Following several serious health incidents, which really brought home the phrase “tomorrow is never promised,” Desirée and Jonathan (who are originally from Europe) drastically changed their busy, “always-on,” office lifestyles. They bought a boat, and moved from New York City to Washington D.C., and then to South Florida. When COVID hit they realized they needed a safe way to evacuate from hurricanes with their four rescued Beagles and bought an RV. They took it out for a test run, started watching RV travel videos on YouTube, and before they knew it, they were out on the road for their first eight-month road trip.
The Long Way Home - An American Adventure
March 13, 2024
Desirée documented their trip for friends and family on Instagram as @RVcruising, and from the feedback she received, the idea of writing a series of travel books was born. Fast forward three years and they have now completed their third eight-month road trip in their Jayco Seneca Prestige, have visited all the Lower 48 states, and the first two books in the series have been published.
“The Long Way Home - An American Adventure” is an exciting new series of books that captures the joy of traveling the open road and discovering the beauty of America. Readers follow along with Desirée, Jonathan, and the Beagle Gang as they visit the Lower 48 states, the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, and all five Great Lakes, and check off bucket list locations, national parks and monuments, iconic landmarks, fun roadside attractions, big cities, and small-town America.
The first two books, parts 1 and 2, cover the Eastern United States through 240 short travelogues packed with interesting background information, history, personal experiences, and fun facts, and richly illustrated with over 2,000 full-color pictures
The reader will travel to 27 states in the Eastern USA, and Washington, DC, The Great Lakes, the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, big cities and small-town America, and a wide range of bucket list locations, from Niagara Falls to Elvis' Graceland, from Dollywood to National Memorials, and from lighthouses to copper mines, as well as mountains, waterfalls, caves, beautiful beaches and natural springs, iconic sites in rock 'n roll and country music history, museums, wild horses on the beach, bears in the mountains, and manatees and mermaids in Florida springs, eating pasties on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, lobster rolls in New England, and beignets in New Orleans, and so much more.
The books are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart. The next books in the series will cover the Midwest and Mountain States (parts 3 and 4), and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Route 66, and the Western States (parts 5 and 6).
Desirée and Jonathan are far from done traveling, and they are already planning their next trip. As they found out on the road, the more destinations they checked off their “bucket list,” the more new places got added, and that’s on top of all the places they want to revisit. As the saying goes: “I have not been everywhere, but it is on my list.”
About the Author: Desirée van Welsum
Desirée is Dutch but lives in the United States. She is a PhD economist by training, and has worked and lived in six countries in her roles as a senior economist and economic policy adviser for the United Nations, World Bank, OECD, the RAND Corporation and other organizations. She speaks four languages.
More Information: TheLongWayHomeTravels.com or @rvcruising on Instagram
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