Sometimes the lights all shining on me Other times I can barely see Lately it occurs to me What a long strange trip it’s been   Truckin’ I’m a going home Whoa, whoa, baby, back where I belong Back home, sit down and patch my bones And get back truckin’ on   – “Truckin”, Grateful Dead   That’s exactly how I feel now. It’s been a day of rest since I came back to my new home – the Bay Area. And the more I think about the last month, the lines “What a long strange trip it’s been” echo in my head. I still can’t believe it’s over. I will miss those moments of insanity – the impromptu swim in...

The Pacific Highway along the Oregon Coast is perhaps the most dangerous highway I have ever driven through. Dangerous because there are too many breathtaking vista points along the way, which can be very distracting – in a nice way though.   I planned the Oregon trip such that I spent minimum time in the hotels and maximum time on the road by the ocean. So, all I did was drive a bit and then stop if I see something nice along the coast. And I had to stop at least 25-30 times during this 400 mile stretch because there is really so much to see in Oregon.   Each stop gave a unique perspective of the ocean. I came across sandy beaches,...

On a clear, sunny day, Seattle is easily one of the most beautiful cities to live in. During my three-day stay there, luckily I just got one rainy, cloudy day.   My drive from Montana, through the flat plains of eastern Washington and later through the snow capped Cascade Mountains, was amazing. It was one of those in-the-zone days, when driving seems so easy. I reached Seattle in the evening and crashed at my friend, Ram’s place, which is close to the Green Lake. Ram is one of my best friends from undergrad, probably the most reliable person I know and my favorite roadtrip buddy (we have covered several national parks in CA by road). Ram...

After a brief stopover at Vermont, I was on my way to the Niagara Falls through the lush green roads of rural, upstate New York. There were a few things about this stretch of the trip that really excited me. First of all, yes of course, it was the visit to Niagara – which somehow is a hugely popular tourist attraction among Indians (I’ll come to that later). The other thing I was looking forward to was meeting my undergrad buddy, Sabuj after 9 years. He works as a scientist in a chemical gases company in Buffalo (which is only 20-30 minutes from Niagara).   A little bit about Sabuj first. We were in the same major (Material Science)...

The trip to Acadia National Park in Maine was very flexible, as I did not have a fixed schedule of things to do or people to meet. With more time on my hands, I decided to take the backcountry route instead of the freeways. It took me an extra hour, but a drive through the countryside is always rewarding. You can stop by the food stalls in the farms and enjoy some fresh fruits and nuts. Now, in Maine, instead there were lobster “farms”, where the food stalls sold lobster rolls and fried seafood. Delicious! That’s why in Maine I decided to go on a strict lobster diet. Every Maine meal had to have some lobster in it. Over the next two...

Corner #1 has been covered!! I spent the last day and a half around the coral archipelago, Florida Keys – the southernmost region of Florida. The first destination was Key West – the southernmost point of mainland US. The route to Key West is really scenic and interesting in several ways. It is called the Overseas Highway and takes about two and a half hours to cover one way for only 120 miles. But the drive is beautiful and a must-do for any roadtrip lover. With aquamarine waters on both the sides, the highway hops from one tiny island to another. It is a designated scenic highway and is truly an engineering marvel (especially...

It has been quite hot in the south during the day. And in the evening usually there are rains and if you go further down south, then storms. Savannah welcomed me with a mild storm in the late evening. I quickly stormed into my hotel and went to bed. The next morning I planned to do a walking tour of Savannah. I didn’t have much time on my hands – just 2-3 hours may be. But that was sufficient to walk around this small, old town – apparently, the oldest city in Georgia.  Savannah reminded me a lot of Pondicherry in India. While everything is French in Pondicherry, over here things are more British. The standard street names with signs...

Hello there, I am Ankur. I am planning to do a really long post-graduation, crosscountry roadtrip from East Coast to California. It is a 30 day long trip touching the four corners of the country… and is probably the craziest thing I have ever done. I am planning to blog about this trip. I needed a domain to post all of my findings too. Questions popped up like which blogging platform should I use, when should I post and most important: from where. This website is the result of all that. The plan is to go to Key West (Florida) first, then drive up north to Maine, then all the way to the west to Seattle, and finally down south to San...