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by Waltzing Matilda, order by Date newest first.

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Jeff & Shelly at the Capitol
Jeff & Shelly at the Capitol
We detoured to D.C. for the Fourth of July, where we are pictured here that evening in front of the Capitol Dome. 400,000 people were estimated to be on the Mall for the fireworks show that night.
June 23 - July 7, 2006 Marshall, N.C. - Washington, D.C. 12,339 miles to date 1,483 miles this leg Because we could, we routed our trip to Washington, D.C., for the Fourth of July. This was Jeff’s first visit to the nation’s capital; I had made many trips there while in college, but hadn’t visited since 1998. Our first encounter with the city core was after dark on the third of July; our hosts took us on a “lighted monument” tour that included the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the new World War [View Full Entry]

Waltzing Matilda - Shelly & Jeff Randall | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
3263 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 37 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 12th 2006 | 743 Views | [diary=72470]

Fireworks on the Fourth
Base of Washington Monument
David & Angela

Boom!
Boom!
With an ear-splitting explosion, a blank charge is fired from a Civil War-era cannon at Fort Pulaski on the Georgia coast. Shelly is proud of this photo, which she took with one hand; the other was pl... [more]
June 4 - 22, 2006 Hot Springs, N.C. - Savannah, Ga. - Charleston, S.C. - Charlotte, N.C. Loop 10,856 miles to date 1,610 miles this leg NOTE: In addition to the updated Route Map, we've made revisions to the Proposed Route Map: for now, it includes Newfoundland! Four and a half months after leaving our Northwest home, we reached the Southeast apex of our round-the-country trip. We first saw the Atlantic on June 15 from the bridge to Tybee Island, Ga., where we sp [View Full Entry]

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3434 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 49 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 26th 2006 | 537 Views | [diary=69085]

Tybee Island Beach
Jeff & Boogie Board
Tybee Island Light

Sailing on our Anniversary
Sailing on our Anniversary
On a Biloxi Bay schooner on our fourth wedding anniversary!
May 18 - June 3, 2006 Biloxi, Miss. - Hendersonville, N.C. 9,246 miles to date 1,490 miles this leg Apologies for technical difficulties that delayed the posting of this entry... On May 18, Jeff and I celebrated our four-year wedding anniversary with a significant outing: we went sailing for the first time since leaving Port Townsend. Jeff later argued that it wasn’t really sailing because we didn’t actually set sail. I wonder that after four years of marriage, he doesn’t know better than not to argue with me! Our three-hour cruise on Biloxi Bay wa [View Full Entry]

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2212 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 35 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: July 13th 2006 | 406 Views | [diary=64734]

Capt. Brandon
Biloxi Cat
Biloxi Tug

Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce
The director of the county historical society parks his Rolls Royce outside his FEMA trailer on the block-from-the-beach lot where his house was entirely swept away. He says if he had a dollar for eve... [more]
May 3 - May 17, 2006 Lake Providence, La. - Bay St. Louis, Miss. 7,756 miles to date 631 miles this leg Whew. We hardly know where to start. Nearly all of the last two weeks was spent in Hurricane Katrina’s destruction zone, and although nearly nine months have passed since this “storm of the century,” it’s mind-boggling to see for ourselves much more effort the recovery is going to take. As traveling eyewitnesses, we will attempt to describe here what you’re not necessarily hearing on the news every day, although the struggles are daily f [View Full Entry]

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2113 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 37 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 20th 2006 | 452 Views | [diary=60092]

Upholstered Chair
Habitat Wall
Habitat Roofers

Memphis Songsters
Memphis Songsters
Despite delays from starter failure, Matilda carried us all the way to Memphis, Tenn., where blues are big on Beale Street.
April 18 - May 2, 2006 Leavenworth, Kan. - Lake Chicot, Ark. Mile 7,125 1,750 Miles this Leg Driving a 17-year-old vehicle around the country, we expected to have periodic mechanical troubles. And a few hours after the last blog posting, we had to tap into the “repairs” reserve in our trip budget. Matilda “gave us a start” when her starter failed! We had packed up on April 18 and left our relatives’ house near Leavenworth, Kan., to head toward southern Missouri. We stopped in the tongue-twister town of Osawatomie, Kan., to fill our propane tank a [View Full Entry]

