TravelWright

Roadtrip USA 2009 - post trip thoughts and reflections

Well it is now three weeks since I returned from my Roadtrip across the US and I have been busy getting back into UK life. I am so glad that I took the time to take the trip as it gave me a real insight into what America is about. Although I had lived there for a couple of years, life in Greenwich Connecticut is not really what 'mainstream' US is about. Driving across the US gives a glimpse into small town America.

So what are my observations? As I have said before you don't get a sense of how big, big is until you drive across the Prairies and you start to understand how some of the small towns along the way survive though tourist attractions such as the SPAM museum and the Corn Palace to 'drag' people of the highways. For these towns it provides a source of income as well as putting them on the map. 

I was surprised how many people I met along the way had not travelled outside of their state and sometimes not outside of their town! You can see how 'fixed' these people can get in their views and how things like Intelligent Design and Creationism can become 'real' as they haven't had chance to experience other countries or cultures. I am not saying whether they are right or wrong but you can see how their views can be formed.

I was surprised how easy it is to undertake this type of travel in the US - food is plentiful, hotels are relatively cheap and available and gas/petrol is still very cheap compared with Europe. I had pre-booked most of the hotels through Hotels.com but on reflection this was a mistake as you can get better deals by just turning up - particularly if you have a AAA membership card.

The country is very beautiful and we only saw a small section of it although I covered 10,560 miles this was just a small slice and time didn't permit stopping at to see things along the way. I envied some of the travellers I met who seem to spend their life on the road - there is so much to see and some amazing things to see. Maybe next time I will try and take more than the 7 weeks I gave myself this time? 

So on reflection what advice would I give someone who was going to undertake a similar journey? 

• Plan ahead what you want to see but have enough flexibility to act on impulse.   
• Make sure you sign up for AAA which gives you 10 - 15% discount on hotels and admission cost for some of the attractions you will visit along the way.
• Have a car with plenty of space - as this will be where you spend a large amount of your time make sure its comfortable! I chose to rent from Hertz as this gave me unlimited mileage - an important factor when you are doing high mileage. Many of the companies charge a per mile cost over 100 - 200 miles per day and when you are clocking up 400 - 600 miles some days this can mount up.
• Pack a small duffle bag for overnight stops. Rather than lugging your suitcases into the hotel every night and unpacking and packing I chose to have enough clothes etc. for a couple of nights in a small duffel which was my overnight bag.
• Travel light - as with any adventure of this type you will always pack more than you need so pack light and if you need more clothes you can always  buy them along the way. I packed far too much and there was probably half the clothes I took didn't get worn!
• Keep water and snacks in the car just in case you break down or get stuck in traffic. The first car we rented broke down in Utah - luckily we were only 10 miles from civilisation but it cold have been a lot worse. Certainly as I travelled across the Prairies if I had had problems I could have been stuck for some time as mobile phone signals are very patchy and rest areas and help can be 50 - 60 miles apart so having sustenance on board is a good idea.

I will update the list as things come to mind in the next few days.

Road Trip Day 39 - Niagara Falls to Stamford - The Final Day

My final day of the Road Trip and I set off with very mixed feelings - happy to be going home but sad to be leaving such a beautiful and interesting country. The last 6 weeks have been amazing - lots to see, people to meet, things to experience and so much missed. I am glad that I took a rest day yesterday to catch up on my thoughts and feelings before I set off on the journey back to the UK.

I left Niagara Falls this morning at around 8 am get a head start on the traffic across the bridge to the US - of course I picked the wrong line at immigration and hd to wait 20 minutes in line. But once across I decided to go to the American Falls Park which always amazes me as it is so peaceful and 'green' after the hustle and bustle of the Canadian side - I always thought that this is the wrong way round and it should be the US side that is super commercialized - not the other way round.

After a quick walk around and a few photos i was back in the car and the road to find some breakfast! The journey down was pretty uneventful and to be honest a little boring as it was highway all the way and seemingly endless strip-malls along the roadside.

