Category: Distance

  • Crossing South Dakota

    Adventures Along Interstate 90 (June 1992) We had already completed most of our RV tour of the southwestern and interior western National Parks, and we pushed into the final stretch. We still had some time to catch a few more sites as we sped towards our home and the end of our expedition. The entirety…

  • Bermuda Shorts, Part 4 (Bermuda Railway Trail )

    The Bermuda Railway Trail surprised me in a pleasing way. I saw it on a map before I arrived and I thought it sounded interesting. Actually, it far exceeded my expectations, becoming one of the most memorable parts of my visit. A Little Context Residents and tourists alike used horsepower or their own feet to…

  • Bermuda Shorts, Part 1 (Follow the Leader)

    I’d never seen Bermuda. It simply never rose to the top of my travel list. I never thought much about it actually. I wanted to see so many other places. Nonetheless, the opportunity dropped into my lap so I took it. My wife the runner who worked for a race company went there on business.…

  • Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel

    Whittier, Alaska, USA (July 2010) I’d long wanted to traverse the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel heading to Whittier, Alaska and the Prince William Sound (map). The tiny town of Whittier holds a couple hundred people where nearly the entire population lives in a single building. You might wonder why the government built a tunnel nearly…

  • Fort Jefferson

    Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida (April 2009) Identifying the Need A massive masonry fortress rose on Garden Key, one of the Dry Tortugas, seventy miles away from Key West in the Gulf of Mexico (map). It served as a link in the chain of coastal fortification built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers…

  • Fort Pulaski National Monument

    Tybee Island, Georgia, USA (July 2006) Fort Pulaski National Monument sits between Savannah and Tybee Island (map). There is no way to miss it while driving between the two — it is the only thing out there other than marshland. The fort has a long history but probably gained its greatest prominence during the Civil…

  • Dry Tortugas Ferry

    Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida (April 2009) I’d wanted to travel to the Dry Tortugas for as long as I can remember, from the first time I noted a blue dotted line protruding westward from Key West on a Florida map. This marked a ferry route to Dry Tortugas National Park (map), perhaps the most…

  • Aircraft Carrier, Part 2 (All Aboard)

    The message I’d been waiting for finally arrived so I scrambled over to the Naval Station Norfolk Tour and Information Center on the public side of Gate 5 (map).  I met the rest of the people invited to this excursion and we climbed into a 15-passenger van.  Guards waved us through and we drove onto…

  • Jersey Shore, Part 1 (Huh?)

    My wife and I took a little road trip over the Spring Break week immediately proceeding Easter.  We sent the kids away to stay with their grandparents.  Unencumbered, we found a rare opportunity to choose pretty much any destination in the world we wanted to explore.  Friends seemed perplexed by our ultimate decision though.  We…

  • Cross-Country, Part 1 (The Plot Thickens)

    Don’t get me wrong, I loved our trip to Australia and New Zealand last summer. I already want to return there and someday I will. However, my relentless need to count counties took a serious hit in 2018 as a direct result. My map barely changed as the year progressed. I gave up on the…