Grumpy Bulldog Does America: One Year Later

The actual anniversary date of my epic road trip was September 2, 2014, but that would have been Wednesday, so we'll ignore that.  It was the day after Labor Day because I didn't feel like traveling during Labor Day weekend like everyone else.  And you get better motel rates then.  An interesting fact is I was sort of squatting in my apartment the last two days I was there.  Technically my lease was up August 31st but the next day was a Sunday and then Labor Day so the office didn't re-open until Tuesday and so I figured, hey, why bother going to a motel?  It's not like anyone was going to know, or care.  And no one did.

Anyway, I spent a couple of days still in Michigan, so at this point last year I think I was leaving Michigan to the northern Chicago suburbs, stopping at a Best Buy to pick up the new Counting Crows on CD and then getting a crappy lunch at a Chinese buffet.

On Google Maps I made a map to show all the places I went, which I recently updated to add all the places on my way back to Michigan.

Black line = Original Route, Purple line = Return Home

Wyoming looks kind of lonely there, doesn't it?  I mean it's like I went to every state except it.  Though I did nick the corner of Wyoming.  Recently I was bummed to realize I was probably only 30-40 miles from Devils Tower where that famous scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind takes place.  If I had known that I might have detoured to at least get a picture or two.  Stupid GPS not alerting me to that.  Idaho was the other western state I only nicked without really stopping.

Then you can see I never went to most of the heartland or North Dakota.  Yeah, not missing North Dakota.  Other than Kansas City ribs I'm not sure what I'd be missing there.  The Gateway Arch in St. Louis too I suppose.  Iowa I'd only go to because I set a lot of Where You Belong there.  And then I missed most of Texas, the Deep South, and the whole east coast.  Maybe that could be Part 2.

Or I suppose next I could do Grumpy Bulldog Does Canada, but things never seem to go well for me in Canada.  My trip to Toronto was kind of crappy 5 years ago, except I did write some good Scarlet Knight scenes there, so that was something.  But I wouldn't want to go there for 2-3 months.  And Grumpy Bulldog Does Mexico would probably end with my body lying in a desert to be picked at by vultures.

If you ever want to go back through my pictures and diaries, you can always find them with the label GBDA.  If it wouldn't be such a hassle for little real benefit I'd make a coffee table book.  Maybe a coffee table book with legs so it can be a table! (Old Seinfeld reference.)