As I got around 60 miles from Stamford the heavens opened and I ran into a violent thunderstorm with heavy rain and lightening which lasted until I pulled up at Jane and John's in Stamford. This was a surprise as I had only had a couple of days of rain the whole trip and here I was in a deluge!!!

Anyway I arrived OK and had covered 10,560 miles in the 39 days, consuming 444 Gallons of Gas at a cost of  $1155 at an average of $0.12 a mile. 

I will reflect on the journey over the next few days

Road Trip Day 38 - Niagara Falls, Rest Day

A day of rest - no driving - only the third day since I started that I haven't driven. Not that I am complaining as I love driving but it does get a bit tedious when there isn't much to see.

So a lazy start and off to Starbucks for a coffee and croissant - just like the old days back in Greenwich!

I had purchased an adventure pass which gets you into four of the attractions at Niagara with the hotel booking so today was tourist day - starting with Niagara Fury, the history of the falls.  This is a strange combination of a cartoon pre-show which talks about glaciation followed by erosion  using a beaver, an owl and a polar bear followed by a sort of theme park ride where you get snowed on, rained on and shaken about but with no real story and therefore no real reason. Anyway there was lots of screaming!

Second I went on the journey behind the falls which takes you down a tunnel dug in the 1930's behind the falls and within a few meters of the bottom of the falls. I have donw this before so although you get a sense of awe at the power of the falls there is nothing much to see at the portals when you see the water rushing pass the end of a tunnel, however the walk out onto an observation deck at the side of the falls is impressive.

Lastly I went on the Maid of the Mist which is a boat ride into the spray of the falls. This is a great experience and although I have done it before it is still an enjoyable and awe inspiring, although damp, experience. The journey takes you past the American Falls which are by the side of the Canadian Falls and then into the spray from these latter falls. It lasts around 15 minutes and is well worth the $20.

 

This evening there is a fireworks display from 9pm - 10pm which I will go along to and hopefully get some photos and then to bed. I went down around 8:30 to watch as I thought the fireworks were on at 9pm and after standing around shivering for an hour and a half they finally got going just after 10pm - lasting a whole 10 minutes - not sure whether it was worth it!!!!

Tomorrow is an early start to get back into the US and stop for some breakfast on the way and then on to STamford - hopefully getting back around 4pm.

Road Trip Day 37 - Mackinaw City to Niagara Falls

THis morning was an early start for the 8 hour drive down to Niagara Falls. I was up and about and ready for breakfast at 7am and opened my door and heard a loud hub-bub from the breakfast area - the place was heaving with families almost fighting for food - as soon as anything was put out it was gone. It was as if there was going to be some terrible shortage - it wasn't event as if it was being eaten rather stuffed away for later. Unfortunately this was not an isolated incident and it is something I have experiences at many other hotels - to me it just smacks of down right greed and selfishness - but that is just my thoughts.

I decided that this was not for me and headed off to the diner I had had a meal at the previous evening where I had eggs, bacon and hash browns for $5.99 including coffee! An excellent start to the day.

The drive down was pretty uneventful other than the highway was closed just outside London and we were diverted off - unfortunately there was then no signs to tell you where to go or for what distance the road was closed. So after an hours re-route in heavy traffic I got back on the highway and headed off to Niagara.

I had booked into the Oakes Hotel which advertised the best view of the falls - and I had decided to treat myself to a Jacuzzi room. When I got to the hotel there was a huge queue to check in and only one person on the desk - so check in took nearly 40 minutes and then to top it all the room wasn't ready!!! Anyway I finally got in my room only to find it was on the second floor and my falls view was through a car park - my fault I guess for being cheap and not opting for a higher room.

I had a wander down to the falls in the evening and was surprised by the number of people around - it was packed!  But there was a beautiful rainbow over the Canadian Falls.

Dinner was at TFI Friday's  just across from the hotel - not very canadian I know.

Road Trip Day 36 - Lake Superior to Mackinow City

Todays drive was along the shore of Lake Superior on my way to Niagara Falls and then on to Stamford on Monday. I decided to tale the scenic drive which took me through beautiful woodlands which broke occasionally to give fantastic views of Lake Superior.

