The Great Crossing

What follows is the unillustrated, abridged version of Frank and Dian's (1st wife who has passed) journey from Campbell, CA to Lowell, MA. This journey was our way of relocating to our new townhouse in Lowell, and a job nearby in Chelmsford.

Other reflections?

• • To cross this great country takes only a Rand McNally Map of North America, a Motel 6 Directory, and as a backup, a Super 8 Hotel directory. The Rand McNally map book is great, it's got all you need, including city maps. For us, Motel 6 was a comfortable enough bed, a good shower, free ice, free local telephone (for email), and when needed a laundry room. All you need at a reasonable price. Super 8's might be a little nicer bed, but they're also about $20 more expensive. Since there's not always going to be a Motel 6 where you need you, Super 8 is a good backup. Both hotel directories contain maps, rates, and telephone numbers.

  • Boy did we zip zag around. From San Jose to Lowell is about 3200 miles, if you just take a straight shot using Rt 80 to Chicago, and then Rt 90 to Lowell, but we ended up driving another 1200 miles, 37% more than needed (not counting side-trip to Maine). But we loved seeing Yellowstone, friends and family along the way, and all the rest, so have no regrets.

  • Traveling 4400 miles in 13 days (not counting Maine side-trip), means we averaged 340 miles/day, about 5-6 hours/day. Our longest day was 623 miles in order to make it to KC in time for dinner. This was a 9 hour drive (we went pretty fast).

  • Our first thought was to rent a U-Haul van, complete with trailer for the car. Boy are we glad we didn't do this. Who knows what break-down type problems we might have had, but even discounting this, traveling in a Honda Civic allowed us to get around and through cities so easy. We got about 40 miles/gallon, making our gas costs probably about 1/4 what driving a U-Haul would have been. This easily paid for our stays at a Motel 6 (keep this in mind for those considering an RV for the big vacation trip). The moving company we hired hasn't delivered the furniture yet, and maybe they never will, but a week late seems likely. The fee for the movers was about the same as the U-Haul with trailer, and the movers loaded and unloaded. (We -- actually Dian -- did all the packing, and unpacking). And considering the extra gas expense, we would have lost money, in addition to the extra aggravation, if we'd used the U-Haul approach. With the Honda Civic we had cruise control, and a radio and tape player we knew worked.

  • Speaking of tapes, Dian rented 3 novels on tape from the Campbell library, and we enjoyed these along the way. Dian mailed the tapes back to the Campbell library with pre-paid postage envelopes she'd organized with the post office before she left. Worked out great.