Mount Rushmore to Wyoming

a few random clips from our journey from Mount Rushmore to Wyoming...(stay tuned for footage from our trip into Yellowstone)   ENJOY:

Boise and Thanksgiving

Check out these two videos from our road trip adventures in Boise, ID and also Lewiston, ID where we spent Thanksgiving.  Thanks to Holly for our Boise adventures and thanks to Baker's family for our Thanksgiving!
 THANKSGIVING
BOISE


Thanks for watching...stay tuned!  We love you.

Turco, Chicago, & The Open Road

Watch these VIDEOS!  The Minivan Diaries checked out Turco's improv show at Second City in Chicago, explored Chicago thoroughly, and then hit the open road continuing the adventure!  Here they are:
Turco: Improv, Second City

Chicago

A very special thanks to Catherine Turco and her roommate Laura for letting us crash at their place in Lincoln Park and being our guides in Chicago.
The Open Road


More to come!  Keep following!  Tell your friends!

Thank YOU for watching.

PNEP and Party in the USA

here are two videos...please enjoy them.
Party in the USA

PNEP

in PNEP we would like to give a special thanks to Dustin and the Risners for hosting us in Erie...and then a very gracious thank you as well to the lovely Ros for her excellent tour directing talents in guiding us around Pittsburgh.  Thanks to you both for your time and generosity.  Your assistance in our trip is very much appreciated and not the same without.  Thanks, Thank you, and Thanks.

Subscribe to our blog and become a true follower.  Post our link on your facebook status. Help us promote and as always, stay tuned for more videos!  Thanks

New York and Boston

Here are two videos of our time spent in New York and Boston.  Our time in New York was enjoyable.  We stayed with Matteo for two nights in Hoboken, NJ across the water from NYC and a third night in Goshen, NY with the Cirigliano Family.  We were in NY when the Yankees won the world series, and we attended the Yankee parade.  It was crazy.  We tried to get on the David Letterman show, checked out Times Square, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, and many other city things. We also had some NY pizza.  Good times were had.

In Boston we stayed one night sleeping inside a church and then a second night with Derek and Carissa who helped with the church.  Gatsby had the connection with the Pastor of that church.  We attended their service Sunday morning and then checked out Boston during the afternoon.  We walked around the city, peeked in the Boston Red Sox stadium, went to Cheers, found the Freedom Trail, and had some delcious food.  Good times were also had.

Enjoy the vids:
New York

Boston


(more vids to come soon...stay tuned, subscribe to the blog, and tell your friends.)

The Capital

Exploration in Washington, D.C. was brilliant.  We stayed three nights in Baltimore, Maryland and devoted two days to walking and gray-lining around D.C.  (The Holocaust Museum is a must-see.)  All the monuments were fantastic.  Our first day, we found a grayline desk and presented our Holland America/Gray Line of Alaska photo IDs and were able to talk our way into three free Hop-on Hop-off double decker open air narrated sightseeing bus tours that were good for two days and worth $35 per ticket.

The second day we were special guests invited into the White House to have some tea with President Obama and the first lady.  They are a wonderful couple.

We stayed with Gatsby's cousin Laura in Baltimore.  Her and her roommates put up with us for three nights; they were lovely.  Three mornings in a row Laura bought us fresh muffins and bagels...delicious.  Thanks for the accomodations.

Here is some rando clips of D.C. exploration:


Stay tuned for future updates. In the meantime scroll down and make sure you have seen our previous blog entries/videos.  (SEE VIRGINIA BEACH post below as well...since the most recent 2 posts were added/updated back to back...if you haven't seen or noticed it yet.)

Thanks

Virginia Beach and Halloween

Greetings followers.  Below is a video of some footage from our excursions and halloween festivities in Virginia Beach with Kim and Jared Beasley.  The Beasleys were gracious hosts.  We swam in the Atlantic here again except this time the water was much colder and it took several minutes for your entire body to become completely numb for you to enjoy the boogie boarding, body surfing, and swimming through decent sized waves.

For Halloween we supported Jared Beasley's intramural flag football team, explored Regent University, enjoyed the chilly Atlantic waters, and watched Zombieland.  It was a delightful day.


Good times.

Max Patch

This video has footage from our two night camp-out at Max Patch in the Appalachain Mountains in North Carolina.  A highlight from the east coast portion of our great American road trip.


The camping was awesome.  We made fire.  We made eggs.  We made coffee.  We made grilled cheese.  We made ramen noodles.  We made memories.

