On August 10th we'll embark on our 7-week trip to the East Coast to celebrate the wedding of our dear friend, Ryan Kincaid and her husband-to-be, Ryan Heller. Ryan K. was the AmeriCorps member for Umpqua Watersheds in 2020-21 and served remotely as our Director of Education and Outreach in 2021-2022 before finding a great job near her home in Canandaigua, NY.
On our trip we will stop in Minnesota to see my Family, in Wisconsin and Michigan to see Janice's Family and our friends before reaching New York where we will be for over a week celebrating and hopefully helping our friend and her fiancé. While in New York we will see explore the natural and historical wonders of the Finger Lakes region. Neither Janice and I have ever been to New York or much of the East Coast so it will be fun to be in a part of the the country. I will be able to fulfill a life-long dream of visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown while we are in New York. After staying in New York we will head toward Nashville to visit more Family and on the way there stop at Gettysburg National Park and Harpers Valley National Park, another long-time goal of mine.
It takes a lot of planning and coordination to pull off a 7-week trip. During the trip, if everything goes as planned, we will stop at over 40 different places! We are using an app called Roadtrippers to plan out the route. We will also be using a program called Harvest Hosts which enables us to camp at farms, wineries, breweries and other places for free. Many of the places also have free Wi-Fi, water and electricity. The places are reviewed by people who stay there and have pictures of the facility and area which enables us to check things out before reserving a night's stay.
We will be pulling a car along the way so we will have the opportunity to visit areas without having to drive around in the motorhome. It is special because the car is my Mom's 1998 Honda CRV which is in great shape and with relatively low miles. It is a perfect towing vehicle because newer models can't be flat towed. RVers call a towed vehicle a "toad" so I affectionately call Mom's car the "Gray Toad".
There is still a lot we need to do before we leave but we are working together to make sure our preparation and departure are as low-stress as possible. Once on the road we will almost be driving for less than 6 hours so we have time to set up camp and explore. Other than when we are with family or friends we will be staying only one night at places when we stop.
We will update our Facebook pages and Instagram pages on a regular basis as well as this blog so friends and family can follow along. We are so excited to see our friends and family along the way but will miss our dear friends back home and our sweet kitty Comet.
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We are very grateful to have great a great house sitter while we are gone to keep Comet company and keep an eye on our home. You can follow along digitally with our map. We will make adjustments along the way as our situation changes.
8-2-23 Grand Adventure Update
We found out today that the ferry from Manitowoc to Ludington is out of service because its ramp system is damaged. SS Badger Ferry
We spent a couple hours this morning rerouting around Lake Michigan and are now staying at Kohler-Andrea State Park on the dunes of Lake Michigan on Tuesday, 8/22. This works out well because our friends, Amy and Zach, live in Madison and Amy is good friends with the Park Ranger. The following night we will be staying at Indiana Dunes National Park.
While we are disappointed by not having the opportunity to ride the SS Badger across Lake Michigan and having to drive more, we are glad we can add a couple more spots and get to spend time with dear friends. It is important to be able to pivot quickly and, whenever possible, take a negative and make a positive. We leave one week from tomorrow. Excited!
2023 East Coast Grand Adventure Map link
Much Love, Kasey, Janice, Lincoln, Tad, and Comet
