The Trip of a Lifetime

In June of 2013, I got notice that I was to be laid off my job at IBM in 30 days. Although I had some opportunities there and elsewhere, I decided to take the money and run instead. On the advice of long-time former Sun Microsystems buddy Ray Voight and the blessing of my financial advisor, I decided to take the summer off to see America. It was without question one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I figured I would wander three to four weeks and made a list of the sights I would see. Although I had some eastern and southeastern spots on my early lists, I had visited many of them during my travels before and I soon realized that most of the places I wanted to see were out west, particularly if I wanted to spend about a month travelling. Not that I had anything better to do at home, but I know I get homesick after a while. I wound up putting 10,239 miles on the car in almost six weeks and I did not regret for a single moment staying longer on the road.

I really wanted to take my gorgeous crystal red 2010 Corvette, but I was worried that the sports car suspension would not be suitable for long periods of driving. I was very pleasantly surprised when my sweet baby's smooth ride allowed me to drive comfortably, sometimes up to eleven hours a day. The 'vette was the hands-down star of the trip, not giving me a single lick of trouble, and engendering oohs and aahs from friends, family, and even total strangers along the way.

Here is a map showing the route I wound up taking:

Trip Photos

In all, I took almost 2,500 pictures with my new Nikon D600 DSLR camera, the best of which you can see here.