This blog not necessarily like most others is completely my opinion and not that of Beverly's, just wanted to say that upfront. As you may know if you follow us on face book we now have completed visiting all of the lower 48 states with our motor home, and it only took 10 summers to finally hit these last six states in the New England area.
It may have something to do with aging or the fact that my legs and walking is no longer as easy as it once was, but over-all this journey to this point has been disappointing to me. Maybe not so much disappointing as lets say been a struggle to enjoy. After leaving Superior, WI., from a point roughly halfway to Niagara, NY I started to loose interest in some ways. The weather has not cooperated at all since leaving Des Moines really, a whole lot of rain and very very humid days and nights ever since! It has affected my joints immensely and subsequently my attitude over-all and I'm sure at this time Bev can attest to that! I'm disappointed for Beverly who wanted to do so much more.
It was a rush through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and I don't know why for sure it just happen that way. I know this disappointed Bev, but it seemed I/we might have been anxious to finally get to Boston and then to NYC. These two cities seemed to always be the "destination" while getting the final six states visited. I was anxious to get to Boston, but after a week there not so anxious to get to NYC. Physically my legs would hurt too often, the lymphadema caused swelling and in turn aching, coupled with being over-weight made a lot of walking a chore. We have managed to visit most of the things Beverly wanted to see and do, and I'm sorry and feel terrible for not being as enthusiastic at this stage of the trip in not getting everything accomplished. I must say I have NOT enjoyed this big city stuff, the traffic is a joke, being 35 minutes from down town literally means at least an hour and a half ride in bumper to bumper! The train to and from Boston worked well for the most part, but it still meant a lot of walking to and from depots to events etc. I can tell you right now, I am not a big city guy or at least a big city like these type of guy. Boston still had parking lots for the most part at $25/day, but in NYC if you can even find one it runs on average $8.50/half hour. At the pier the other day it was only $23 for 3 hours........what a freaking bargain! We both can't see how regular folks manage around here with the cost of living being so outrageous! Shopping at the market was a real eye opener, fresh fruit and vegetables are so much more expensive as well as the fresh meat and fish/seafood items.
Went to the movie tonight, 6:15 show, 2 senior tickets $22, didn't have time for dinner before so we grabbed a slice of pizza at the theater $5.75 for Bev's and $6.00 for mine......two small coke's $11.50 (small fountain coke's at $5.75 each no refills!) You adding thit up, that's $46.25 for two seniors! Oh shit I forgot the small bag of gummies and Snicker bites were $10.50.........new total $56.75! How do these folks do it, no popcorn and still $56.75. Had a glass of Blue Moon with dinner the other night, 8 oz. draft $8.00, a dollar an ounce...........the orange slice was very large though, about 1/3 of an orange (that probably meant only 7 oz. of beer)!
I'm glad we got to visit this neck of the United States, I don't need to return anytime soon that's for sure. I think we'd both agree we've more pleasant journey's to places like Montana, Idaho, the Dakota's, Oregon (Florence mainly), Virginia, northern coast of California and Florida coast lines and all the South for that matter. For some reason this journey has seemed to be far less relaxing and far too much bickering between us, and that usually doesn't happen on these trips. Small town theaters, small town golf courses, small town ease of getting around is more to my/our liking anyway.
I'm glad to have seen the monuments and points of interest in both areas, wish I could have taken Bev into more of these and on a more up close and personal tour of some of them. We probably should have visited these cities 10+ years ago, started on the east coast with our journey's, but it's too late now.......the years have gone by. Hell it's not over, we still have a couple of months to travel if we so desire, or at least that's the plan so we're not even sure where that will take us from here. I am sure it will be more relaxing and a lot less stress filled.
We are going to drive into NYC again tomorrow, looking forward to Sunday traffic being much less hectic and we hope it is. Going to visit the 9-11 memorial and hope to find a parking spot near by. I know there are those of you out there that really love this big city way of life and can't understand me not liking it, but at this stage of my life relaxing is better than hectic and stressing.
Yes the blogs have been few or should I say two...........seems the readership has gone down and I feel I'm doing this because I enjoy writing these things. Past journey's had quite a bit of following but maybe this is betting to be old boring stuff any more, we'll play it by ear and see what happens down the line.
