Road Trip 2009 would not have been possible without the support of my parents, and wouldn’t have been the same without the many people I met on the road, and those at home who encouraged me to follow my dreams, and in turn followed along with my adventure.
The biggest thank you belongs, of course, to my mom and dad. I’d barely been out of their house for a couple months when I found myself antsy and wanting to road trip again. They finished the basement ahead of schedule so that I could move back in and have my own apartment of sorts while I saved up travel money. And now that I’m home again, they’re stuck with me for a couple more years while I get out of debt (again), and then put away money for a down payment on a house. My mom also kept my furball “kids” happy in my absence, my many plants well-watered, and kept track of where I was on the road, just in case. I really couldn’t ask for more generous, supportive, or loving parents.
Speaking of being in debt, I owe a big thank you to my brother and sister. Amber and Collin have each very generously loaned their less financially responsible big sister (me) a large sum of money, which will make a big difference in how much interest I pay while getting my finances in order once more.
And while I’m on the topic of getting out of debt…a big thank you to Reaction Cargo. Rather than replace me, they suffered through four months without me and saved me my job, allowing me to come home and immediately start working on that whole debt issue, without the hassle of job hunting. I’m extremely lucky to have such a flexible and understanding boss and co-workers.
My sister, Amber, and her family, Colin & Tiggy, also get a big thank you for being my home-away-from-home-away-from-home. I posted more web updates from their house in Spokane than I did from Salt Lake City during my two pitstops.
While Spokane is crossing my mind again, a big thank you goes out to my Grandma J, and my Grandma & Grandpa Van Stone, who fed me several hot meals while I was in town. I don’t make it up to Eastern Washington nearly enough, but it’s always good to get to spend some time with my grandparents when I do!
A big thank you to Peggy and Greg in Helena, who also fed me and gave me an actual bed for the night. I’ve met Paul’s mom and her husband several times since our first introduction when I showed up on their doorstep desperately needing a shower during my road trip three years ago, and they’re always a lot of fun to spend time with, with or without Paul.
Another big thank you to “Windpoint” Kathi and her husband Ed, in Green Bay. I met Kathi at two different lighthouses on the same day during my last big road trip, and we hit it off and kept in touch off and on afterwards by email. When she heard that I was coming to town, she took a couple days off from work to show me around Door County. I never would have caught sunrise from the jetty across from the Sturgeon Bay Lighthouse, or visited Thordarson’s boat house had it not been for her. We’d worried a little about spending so much time together when we really didn’t know each other that well, but we had a great time, and now Kathi can say she’s slept in a Walmart parking lot!
While I did get to spend time with various friends and family on the road, I also spent an inordinate amount of time alone. I owe a big thank you to my most favoritest people, who texted, emailed, and even occasionally called (a strange concept, I know) and kept me company from afar. Justin, Paul, James, Jill, Chris P., Chris G., and Laarni…love you guys!
I also met a lot of really wonderful, and often very helpful, people while I was on the road…Paul at the wreck of the Peter Iredale, who had just finished a thirty-five day bicycle ride from Delaware to the Oregon coast…Chris & Nathan, and Jay & Jim, the climbers en route to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier, who helped me find the easiest route up the snow fields to base camp…all the folks I met along the Grinnell Glacier Trail – Tom & his family, the couple from Petoskey, and the two other families who were also from the Midwest – chatting with them on the way up and back made the twelve-mile round trip hike much more interesting…the father and son I met on the breakwater at Two Harbors in Minnesota, who told me about their adventure on Isle Royale the summer before and advised me to bring lots of socks…everyone from my own Isle Royale adventure, who gave me something more to remember from that part of the trip than just rain – Stacey & Louise, Greg & Cathy, Bill from Iowa, the couple from Virginia, the woman & daughter from Eau Claire, Ranger Pete, Doug & Patrick, Mike & Alice from Sault Sainte Marie and their little boys, Connor & Liam…the folks at Dodd’s Camera in Cleveland, who didn’t charge me anything to diagnose my camera issues…Mary, at the Garfield Heights Post Office in Cleveland, who gave me directions to Cuyahoga National Park, and told me about the historic cemetery that I would have loved to visit, but didn’t quite make it to…the Niagara Falls State Park employee who gave me a ride back to my car in his golf cart so that I could move my car to a better lit and safer parking area…the couple who stopped me in Acadia National Park to say hello because they’d thought (correctly) that I had been parked next to them at a campground in New Hampshire a couple days before…the photographer at the Ocean Grove pier in New Jersey who told me about the abandoned buildings at Fort Hancock…Jim & Lizzie, Alicia, Rafael & Rafi, who greatly added to my Cumberland Island experience…the photographers at Mono Lake with whom I chit-chatted while we waited for the sun to set…the photographer at Shore Acres State Park in Oregon, who told me about Indian Sands, his favorite place on the coast to photograph…Michael & Rachael, whom I met briefly at Salt Point State Park, who left a note and Tootsie Pop stuck under my windshield wiper, wishing me luck on my journey…James at Rodeo Beach in San Francisco, who was good company while we photographed the rather lackluster sunset, and then showed me the easiest way to get back to the highway, as well as told me the best spots to get photos of the Golden Gate Bridge…the photographer at Natural Bridges who shared my obsession with Jim Patterson’s photography…the couple from Gilroy, the Garlic Capital of the World, whom I met while wave-watching near Monterey…the gentleman I met in the parking area at Panther Beach, who insisted on sharing some of his shell collection with me once he learned I was from out of town…Jeff, the actor from New York, who kept me company while we enjoyed a beautiful sunset at Pfeiffer Beach on the Big Sur Coast…and the many park rangers, store clerks, mechanics, hikers, travelers and fellow photographers that I met in passing along the way.
And last, but never least…a big thank you to all of my other friends, family, and blog followers who offered me their support and encouragement, and didn’t think I was too much of a nutcase for wanting to travel around the country sleeping in Walmart parking lots, again.
You’re welcome. Come anytime. The “weed” is still very much growing (she has 2 new teeth) and enjoys the company.
I’m too broke to go anywhere right now, but she’ll be coming to see me (you can come too haha) in another week!