| s/y Nine of Cups Rediscovering America ... From Sea to Shining Sea May - September 2010 |
| The USA is a big, big country. Though we've seen much of it before, there's still so much left to see and spots to revisit. Come with us on our cross country trip from sea to shining sea. |
| American folk and patriotic songs rang true as we travelled more than 11,000 miles from Pacific to Atlantic across the USA and back again. As Americans, we're sometimes criticized by other cruisers for our national pride and patriotism, but as we crossed this country, we could hardly contain our awe at its beauty and majesty. Too mushy for you? Sorry...it's the American way! From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam... God Bless, America, my home sweet home. from God Bless, America ( Irving Berlin) Oh, beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain, For purple mountain's majesty above the fruited plain. America, America, God shed his grace on thee And crowned thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea... from America the Beautiful (Katharine Lee Bates) As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway. I saw below me that golden valley. This land was made for you and me. from This Land is Your Land (Woody Guthrie) |
| 50 By 50... We travelled lots in our careers for business and and personally as well. One of our goals before heading off to sail around the world, was to have visited all 50 US states by the time we were 50 years old...which we managed to do. Marcie's last state was North Dakota and David's was Vermont. There were rules though before you could count a state as "visited". Just flying through an airport in a state didn't count at all. I mean everyone connects in Atlanta or Chicago, but you can hardly call Illinois or Georgia a "visited" state because of that coincidence. The rule: You must be outside the airport and have at least one meal in the state to call it "visited". After this trip, we have decided that visiting all the National Parks and Monuments (392) should be added to our "bucket list" for the future. |
| The USA has over 250,000 rivers totalling about 3,500,000 miles. The longest river, the Missouri , a tributary of the Mississippi River, is 2,540 miles long. The biggest river, in terms of water volume, is the deeper Mississippi. The longest undammed river in the contiguous USA is the Yellowstone River, 692 miles long. We crossed many of the major rivers as we criss- crossed America. An asterisk means it was crossed on this trip. Major US Rivers (in order by length): *1. Missouri, 2,540 miles (flows into Mississippi River) *2. Mississippi, 2,340 miles (flows into Gulf of Mexico) 3. Yukon, 1,980 miles (flows into Bering Sea) *4. Rio Grande, 1,900 miles (flows into Gulf of Mexico) 4. St. Lawrence, 1,900 miles (flows into Gulf of St. Lawrence) *6. Arkansas, 1,460 miles (flows into Mississippi River) *7. Colorado, 1,450 miles (flows into Gulf of California) *8. Red, 1,290 miles (flows into Mississippi River) 9. Brazos, 1,280 miles (flows into Gulf of Mexico) 10. Columbia, 1,240 miles (flows into Pacific Ocean) 11. Snake, 1,040 miles (flows into Columbia River) *12. Platte, 990 miles (flows into Missouri River) *13. Ohio, 981 miles (flows into Mississippi River) 14. Pecos, 926 miles (flows into Gulf of Mexico) *15. Canadian, 906 miles (flows into Arkansas River) 16. Tennessee, 886 miles (flows into Ohio River) 17. Colorado, 862 miles (flows into Matagordo Bay) 18. North Canadian, 800 miles (flows into Canadian River) 19. Mobile, 774 miles (flows into Gulf of Mexico) 20. Kansas, 743 miles (flows into Missouri River) 21. Kuskokwim, 724 miles (flows into Bering Sea) *22. Green, 730 miles (flows into Colorado River) 23. James, 710 miles (flows into Missouri River) 24. Yellowstone, 692 miles (flows into Missouri River) 25. Tanana, 659 miles (flows into Yukon River) |
The final tally...
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| We stopped in each state's welcome center to pick up free maps and brochures. |