Sunday, August 5, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Has it really been 9 months?
This our journey of 2018 is now a month old and we can report one thing for sure, that it's rained 60% of the days since we left Phoenix. After visits to family in Des Moines and Davenport, Iowa and now visiting old friends in Superior, WI. we're looking forward to some clear and dry skies and /hmore golf. Once again it was great visiting our families and now we are looking forward to visiting uncharted parts of this great country of ours. The objective of this years journey is to complete our map of visiting all the lower 48 states of the USA. We have six state the our motor home has not been traveled to and we are hoping to complete those visits this trip. The remaining six are in the New England part of the country, Maine, NH, Conn., RI, Mass.and Vermont. This will also make all 50 states for me and 49 states for Beverly (she will still will need Alaska) as far as states we've been in ourselves.
Seems our country is in a pretty good place right now, and we've been seeing the proof of that ever since we left Arizona. There has not been one state or one city we've driven through that we haven't seen "Help Wanted", "Now Hiring", "Hiring all positions" signs on a majority of businesses large and small! HyVee markets with signs on the doors listing positions they are seeking to fill, not just one but a list of 6 to 10 department positions. Construction companies, large and small manufacturing companies in big cities as well as small towns, retailers, you name it and we've seen the signs. Just yesterday we passed a 3M company building with signage on a complete wall of the building proclaiming "HIRING" and things like this have been the norm and not the exception! Drove through a small town in Minnesota yesterday and I notice two things, one population 125 and second a block later a Kubota (small tractor manufacturer) dealer with the marquee flashing "Hiring Tech's" immediate openings! Bottom line............if you are not working you really don't want to work. Another example would be a billboard advertising Anderson Windows Co. somewhere near St. Paul, MN. not just Now Hiring but listing an hourly wage starting at $22.19/hour. Yes our economy is thriving and you take tax returns of young folk with children, those crumbs of $500 to $2000 and record breaking low unemployment for minorities and women we have really good time.
There is one negative we and I'm sure you all have noticed also, the lines and waits at restaurants is out of control..........no one eats at home anymore! Not just on Friday nights anymore, but each and every night of the week it's the same thing and yet there are still long lines at the markets.
We will be in the Duluth, MN. Superior, WI. area of the country until after July 4th and then heading East and from then on more information about where we're at what we've been up to on this journey of 2018. I look forward to blogging this year and hope a few folks will enjoy reading and following our progress. I still can't believe it's been 9 months between blogs.......Yes, I know some of you have been cheering these past months and are now cringing in pain!
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Seems our country is in a pretty good place right now, and we've been seeing the proof of that ever since we left Arizona. There has not been one state or one city we've driven through that we haven't seen "Help Wanted", "Now Hiring", "Hiring all positions" signs on a majority of businesses large and small! HyVee markets with signs on the doors listing positions they are seeking to fill, not just one but a list of 6 to 10 department positions. Construction companies, large and small manufacturing companies in big cities as well as small towns, retailers, you name it and we've seen the signs. Just yesterday we passed a 3M company building with signage on a complete wall of the building proclaiming "HIRING" and things like this have been the norm and not the exception! Drove through a small town in Minnesota yesterday and I notice two things, one population 125 and second a block later a Kubota (small tractor manufacturer) dealer with the marquee flashing "Hiring Tech's" immediate openings! Bottom line............if you are not working you really don't want to work. Another example would be a billboard advertising Anderson Windows Co. somewhere near St. Paul, MN. not just Now Hiring but listing an hourly wage starting at $22.19/hour. Yes our economy is thriving and you take tax returns of young folk with children, those crumbs of $500 to $2000 and record breaking low unemployment for minorities and women we have really good time.
There is one negative we and I'm sure you all have noticed also, the lines and waits at restaurants is out of control..........no one eats at home anymore! Not just on Friday nights anymore, but each and every night of the week it's the same thing and yet there are still long lines at the markets.
We will be in the Duluth, MN. Superior, WI. area of the country until after July 4th and then heading East and from then on more information about where we're at what we've been up to on this journey of 2018. I look forward to blogging this year and hope a few folks will enjoy reading and following our progress. I still can't believe it's been 9 months between blogs.......Yes, I know some of you have been cheering these past months and are now cringing in pain!
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