Among the many trips a camper dreams of, crossing the United States from coast to coast is one of them. The Camper Club Italia organised it and we signed up. We had talked about it for a long time with friends; others had been there with other organisations or on their own, but always on very limited routes: California, Nevada and Utah. As far as we knew, nobody had done the "coast to coast". Looking at the programme, we noticed it was very vast but compressed in time; in short, we would have to rush, yet it could be done. After two meetings in Bologna, the club's headquarters, and one in Bergamo, where we got all the details and the final costs, we decided to go. The all-inclusive cost (which, sadly, it wouldn't be) was set at €12,500.
Twenty days before departure there was to be a settlement, in our favour or against, on the dollar/euro exchange rate, and in the end it never happened — about €400 in our favour. It was decided to charge everyone the same for the campers even though they came in different sizes, because not everyone could have a small one, so they were drawn by lot. The maximum number of participants was supposed to be 20 campers with two leaders, split into two groups; unfortunately one of the two leaders had to drop out for health reasons. We were asked whether we wanted to set off with a single leader and we all agreed, yet the cost of the second person had already been counted and was never refunded to the participants. Many asked for a refund, but there was no reply.
To fit in more photos and make for quicker reading, I decided to present this trip divided by state: for each group, along with the relevant photos, there's the diary of the days connected to that state.
Day 110 May 2009
From Jackson state of New Jersey to Harrisburg state of Pennsylvania km 260
Departure at 8 am; today we will really begin travelling as a group. The group leader, Pierluigi, gives us many recommendations, urges us to be prudent and to give maximum and active collaboration from everyone, how and when to communicate among the group while travelling; for the occasion we have bought Walkie Talkies, as our CBs are not permitted in the United States. He will set off at the head of the caravan and we in 14th position. These are the established positions, but later they will be updated based on the ability and practice of the new vehicles, which not everyone is used to driving. Our journey today will be about 250 km in the direction of Lancaster, crossing the land of the Amish, and arriving in Harrisburg in the evening. We immediately notice the landscape changing colour.
Soft, very green hills frame this delightful place where this singular community with a very robust social fabric lives. Here the panorama is made of fields, a gentle rolling landscape, disturbed only by sparse classic dwellings. Farmsteads, on the other hand, are countless. The Amish creed is based on strong family ties and even stronger religious identity. They live in the countryside as artisans and farmers, keeping their places free of any intrusion that might undermine their natural way of living. For example, electric power is not allowed, but wind, solar and water energy are welcomed. Cars are not allowed because they pollute. To get around they use black carts (called buggies) which have become their symbol. They are therefore good breeders of horses, essential for pulling the carts. They are humble people, who dress in a peculiar way.
The men wear loose garments with dark trousers that are wide and high at the bottom, without buttons and zips. Once married, they grow a beard that they will never cut, letting it grow untrimmed. The women do not wear any kind of jewellery. Their clothes are pastel-coloured, the sleeves are long, with aprons and little caps that cover their long hair. Unmarried girls wear black little caps, married women white ones. The community very often intervenes economically to support the difficulties of each individual family, especially helping young married couples in building the house or simply in the work in the fields. Their dialect is predominantly Germanic but, in effect, they are trilingual. Indeed, at home they speak a German dialect, called Pennsylvania Dutch. They use the German language in their religious services, but learn English at school and use it with those who are not Amish.
We leave this place, very often encountering their black carriages travelling calmly. We head towards Harrisburg; lunch stop at an outlet recommended to us from Italy; the women literally went crazy, they were let loose in the various shops and bought everything and more. Stop at the Landys Valley Museum (N 40 05 33 W 76 16 50), old houses transported from various parts of the state and rebuilt for the tourist, nothing exceptional. Today's problem was diesel; three campers do not run on petrol; unfortunately not all petrol stations have a diesel pump and throughout the whole trip finding this fuel was a gamble. East Campground Campsite – N 40 13 53 W 76 47 54.
Landys Valley Museum
Day 211 May 2009
From Harrisburg state of Pennsylvania to Grand Island state of New York km. 480
Departure at 7 am, a day of transfer awaits us. We do not take the highway, long and monotonous, but cross endless fields and with considerable stretches of forests of oak, hickory, chestnut maple, ash and beech. We arrive on the eastern shore of Lake Erie, where the Niagara River begins, connecting it to Lake Ontario. In the late afternoon we arrive at the Niagara Falls KOA Kampground, where we will stay for two nights. It is a beautiful campsite, clean and well ordered, large pitches with the relevant hook-ups. Now experts, we connect the various fill and drain hoses without problems. Niagara Falls Koa Campsite – N 43 01 55 W 78 58 20.
Harrisburg - East Campground
Day 313 Jun 2009
Conclusion
So much effort and so much fatigue for this trip that gave us emotions difficult to describe. Every day was unique, unmissable, extraordinary, thanks also to the commitment and will of all our adventure companions. What do we remember most? Hard to say. Every place, in its own way, was wonderful. This trip will be memorable.
Our thoughts go, in order, to the impetuous charm of Niagara Falls; to the badlands of the Badlands; to the faces of the Presidents carved into the mountain; to the magnificent Devil Tower, to the moving Old Faithful and to the whole of Yellowstone Park (even though we did not see Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear), to Monument Valley, and its delicate arches and its spires; to the light filtered through Antelope Canyon; to the legendary Lake Powell with the Glen Canyon Dam; to the superb, the great, the beautiful, the breathtaking Grand Canyon; to the lights, the sounds of Las Vegas; to the very hot Badwater in Death Valley; to the very old and very big General Sherman and to the unexpected snowfall at Sequoia National Park; to the wonderful Golden Gate Bridge and the skyline of San Francisco seen from romantic Sausalito; and finally, to the great New York, its skyscrapers, Central Park, the Brookly
n Bridge, the Statue of Liberty (seen from afar). There would have been so many other things to tell that we did not include in this text. Others that we could have mentioned but that are found in all the tourist guides. Still others, like the most intimate sensations and emotions….that can never be described but that will remain prisoners forever inside us. Now it is really all over. It is time to return home, see friends again, continue our usual life, waiting for another wonderful trip to enjoy together.
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