Just one more episode of the Road Trip.We’re in Ellensburg, WA for the night, camped along the Yakama River. 150 miles to go. So, it’ll be something like 7800 miles in a bit less than a month. We went through 21 states and a couple more than once. We counted at least 12 different cultural areas that could almost be called different countries. Some of them were so culturally different we had great difficultly understanding anyone, even though it was English (or something like it). And, as Nancy said, it was a real adventure.

We’ve received several emails about what we’re using. It’s a Scamp trailer and a 4runner. The 4runner gives us good fuel economy, reliability and off-road use in a mid-sized bombproof car. The Scamp is our second. It’s only 16 feet, yet it has a kitchen, enclosed shower and potty, mid-sized fridge, microwave and stove. It has propane and electric heaters, air conditioning and, unlike the VW camper we had, it’s sealed up so outside noise stays outside. We’ve been averaging between 15 and 18 mpg, depending on headwinds or if the air is on. There’s a reason this is our second set of these vehicles. We simply can’t find a better combination that fits our needs of camping in strange out-of-the-way places, smallness and high-quality vehicles that hold together.

This trip gave us a new-found love for our crazy country. Everyone seems pretty together. There’s better food, better conversations and more friendly people than we’ve seen for decades of travel. In essence, I think our country is growing up. We never had a bad moment with anyone, including the con artist that took our $20 (the entertainment was worth twice that). The only real negative: this country is full over very, very large people, and it’s going to kill millions of us if we don’t get it together and demand better food. We ARE seeing better food in WalMart and McDonald’s (of all places), but most of the mom and pop stores and restaurants aren’t even trying. They’re still serving the same crap that killed our parents.

Best quote of the trip from Nancy: “Larry, it’s on your leg. I don’t know what it is, but it’s big, it’s bad and it’s going to bite. (it was an Everglades Horsefly, the size of a small dinner plate that broke part of the fly swatter subduing it.)

Best food: the killer caramelized onion and chapoltly pulled-pork tacos on Magazine Street in New Orleans.

Worst Food: the deep-fried chicken strips in South Dakota, with one of my puzzles mounted and framed on the restaurant wall nearby. How embarrassing is THAT?

Most challenging driving: figuring out an escape plan from the dust storm and interstate pileup north of Tucson, AZ.

Most interesting sign: Prom Dresses.com = HOT, Stylish yet modest – (a billboard in Salt Lake -and I thought Military Intelligence was an oxymoron).

Or the sign in the KOA rest room: Flush twice so you don’t leave your yellow stain behind.

Thanks for reading this stuff. It’s been fun telling you all about it.
Our blog is published at larryeifert.com/wordpress, where it’s in a proper form (but words are still mis-spelled there too).

Larry Eifert

Click here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

We’re now on past Texas and New Mexico, but I wanted to send this out because it was so interesting to me. I’d been here before, but the St. Louis Cemetery just a few blocks from the New Orleans French Quarter is one of THOSE places. It received its first “clients” in 1789, and all the tombs are above ground. This is partly because of the New Orleans water table being so close to the surface, but also because of French and Spanish customs at the time. It’s only one square block, but there are now thought to be around 100,000 people stacked up here. Some of the notables include Marie Laveau, the original voodoo priestess and Benard deMaringy, the guy who brought the game of craps to America. One recent addition is a full-blown new tomb for one of the Jackson Square street artists.

We were struck by the way it’s a very “living” place. There are brand new tombs, aging tombs that have recently been fixed up (maybe because of the flood that brought water in here a foot deep) and also completely abandoned tombs. There’s a section where they’ve taken pieces of iron work and broken headstones, and just laid them out and cemented them in place with no idea where they originally stood. A high brick wall surrounds the cemetery, so no city noise intrudes, and the sun bouncing off the whitewashed stone creates a very “hot” and quiet environment. There are also no guards, no cameras and no security, and there’s a sign that says so. It also says that this place is sacred and woe unto anyone in the next life if you mess with it. And no one does. Would YOU with the voodoo queen lurking about?

Thanks for reading. We’re heading north today, 5200 miles into it and 2000 or so to go.

Sign in the KOA restroom this morning: “Flush before, twice during and especially after use. It needs all the help it can get!”
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.