headquarters

the last few days of my trip with hannah were spent in philaelphia, south jersey and delaware. 

the new frankford hall - great place to hang with friends in philly.

delivery of over 17,000 slides to my parents' house.  boy that sure lightened the load in my van and made for more space too.

bagpipers on the boardwalk

got hannah on a roller coaster.

sunrise at the rocks in north wildwood.

hannah and i drove back to delaware and i dropped her off at the philly airport - thus concluding our fantastic three-and-a-half week southeastern states road trip.

for the next few months i plan to headquarter here in delaware near philadelphia catching up with friends and family.  i hope to find a few small jobs around here as i figure out what my long term situation will be.

via dc

hannah and i made it safely to the philadelphia area.

we enjoyed a few days in pittsburgh.  i stayed with my friends josh and kallie, while hannah stayed with her friend jared.

we drove to dc and met up with my friend christie for the evening.   then we stayed the night with kim and elica, who were so kind as to let us crash in their livingroom even though we'd never met before.  they were friends of friends...   now friends.

for a day we explored dc by foot, having ridden in by subway...   we scouted eastern market.   walked to the library of congress.

explored parts of the capital and somehow ended up walking around restricted hallways where everyone had tags but us.  we found our way out without anyone approaching us.   hannah explored the newseum while i people watched on the mall greens.

hannah taking a photo.

various monument photos

after 10 to 12 miles of walking we took the subway back to the van and drove to my sister's house in delaware.

tent camping

i'm finally getting some use out of my two-person and four-person tents that i've owned since 2009.  i didn't really need them when i was simply sleeping in my van.  but this three-week southeastern states trip with a travel buddy has made for a great series of tent-pitching opportunities.  we camped the first two nights in florida.  the next two nights we stayed at lindsay's house in new orleans.   then we tent camped the next 7 nights: once in louisianna, four nights in tennessee, and twice in west virginia.

florida camp site.

camped on a florida beach!

we visited the little rock in little rock, arkansas.

in western tennessee we set up camp at an innocent pullout area on a small road.   that peaceful night didn't last long because we had a run-in with some crooks who robbed us of all of our cash and a portion of our nerves before speeding off in their pickup truck.  despite crowbars in hand and threats of shooting, we were spared bodily injury or property damage.  we spent the rest of the night describing the event to police and then continued driving east before dawn.  what a way to start off independence day!

we camped the next two nights near chattanooga, tennessee.  one of those nights my friend joel hung out with us at our camp fire and then decided to stay the night with us in our tent.  how fun!  despite a stormy downpour, we stayed dry and joel got a little bit of sleep before leaving for work in the morning.  i loved having a guest at our camp site!

chattanooga fourth of july fireworks.

so far the van has held up pretty well for the trip.   the transmission started to show signs of getting tired from the constant ups and downs of the endless blue ridge parkway -- a scenic view roadway through the smokey mountains in north carolina.  to give the van a break, we wormed our way out to the nearest interstate and then continued north through northeastern tennessee and southwestern virginia, and then into west virginia from the south.

entering west virginia was a kind of climax of our journey:  hannah's 49th state!  it's been an honor and privilege to escort my fellow traveller, hannah to her 48th (arkansas) and 49th state.   she now has been to all of them except hawaii.

we spent two nights in west virginia.  the first was behind the house of anthony and rachael - friends of hannah's friends that allowed us to drop in for a visit.   the second was in a damp but very lovely campground in northern virginia.

we are now in pittsburgh, pennsylvania visiting numerous friends and taking a few days' break from the road.  we've covered about 2700 miles so far in the first two weeks with maybe another 700ish miles ahead for the last week.

check out this sign in downtown pittsburgh made of plants/vines on the side of the building.

gulf coast

driving is one of my favorite activities!   i started a three week road trip on tuesday and i'm so excited to be on the road again.   

i get to share this short southeast adventure with my fellow traveller friend, hannah.  check out hannah's blog.  her posts will get you a passenger seat perspective on our trip.  : )

starting in orlando, we headed north and west driving along the gulf coast through florida, alabama, mississippi, and louisiana.  we are enjoying a two day stay in new orleans right now.

so far the temperatures have been reaching the low-to-upper 90s.  i prefer to travel with windows down, and that doesn't change even when it's hot.  consequently, at rest stops i walk around with a sweat sash across my shirt from the seat belt. 

the two nights we've camped so far have been sticky hot and breezeless.  one night we found a nice state park campsite and the next night we pitched our tent on a national seashore beach near perdido key, fl.  it looks like the heat will stay with us for most of the next week.  for our two nights in new orleans we've had the privilege of staying in a house with air conditioning -- two nights of relief, thanks to lindsay who is letting us stay at her place even though she is out of town.   thank you lindsay!!  what a great friend.

tomorrow we continue on...  roaming through louisiana on saturday, arkansas on sunday, and maybe into tennessee by late monday.