Toured the USA in my Mk3 - this is my story

It's been quite a while since I posted so I figured I'd post up with a bang. Have you seen the Movie "The Bucket List", a movie about two old men on their deathbeds fulfilling what they've always wanted to do in their lifetimes? Well, I decided not to wait until I'm old and gray and I've always wanted to drive around the country in my car. I got laid off earlier this year, there's no family or mortgage payments to take care of, and gas prices are still reasonable. I figured there is no better time.
A great deal of effort went into planning a trip of this magnitude during March and April 2009. The goal was to see the greatest scenery and enjoy the greatest driving roads this country has to offer. It wasn’t so much the destination that mattered, it was the journey. After key points of interest were identified, a route was planned. Then secondary points of interest along the specified route were chosen. A list of what to bring with me was made and constantly updated throughout the month.
I set off on April 29th, 2009. Here you will find pictures that I’ve taken along the way. Many pictures were taken while driving and others were courtesy of a tripod. The roads left me in constant admiration, the scenery in constant awe. That’s why you’ll see so many of these. Each and every picture has a purpose, a special meaning, and a reason why it was taken a certain way. I took about 2500 pictures and 14 hours of video footage. This is only a small sample of the pictures. The car is a 1995 VW Jetta 2.0. I left NYC with 160k miles on it and returned 5 weeks later with 174.5k on it, experiencing no problems at all. On average, 12 hours per day were spent driving, racking up about 400 miles per day. The 36-day trip took me through 25 states (and 2 provinces). It was probably one of the greatest trips I'll take in my lifetime. This is my story. I welcome you to share it with me.