On the road again...

We're back together in the van. After some visiting with Robert's family in LA and Marie's friends in SanFrancisco, we will make our way up the west coast.

We'll post photos soon - thanks for checking in.

Blogging out

We have bad news and good news.

The bad news is that the blog is dead.

The good news is that Robert and Marie aren't.

But, they have parted ways, and ended their cross country journey.

Thank you for understanding.

Colorado tomorrow!

We have been driving non-stop since leaving Washington D.C. Wednesday, when our road trip officially started upon leaving our luxury accommodation at Matthew and Kate's. We drove through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio that first day and camped the first night in Ohio - at a campsite set deep in the woods, down a never-ending road, that was frequented by single men and their pickup trucks with mattresses in the back. It reminded Robert of Deliverance and he observed the bathrooms were circa 1956. We set up camp.. and both agree we have brought way too much stuff with us. The skies opened up, the bugs closed in, and we hunkered down for the night. It wasn't a great night! We hightailed it early the next morning, and drove 325miles to our second campsite, in Mulberry Grove, Illinois, not so far from Missouri's border. This campsite was what we were hoping for the night before! It was beautifully maintained, run by friendly folks, clean and the birds were chirping and the sun was shining. So much so that we needed relief from the steamy heat, so we cooled off in the pool, showered in spic and span bathrooms, and relaxed after our long day of driving. We used our grill for the first time that evening - pork loin and asparagus never tasted so good! The first few photos shown are of the Kansas countryside. Marie was impressed with the wind turbine colony we passed in northwest Kansas. Perhaps one small consolation after the disastrous Gulf oil spill will be more alternative energy sources like those. The farmer posing for Robert was the third generation to work the surrounding fields, and his horses feature in another photo. Lastly, Robert and I in the oblong box we're calling home for the summer. The fireflies were big and a delight at night, and the stars were out in force. It's a pleasure to wake up to the smell of the previous night's campfires! Funny how smells take you back and make you happy.

Drive today - Robert felt like a Butterball turkey, cooking in the extreme heat of the day. It hit 95 and he made the executive decision we would not camp tonight, rather treat ourselves to Motel 6's airconditioned, if slightly antiseptic, interior.

But the smell is bearable when it means Robert is less of a bear with the heat, and when it comes with free wi-fi! So we're able to update our blog. We haven't quite figured out the blog's photo postings - would like to post more than 10 at a time, in a more orderly fashion, and with captions. For now we will just make do until we have time to investigate more.

The last few days have been about nothing but driving. We haven't yet hit our stride, or routine, and are feeling our way. Marie's worried about getting enough exercise. Robert's worried about getting enough relief from the heat. We're on a mission to reach Colorado quickly, where our first stop is to our VW mechanic for some work on the van, and a short visit with friends who live nearby. Our second stop is to visit Marie's sisters near Grand Junction, Colorado. Yay!

We also haven't figured out how to reply to your comments... so thank you Diane, Terry and Cathy.

Onward ever, backwards never!

Day Three - Almost Heaven, West Virginia

Short first entry - Apologies for the delay folks, we have just spent a lovely two days with Robert's son Matthew, his wife Kate and beautiful little Benjamin, in Alexandria, Virginia. We set out on Monday morning and drove 10 hours to get there. The van is really comfy, and rides like a dream. Alexandria is right outside of Washington, D.C., so we spent our second day, yesterday, touring around the capital, where it was a gorgeous, sunny day. We hit several of the monuments, including the tall thin Washington monument, the large, imposing Lincoln monument and then the World War II and Korean War monuments. After that we spent a while in the Smithsonian's American History museum, where we went through the American Presidents' wing. It'd take weeks to go through all of the museums and offerings of Washington.. so we'll have to come back. We wanted to get a cup of coffee at the Smithsonian, but the prices put us off our food! So we took the spiffy Metro to the Pentagon City stop, and had a more affordable lunch there. The photos were taken in D.C. Now we are wending our way along Route 70 through West Virginia. RoThe mountains and scenery are gorgeous, and the wifi is generous and free at the local McDonalds. We'll blog at length when we stop in Ohio today or tomorrow. Toodleooh.