Weather: 115 sunny – 90 raining – 35 snowing

The first stop on our trip was Yuma AZ and it just so happened that summer recently struck the area with vengeance. Yuma is in the middle of the desert and in the summer it gets pretty hot and dry, when we were there the sun was blistering and it reached 115. It actually melted the insulation in the bus. By the time we made it across the south to Florida were getting used the humidity but what we didn’t realize is that rainy season in the south is in the summer. The weather was amazing most of the time except for the few days it was raining, monsoon style, all the while maintaining an incredibly high temperature. Then of course as we went on it cooled off. I actually remember one day in particular when shorts were no longer necessary, it was right before we got to Boston. From there it slowly got colder all the way down to the lower 30’s when we went through Montana, there was actually a few inches of snow on the ground and it even snowed while we were in Yellowstone.

Wildlife: Lizards, Star Fish, Jelly Fish, Mosquitoes, Manatees, Crocodiles, Alligators, Turtles, Puffer Fish, Crab, Tarpon, Sponge, Barracuda, Sting Rays, Tropical Fish, Shark, Deer, Bison, Elk, Bear, River Otters, Bald Eagle, Coyote, Moose, and probably more

We saw an incredible amount of wildlife, and I’m not even including the animals we saw in captivity, although if I did I would surely have to include the monkeys in Florida and the big cats in Arizona and the dolphins in Maryland, but they weren’t wild. My favorite wildlife experience was probably swimming with the manatees in Crystal River Florida. Also known as the sea cows, manatees weigh upwards of 1200 lbs and swim with the flip of their tail. Another unique experience was swimming in the world’s 3rd largest reef off the keys; sting rays, sharks and millions of fish made for a pretty awesome sight. Messing with an alligator in the Everglades was pretty crazy too. Oh also when I saw the bear in Yellowstone I was pretty pumped even though it was like 500 yards away.

Foliage: Sonoran Desert (Saguaro and Prickly Pear Cacti), Tropical Forest (Mangroves and Coconuts), Deciduous Forest (leaves), Great Plains (grasses), Rocky Mountain Forest (Pine, Fir, and Aspen), Pacific Forest (Spruce, Pines, Cedar)

As far as plants go, I think we saw nearly everything that America has to offer. We saw cactus in the southwest, tropical forests in Florida, the leaves of the northeast, the grasses of the plains, and everything in between. The everglades were probably the most interesting to me because I’ve never really seen a tropical ecosystem like that, the mangroves and the hammocks were interesting. One time at Crandon park I actually knocked a coconut down from a tree and managed to crack it open and eat some, it was a pretty memorable moment with the native foliage.

Natural Wonders: Sedona, Lake Patagonia, Saguaro National Park, White Sands National Monument, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Balmorhea State Park, Hamilton Pool Preserve, The Mississippi Delta, The Everglades, The Keys, Niagara Falls, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountains

These places all pretty much speak for themselves, or at least the pictures do. It was all interesting and beautiful, but the most fun was probably all the time we spent in the water, especially through the south. At times it became our only goal for the day, get into some water, that was because it was like 100 degrees and 100% humidity, we couldn’t survive without it. The top few off this list that I would definitely suggest making a special trip for are: white sands, Carlsbad, the everglades, the keys, Niagara, and Yellowstone. White sands seems a little off the beating path there, but it was awesome, we got to sled down hills of pure white sand with no one around. We even got slightly lost on our way back to the car, it was crazy. But really all the natural stuff was awesome and I would like to go back to all these places some day. Last but not least, check the pics for the oohs and ahhs of all these places.

Beaches: Galveston, Dauphin Island, Panama City, Fort DeSoto, South Beach, Crandon, West Palm Beach, Smathers, Daytona, Myrtle Beach, Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, and Coney Island

Beaches became an important part of our trip as the weather was pretty much ridiculously hot for the entire first half. Our first attempt at a beach we pulled over to the side of the road in Galveston, with our towels in hand, we all opened the doors, took a deep breath, laughed, and closed the doors and took off. It stunk so bad, I’m not sure what it was, probably the sea weed melting in the hot sun and smoldering in the humid humid air. We did end up going to another beach that day, but it was a pretty funny incident. Dauphin island beach, we won’t talk about that one, I’ll just warn you to stay away unless you get the all-clear-of-jellyfish signal (if it exists). We drove our car on Daytona Beach, that was fun. I won’t talk about every single beach, but they all were enjoyable in their own unique ways.

