The Grand Excursion Timeline

As mentioned in an earlier post, recently I was motivated to record in more detail a very memorable summer vacation from my childhood. I found a few different resources in my "treasures" box. By combining them, I was able to recreate the following timeline. Maybe it will be of interest to someone else. And if I ever find more information (maybe there's something in my mom's journals - particularly for the end of the trip), I can come back here to add it. This is supposed to be a simple timeline; more detailed accounts (with differing emphases) can be found here and here and here.

Saturday, 6/29/1974 - San Jose, California to Hawthorne, Nevada – 300 miles, 6 hours driving - leave home – pick up Tony at Camp Ritchie on way to Uncle Kraig’s house

Sunday, 6/30/1974 – church with Uncle Kraig and family

Monday, 7/1/1974 – Hawthorne, Nevada to Clearfield, Utah – 550 miles, 8 hours - visit Great-Grandma White and Aunt Dora

Tuesday, 7/2/1974 – Clearfield to Cheyenne, Wyoming – 450 miles, 6 hours

Wednesday, 7/3/1974 – Follow Pony Express Trail in Nebraska, arrive at campground in Missouri – 650 miles, 9 hours from Cheyenne to Far West, Missouri

Thursday, 7/4/1974 – Far West to Hannibal, Missouri – 150 miles, 2 ½ hours – visit Adam-ondi-Ahman and Mark Twain’s Cave

Friday, 7/5/1974 – Hannibal to Nauvoo, Illinois – 70 miles, 1-2 hours – also visit Liberty Jail in Carthage, Illinois

Saturday, 7/6/1974 – more Nauvoo

Sunday, 7/7/1974 – Nauvoo to Chicago, Illinois – 300 miles, 4 ½ hours - church with Uncle Sam and Aunt Jean

Monday, 7/8/1974 – Chicago to Kirtland, Ohio – 400 miles, 6 hours

Tuesday, 7/9/1974 – Kirtland to Niagara Falls, New York – 200 miles, 3 hours - camp at Darien Falls State Park

Wednesday, 7/10/1974 – Niagara to Palmyra, New York – 100 miles, 2 hours

Thursday, 7/11/1974 – Palmyra to Sharon, Vermont via Fort Ticonderoga – 300 miles, 6 ½ hours

Friday, 7/12/1974 – Sharon to Boston, Massachusetts – 150 miles, 2 ½ hours

Saturday, 7/13/1974 – Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts

Sunday, 7/14/1974 – Church - most likely somewhere around Boston

Monday, 7/15/1974 - Boston, Massachusetts – Freedom Trail

Tuesday, 7/16/1974 - Plimouth Plantation & Mayflower II

Wednesday, 7/17/1974 – Visit relatives in Connecticut

Thursday, 7/18/1974 – Boston to New York City, New York – 200 miles, 4 hours -Statue of Liberty

Friday, 7/19/1974 – New York City to Washington, D.C. – 250 miles, 4 ½ hours – Smithsonian and Monuments

Saturday, 7/20/1974 – Washington to Williamsburg, Virginia – 150 miles, 2 ½ hours - also visit Mount Vernon

Sunday, 7/21/1974 – Church with friends in Silver Spring, Maryland

Monday, 7/22/1974 – Head home via Minnesota, North Dakota, Yellowstone National Park, and Shelley and Boise, Idaho (visit Grandfather's boyhood town and Dad's cousins) – over 3,000 miles, taking about ten days

Total tally - about 7,500 miles over five weeks - and all nine of us lived to tell the tale!

Note: Pictures added here are not necessarily from 1974, but from visits I made as an adult, or from the handy-dandy internet. Also note that the mileages and times are based on quick searches of today's maps, not those from 1974.