Day One April 20, 2015

Thanks to the many of you who have added stops to our itinerary.  Jocelyn Morelli has provided several dining options in NW Arkansas for us.  Keith Boyer has suggested Appomattox and Blue Ridge Parkway.  Lillian Weigert has provided an upstate NY dining stop and tourist site in Poughkeepsie.  Kitty Hawk has been added because.... how could two historical adventurers drive through NC and not stop to see Kitty Hawk.

The actual beginning of the tour will be on April 20 as we rise at 5:00 am to get over to Battle Green in Lexington MA for the annual re-enactment of "The Shot Heard Round The World".

Then to downtown Boston in time to see the first of 1000's of entrants to cross the finish line at the 119th running of the Boston Marathon.

This annual event takes place on the 3rd Monday in April and is a holiday in Boston known as Patriot's Day.

Just about the time that runners will begin crossing the Marathon finish line, just down the road at Fenway Park the Red Sox will throw out the opening pitch in their fourth game this weekend against the Orioles.

With all these events happening around Boston it seems fitting we consider April 20 in Boston as Day One of our trip.

Tuesday, April 21 we leave Massachusetts for Hyde Park NY to see FDR's home, grave and presidential library.  A short drive south of FDR's home is the the Culinary Institute of America and the Apple Pie Cafe.

FDR's Home

Then on to Oyster Bay NY on Long Island for Theodore Roosevelt's home, library and our first over night on the road.

Sagamore Hill TR's Home

The Visit List

35 potential visits, some merely drive by's, some overnighters, some significant sites, some family/friend visits.  Now it's your turn.  What have you discovered near this route that you suggest we add? Do you know of any "must see's", diners, drive-ins, dives that we aren't aware of ?

Tell us where.

Click here to see our tentative visits. Those in red are family/friend visits (you know who you are).  We'll warn you within 24 hours.
Places To Visit - Make your Suggestions

FDR Home and grave site Hyde Park , NY
TR Home Sagamore Oyster Bay, NY
Liberty Bell, Phildelphia, PA
Winterhur, Winterthur, DE

Harper's Ferry, WV
Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD
Monticello, Charlottesville, VA
Williamsburg, VA
Chesapeake, VA
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

Biltmore, 1864

Lumberton. SC
Charleston, SC
Savannah, GA
Pensacola, FL
Monroeville, AL
Birmingham, AL

Vicksburg, MS

New Orleans, LA
Honey Grove, TX
Hugo, OK
Nacodoches, TX
Oklahoma City, OK
Tulsa, OK
Independence, KS
Fayetteville, AR
Clinton, OK
Santa Fe, NM
Taos, NM
Durango, CO
Mesa Verde, CO
Monument Valley, UT
Grand Canyon, AZ
Las Vegas, NV
St. George, UT

Springdale, UT
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Trip Prep

The car is rented the dates are set.  You have arrived on this page by invitation or just by chance.  No matter your reason for being here follow Tom and John on their "bucket list" trip meandering from Boston to LA .  Find out what interests two baby boomers who finally got time to explore those "someday" places everyone hears about and some visit OR those places no one knows about and only these two find interesting.
Google tells us that the driving distance between Boston and Los Angeles is 2, 990 miles.  The best route takes you west from Boston, through New York state, skirting along Lake Erie's southern (U.S.) shore through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, veering southwest through Colorado, Utah, Nevada and in to California. That route should take you about 1 day +19 hours of driving time if you wanted to get there purposefully.

Which is why this is not the route we will take.

Follow us down the east coast across the south toward the Gulf Coast, through eastern Texas north to Oklahoma, on to what we can find of Route 66, west to New Mexico, the four corners, Utah, Arizona, California.

Stopping at those well known sites (Williamsburg, Charleston, Savannah, Pensacola, New Orleans etc) discovering those other places that strike our interest.  And of course checking in with friends, and family who thought we'd never track them down (thanks again Google).

Visit this space which will be more regularly updated as we approach departure date, April 20, 2015.