In the morning I was lucky enough to see a Bald Eagle on a tree just at the side of the road - a quick U turn and find the camera and I managed to get a couple of shots before it flew off.

I have been surprised that hotels are all full at this time of year and again I found it difficult to find somewhere to stay so had to keep traveling until I got somewhere - this time it was Mackinaw Island which seems to be a holiday resort on the shore of the lake. Lots of family things to do apparently.

Tomorrow is on to Niagara Falls and a sort of rest day as I plan to drive late afternoon and try and find a hotel in upper New York state so I have a 6 or 7 hour drive on  Monday.

Road Trip - Day 35, Duluth towards Toronto

Last nightI managed to find a hotel in Superior just outside Duluth in Minnessota after another long drive from Minot. One of the things I hadn't appreciated was how busy hotels would be with various conferences which has made finding somewhere to stay interesting to say the least! I stayed at BarkerIsland Hotel in Superior which was a typical conference hotel on the shore ofthe lake so I had a chance to have a quick walk after dinner.

Today my plan is to drive towards Toronto along the north shore of Lake Superior - a bit of a lazy day as I have booked into Niagara on Saturday night at the Oakes Hotel with a room overlooking the Falls. This is apparently around a 15 hour drive so I will stop halfway this avening (if I can find somewhere to stay) and get into Niagara around 3pm tomorrow.

Yesredays drive was through flatopen countryside again and not too interesting although I did stop in Rugby which is, apparently, the georgaphic centre of America (photo to follow). I can only assume this is an East West centre and not a middle as such. Sad when this is the highlight!!!!!

Road Trip Day 34 - the start of Phase IV - on the way home

An early start this morning to set off back to New York. Bright sunshine is a good omen after the rain of the last few days. Today will see me drive back into the US around lunchtime and then onto Havre in Montana for an overnight stay.

What a day - ended up driving through to Minot North Dakota which was an 800+ drive from 7am to 9pm. There wasn't much to see as much of it was grasslands both in Canada and in the US. I crossed the border around 11am and was surprised that the car was searched - I obviously looked suspicious!!!

Stopped for lunch in Havre Montana which I had planned in stopping at overnight but got there around 12:30 so I decded to press on - which maybe wasn't a good idea. I decided to look for hotels around 4pm but there are not oo many on the praries! So ended up driving through to Minot which I knew had chain hotels - what I didn;t know was that there was a postal conference on and all the hotels would be full when I got there at 9pm. After trying a few hotels I managed to get a room at a Super 8 hotel on the edge of town.

On the drive I did manage to get a speeding ticket - my first in the US - I was desperate for a rest area so had increased my speed to 79 in a 70 limit and got pulled by the town police. I guess it had to happen after 9000 miles.

Today I am hoping to drive through to Grand Rapids in Minnesota and take a rest day tomorrow as there seems to be a few things to see around there.

Road Trip day 33 - Calgary rest day before drive back to Stamford

Today is a rest day before the 2200 mile drive back to New York. The plan is to head into Calgary to see what there is and then back to the hotel in the afternoon to repack and hopefully get some laundry done (probably too much detail!)

I had a look at the best way back last night and I think I have decided on the following route:

 

This route takes me across the top of the US before heading back into Canada to route via Niagra Falls and back to Stamford for the 15th or the 16th of June. I may adjust the route on way if the weather or the journey becomes too tiring to cut out the last Canadian section and just route via Chicago again. Watch the blog for more information.

I decided to head back into the US reasonably quickly as the Gas/Petrol in Canada is around 30 - 40% more expensive than the US and a couple of people have mentioned that the route across southern Canada is not too interesting - I am sure that there are things to see but we'll see what the US has to offer.

UPDATE

Calgary turned out to be very dissapointing. I took the C-Train downtown this morning to spend my rest day looking around Calgary - unfortunately there wasn't much there. I thought there would be a 'traditional'  town center but other than a few shopping centers in office buildings there wasn't much around at all. I decided to go to the Calgary Tower as I thought that would give me a sense of where Calgary was - from the top of the tower the landscape was very flat for many miles around but I couldn't see the missing downtown. I asked the receptionist at the tower and she said that most of the shopping was in suberban malls that were all around Calgary. There was one street, 17th Avenue, which had boutiques and eateries etc. but nothing I was interested in. So it was back on the C-Train and I went out to one of the malls for a wander around.

