Looong X-Country Trip East

Road Trip Albums at:

Overview

January 5-30: Left Bellevue heading South on I-5 through Oregon to Southern California. Then heading East primarily on I-10, drove across southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

January 31-February 19: Drove into and “around the coast of Florida”, with stays in Sarasota, Homestead (Florida City), Key West, Cocoa, and St. Augustine. Then drove North on I-95, home to Spring Lake, with a stop in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bellevue to Spring Lake Heights, spent the night in:

* Stopped long enough to explore the city.

Highlights

We visited 14+ family & friends along the way:

• RPI friends Bill-C & Judith and David-S & Diane in Palo Alto
• Gail’s Cousin Jeanne & Paul in Tucson
• Linda & Steve from Sarasota to the Everglades to Key West
• Brian-S in Jupiter, Florida
• Aunt Carolyn & Cousin Bill-G & Gerri in Cocoa, Florida

We visited 15 NEW National Park Sites, in 6 States

It was a great trip for National Park visits, as 9 are “National Parks” (White Sands wasn’t then, but is, as of 2019). Also, our one Civil War Site Visit, to Fort Sumter, was on a 150th anniversary!

• Joshua Tree National Park (#55), California
• Saguaro National Park (#56), Arizona
• White Sands National Park (#57), New Mexico
• Carlsbad Caverns National Park (#58), New Mexico
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park (#59), Texas
• Big Bend National Park
  & Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River (#60 & 61), Texas
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (#62), Texas
• New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (#63), Louisiana
• Jean Lafitte National Historical Park & Preserve (#64), Louisiana
• Everglades National Park (#65), Florida
• Dry Tortugas National Park (#66), Florida
• Biscayne National Park (#67), Florida
• Colonial Florida Parks, for
  Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (#68), Florida
• Civil War Parks-Deep South, for
  Fort Sumter & Fort Moultrie National Historical Park (#69), South Carolina