The weather was fantastic.  We used water from the nearby mountain creek to boil our ramen noodles in.  We hiked in the refreshingly crisp mountain air on the Appalachain trail.  The foliage was amazing.  The mountain drive was beautiful.

It was good for us.

(More footage to come.  We are currently in Boston, MA.  Stay tuned and tell your friends.  Also, feel free to leave comments and ask questions about our journey.  Don't be shy.)

ATL

the below video has some random clips of our adventure in and around Atlanta...


we would like to thank EK, Michael & Meredith, and their awesome kids for all the hospitality and fun...you are lovely people :)



 (fyi: often times some video footage will be sped up in order to shorten the length of video without cutting out parts of it...whatever.)


UPDATE on location:  since ATL we have camped in the Appalachain mountains, gotten our oil changed in Greensboro, NC, swam the Atlantic at Virginia Beach, partied with the Beasleys around Regent University, explored D.C. for two days while crashing in Baltimore with some brainiac PhD students at Johns Hopkins University and are heading to NYC on this Wed. Nov. 4.


keep track of our blog and check for upcoming footage of these adventures

keep following...and spread the word about  THE MINIVAN DIARIES.

FL-ATL

here are a few clips from our journey from camping out on the beach in Jacksonville, Fl and on the road to Atlanta, GA...


more to come...

Day 1 - 2

watch the video below...that's what's up.
(and from now on to easily distinguish b/w the Matts when updates are in text form... Matthew Thomas will be referred to as "Gatsby" and Matthew Baker will be referred to as "Baker")


Our first day was a trip from Jackson, MS to New Orleans, LA where we checked out Bourbon street and had some cajun cuisine for lunch and then on to the outskirts of Pensacola, FL where we camped out.  It rained heavily the entire night.  Our tent wanted to blow over, but it didn't.  Our sleeping bags got soaked.  The next morning we went straight to the nearest laundromat and dried our sleeping bags, brushed our teeth, and air dried the tent.  We then drove all the way to Orlando, FL.  We met up with a few Alaska friends for dinner.  (Hopefully Seaira will post those pics on her facebook.)  The second night we also went to the Blue Martini, compliments of Connor Kelly.  We had to see what it was all about since he always talks about it on his facebook posts. We are in Orlando for two nights.  Tomorrow we will head to Georgia.

We'll see what happens. 

 

First Repair

So..here is the situation.  Matt B. is from California.  Matt T. is from Illinois.  David is from Mississippi.
The beginnings of the road trip include Matt B. flying from the west coast to pick up and start up his old minivan which is apparently entitled "The Blue Demon" in Springfield, MO.  He is to then drive 3 hours to Illinois to pick up Matt T. and then drive 8 hours south to pick up David in MS.  Upon restarting the van after it had been in hibernation for almost 6 months, it proceeds to overheat after driving down the road a short distance.  One way or another, the overheating stops without taking it to a mechanic and The Blue Demon supposedly runs fine now.  However, the van makes it to Illinois to pick up Matt T. and one of the tires is splitting open.  

Less than 3 hours of driving time and having yet to pick up all of the road trip members (David awaits in MS), the van is having its first repair...a new tire.  Let's hope this is not an indicator of minivan problems to come.

haha...this is going to be good.

Matt & Matt are in Illinois.  The van will get a new tire.  David is in Mississippi.  He waits on this 20th day of October, 2009 for them to arrive.  It is just after 1:00p.m.  The Matts have yet to get on the road south.

Let's hope the second repair doesn't come anywhere between IL & MS.  Let's actually hope the time between the first & the second repair is substantial and won't come for a long time later in the road trip, if at all.

...the journey...begins?

The Minivan Diaries

Plan: Road Trip America

Mission: Explore the US...down to the nitty-gritty...while having fun and enjoying life.

Adventurers: Matt Baker, David Barger, Matt Thomas

Destination: Any where our desire and will may lead us within the boundaries of the contiguous portion of the USofA.

Transportation: Old old minivan.

Commencement: October 20, 2009 (ish)

Duration: 2 months (ish)

We will attempt to chronicle our journey entitled "The Minivan Diaries" through a series of blog entries through the mediums of text, picture, and video.

(See also our You Tube account: www.youtube.com/theminivandiarires)



We want to see and travel the world. We figured we might start with our own backyard...America.

Blessings,

Matt, David, Matt