Yesterday, we watched the odometer turn over 3,000 miles. GPS has guided us well. We crossed another time zone somewhere in Tennessee between Nashville and Knoxville. For the most part I’m already having trouble remembering what day it is and where we’ve been.

GPS: 3,000 Miles & Counting

Fortunately, the smart side of my brain is keeping a daily log to keep track.  I have many stories to tell you and photos to share, but in the meantime here’s a few highlights from the road.

• We’ve passed through 7 states
• Stayed in 11 hotels
• We played in Disneyland
• Visited the Sonoran Desert Botanical Garden
• Enjoyed a three-mile hike in the Organ Mtns.
• Ate pigged out on amazing Mexican food
• Discovered an historic cemetery
• Witnessed the JFK Memorial Museum
• Used our inside voices in a Presidential Library
• We were deeply moved by the Civil Rights Museum
• Tapped our toes and listened to original recordings of Elvis at the Sun Studio
• Ate scarfed down some of the best bbq ever
• Listened to three incredible civil war stories while visiting a plantation, a farm and a home
• Toured The Hermitage Plantation
• And because we’re fans, a visit to the Johnny Cash Museum

The Best Discoveries

Yep, we’ve been busy!  Road-tripping is a really great way to travel because you see so much and you can stop to buy a dozen doughnuts just because you want to.  Some days, like crossing western Texas, can be exhausting but even then you can find the good if you look for it.

You can take a few frustrating wrong turns and want to throw the GPS out the window, but sometimes out of frustration comes the best discoveries, like realizing you’re only 30 minutes from an historic presidential plantation. Road-tripping offers a sense of freedom but at the same time keeps you on your toes.  Ya gotta kind of pay attention to where you’re going!

GPS Mapping Our Way

We’ve come to realize that even though we don’t really want to, we’re going to use our GPS to map out our return trip when we leave Washington D.C. in early January.  There is SO much to see and do that unless you really do have zero time constraints, you can easily get caught up in the moment and not move on.  This isn’t a bad thing but we’ve got to pace ourselves so that we don’t run out of time at the end of the month’s time frame for our return trip, so we need to do a little planning.

Oh!  And look what I found in Franklin, TN.  Christmas!  It’s always the last place you look, right?

Wise words!

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