The Big T(rip) . . .of 2005


This was the year, the time, the o n l y time, that things in the universe came together (we feel through divine intervention) to enable us to take that one trip of a lifetime -- a combined 'American History, Family History, and Church History Trip' -- with our two youngest children.  This adventure will hereafter be referred to as 'The Big T' to avoid hospitalization of both the listener and teller (Repetitive Motion Injury is such a dangerous thing).  

So we loaded into the car and drove 7,200 miles, in a 'Lazy 8' across the nation, in 31 days, visiting history sites (Ok, Ok, we went to three amusement parks too -- the boys did anyway).    

I document this trip here using the email messages we sent home to family during our trek, augmented by a few pictures here and there.   I hope you enjoy it.   See map below.

By the way, this map, and to a good extent, the safe journey, was provided by Microsoft's 'Streets and Trips 2005 GPS' which guided our every move into unknown, and mysterious territory (we are, after all, just Westerners, and can't find our way about without a mountain to guide us . . . and sometimes not even then ;-) ).  A full itinerary of the trip (one we shared with friends and family' can be found here (MS Word file, 104 Kb) if you are interested (for all we know, this may help you plan a trip).

Note:  The numbers represent various 'official' stops along the way (but we stopped a lot more than that . . . "Hey Dad!  I need to go!!"), and, of course, the start (#1) and the end (#90) are at our home in Utah.  You can see the 'Lazy 8' can't you?   

Just to get you oriented, the bottom (left side, stop #2) of the '8' is at Rawlins, Wyoming, the cross-over is at Nauvoo, Illinois, and the top (far right . . . or East if you prefer, stop #49) is Sharon, Vermont.


 NEXT:  On to the first message of the trip . . .  


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The images, articles, and concepts of this page are copyrighted by P.S. Neeley -- copyright 2005