Sabbatical 2015 – Around the Great Lakes

Tomorrow I rejoin the real world. I didn’t accomplish everything I set out to do, but I did get to see some amazing scenery, meet some great people, and sample some of the best craft beer the US and Canada have to offer.

I did end up checking my work email about halfway through my trip after getting a text message from my boss, but other than that, I kept it turned off. I should probably turn that back on, come to think about it…

A couple of things I didn’t accomplish: (1) exercising as much as I would have liked, and (2) learning some basic spoken Japanese. The former…I was pretty much on track until spraining my ankle on day twelve. It is feeling much better, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to run again in the next few days.

The latter… The car, while driving interstate speeds, just wasn’t conducive to it. I often found it difficult to clearly hear exactly how the words were being spoken because of the road noise, and it was just becoming too frustrating.

As I said, I met and talked with a lot of great people along the way. Most were frankly amazed that any US company offered such an opportunity (the sabbatical every seven years) on top of regular vacation. They were also interested in where I’d been, what I’d seen, and where I was going. And, since I was usually in brewery tap houses in the evenings, they all wanted to know what breweries I’d been to and what had been my favorites so far. I picked up several additional suggestions on where to go from those conversations.

We timed the drive through New England just perfectly, I think. The colors in New Hampshire in particular were simply spectacular. Those weren’t the only examples, though. I got several great pictures in Michigan, Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec and Prince Edward Island. It is worth it to get to see those parts of the continent this time of the year at least once, if you can.

That much time in the car is wearing, though. I’m glad I kept most of the trips to around five hours, but If I had to do it again, I’d make the last legs shorter. I’m very glad I swapped the first and last destinations, though. Chicago to Omaha for the last day was tough, but not as tough as Grand Rapids to Omaha would have been. I just wanted to get home…

This is probably the last post I’ll make to this blog. I may go back and update previous posts, and maybe add some more pictures to them. If I do so, I’ll note those in brief posts.

• Total miles traveled: 6,485.3 (10,437.1 kilometers)
• Total time in car: 125:44 (5 days, 5 hours and 44 minutes)
• Unique states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nebraska (12 plus home)
• Unique provinces: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia (5)
• Breweries/brewpubs visited: 60 (plus one winery)
• “World’s largest…” places/objects visited: 0