Why

Why am I doing this?

I have thought about doing this for several years.  I know I have always loved travel writing.  Some influences were books by Bill Bryson - he wrote "The Lost Continent Travels in Small-Town America"  As best as I can remember, in One section of the book Bryson started in his home town in Iowa and drove west, in the the other section several months later he started in his home town and drove East.  Bryson wrote several other travel books I have enjoyed, one about traveling in Europe, one about traveling in Australia.  Other influences have been Charles Kuralt - I grew up watching "On the road with Charles Kuralt" on the CBS news.  He would share stories of being on the road in America.  In his book, "Charles Kuralt's America" he wrote about after his retirement, living in one of each of his favorite places for one month over a year.  Since I just retired, I guess this is my version.   Another book I remember is John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charlie" In this book Steinbeck, who's writing I really admired, just wrote about traveling with dog, Charlie, in a camper around the United States.

After all these influences, one time it came to me, I need to do something like these writers, but it has to be a mission, a challenge, and so I came up with, could I visit each state, and stay one night, but only one night in each state.  At first I thought about 50 states in 50 days, but the flights to and from Hawaii and Alaska, made the challenge not so practical, so it comes to this.  Leave my home in Reading, MA the day after labor day 2020, visit and spend the night in one state every day for the next 48 days.  I have mapped out a proposed route, and it's technically doable - see the section on proposed route.  Most days are not unreasonable miles and I have mapped out some things and towns and cities I want to visit.  The unknown is Covid-19 - what about the Virus, will it cause me to stop and head home?   What about driving every day, will I get 14 days in and decide, I miss my home and wife and want to quit - we will see.  I also hope to get a feel for America - what do people think about the election? what are the good things in every state?

Here we go, I retired from Bose on July 31st, spent the month of August making lists, getting my car serviced and ready to go, packing and mentally preparing, so if you want, check in on my daily blog and see how I am doing please do.