East, South, West

[JessTravels]

Hello everyone. :) I just joined the site today and this is my first post.

In a month (ahh, so much to do!) my husband and I are going to take a seven week road trip, our first lengthy road trip together. We'll head East from North Idaho through Montana and South Dakota & Iowa to Chicago, stopping for a Cub's game before heading all the way to Maine. Then we'll head South through New York, Washington DC, etc, before going through Kentucky (husband wants to see the Mammoth Caves), Nashville, all the way to Albuquerque to visit friends for 2 days. We'd like to end the trip in Vegas before heading home.

It will be a whirlwind trip more about the journey and its effects on our marriage than the actual physical locations. We'll be looking for couples with incredible love stories to interview along the way and when it's over, I'll write a nonfiction book. If anyone has taken a similar trip, has any recommendations or has a love story they'd be willing to share for the blog, the book or both, please let me know. Thank you, and happy traveling. :)

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Roll that measurement around in your heads for a while. That's an easy pace to keep up, but whether it will continue to be romantic after four or five, let alone seven weeks is problematic. And where to 'run into' other couples with stories to tell? First off, I would consider crossing South Dakota rather than North simply because this will bring you to Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, the Badlands and Wall Drug, all of which are frequented by couples of various ages traveling together, and with perhaps time to talk. For couples with a decidedly different slant on marriage and the pace of life, wander through the Amana Colonies of Iowa, and while you're there stop by the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. To find couples of a different kind, take the time to drive out to Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod on your way down to New York from Maine. Another place to slow down the pace of the trip would be to head south from Philadelphia and explore some of the smaller towns of the Eastern Shore of Maryland such as Chestertown, Easton and Oxford. The next great place I can think of where you should find some people in a pensive mood, thinking about life, family and the transience of it all would be the Oklahoma City Memorial. And don't forget to treat yourselves to both the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon on your way to Las Vegas. Again, another strong family values area will be as you're driving up through Utah, especially Provo and Salt Lake City. (Do NOT go to Hilldale or Colorado City and start asking about family relationships.) By then you'll be close enough to home to want to get there, so do.

AZBuck