I am sure there are many great things about Calgary - other than the Stampeded which takes place in July - but the people I asked couldn't really tell me and I couldn't find it.

So tomorrow is the first of the long drive days - hopefully I will be on the road around 6:30 and will drive till 6 ish at night to get as far as I can.

Road Trip Day 32 - Banff to Calgary, Monday 8th of May

A cloudy start to the day in Banff at the Aspen Hotel with a great 'free' continental breakfast - simple but great.

We decided to take a trip up sulphur mountain today on the Banff Gondola which rund from just outside town. We got to the Gondola around 9:30am and as usual there was a couple of coach loads of Japanese tourists in front of us so we had a short wait to get on. Once on we got nearly half way up and the Gondola stopped - swinging in the wind (not really but it felt like it!) - my worst nightmare as I don;t particularly like roller coaster rides! Anyway after a few minutes we were off again and got to the top.

The weather was quite a bit cooler at the top and I was glad I took my hat and gloves up with me as there was snow flurries. From the Gondola station there is a walk up to the top of the mountain via a wooden walkway and the views from the top were stunning although there was low clouds which marred the view. At the top there is an old observation station which used to be manned to observe cosmic rays and UV radiation - a lonely job which took 9 hours in snowshoes to get to the station.

After a walk around the summit we took the Gondola down and decided to head towards Lake MinnieWanka which is just to the East of Banff. We took a walk around the Lake and up Stewart Canyon - although the sign said 0.8 of a mile although it seemed a lot longer in reality.

As we hadn't had any lunch we stopped at a small snack shop on the shores of the lake for a sausage roll and tea. Whilst we were sat there a Pine Martin paid us a visit to check out the recycling trash can.

The road back to the Calgary was reasonably quiet and I dropped George off at the airport at 5pm - a little earlier than he needed to be there. The drive back from the airport to the hotel was fraught with traffic - a novelty as I hadn't seen any for the last month - and finally got to the hotel around 7pm.

Tomorrow I intend to head into Calgary for the day and have a look around and then head out back to New York on Wednesday the 10th of June.

Road Trip Day 32 - Banff to Calgary, Monday 8th of May

A cloudy start to the day in Banff at the Aspen Hotel with a great 'free' continental breakfast - simple but great.

We decided to take a trip up sulphur mountain today on the Banff Gondola which rund from just outside town. We got to the Gondola around 9:30am and as usual there was a couple of coach loads of Japanese tourists in front of us so we had a short wait to get on. Once on we got nearly half way up and the Gondola stopped - swinging in the wind (not really but it felt like it!) - my worst nightmare as I don;t particularly like roller coaster rides! Anyway after a few minutes we were off again and got to the top.

The weather was quite a bit cooler at the top and I was glad I took my hat and gloves up with me as there was snow flurries. From the Gondola station there is a walk up to the top of the mountain via a wooden walkway and the views from the top were stunning although there was low clouds which marred the view. At the top there is an old observation station which used to be manned to observe cosmic rays and UV radiation - a lonely job which took 9 hours in snowshoes to get to the station.

After a walk around the summit we took the Gondola down and decided to head towards Lake MinnieWanka which is just to the East of Banff. We took a walk around the Lake and up Stewart Canyon - although the sign said 0.8 of a mile although it seemed a lot longer in reality.

As we hadn't had any lunch we stopped at a small snack shop on the shores of the lake for a sausage roll and tea. Whilst we were sat there a Pine Martin paid us a visit to check out the recycling trash can.

The road back to the Calgary was reasonably quiet and I dropped George off at the airport at 5pm - a little earlier than he needed to be there. The drive back from the airport to the hotel was fraught with traffic - a novelty as I hadn't seen any for the last month - and finally got to the hotel around 7pm.

Tomorrow I intend to head into Calgary for the day and have a look around and then head out back to New York on Wednesday the 10th of June.