Craig's big road trip

The finishing point
Home
The starting point
Day 1 - Seattle to Yakima
Day 2 - Yakima to Bend
Day 3 - Bend to Mt. Shasta
Day 4 - Mt. Shasta to Oakdale
Day 5 - Oakdale to Tehachapi
Yosemite National Park
Day 6 - Tehachapi to Las Vegas
Day 7-10 in Las Vegas
Day 11 - Las Vegas to Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon N.P.
Day 12 - Grand Canyon to Kayenta
Day 13 - Monument Valley
Day 14 - Kayenta to Telluride
Day 15 - Telluride
Day 16 - Telluride to Glenwood Springs
Day 17 - Glenwood Springs to Idaho Springs
Day 18 - Idaho Springs to Golden
Day 19 - Golden to Amarillo
Day 20 - Amarillo to Tyler
Day 21 - Tyler to Lake Charles
Day 22 - Lake Charles to Waveland
Day 24 - Waveland to Pensacola
Day 25 - Pensacola to Gainesville
Day 26 - Gainesville to Titusville
Day 27 - Kennedy Space Center
Day 28 - Titusville to Clearwater
The finishing point

Tuesday April 29, 2003.
 
Odometer reading in Seattle:         188746 miles
Odometer reading in Clearwater:  194566 miles
 
Distance driven in 29 days:  5,820 miles
 
Here I am in Clearwater, Florida at last.  It's been a long but satisfying journey.  I stood in the dust of Monument Valley in Arizona, and later the same day I stood in snow at 10,000 feet above sea level in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  Such are the contrasts that one can experience on a long trip through a large country like the U.S.
 
I took about 110 photographs every day.  Sometimes I wanted to take more, but I only had two memory sticks for my digital camera.  I really needed three memory sticks.
 
Clearwater is a perfect place to finish this kind of journey.  With a beach facing west across the Gulf of Mexico, and a bay behind, there is water aplenty for whatever kind of aquatic pursuits you fancy.  There are lots of tourist attractions, and yet there is also a laid back relaxing atmosphere.  There's a large and well stocked health food supermarket with organically grown fruit and vegetables, and there are lots of Thai restaurants, several Chinese restaurants, and a couple of Japanese sushi bars.  I think I can chill out nicely here for a little while before I sell the car and fly back home from the nearby Tampa international airport.
 
This is my last entry for this section of my web site.  My sincere heartfelt thanks to all of you who emailed me with messages of encouragement and kind feedback about the photographs.  Your messages kept me company on what was otherwise a lonely trip.
 
I can recommend everyone to do a road trip like this. But bring a friend with you.  The natural beauty of America is too much for one person to absorb all alone.
 
My love and best wishes to you all,
 
Craig
 

All images on this page copyright Craig Norris.  All rights reserved.