Encouraged by our modest success during the fall on 1991, we decided that fun could be had by driving the Interstates, camping and visiting interesting places. We had purchased an Aerostar van and I built some shelves to fit behind the rear bench seats and cabinet to sit behind the front passenger seats (the middle bench was removed for travel). We purchased some additional camping equipment, loaded up the truck and set off on the first of our road trips.

The purpose of this trip was manifold. Most of our later road trips surrounded a particular theme, but this trip was just to test the road trip water. We were going to go to Baton Rouge/New Orleans to spend some time visiting friends, try a scenic road route, visit a couple of National Parks, and visit Washington DC to see the many museums and famous monuments.

We roared down the Interstate system to New Orleans and stay at a beautiful hotel in the French Quarter. The courtyard of the hotel is shown below. The trip down established our “get there” mode of travel. I drive about 10-12 hours per day, eat in restaurants and crash in hotels. The trip to New Orleans was accomplished in three days, Smith’s Falls (ON) to Winchester (VA), Winchester to Gadsden (AB), Gadsden to New Orleans. I continue to use this method in all of my road trips.