And so it begins

So I guess that you got that I arrived in the US. Perhaps what I forgot to mention was that now, after a week of rest and recovery, my friend and I (with a few hangers on at different stages along the way) are going to send the next 2 months driving from Boston to Seattle via the southern US border with Mexico.

Post-swim in Acadia National Park

My friend, Emma, and I spent the first week planning which resulted in no fixed plans for the next two months. However, simultaneously our plans are not at all flexible. We have received a few recommendations of places to stay and people to see, but they are usually met with, ‘ah no, that’s not going to fit.’ Or, ‘It would suit you better for us to be there on the weekend? Sorry, our tight schedule doesn’t allow us to be there for that long.’ How this has happened I have little idea; an interesting development that I wasn’t expecting. Although, it may be in part due to the fact that this country is not little old NZ where you can rock up to a campground and sleep and then sort out payment and further stay days at a later date. No, no, here you have to book campsites in advance and even go in for a lottery to do some of the iconic hikes. And so you see, our planning has to be meticulous. So we began, as all roadtrips should start, going completely the opposite direction to the direction that we ultimately want to go (north instead of south). Although, we were concerned that perhaps the Acadia National Park campsite would be all booked out; with its hundreds of campsites and it being almost summer and all. But when we arrived, we knew all of our worry had been wasted given that there were a grand total of three cars in the car park, including ours. Not sure if the lack of people was due to the weather (it had been pissing down), the fog (you couldn’t see much more than 50 m) or the fact that it was mid-week (is Tuesday not everyone’s weekend?).

Acadia National Park, Maine

It is interesting though, that because I am travelling with white American ‘locals’ (or is that a contradiction in terms?) I am having all of these experiences that a ‘normal tourist’ in America would not have. For example, week one consisted of squirreling away spare food from the dining hall to feed my pie hole.  Week 2 consisted of visiting LL Bean (‘an American , privately-held, mail-order, online and retail company founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean’), Yankee Candle (‘American manufacturer and retailer of scented candles, candleholders, accessories and dinnerware) and Longwood Alpacas (an alpaca farm). I have also been attending baseball games with the star pitcher’s dad; my first American sport experience. Apparently my friend was the star of the game. But that was lost on me. What was not lost on me, however, was that the game 7-innings when I had spent the whole game mentally preparing myself for a 9-inning game.

Portland, Maine

Also, in the form of all good road trips, we have created a #instagram. I have no clue how #instagram works, but I leave that to the brains of the outfit. However, if you are interested in following our adventure (although many of the photos will be the same as they appear here); our username is odysseysodyssey.

Summer houses in Maine

And so, from western Massachusetts we continue our adventure ever toward the wild wild west.