After the festival, Mrs Coolidge and the Bridges embarked on a week's motor-trip, driving south to Philadelphia and Washington, before returning northwards to New York on 13 October via Wilmington and Atlantic City. They enjoyed particularly the peaceful countryside of Maryland and the city of Philadelphia, but driving about so much was exhausting and they felt as if they were putting on too much weight because of their lack of exercise, sitting in the car all day. Plans were frequently altered, as was customary for Mrs Coolidge, and the Bridges wondered how the chauffeur coped with it, only to discover subsequently that Mrs Coolidge's chauffeurs did not usually remain long in her service.

The visit to New York was brief, as the Bridges were soon travelling to Cleveland at the beginning of a conducting tour arranged by Mrs Coolidge at Bridge's request. There was just time to meet Walter Damrosch for a discussion of a concert in which Bridge's Two Poems were to be given and to rehearse the London String Quartet in his Second String Quartet, which was soon to be performed in New York as well.

The tour took just under a month, with the following timetable:15