“See the USA in Your Chevrolet”

In 1950, Dinah Shore sang this famous jingle. I wasn’t born yet and vaguely remember the jingle growing up. I bring up this nostalgic memento because my husband Bob, our dog Zeke, and I just completed a 6,134-mile road trip to see the USA in our class B RV on a Chevrolet chassis. We were gone for 38 days. We left AZ and reached Kittery, Maine, and exciting spots.

Many people ask why we did it. My answer is that we can. We know people well into their 80s who get in their enormous RV and hit the road. Isn’t this what you do when you have all the time in the world? For me, it’s exciting to see this great country of ours. The landscape on the I-40 changes quickly from desert tan in AZ and NM to flat and dusty in the TX panhandle -it’s true what they say that everything is bigger in TX. We spent a night in Amarillo, home of the 72oz steak and the Big Texan Steak House.

Once in OK and AR, it’s green, lush, and humid. Before entering TN, we spent the night in West Memphis, AR, on the Mississippi River. What an experience to see barges being pushed up and down the mighty Mississippi. We traveled west to east through TN, which seemed to take an eternity to get through this great state. It’s cool to skirt around cities we’ve heard about, like Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville.

Bob and I grew up in MD, and Bob still has family there, so we spent ten days enjoying our time there. The weather cooperated for the most part. We went to an Orioles baseball game and just had a wonderful visit. We enjoyed all our local comfort food favorites.

The next stop was Allentown, PA. We had the opportunity to experience back-road America. Our journey took us on two-lane roads past green pastures and farms, probably dating back to the late 1700s. It was Memorial Day weekend, and we found it interesting to see yard sales all over in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. We found ourselves in the middle of nowhere often.

Now, it was time to work our way through NY. We did our best to avoid going into the city and thought we did a good job plotting our course. The toll booth and GPS had different options for which lanes to be in. We got lost and turned around in Bayonne, NJ, and headed straight into the heart of Manhattan. I was the navigator, and while I thought I was doing a great job, I was a hot mess dealing with the traffic along I-95 in Manhattan.

We made it out of the city, and honestly, I’m not interested in returning. (sorry, New Yorkers). I’ll take the 405 in LA over Manhattan any day.

Next is Ashby, MA, to spend time with friends in NH. The area was beautiful! Once again, the weather didn’t cooperate, and we spent a day in the rain. So, what do you do when it rains? Eat great local food like lobster rolls, then go grocery shopping at the Mahket (Market) Basket! While in MA, we spent a day driving up to Kittery, ME. Kittery is your quintessential New England town and home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Every day was full of great memories, but for me, going to Cooperstown, NY, and the MLB Baseball Hall of Fame was the highlight of our trip. Bob and I are huge baseball fans, and my expectations were far exceeded. We stayed at a beautiful campground on a lake, and to our surprise, we had the campground to ourselves. It was magical and flat-out gorgeous, with fresh-cut green grass. We selfishly enjoyed ourselves, and Zeke loved walking and rolling on the grass.

Next, off to Niagara Falls. We failed to bring our passports but enjoyed being on the US side of the falls. We stayed at a NY state park on Lake Ontario. It was breathtaking to see the falls and to walk along Lake Ontario.

After Niagara Falls, we pretty much b-lined it back to AZ. It took us seven days to get home. We had an incredible trip with only a few issues along the way. I would encourage anyone to see our great nation, in a Chevrolet or not. It’s beautiful beyond belief.

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Pat Garner is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner (CNP)