didn't get wet enough, so next was a water park. Father's Day dinner will be spent at a revolving restaurant overlooking the whole area.

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Today we stopped in Lenox, Massachusetts for some literary tours. First we visited Hermann Melville's home and then toured The Mount: Edith Wharton's manor. We are spending the night in a campground in a nearby forest before heading to Maine tomorrow.

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Hello Portland, Maine, with a special shout-out to the Atlantic Ocean! We have officially gone coast-to-coast on this road trip with plenty of trip ahead. #roadtrip #vanlife

Today we are camping in Acadia National Forest and we took a hike along the coast above Sand Beach. Beautiful views of the water, but we didn't see much wildlife.

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Yesterday we spent the day in Bar Harbor (BAH Hah-BAH) first doing laundry, then visiting a combination of cute artisan craft shops and boutiques, and standard tourist shops. It is a very cute seaside town that's worth a visit.

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Bar Harbor marked the northernmost part of our trip. Yesterday we started south and visited Rockland and Camden, where we visited the Farnsworth art museum and saw some great examples of Andrew Wyeth and Hopper. We also saw the lighthouse museum and visited the Owl's Head lighthouse. This was our last day in Maine.

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We are on our way to DC and yesterday we stopped in Hartford, Connecticut to visit Mark Twain's house. It was very interesting comparing his humble childhood beginning in Hannibal, MO to this mansion. Today: DC!

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This is our last day in DC and we had a great time while braving heat and humidity we aren't used to in California. We saw a lot of the standard sites but as our son studied US history in school this year, everything we saw had an additional significance.

A few highlights include the Spy museum, dinosaurs in the Natural History museum, a personal fire truck tour, the Lincoln memorial, and seeing a surprisingly good play in Ford's Theater.

I want to give a special shout-out to the DC firefighter who saw us peeking through the window of the firehouse at their shiny trucks, and opened the front door as we were walking away to invite us in for a personal tour of their ladder truck and fire engine. Right as we were leaving they got a call and the engine we had just been looking at drove past us as we were walking down the street!

Yesterday we visited Nickelback Mansion near Charlottesville, Virginia (the locals call it Monticello). My wife and I had visited some years ago and I thought along with the historical value, my son would appreciate seeing Jefferson's designs and inventions.

Then we toured the Edgar Allen Poe museum in Richmond, Virginia. The exhibit was somewhat small but had original artifacts and did a good job walking you through his short life.

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Today we visited Colonial Williamsburg and saw all sorts of interesting exhibitions of traditional crafts in a truly historic town. As you might expect, I got the most out of the weaving exhibition.

Here I am getting some tips about using a temple from one of the apprentice weavers.

#roadtrip #vanlife #weaving

We spent the last two days in Savannah, Georgia, where we visited family, saw alligators in the wild, and walked through the lovely parks throughout downtown while eating famous Tutti Fruitti ice cream. It was a bit hot and humid but we survived.

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After Savannah we began the last leg of our trip. Every place from this point on brings us closer to home. We began with camping two days in The Great Smoky Mountains and stopped in Asheville for lunch along the way. We also checked out the Folk Art Museum where I got some weaving inspiration including a beautiful and giant coverlet that might inspire one I will do at home at some point.

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When we were first planning this trip, we realized that we would be spending Independence Day on the road... somewhere. We looked at the map to see where we could drive to get a good fireworks show and ultimately decided on Nashville.

So yesterday we spent the day in Nashville, including a trip to the Johnny Cash museum and stayed up late for a fireworks display over downtown Nashville that beats anything I've ever seen in California.

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Day one of three hard driving days complete. Today we left Nashville in the morning and arrived this evening in Clinton, OK. We will repeat this pace for two more days until we arrive home.

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Yesterday was day two of three hard driving days home. We started in Oklahoma and drove through Texas, New Mexico and half of Arizona before stopping in Flagstaff for the night. Today we drive home!

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We are home! We drove from Flagstaff, Arizona through the other half of Arizona, and up half of California. We managed somehow to avoid most of the Bay Area rush hour traffic. What an amazing trip. I will follow up tomorrow with some stats. For now, after 12 hours of driving, I'm going to relax for the rest of the evening.

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