Our love affair with the States has been going on for a long while now. So when we decided to hit the road and travel indefinitely we knew another trip to America would be a must. We have driven across America twice, visited New York & Florida independently and also road tripped around Alaska and Canada. We just couldn't get it out of our systems!
We thought 3 months was a long time, so we planned to visit a lot (and I mean a lot!) of things we've missed in the past! But we forgot just how big the States is. We would never contemplate driving around Australia in 3 months, so I don't know why we thought this would be totally doable! And doable it was, but enjoyable? Well we thats still up for debate!
So heres where we visited, where we went wrong, and what we would do differently in the future!
We started In LA (never again!) and headed out to Joshua Tree, then onto Lake Page in Arizona. Saw some absolutely amazing sights (Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend WOW) we even got to enjoy some of Route 66! We were having a blast! But after about a week, we needed to start making headway if we were going to make it over to NYC! Cue 10 hour driving days on boring straight roads, and restless, sleepless nights in Walmart car parks! Yes the idea of 'free camping' every night at Walmarts across the country seemed awesome! How easy! But it soon wore thin with noisy nights (car park cleaning and garden maintenance from midnight till 3am!!) and the lack of outside down time, around a fire or at a playground.
By the time we reached NYC we were exhausted and we were struggling to keep our spending down, it cos AU$180 to fill up our RV with fuel, and that fuel only lasted 6 hours driving time! Some days we had to fill up twice! This came as a bit of a shock, as in Australia we were filling up our car less than once a week - slow travel really makes budget travel super easy!
New York City was an absolute blast though, the kids loved it so much. We managed to see so much and found a stack of free stuff to do which alleviated some pressure in the budget department! It was also lovely to just stay put for a few days, rather than move to a new place every single day.
But the joy we found was short lived as we once again needed to make tracks!
One place on my Bucket List was Maine! All the lighthouses, the rugged coast and the cute little villages! Acadia National Park had been a dream of mine for a while! But our drive up the Maine coast did not live up to the hype due to our timing! Mid-April and absolutely everything was 'Closed for the Season'. It was so disappointing! Even in Acadia lots of things were closed. It really put a downer on this part of the trip!
Next stop was Niagara! Roll on the days and days driving yet again! Ha! Thankfully Niagara Falls DID live up to the hype and our evening foray into Canada was so exciting and fun!
Time now to head back across the country, we spent 1 month heading East, now we go West!
On our way back over we found a real Gem in South Dakota - Badlands National Park. Here we found our Mojo again. We had a few days enjoying nature and staying put...we started to realise that although in the past we loved the fast paced road trips, new towns every day, it really isn't our jam any more! However, we were in the middle of America, we still had thousands of miles to go before we could even dream of slowing down!
We eventually made it back to the midwest after 2 days of driving 9am-9pm (!!!). We had an absolute blast in Yellowstone National Park, and for once our timing worked for us, we were out of season! Which meant quiet roads and quiet campgrounds! It really was amazing and we saw soooo much wildlife - You can check out our Instagram page for photos of everything we saw there! And although it was absolutely freezing (-16c overnight!!!) and we were woefully unprepared for that, we still had a magic time!
We had a great drive up into Canada, re-doing things we adored the last time we were in the country, like the Icefields Parkway and British Columbia!
But we were anxious to hit the Pacific North West Coast. This is a huge bucket list item for us both and we didn't want to rush it, as we had rushed everything else on this god forsaken road trip! Haha!
After leaving Vancouver, we found our way to the Oregon Coast and started to enjoy ourselves. Although we were still moving every day, we were only travelling an hour of less down the coast. And best of all, no more Walmart car parks! With slow travel came less money burnt of fuel and so more money for some State Park camping! And boy did Oregon deliver! Such a beautiful state, we could do this drive over and over again!
Hitting California was a thrill, the Redwoods, San Fran, Yosemite and Big Sur, then Legoland and Disneyland. Had us thinking 'why oh why did we not just stay in the West for the whole 3 months' !!!
Sure we loved NYC, Niagara, Acadia and Badlands, but I don't think it was worth it. The cold cold weather, the blown budget, the 'closed for the season' and the Walmart camping all kind of drowned out the few shining moments we had.
Fast travel sucks. Thats the biggest thing we've learned. Especially when you travel full time! 12,000 Miles (19,000 KM's) in 3 months is most certainly possible, but its really not enjoyable, and even though we saw and did some absolutely incredible things, we hugely regret the way we spent our 3 months in the states!
So now we are back in Australia, and what a relief! Everything is so slow and quiet, the people are so friendly, the food is fresh and theres hardly any choice (seriously the sheer size of the consumer industry in the USA is sickening!!!) plus we don't have to pay to go to the beaches (all the beaches worth visiting in Cali are 'State Beaches' and charge a fee!).
Our budget is under control once again, we have 4G everywhere, we have the sun and warmth, nothing is closed for the season, and our little caravan feels so much like home we don't know why we ever decided to leave it!
For the remainder of 2019 we are looking forward to a very slow mosey up the East Coast to the very tip of Australia - Cape York!