Showers: Outside the bus in random parking lots across the US, several public pools, lots of rivers/lakes/ocean, public showers at the beaches, YMCA’s, at the RV campgrounds, and many friends’ houses along the way

It’s funny the number one question I get from people about this whole thing is: where do you go to the bathroom/shower? Well bathrooms were easy, just picture a road trip, plus wal-marts are usually 24 hour. But the showers, well that was a little more interesting. The most comical showers were definitely outside the bus in a parking lot, it was great to see the look on people’s faces. One memorable time was on our 300 mile journey to the Kenny Chesney concert we pulled off the road for gas and we saw a pool, so we decided to try and shower there. Sure enough the kids who were running the place liked our story and let us in for free to shower. Another good one was when we were rejected from the YMCA in Savannah and we went to the nearby beach and showered for like 30 minutes. It was hilarious because it was like 8 AM and not that warm out, plus we were down a random street to the beach with houses all around us. It’s also important to note here that Lieu takes 30 minutes to an hour for each shower he takes.

History: Yuma Prison, Fight at the OK Corral, Battle at The Alamo, Port of Galveston, NASA Mission Control (Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle flights), First Transcontinental Telephone Call, First battle of Civil War, First Flight, Lost Colony, First English Settlement, English Colonial Capitol, End of the American Revolution, End of the Civil War, Ford’s Theatre, Writing place of the National Anthem, Declaration of Independence, Location of the official birth of USA, Bill of Rights, First Roller Coaster, Boston Massacre site, Paul Revere’s House, First University if America, First Baseball Stadium, First Ferris Wheel Site, Louis and Clark Trail, First National Park, just to name a few.

I’m sure this list doesn’t even dent what we actually saw, but it’s all I could come up with off the top of my head. But we did see a lot of real historical sites in America, we saw many of the places where events transpired that formed our nation. For example, when we went to Yorktown, we actually went in the house where the colonies won their freedom. It was a little bit like going through our high school history books in real life, I’m not sure if that makes sense, but it was a good review of American history.

Structures: The Alamo, Tower of The Americas, Beer Can House, Oak Alley, Fort Sumter, Arthur Ravenel, Jr. Bridge, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Pentagon, Supreme Court, Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument, Jefferson Monument, Fort McHenry, Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Rockefeller Plaza, Yankee Stadium, Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building, The Breakers, Fenway Park, The Big Dig, Cloud Gate, Sears Tower, Hancock Tower, Robie House, and the House on the Rock

Some people probably won’t be as impressed with the structures as I was, but it’s hard to deny the grandeur of such buildings as the capitol, or the breakers, or the empire state building. There were also some historical structures in there, like the Alamo, or Fort Sumter, or Fort McHenry. All the buildings and things were impressive to me, but I think if you really want to know what I’m talking about you should check out all our pictures, or even better you should just check out the sites for yourselves.

Transportation: Trolley to Mexico, riverboat in Louisiana, Fan Boat in the everglades, Sailing in the Keys, The metro in DC, Driving the bus through downtown Philadelphia, The Staten Island Ferry, The Subway in NYC, The “T” in Boston, The “L” in Chicago, nearly 8000 miles in the bus and countless more in the car

We had a lot of interesting transportation experiences, from crazy commutes on the public transit to one of a king travels in Florida. The fan boat was awesome, and I am going to buy one someday just for fun, it was that cool. Then sailing in the keys, well sailing is amazing to begin with, but when you’re in tropical waters and islands all around, it was quite memorable. So quickly let me review or commute in NY, we started by driving 30 minutes from New Jersey to the beginning of Staten Island, then we took the train across the whole island to the ferry terminal (30 minute ride), then we took the ferry across the water to Manhattan (30 minute ride), then we took the subway to wherever we were going that day. The whole thing took at the very least 1.5 hours, but usually 2 hours or so, it was crazy. Then there were the fun times with the CTA in Chicago, I won’t get into it, but we had plenty of memories on our transportation.

