THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

It’s mid-September, and Obsession is on the hard, all winterized and feeling very lonely. (She’s the only sailboat in the parking lot of the Marina). 

We have been studying maps, tour guides, planning our stops and making hotel reservations in preparation for out trip across this country starting Saturday, September 25.

I’ve made lists and more lists, (clothes, first aid kit, food/drink/snacks, extra car parts/supplies, medications to name a few).  

Our plan is to spend almost two months on the road, traveling the Northern Route to Portland, Oregon, down the California coastline, to San Diego, then turn east to Phoenix, across Texas to Corpus Christi, then north through Oklahoma, two quick stops in Missouri and Nashville (places we had to skip two years ago because of COVID 19). Then we will  turn north to The Shenandoah Valley, Great Smoky Mountains and then to the East Coast and home.

It’s a trip of a lifetime, another dream of ours for a long time and another trip I will document with pictures and this blog. 

Like my other blog, Travels Aboard Obsession, this blog will not be a daily log. Instead, it will be a fun interpretation of our travels, many pictures, and of course music and/or poetry. 

Our vehicle, GEM, a 2018 Ruby Red Dodge Caravan, will carry us on highways and by-ways, through cities and towns, across bridges, through tunnels, over mountains and down valleys, across prairies, and deserts, from sea (Atlantic Ocean) to shining sea (Pacific Ocean).  

While we are gone the season will change from Summer to fall and edge closer to winter. My plants will probably suffer from the cooler weather, and shorter days of sunlight. Already the sunsets from our deck are disappearing behind the southern part of our building. 

Inside our condo the lighthouses will remain on the mantle, but boxes of Snowmen and Snow Village will be on the table awaiting our return.

At the Marina Mike is preparing to work on the Boardwalk below us, and the parking lot will be full of boats stored for the winter in November. 

Here at The Landing residing of the buildings has begun. I wonder how many buildings will be done by mid-November?

Construction at the base of the Newport Bridge will soon start to take a definite shape and look quite different when we return. 

We have gotten our flu shots, and are hoping to get the Covid booster before we leave. As a precaution we have sanitizing wipes, Clorox wipes. paper towels and extra masks in the car. 

So… I hope you’ll join us on our tour of this beautiful country. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FeMLaQTwIgU&feature=youtu.be

This land is your land and this land is my land

From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
Saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.