End of the Road

December 12th, 2013

That's it ladies and gents. After leaving Chicago I made my way back home.

So, Where Did I Go?

I plotted all the points and the map looks like this:


Google limits you to how many destinations you can have in a single trip, so I had to break it up between multiple trips.

I covered a fair bit of the US, but this place is freaking huge! Looks like I am going to need to make a few more trips in the future to cover all the places I wanted to go.

Favorite Spots

Really, I didn't stop anywhere that I didn't have some level of fun at. So any of the destinations I stopped at are worthwhile. However, a few places really stood out.

• Crater Lake
• The view up top is spectacular. I am disappointed I wasn't able to drive around the whole thing, but I plan on doing it on the next visit!
• Redwoods National Park
• Nothing makes you feel smaller than being in the land of the giants. I would love to spend a few weeks out in the woods here.
• Zion National Park
• This place made me stop for a few days more than I was planning on. There is so much to do, and Angels landing is a must see (so long as you can stomach the heights).
• Mesa Verde
• It is a very humbling look at the survivability and  adaptability of the human race. The buildings they designed and live in are remarkable. 
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Ever wonder what it would be like walking on another planet? You get a glimpse of that here.

Some Trip Stats

Distance: A rough estimate (using the driving directions on the map) and I went over 11361 miles.
States Visited: 18
Duration: 102 days
Pictures taken: ~1700
Friends allowing me to mooch off them for at least a night: 8 (you guys rock!)
Cans of Chili eaten: Too many to count

Lessons Learned

After going on this trip, I would do a few things differently. Some of these can also apply to life in general.

• Don't pack so much crap!
• The Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared", not "Bring everything that you might need, ever". There are some things that I never used once, which I will promptly leave behind next time.
• Don't bring anything you aren't prepared to lose
• My car was broken into in San Francisco and they made off with my backpack. While it really sucked having that stuff taken, it wasn't anything that I couldn't live without.
• Talk to random people more often!
• People are interesting. Find out why they are traveling. You never know who you will meet, be it someone from Michigan, or the mother of the CEO of a company you applied for just out of school.
• Don't feel so rushed!
• Towards the end of the trip, I was rushing from destination to destination. I did have somewhere I had to be on New Years Eve, but I rushed through a lot of otherwise cool locations. I had a few days I could have spared before my deadline.
• Don't stay someplace forever!
• Sorry about sticking around Seattle so long Max and Cait. You guys were great to be around after traveling alone for so long. I got comfortable, and didn't want to go back out on my own again. Had I stayed, however, I would have missed 3 of my top 5 stops!
• Your diet should be flexible!
• You will be visiting different places, so you will want to sample what makes them unique. Also, if you are planning to hike a lot like I did, you will need energy. Make sure you are getting enough protein and carbs to compensate for all your activity.
• Enjoy yourself!
• Who knows when you will get a chance like this again in your life? Enjoy every second of it.

Pictures

I have divided all the pictures up between each of the destinations. Don't have time to flip through all the blogs? I have made MEGA ALBUM with all of the pictures. You can click here to see them!

Here are also a few of my favorites:

What's Next?

Well, I still have a few more things to write about. I mean, I haven't touched any of the places I visited in 2014! Plus, I have a few other topics that I wanted to cover that relate to traveling and personal goal setting. Let me know if there is anything I didn't cover over the course of this trip that you are interested in. I can add it to the list!

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