Events: Kenny Chesney Concert, Mariners @ Yankees, US Open, Red Sox at Fenway Park

I’m not sure what was the coolest out of all these but it was really fun being at Fenway when Ortiz hit a 2 run shot for the win and the crowd went crazy. Then again, seeing Federer play in the US Open was pretty big, or an authentic country concert in the heart of Texas, or watching the Mariners beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, I guess they were all pretty good events.

Incidences: Blown Trailer Tire, Broken Fitting on Air Brakes System, Broken Fitting on Air Brakes System, Broken Fitting on Air Brakes System, Fuel Pump Failure, Faulty Fuel Pump

I don’t really want to talk about this category that much, but let’s just say that if NAPA had provided a proper working fuel pump then our total delay due to mechanical failure throughout the trip would have only been a couple days. Also it’s fun to note that the first three incidences were all in one day in Texas. All the fixes were pretty easy actually, I guess we got lucky.

General Nutrition: McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Chick-fil-A, home cooked meals by Ashley in various parking lots, Sonic, Texas BBQ, Beignets, Jambalaya, Gumbo, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Key lime pie, Paula Deans Lady and Sons, Pizza everywhere*, Microwaveables everywhere, Ensure, cheese in Wisconsin, RL Grill, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, McDon……

We tried pretty hard to enjoy the foods of the culture in which we traveled, for example, the BBQ in Texas, but it was hard on such a tight budget (hence the McD’s, the BK’s, and the Wendy’s). The food was an important part of the whole cultural experience of the trip. Let me just also quickly say this about American culture as a whole, we had our fast food just like everyone else, and let me tell you what I learned, it’s terrible. I no longer am having any fast food, that’s one of the main things I got from this trip. We ate it on average once a day for 5 months, and that’s probably enough for me for a really long time.

*Pizza: Pizzeria Bianco, Matchbox, Grimaldi’s Coal Oven Pizza, New Town Pizza, Frank Pepe’s Pizza, Pizzeria Regina, Geno’s East, Girodano’s, Space Aliens

I’ve been thinking about this category since before we even left on the trip. I knew it was going to be a great opportunity to compare the best pizzas in the country. So first let me say that all the ones that were hyped up to be the best were all really good. Oprah apparently said Pizzeria Bianco’s was the best pizza in the country, but for me it was so far removed from the normal pepperoni and cheese pizza that I have grown to love over the years that it was definitely not the best in the country. But I will say, in its own right that it was pretty good pizza. Now the showdown, I think I have to choose Giordano’s as my favorite pizza, but every other place listed up there was pretty amazing and I would love to have it all again. It’s also important to note they all had different styles, even just within one town, like the New York styles were all slightly different, the same is true with Chicago and whatnot. In all actuality I would have to do a variety of all of these just to maintain moderation. So in conclusion, I liked them all, that’s all I can say.

People: Lieu, Ashley, Josh, AJ, Lera, Stephen, Annett and Larry, Bob, Alicia, Mechelle, Sean, Ashley, Bregan, Becka, Steve and Hien, Danielle, Steve, Karin, David, Graham, Tom, Shannon, Paul, Ross, Kyle, the Hermans, Anne Marie, the Godfreads, and Carl

The people make the experience much more fulfilling. If I was not able to go on this trip with my friends, sure I would have learned a lot and saw a lot, but I wouldn’t have had as memorable of an experience. I definitely would have had a lot less laughter and distinctive recollections. Plus, being able to see friends and family along the way was pretty awesome too. I haven’t been able to see my cousins or my buddies back in North Dakota for a really long time, but on this trip I saw nearly all of them. Thanks to everyone who came on the trip and everyone who took the time to hang out with us while we were on the road.

All I have left to say is thanks for reading, thanks for looking at the pictures, thanks for commenting, and thanks for being a fan of this project. It’s taken a lot of work and it has been very rewarding, but the best part is sharing all of it with other people, not only the people that were able to be a part of it, but also the people who read the blogs and followed along on the website. Thanks again for checking it out, I hope it was worth it for you, I know it was for me.

- Carson