I’ve got a bad case of wanderlust. I’m ready to plan my next solo adventure – an Adventure around America via Amtrak.
This year marks 10 years of blogging for me – since I first moved to the USA in August of 2007 – and so it feels a little like I’m coming full circle.
Later this year – all things being equal – I will be eligible to apply for US citizenship, and it feels appropriate to explore more of this country, to understand what makes this country tick from other than in front of a television or through the lens of a media outlet.
I’m also in the midst of writing a book about the journey from a cattle property in eastern Australia to the New Mexican desert via a Scottish castle tower, the Texas bible belt, Paris, London, and New York, among other places, people, and things. This journey around America by train – my favorite method of travel – feels like a poetic way to put the finishing touches on the manuscript, and bring this literal and figurative chapter of my life to a close – both an ending and a beginning.
Just in case you haven’t read it yet, I have already written an initial planning post for Adventure around America. This post lays out the ways in which it is possible to do my planned round trip itinerary in 12 segments. I am still deciding between the 12 segment pass or the 18 segment pass. This works well because I am hoping to visit with friends and explore a few different places along the route that aren’t at a segment break.
It will take the next six months to work out all the details, and to figure out where I’ll be stopping, people and places I hope to visit, and how I’ll manage the logistics (especially food – being celiac makes life a little difficult when it comes to traveling).
I am trying to limit myself to no more than 2 stops in each state. As it stands, I will be stopping in 10 states while traveling through many more.
Itinerary
- El Paso, Texas – San Antonio, Texas – Houston, Texas – New Orleans, Louisiana
- New Orleans, Louisiana – Atlanta, Georgia
- Atlanta, Georgia – Washington, D.C
- Washington, D.C– Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – New York, New York – Boston, Massachusetts
- Boston, Massachusetts – Chicago, Illinois
- Chicago, Illinois – Milwaukee – St. Paul/Minneapolis — Minot, ND
- Minot, ND — Portland, Oregon
- Portland, Oregon – Sacramento, California
- Sacramento, California– Los Angeles, California
- Los Angeles, California – Albuquerque, New Mexico
So far I am looking at a schedule departing 31 July from El Paso, Texas.
Listening. Observing. Participating. Writing. Photographing. Reflecting.
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Traveler. Scholar. Photographer. Writer. Dreamer. Teacher. This Adventure around America is a crazy adventure marked with photos and word and inspired by the incredible women in Anna’s family, especially her late grandmother, whom she knew as Nan-Nan.
Oh Anna, I love trains. Caught the Amtrak from Ft Lauderdale to Southern Pines in SC – 1990. Loved it. Also return trip on “The Lunatic Train” from Nairobi – Mombasa-Nairobi in Jan 1997. Just as I remembered it as a child. If I ever win lotto ( in my dreams!!) then Trans Siberian, east to west of Canada, The Ghan, across the Nullabor… the list is endless. Used to get off the train at Clapham Junction just to watch them all go by!! Nuts I know, but I’ll be following your trip avidly, and a tad enviously! Hope it all works out fantastically for you.