Our Top 10 American Hikes

During our 4 months on the road, Jon and I hiked approximately 100 miles. Our hikes ranged from 0.25 mile nature trails at national parks, to the 18 mile out-and-back to the peak of half dome, and two overnight backcountry trips. Picking our favorite hikes is incredibly difficult. Both of us tended to be biased…

Some final thoughts on Part 1

Total Days: 128 (August 3 – December 8, 2014) Total Miles: 17,383 National Parks: 24 States Driven Through: 32 Friends and Family Visited: 46 When we started this trip I was excited, and rightful so. I pictured myself becoming one with nature. Waking up each morning with the sun, well rested, and doing yoga or…

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Most people would probably tell you Kentucky is best known for its Bourbon and Kentucky is awfully proud of this. Several predominate distilleries call Kentucky home and its bourbon is shipped worldwide. In 1999 the Kentucky Distiller’s Association decided to start marketing the Bourbon Trail. The Bourbon Trail is composed of 9 distilleries, mostly located between…

Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

Mammoth Cave was our final National Park of the road trip and was one of the most difficult. We opted to forgo the traditional tours and instead we spent 6 hours crawling, climbing, squeezing, and contorting ourselves on the spelunking-style Wild Cave Tour. Day 126 December 6, 2014 Mileage 16463 – 16642 Our day started…

Nashville, TN

Nashville was a city I was excited to visit because I always hear wonderful things about it. Unfortunately for us, several items were working against us; the winter weather, our tight schedule, and exhaustion as we neared the end of our trip. Day 125 December 5, 2014 Mileage 16250 – 16463 We arrived in Nashville…

Chattanooga, TN

I took an instant liking to Chattanooga, where we were able to spend one very enjoyable evening catching up with old college friends. Day 124 December 4, 2014 Mileage 16060 – 16250 We didn’t have much time in Chattanooga, but enjoyed the time we had. Driving into Chattanooga, it seemed, like a lot of American…

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC

Although the weather didn’t cooperate, we made the best of our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The tree covered mountains felt like the closed to our home terrain since starting our journey. Days  123 – 124 December 3 – December 4, 2014 Mileage 15880 – 16060 We arrived to the south of…

Western North Carolina

Our short time in North Carolina was about one thing; visiting family. Instead of our normal sight seeing and city dining, Jon and I enjoyed a little relaxation and a lot of great home cooking and conversation. Days  121 – 123 December 1 – December 3, 2014 Mileage 15455 – 15880 We bypassed most of the…