Final 10 days - Back home in Nova Scotia
Mission Texas, Reids on the Road, Walmarting our way home
30.10.2017 - 04.11.2017
15 °C
This will be the final blog entry for 2017.
Oct 27, 28, 29 - Mission Texas. We returned from South Padre Island to Mission and parked TaJ in the Reids driveway once again. We have no specific plans for the next 3 days, other than to try some other local foods and perhaps have a Margarita or two in the afternoons. Our trip home will be a 6 day drive so we are going to stay out of the car as much as possible.
We went to Delia's a local restaurant that specializes in Tamales. The place was packed and even had a policeman working in the parking lot directing traffic. Quite an experience:
We also did another BBQ evening, this time at a hole in the wall place called Lone Star. Ribs were fantastic:
We also did a throw-back night at home. Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza...turned out really good actually. We washed it down with that throw back to the 70's wine, Mateus Rose!
When we were in Mexico last week we bought margarita glasses, as well as Tequila and Triple Sec, two of the main ingredients of this lovely, refreshing drink. We salt the rim of the glasses, add ice, 1 ounce of Tequila, 1 ounce of Triple Sec, and 1 ounce of lime juice. Many people use a sugary lime juice mix, but the 4 of us like it this way, a bit tart. Every afternoon, after 4pm is Margarita time. Next summer back in Nova Scotia, this may be our go-to drink on hot days.
George and Karmen have been great hosts. We met them in the fall of 2013, on Newfoundland, when they had just started out on their plans to be full-time RV'ers. Since that first encounter we have met up with them in the Badlands of South Dakota, at Mabel Lake in British Columbia, at Prince Rupert, also in British Columbia where we took the ferry over to Haida Gwaii for two days of exploration. They visited with us here in Nova Scotia last year, and this year we also met up in Idaho, and again at Yosemite National Park. It has been great to meet and re-meet such enjoyable travel companions.
On a visit to a bird sanctuary on our last day we came upon this bobcat...you can just make him out in the grass:
Karmen writes a blog of their travels and here is a link to it:
http://reidsontheroad2.blogspot.ca/
Karmen is currently working on details of a new blog to start in January, 2018. Iif you want to follow their adventures there is an email address in the blog to send her a note to subscribe to the new blog.
The Journey home:
Monday, October 30 saw us on the road at 7:30am, with a plan to be back home in Nova Scotia by Saturday, November 4. so here is how it went:
Day 1 - Mission to Tyler, Texas 535 miles - Walmart Parking Lot
Day 2 - Tyler to Nashville, TN 615 miles - Walmart Parking Lot
Day 3 - Nashville to Huntington, West Virginia - 365 miles - KOA campground
Day 4 - Huntington to Scranton, PA - 520 miles - Walmart Parking Lot
Day 5 - Scranton to Bangor, ME - 535 miles - Walmart Parking Lot
Day 6 - Bangor ME to Home - 550 miles
In total we did 3,120 miles (5,020 km) during the 6 day trip home. The travel was surprisingly uncomplicated. During the trip we only had one 20 minute period where we were stopped on an interstate due to construction. Traffic was extremely heavy on Day 2 and 3, when we were surrounded by transport trucks for most of both days. We would estimate that 50% of the vehicles on that stretch were big semis, booting along at 70-75 mph.
Except for one night, in Nashville, the Walmart stops were all pretty pleasant. At Nashville, we had a semi truck right behind us idling most of the night. The stop on night three at the KOA in Huntington, WV was a planned stop to give us a chance to get showers and a bit of internet time.
We arrived home at 7:00pm, in the dark, so just parked TaJ on the front lawn, took the essentials into the house and crashed for the night. It was strange to be sleeping in something other that the cozy confines of TaJ.
Summary of our Journey:
It will take us sometime to digest this trip fully, but we can offer this:
We traveled 37, 280 km (23,165 miles) over the 157 days we were on the road. We visited 8 Canadian provinces, 2 Canadian Territories and 21 of the 49 US states that can be reached by car.
We write the blog as we go so we don't miss highlights as they happen. We also have about 5000 photographs that did not appear in the blog. It will take awhile to sort through these.
Not necessarily in order, but these are the current top 10 highlights.
1. Canada Day in Grasslands National Park
2. Pelicans feeding in the Slave River at Wood Buffalo National Park (they winter in the Gulf of Mexico)
3. The drive to Telegraph Creek in Northern British Columbia
4. Seeing Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska in full sunshine (only happens about 30 days a year..we passed by on a good day)
5. Overnight on the Top of the World Highway (near Dawson City, Yukon)
6. Fifty-five straight days of sunshine (no rain at all) from August 26 to October 18.
7. Yosemite National Park - 3 nights in the highland portion of the park, at over 9,000 above sea level
8. Canyon du Chelly/Petrified Forest in Northern Arizona...both were a revelation.
9. Bisbee Arizona - a great 4 night stop in a really cool old mining town.
10. Seeing our friends George and Karmen three times during our journey.
A revised list might be coming once we have had a chance to digest the trip and re-read our own blog.
Posted by Rooseboom-Scott 11:36 Archived in USA Tagged highlights journey's_end Comments (1)