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Our trip – Final

Friday, October 21st, 2011

Finally, our car is parked. She is tired as are the drivers. After 7 months on the road, we accumulated 40000 km, some 25000 miles, and saw a lot in the 34 States that we visited, but succeeded in leaving us some areas still to visit : the Great Lakes, New England and most of the East Coast… Now we can say that there is too much to see in the US, and we didn’t even start Canada ! The map below is our trip:

In red : what we did

Blue circle : where we slept and visited

Green square : what we visited

En rouge : notre trajet

Cercle bleu : où nous avons dormi et visité

Carré vert : ce que nous avons visité

Our refuge in Maine

Friday, October 21st, 2011

October 1st -3rd

After a long day “on the road”, we finally arrived in York Beach, the final destination of our U.S.A. road trip. We were meeting one of my good friends from my B.U. days, Jacquie, at her parents’ house. They had graciously agreed to let us leave our car there for a few weeks while we returned to France. Since I last saw Jacquie at her wedding three years ago, she’s had two beautiful little girls. We arrived around 8pm, just as the girls had got to sleep. We went to a yummy seafood restaurant for dinner (the specialty of the Maine Coast) and caught up old times and future plans.

The next morning, Jacquie’s parents, Mary Lou and Jean-Marie spoiled us with a big American breakfast. They were my adoptive family when I was in college and I spent a lot of holidays with them because it wasn’t always easy to return to Florida.

The weather was terrible- It was pouring rain. So, we took advantage of the day to relax and prepare our suitcases for our trip to Europe. I also spent a little time looking at job offers online. Jacquie had given me some leads. Finally, I really started to imagine what the next stage of our life might be like.

On Monday, the day of our flight to Europe, we woke up to a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and the sky was blue. We needed some fresh air before going to the airport so we took a walk to see the York lighthouse, a classic New England lighthouse that sits on a rock off the mainland.  To access it the guardian has to take a funicular which is suspended in the air above the ocean.

Mid-afternoon, Mary Lou and Jean-Marie drove us to the bus in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We took a very swanky bus to Logan Airport in Boston. We had some extra time so I called my mom and spent some time catching up on email. Finally it was time to board the plane to Reykjavik, Iceland. I don’t think it had even occurred to me that we were going to a new country that we had never visited before or that our trip in the United States was coming to an end.

3 Octobre : vol vers Reykjavik, Islande

Friday, October 21st, 2011
La journée est simple : préparation et départ pour Reykjavic. Avec le soleil qui revient, nous prenons une heure pour nous promener dans York et profiter de l'air marin. Le reste : discussion avec nos hôtes, derniers préparatifs, derniers achats, ... [Continue reading this entry]

2 Octobre : journée de repos sous la pluie

Friday, October 21st, 2011
Après une bonne nuit dans un bon lit, nous nous réveillons et profitons d'un petit déjeuner copieux préparé par nos hôtes. Nous sommes vraiment gatés. Alors qu'il pleut des cordes dehors, nous passons la matinée à discuter avec Jacquie et ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Final Sprint: 4 states in one day

Friday, October 21st, 2011
October 1st We started the day with a cozy Saturday morning breakfast with Michelle and Noah (Toby had left early for work)- warm bagels and cream cheese and a real cappuccino. After a rainy night, the clouds were starting to break ... [Continue reading this entry]

1 Octobre : fin de la route et arrivée dans le Maine

Friday, October 21st, 2011
Après une nuit chaude et surtout sèche (malgré une pluit battante à l'extérieur... on se demande quand le mauvais va finir !), nous prenons un petit déjeuner tranquille tout en discutant avec Michèle.
En milieu de matinée, nous reprenons la route ... [Continue reading this entry]

The road to Connecticut and reunion in Prospect

Friday, October 21st, 2011
September 29th-30th After more than seven months of sleeping in a tent, our final night of camping was at a KOA in eastern Pennsylvania. The days were quickly growing shorter and by the time we had put up the tent and ... [Continue reading this entry]

30 Septembre : on se rapproche de la fin

Friday, October 21st, 2011
Sous la rosée et un ciel quasi bleu, nous nous levons et démarrons notre routine entre petit déjeuner, douche et rangement de la tente dans la voiture comme d'habitude mais s'il n'y a pas vraiment de nostalgie (nous sommes un ... [Continue reading this entry]

Harper’s Ferry and Gettysburg, PA

Friday, October 21st, 2011
September 28th-29th When we left Shenandoah the plan was to drive straight up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I was studying the map and saw that Harpers Ferry, West Virginia was on our route so we decided to make a small stop to ... [Continue reading this entry]

29 Septembre : Harper ferry et Gettysburg

Friday, October 21st, 2011
Nous profitons d'un petit déjeuner offert par le camping (enfin à 45$ la nuit, ce n'est pas vraiment offert) pour démarrer la journée et nous donner de l'énergie car la journée va être chargée.
Nous démarrons par continuer la découverte de ... [Continue reading this entry]