Greetings from Providence, Rhode Island!
What an exhausting couple of weeks it's been. Since leaving Richmond around the beginning of January, I've traveled some 1,500 miles through eight different states, including two of the most population-dense areas in the country - Washington D.C. / Baltimore and New York City. As you can imagine, my itinerary during those two weeks was jam-packed with logistical challenges and tight schedules (including the welcome addition of two travel buddies), so unfortunately my blog temporarily fell by the wayside. Still, every night I made a point to document the day's adventures in my travel journal, knowing that eventually I would find the time to update you guys on what I've been up to (speaking of journals, I reached an exciting milestone the other day - the first time in my life I've ever filled a journal from cover to cover!). So for my next few posts, I'll be playing catch up. I have another week-long farmstay coming up in a few days, so that should be a good opportunity for me to get back up to speed. But before that, here are some updates.
As of right now, I'm sitting in a Dunkin Donuts with my buddy Kyle, waiting for a load of laundry to dry at the Tumbletown Laundromat next door. We're only a few miles from Massachusetts and maybe a fifteen minute drive from last night's motel, located in the town of Seekonk, MA. Because of Rhode Island's exorbitant hotel tax, it was cheaper for us to just drive right on through Providence and get a room in Massachusetts. I can now say that Seekonk is for sure the easternmost city that I will be visiting during my trip but it also might be the northernmost as well.
A few weeks ago, I made the difficult but logical decision to revise my route. Now, instead of following the Great Lakes, I will be heading back south toward Harrisonburg, Virginia and then hanging a right through the central US - West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Illinois and Missouri. In trying to plan for the Northern states, I found that I was largely unable to lock down reliable places to stay. While I was off the road in Richmond, I retrofitted my camper with additional insulation that now allows me to sleep comfortably in temperatures down to 0° F.
It also keeps the aliens from reading my thoughts, or whatever it is tinfoil hats are supposed to do.
(Source: The author's own)
Still though, just because I can doesn't mean it's something I want to do every night. After sending out several internet requests through homestay sites like Couchsurfing and WarmShowers that went unanswered, as well as having a half dozen or so secondhand contacts fall through, I decided that it just wouldn't be worth the effort to do these states during this part of the trip without having dependable places to stay (it might be possible to tack them on later but for now, my gut is telling me not to risk it).
After I drop Kyle off at the airport, I plan to take advantage of this unusually warm afternoon by cleaning the cab of my truck (the dog hair situation has reached critical mass) before driving south. South - it feels strange to say that now, having spent almost two months to the day driving ever further in the opposite direction. But what an amazing journey it's been - in that time, I've traveled through thirteen different states (three of them for the first time) and covered three-and-a-half thousand miles.
(Source: Google Maps)
My funds are holding steady and my mental health is better than ever, so now, as I post these words to let everyone know that I am, in fact, still alive, I say goodbye to the Eastern seaboard and set my sights Out West.
CWO