The Great 2018 U. S. Winnebago Tour

I’ve always been into history. The first thing I do when encountering a new subject is delve into its history. What’s the history of Science Fiction writing? The history of Hegel’s life? Quantum physics and relativity? The timeline for the JFK assassination? Heck, twenty-five years ago I was hitting the library to discover the history of Led Zeppelin.

So now I’ve been tossing this idea around to torture my wife. If I ever get really successful (BRAIN: When I get successful, WHEN!) I’m threatening her and my daughter with the rental of a winnebago to travel the country for three or four months investigating its history. Yeah, she gives me the funny looks and rolls her eyes, but deep down, I know … a good bribe will get her to come with me.

The question is, what do I want to see? Since in this fantasy I’m the household breadwinner taking in, oh, at least four hundred gees annually, I get to choose. Over the past couple of years I’ve been jotting down places I’d like to see or visit, a museum or national monument, whatever. I’ve only slept in nine states (NJ, NY, MA, MD, SC, PA, OH, WI, CA) and driven through eight or nine others to get to them, so I really haven’t seen much of this great expansive country of ours. Hmmmm. Well, here’s a short list. I had a longer one, but I lost it, so here’s my itinerary off the top of my head, in roughly the way I’d like the trip to go.

North East
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Home/Museum
Walden (Henry David Thoreau’s digs)
Niagara Falls
Liberty Hall / Liberty Bell
Gettysburg
Bull Run
Appomattox Court House

North Central
Lincoln’s Birthplace
Devil’s Mountain
Mount Rushmore
Litte Big Horn / Wounded Knee

North West
Yosemite National Park (Old Faithful)
Mount St. Helens

South West
Death Valley
Trinity (site of 1st atomic explosion)
Grand Canyon
Hoover Dam
Carlsbad Cavern
Pueblo ruins
Meteor Crater
Roswell

South Central
Mississippi Arch
Alamo
Dealey Plaza
JPL (Jet Propulsion Labs – big in US Space Program)
New Orleans

South East
Cape Canaveral
Fort Sumter
Kitty Hawk
Edgar Allen Poe’s Home / Museum (Baltimore)
Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home)

Coming your way in the summer of 2018!