September 26 th Chronologically, our American history tour was starting to make a big zigzag. The next stop on our trip was Monticello, the beloved home of Thomas Jefferson, the 3 rd President of the United States. From my childhood, I remembered visiting the house on a school trip- it’s not an ordinary plantation house- it was built […]

September 25 th We checked out of our hotel (back to camping) and continued the road north. We stopped at Shirley Plantation on the James River. It is the oldest still functioning plantation in the United States and has stayed in the hands of the same of family. Today the land is leased out and they grow […]

September 24 th We were staying a couple of miles from Colonial Williamsburg so we decided to venture there on Saturday morning. We were overwhelmed by the Disneyland-esque visitor center and $40 admission fee to the sites, so we decided to wander around on our own for a while. It was too early in the morning and […]

September 23rd Since we had covered a good distance the evening before, we decided to drive to Yorktown in one straight shot (about three hours.) We even stopped at a fast food restaurant for lunch (unusual for us, but reflective of our frustration with the weather.) We got to Yorktown mid-afternoon- it was pouring rain-but this […]

September 20 th-22nd We left Jacksonville after lunch just as the clouds were rolling in. We were hoping to drive all the way to Charleston before evening, but that was a little optimistic. We stopped on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia at Fort Frederica National Monument to see the ruins of a colonial fort and went for a […]

September 13 th-20th After almost seven months “on the road”, we returned to my hometown and sending off place, Jacksonville, Florida. Some major events had taken place while we were gone- mom and Ken had bought a fifth-wheel trailer and decided to move out of their house. It was not only going to be a big change […]

September 7 th We woke up to the same bad weather- gray and rainy. We dried off a table in front of our cabin to set up the stove to make coffee and toast our bagels. Then we ate inside sitting on the bed.  It really felt like autumn weather when just a few days before we […]

September 6 th We left St. Louis heading east towards Kentucky.  The temperature dropped about 20 degrees from the previous days, a welcome relief from the stifling heat. Our first stop was at the Cahokia Mounds Site to visit the most sophisticated prehistoric city uncovered north of Mexico. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and […]

September 5 th On Monday morning, Labor Day, we decided to start our day with a visit of the City Museum which was highly recommended by our guide book. When we arrived we realized that it was less of a classic museum and more of an indoor amusement park for kids. It was actually a reconverted factory […]

September 4 th On Sunday morning after another noisy night in the campground, we left the state park and drove across Missouri. We stopped in the small state capital, Jefferson City, and visited the Capitol which housed a small history museum. It’s amazing to be reminded that 200 years ago, Missouri was the far west and the […]

September 3 rd Finally, a day without the car! We needed a break from sightseeing and driving, so we spent the day relaxing at the campsite, blogging, reading and swimming in the lake.  We made pancakes for breakfast and steak for dinner after a good aperitif. It felt good not to be in a rush. The park […]

September 2 nd Our day began in Independence, Missouri, a quintessential American town and the hometown of Harry Truman, president of the United States from 1945-1952. There are several Truman sites to visit in town- we chose the Presidential Library- the first of its kind in the U.S. Truman, who became president following the death of Franklin […]

August 31 st- September 1 st Unsurprisingly, we had another long day of driving to cross Kansas. We did break up the day with a few interesting stops. By the time we packed up the tent and had breakfast, we had already broken a sweat. Far from the cool mountain air of Colorado, we were now in the […]

September 12 th On Monday morning, Meaghan had school and we needed to get on the road. We had to cross all of Alabama and decided to make a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was in Birmingham, Alabama which was an important place during the Civil Rights movement. We parked by the Civil […]

September 10-11 th On our way south to Jacksonville, we made a stop off in Florence, Alabama to visit some friends, Meaghan (who I travelled Patagonia with) and her husband, Tim. They took two years off after they got married to travel around the world and ended with a road trip across the U.S. We had lots […]

September 9-10 th Our second day of sightseeing in Nashville, we decided to visit the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home and plantation.  Andrew Jackson was a controversial president…he called himself the people’s president, a military hero that led the U.S. to victory against the British at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. We learned […]