Our drive home from Newfoundland was markedly different than our drive up to Canada. When we began this journey it was still cool enough temps to comfortably car camp and stop for short walks. That wasn’t the case in July when we drove home, so our focus shifted to forming connections with people along the way. Rather than isolating ourselves, we chose lodging that would allow for opportunities to interact with our hosts. We gave ourselves permission to leave late in the morning if conversation was good. I put away my phone and forgot about taking photos and posting to social media. Best decision ever!
This is a continuation of our Road Trip to Canada and it picks up after our 17 days in Newfoundland.
Day 43: Newfoundland to New Brunswick
Spent the night on the 16-hour ferry from Argentia to Sydney. It was our first overnight ferry and I’m glad we booked a cabin. Eric had to knock himself out with melatonin to offset the motion of the ship and I had a brief panic attack when I turned off the lights in our windowless cabin, but we slept soundly and overall it was a fun experience. Note for future ferries: bring more food and assume WiFi doesn’t work.
Our drive today is a repeat of what we’ve already done except that we get to see Bras d’Or Lake in Cape Breton this time. It’s also more colorful as the roads are now covered in wild purple and pink lupine. We stop for coffee at La Factrie in Moncton, which feels like a culinary oasis after our long sojourn in Newfoundland. Our host tonight is Karen in St. Stephen on the Canadian border. She greets us warmly at the door and shows us to our room in her historic home. We have the entire upper floor to ourselves, including her library which has the best religious collection I’ve ever seen. Karen has two masters degrees in theology and has spent time abroad and her books reflect this.
Days 44-45: New Brunswick to Vermont
We help ourselves to breakfast. Karen has provided everything we need to help ourselves without having to wake her. The neighborhood is quiet and we can hear birdsong through the open windows – amazing how our senses open up in the absence of air-conditioning. Our border crossing is quick and painless and once again we find ourselves driving through the Maine wilderness. At Ralph’s Got Gas, there’s an old man in overalls sitting out front just outside of Clifton who looks like a character I’d like to write about. The mosquitos and flies are horror-worthy in Maine and I don’t understand how anyone would wish to hike here in summer. We stop to pee at a rest stop and I refuse to get out because there’s a curtain of bloodsuckers swarming our car – I can wait until we get out of the woods.
Our drive takes us through Franconia Notch State Park and I gaze longingly at the mountains, wishing we were hiking, until Eric reminds me of the insect horde waiting to chomp on us in that dense foliage.
The Vermont countryside is equally as gorgeous as New Hampshire, especially our destination of Goshen which is tucked away in a valley between the White and Green Mountains. We are here for Blueberry Hill Inn, which I’ve had on my bucket list ever since I learned about hiking Inn to Inn Vermont. We fall under the spell of this place and its caretakers. So much so that I’ve written a separate post about The Vermont Inn with a Living Heartbeat.
Day 46: Vermont to New York
After a leisurely breakfast chat with Shari, owner of Blueberry Hill Inn, we drive across the state of New York, stopping for a bit of shopping and lunch at The Silo in Queensbury. I am stuffed beyond capacity and Eric loses his navigator for a while as I fall into a food coma. I wake in time to see our drive into Alfred where we spend the night. Our hosts are Luanne and Steve, professors of music and theater at Alfred University. Steve greets us at the door, welcoming us into their home as if we were family. We meet Luanne and Kavi (their curious yet aloof husky) and I know I’m with like-minded people when I peruse their bookshelves full of travel guides and scrapbooks of their years teaching abroad. Eric and I spend the evening in peaceful repose doing what we love best, reading a book about travel (me) and researching places to eat for the remainder of our journey (Eric).
Day 47: New York to Kentucky
Steve and Luanne enthrall us with their adventures and wisdom. Over coffee and homemade chocolate banana nut bread, we lounge in their living room and swap travel stories. Steve tells us they chose teaching jobs abroad because they wanted their children to be “citizens of the world” – similar to the librarian we stayed with in Concord at the beginning of our trip. They split their time between New York and Costa Rica, where they own a small eco-house. While Steve tries to convince Eric to visit a tropical rainforest (unknowing that Eric is deathly allergic to most everything in the jungle), Luanne offers me excellent advice on Japan and I sit in awe as this fascinating woman shares snippets of her life story.
Our drive through Ohio and Kentucky is hazy due to wildfires still burning in Canada, which reminds me of how interconnected we are on this planet. Our day ends with friends in Covington, Kentucky, an edgy hipster suburb across the river from Cincinnati. Josh and Eric went to school together and we’ve long wanted to visit him and his wife Paradise. I immediately notice the smaller of their two dogs – can’t miss the weenie dog on wheels with an attitude. Cincy has had multiple back surgeries and her loving owners have to regularly expel her bladder now that she no longer has feeling in her rear. If I reincarnate as a dog, I want these two as my human parents. Dog intros complete, we walk to dinner at Riverside Korean where Josh and Paradise ensure we get our veggies.
Day 48: Kentucky to Tennessee
Eric accomplishes one of his goals in life — he introduces me to Jungle Jim’s of Cincinnati. Our friend Josh describes this place as “a spectacle” and I agree. Imagine if Walt Disney married Andrew Zimmerman and they adopted babies from every country around the world. This would be the grocery store they bring their family to. We see a full-sized alligator in the freezer section, along with a display of insect snacks. A full-sized antique fire truck is in the hot sauce department. An Airstream is in the organics. We turn around at the entrance to the cheese room because by this point I’m completely overwhelmed and am experiencing decision paralysis.
Day 49: Tennessee to Louisiana
Our last day is boring and barely worth writing about. We spend our last night at an Airbnb in Germantown which has the most uncomfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on. We are also informed how lucky we are to have booked a room in advance because the homeowners have been inundated by friends and family fleeing Memphis which has been experiencing a power outage for several days. Up until this point I’ve not been ready to return home, but after this last night we’re both ready to sleep in our own beds.
Day 50: Home
I wake up in my own bed and luxuriate in the knowledge that we can make our coffee the way we like it and I can take a shower in something large enough to actually shave my legs without being a contortionist. I spend the day reflecting on our trip, organizing these journal notes, and I come to the realization that this no longer feels like home. I’m just at a really nice short-term rental, enjoying some down time until our next journey. Perhaps when family visits we’ll begin to feel like residents again, but I doubt it. Travel has always changed us in some way but this trip has irrevocably altered our DNA – there’s no going back after this.
Fun observations on a long road trip
It’s amazing how after 20 years of marriage, a long road trip can produce new revelations about your spouse. Here’s what we discovered about ourselves and each other on this road trip:
- I’m a co-eater, I eat every time Eric starts eating, even though I’m not hungry.
- I get turned on watching Eric change a tire.
- I can hold my bladder through the night, amazing what 35°F temperatures outside will do as incentive.
- Eric never stops talking — when did he become the chatter box?
- I can keep Eric entertained for a 9 hour drive with my witty humor.
- We’re officially old because if we don’t get our fiber every day things just don’t go well.