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1994 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 29 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: May 4th 2006 | 351 Views | [diary=56394]

Matilda Under Tow
Matilda's Starter
Emily & Jeff

Matilda in Snow
Matilda in Snow
After a snowfall in Durango, Colo., we slept inside Matilda's "snow blanket."
April 3 - 17, 2006 Cortez, Colo. - Leavenworth, Kan. Mile 5,375 1,541 Miles this Leg We are now balanced at the easternmost edge of Kansas, more than halfway across the continent from the coast we started on (see Route Map). Since leaving Port Townsend on Feb. 9, we have traveled more than 5,000 miles in nine weeks. Yet we have used up just a quarter of the time allotted for this road trip, and—one might hope—just a quarter of the adventures! This blog entry recounts our time in the Four Corners region of th [View Full Entry]

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2235 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 29 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 18th 2006 | 380 Views | [diary=53315]

Chaco Doors
Chaco Sunburst
Chaco Observatory

Canyon de "Shelly"
Canyon de "Shelly"
Shelly on the rim of the canyon that might have been her namesake: Canyon de Chelly.
March 21 - April 2, 2006 Palm Springs, Calif. - Canyon de Chelly, Ariz. Mile 3,834 On our trek into the southwest—destination Canyon de Chelly—we’ve been offered several different pronunciations of the famous Anasazi dwelling place. Upon arrival in the Navajo Nation, we received the definitive answer: it’s not Canyon de Shelly, but d’Shay, as in the French. I was a bit disappointed! Jeff and I began this chapter in California’s contradictory Coachella Valley, a seemingly arid desert in which thrives Palm Springs, with [View Full Entry]

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2308 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 30 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 19th 2006 | 1722 Views | [diary=50612]

Canyon de "Jeff"??
Palm Tops
Shelly & Grady

Carmel Sunset
Carmel Sunset
Sunset over the Pacific at Carmel-by-the-Sea. After a long last look, we won't see this ocean again until our trip circle brings us back to Washington in late 2006.
March 11 - 20, 2006 Monterey - Palm Springs, Calif. Mile 2,472 Prologue: Two months, nearly 2,500 miles, already a million memories. To see a visual representation of the trip thus far, click on the “route map” link at left. I will add these maps to the beginning of blog entries every so often, after an appreciable number of miles have accumulated. I have also created a map of our proposed route for the entire trip, which you can view here. Both maps* will be updated as we go along at the “sabbat [View Full Entry]

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1984 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 25 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 22nd 2006 | 1543 Views | [diary=48088]

Highway 1, Big Sur
Waterfall
Preening Peacock

Rainy Fisherman's Wharf
Rainy Fisherman's Wharf
Fog is what San Francisco is known for -- not rain! We got both, as did the other sea lion-watchers at Fisherman's Wharf. That's Alcatraz Island Light shining through the mist.
February 27 - March 10, 2006 Ferndale - Santa Cruz, Calif. Mile 1,731 Forget what I said about “sunny California” in the last entry. It’s still winter here, and we’ve had our share of precipitation in the last 10 days, some of it frozen! In the high-elevation logging town of Redway, we were pelted with such high-velocity hail that I worried our new windshield would shatter; my umbrella blew inside out at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco; we got caught in a downpour on our bikes in Palo Alto and arrived at my aunt’s house complete [View Full Entry]

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1908 Words | 5 Comment(s) | 26 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: April 19th 2006 | 431 Views | [diary=45896]

Rainbow
Flooded Vineyard
Jeff Tasting

All this and more!
All this and more!
Jeff surveys the Oregon coast near the California state line (look for him perched at upper left).
February 17-26, 2006 Seaside, Ore. - Arcata, Calif. Mile 1,029 Greetings from sunny California! It sounds trite, but it really was warmer and we felt a mite more laid-back when we crossed the state line a few days ago. Writing from Arcata, Calif., I am happy to report that both of us are healthy again, that Matilda kept us warm on a string of below-freezing nights on the Oregon coast, and that shirtsleeves never felt so good. When we were starting this trip in Port Townsend more than a month (and more than 1,000 miles) ago, we would look up the [View Full Entry]

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1593 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 20 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 27th 2006 | 510 Views | [diary=43325]

Beach Sunset
Two Blue
Shelly in Blue



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