All The Places We Have Been

All the Places we have been.

Missy and I were talking the other day and we thought it was time we added up the miles we have traveled with WALL-E the past seven years. We arrived at a total of 27,300. We have had 37 separate outings and 195 overnights, in 33 different states and 3 Canadian Provinces, and attended 3 Campinn/Campouts.

Our overnight stays have included National Parks, Canadian Provincial Parks, Corp of Engineer Parks, National BLM, National Recreation Areas, State, County, City, KOA and other Private Campgrounds and Private Land (of course with the owner’s permission).

We have cycled the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, (better known as RAGBRAI) three times. It's an organized bike ride across Iowa in late July, with as many as 25,000 riders participating. Also have stayed at and attended the Iowa State Fair on a couple of occasions.

Just a quick synopsis of places we have been (and I am sure I have missed one or two): Mesa Verde NP, Natural Bridges NM, Great Sand Dunes NP, Yellowstone NP, Tetons NP, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Pictured Rock National Shoreline, Keewanee N.H.S., Glacier NP, Isle Royale NP, Custer N.H.S., Mount Rushmore, Badlands NP,Acadia NP, Gettysburg NP, Flight #93 Memorial, Oklahoma City Memorial, Canyon of the Ancients NM, Apostle Islands National Shoreline, Dinosaur NM, Four Corners Monument, White Sands NM, Hovenweep NM, and Jasper and Banff Canadian Provincial Parks, even searched for Aliens around Roswell New Mexico.

Now with all of the places we have been and seen we also drove and hiked, canoeed/kayaked and done too many things to mention them all. For those of you who have stayed with me during this post, I do keep a detailed journal of our travels as a matter of fact I have had to start volume #2. If you ever would like some insight on the above travel destination PM me as I always enjoy sharing our stories. We typically like to take a multi-week trip (3 or more weeks) every other year which allows us to travel further from home. A big advantage to living in Iowa is that we are two days drive from anywhere in the continental US.

Highlights of some of our trips: Mackinac Island, Ford Presidential Museum, Meier Garden and the National Ski Museum, numerous Lighthouses including Whitefish Bay in Michigan and a Seaplane trip to Isle Royale NP. Creation Museum, The Ark and Kentucky Horse Park, Traveling across Canada on our way to Jasper we loved the International Peace Garden, thoroughly fell in love with Jasper and the Icefield Parkway Drive, did an 8 hour hike across and up the Athabasca Glacier and experienced a 4 Day, 3 night Back Country Horse Excursion. While at Glacier NP, drove the going to Sun Road, completed several hikes in the Park including Grinnell Lake and Grinnell Glacier, saw tons of wildlife. All of our Southwest trips we have traveled to many of the major National Parks and experienced many of the historic Cave Dwellings, and hiked to many not generally known, particularly in the Hovenweep and Canyon of the Ancients area. While near Page Arizona and Glen Canyon Dam we found a local Native American who gave us a private tour/full day hike of slot canyons not visited by the general public. We mistakenly found the Mokie Dugway in SE Utah, rated as Utah’s #1 Most Dangerous Roads, a drive that everyone pulling a CampInn needs to put on their “Bucket List”. While at Acadia NP in Maine we experienced cycling “ALL” of the carriage roads, watched the sunrise at Cadillac Mountain, took a private lobster boat tour and caught fresh lobster which was cooked for us right on the troller. Spent several days at Gettysburg and participated in a cycling 4 hour tour of the battlefield with a historical guide and did it all again the next day taking more time at each site.

During our time with WALL-E we have made several life time friends who we still keep in contact with, met some very interesting people, and always find people (who do what we do), friendly and always welcome to share their travel stories and lend a helping hand if needed.

Our travels will continue with future trips on the drawing board. Here's to the next 27,000 miles.

Ron and Missy