The Pondit has had a week to reflect upon his road trip to Wyoming and back. As good as the journey was, there are aspects of the trek I would like to have done differently. The first item to come to mind is that 5,416 miles is too far for one person to drive solo, if there is an expectation of more enjoyment than logging miles and viewing America from the seat of your car. A companion for the trip would have increased enjoyment and relieved stress. The quality of meal times would have been much improved and since golfing was a prime activity on the trip, having a golfing partner makes most golf outing much more fun. The only downside of a travel companion is that by going solo, I called all the shots; I made all the decisions; and I could pass gas in the car without concern. These concerns mean that a suitable traveling companion (like Steinbeck's Charley) needed to be found and enticed to join me.
On my trip, each leg of the journey started between 6-6:30 AM with arrival at the next destination coming between 5-7 PM. After arrival, I usually needed a shower, dinner and time to blog including downloading and then uploading the day's photographs. I had to get to sleep by 11:00 PM to keep up this schedule and not tire out while driving. Perhaps staying two nights at several of the stops would have improved the quality of my visits. I could have spent two days in the Niagara Falls area – perhaps visiting Toronto. The Mackinaw City area had potential for a longer visit and some nice golfing venues along the shores of Lake Michigan. I did spend two days in Jackson Hole, but that could have been three days. The Virginia/West Virginia area had several more interesting side trip possibilities, such as visits to one of the caverns or one or two Civil War historical sites.
I also realize that there was no need to golf eleven of the thirteen days! I should have brought my fishing gear since there were numerous opportunities to drop a line in some interesting waters – from the immense Lake Superior to Minnesota Lakes (still looking for Lake Wobegon) and streams in Montana and Wyoming. A good book on tape should have been tried. Listening to my iPod playlists and The Village on Sirius/XM radio did get stale toward the end of the trip.
My trusty palm sized Canon PowerShot SD1000 camera worked well but there were times I needed more oomph. A camera with better telephoto capabilities was needed, but then again would have been harder to handle and taking shots from within the moving car might not have been advisable, as if it was a good idea even using the smaller camera.
My Garmin also should have been sent to an advanced training school to prevent some of its periods of giving driving directions I would not give my worst enemy. I did get some unasked for advice when using my Garmin in stressful situations and that was to expand the view to assure that my goal was actually in range! I had a good road atlas with me in the car and it was a godsend. It would be better for the passenger to read the map rather than the driver.
I am considering a late September/early October road trip to Prince Edward Island. This will be a seven to ten day journey. I will start accepting and reviewing travel companion applications next week. The perfect candidate will have a digital camera with a good telephoto lens, like folk music, play golf and fish, like seafood and has a poor sense of smell. This trip can be as short as 840 miles one way.
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