I wrote a letter out about our trip and thought maybe someone would like to read it. It is very long and goes into a lot of detail, but enjoy :D
October 20 2011
Dear Friends,
Hello! How have you been? I decided to write a letter about the trip I went on recently, out to New York. There was five main sections: Transit in, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and transit out. I will devote an entire paragraph to each. We visited each in that order, though there was some excitement in the middle, but you will have to wait to find out what happened!
The whole trip started at home when we picked up a 32 foot pull behind camper. It was really awesome inside and we couldn't wait to get going. That night, though we hadn't left yet, we slept in the camper, just to try it out. My bed was about two feet wide and it was a good thing I am not real big. The next morning we left bright and kinda early we got on the high way, we did not know how many hours we would be on the high way in the next few weeks. We drove all day an stopped for dinner in Chicago with Uncle Eric and Aunt Sue. To cut down on the amount of driving the next day we drove a few more hours that night and stayed at a KOA campground. The next day was a killer because we had to drive for about 10 hours. Turns out, when we stopped for lunch we lost the key to to the camper, and the doors were locked. Not really a good situation, but it could have been worse (like if we lost the car keys). Anyway, we found a lock smith and though he didn't have the blanks for a two sided key he was able to make a key for the luggage compartments, and I cloned in through a window that was unlocked. We stayed the night at a campground that we had reserved sites for months ago, so we were on schedule. When the sun again rose we went to the Gettysburg battle site and saw the field and a fancy painting. It was really cool to drive around on a place that we had been learning about for ever! We had Mac and Cheese for lunch and ate at KFC for dinner. We drove to the next campground that night and after arriving set up camp and went to bed.
Today we went to Philadelphia! We drove half and hour to the train station and rode into the city. I hate public transportation!!! I really do. The fella who ran the train was like some foreign dude who probably didn't know English and that's why dad had such a hard time taking to him. He ended up charging us 60 bucks for a round trip that normally cost 28 dollars. The conductor pointed that out and refunded us the money. We had a fairly good day in Philadelphia and saw many cool historic sites including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. When we were in Independence Hall we suddenly were taken out side and told to stay away from buildings. Standing out side among hundreds of people, we wondered what was going on. After a couple minutes we were told it was safe to go back in the building and we finished out tour. I over heard a guard telling some one that it was an earth quake, just so small it was difficult to feel. I was ready to leave by now and we took the train back to our car. It was a good thing the train was still running, all the subways were shut down and we would have had no way back. I was not looking forward to another day in Philadelphia tomorrow. The second day was much less exciting, although it was interesting in a very similar way. When about to take a tour of the place where the first switch of presidents took place I again heard some guards talking, this time about a hurricane. I asked them about it ad they said a category III hurricane was coming to town soon. Oh boy, that sounded fun! Mom and Dad, of course, figured it was just a little storm and took no notice. Its a good thing they thought to pack me! The portable pessimist! It wasn't until they started to evacuate the city of new York that they started to take notice, but I will tell about that in the next paragraph.
On our way to New York City we toured Valley Forge. Ir was pretty cool, despite the rain. I like the country! When we just about reached the camp site that we would stay in while touring New York we received a call from the people who ran it wondering if we were still coming! They said everyone else had canceled their reservations and left early. Dad said that we were coming and they were awful surprised. They had free WiFi and we utilized it well, tracking Hurricane Irene with our iPods and iPhones. I convinced the parental units to leave earlier then we had originally planned but we still got to tour New York one day. Did I mention that I hate public transportation? Well I do... We saw the Statute of Liberty and the Island of Tears (Ellis Island). That is what it was called by the immigrants, but it wasn't that bad. Only about 2 percent of the immigrants were turned back. We ten went to Wall street and Times Square. That was really quite a site. The whole street was a giant TV! Dad purchased a apple iPad from the apple store in New York. It was so crowded in there you could hardly move! Rachel got something from the American Girl store. We went back to our campsite and got ready for evacuation. The hurricane was supposed to hit at 1-2 in the morning on Sunday. Tomorrow is Saturday so we planned to leave in the morning. It took until 10:30 for us to get going and we didn't travel very fast but we made it to a KOA in buffalo before the storm hit. It looked like a really nice site with an indoor pool and work out room, but we found out that they discriminated against kids and wouldn't let kids under 16 years old in the pool with out an adult. I did not swim. The next day we watched movies and relaxed while the wind whistled out side. It was only about 30 mph winds so nothing really happened. Then we went to Boston!
On the way to Boston we stopped at a place with thousands of water falls. Actually there were 11. We hiked a trail and saw most of them and boy was it good not to be around millions of people! After we finished there we drove to our campsite that we would be staying in while in Boston. The recent hurricane had flooded a bunch of roads and caused major traffic so on a trip that should have only taken 5 hours we drove for 12. We had a nearly fatal accident while setting up the camper: it was on a slight hill but we had chucked the wrong sides of the wheels, and while we were putting down the jacks it rolled off the supports and fell onto the jacks. If we hadn't put rocks on our side of the wheels it surly would have destroyed the hitch and probably more. In the morning we went into Boston and it really was much better then any other city. The buildings were much lower and farther apart and there was a park right by where we got off the subway. Did I mention that I don't like public transportation? We walked the liberty trail, a red line on the side walk that takes you all around Boston. It was a lot of walking but for the most part it was pretty cool. We saw a lot of historical sites in Boston like the house of Paul Revere and the battle site of bunker hill. We also went aboard the Constitution, one of the first ships in the US navy and one renowned for its battle record. It fought in 32 engagements and won every time. It is the oldest still active navel vessel in the world! The following day we saw Lexington and Concord and it was so nice to be in the country! Then we drove to see a replica Mayflower and toured a settlement that is like the one that the pilgrims founded. It was really neat because the reinactors there were highly trained to stay in character even with the most difficult tourists.
Finally we are on our way back home! We drove near Niagara falls and camped the night. The next morning we went to the falls and saw some amazing views. We enter Canada and saw the falls from the Canadian side. It was really hot that day and the mist from the falls felt nice. When we were finished with the falls we piled into the car and drove to Detroit. It was so hot that day we were worried the car would over heat. The following day we ate at a restaurant that Dad and Mom ate at a lot while in residency. We saw our old house, before Abby or I came around and much before Rachel. We were going to go to the Michigan opener but decided that it was too expensive and would skip it. We then drive our last stretch, home! When we got there we were all glad to be back, it was quite an adventure!
So to wrap up, we were gone for 15 days and in that time drove 3989 miles in 96 hours and 45 minutes! If you don't think that's a lot yet consider this not including the time when we were asleep we had about 180 hours of time. Over HALF of that was spent in the car! That's amazing! We started off with a full tank of gas ha to get many more tanks before it was through. The trip out was supposed to be about a third of our car time and ended up as maybe an seventh. New York City and Philadelphia were very big cities and I would not want to live in them. Comparatively Boston was pretty small and a nice ending to our trip. The road home was basically free of obstacles, but that can't be sati about the other parts. That was one of the longest trips I have ever taken and probably the most eventful but it was really fun and a great way to end the summer. . .
Sincerely yours,
Ryan Lokkesmoe
•2 Timothy 2:22•
