MILE 4960

Day 15. The arrival.
After morning coffee and bagels in Brattleboro, we head on down into Massachusetts. After a brief stop at a fruit stand (5 cent fresh cider!) we arrive at D & C's in Marlborough. Dennis is at census training, so we spend the afternoon catching up with Carolyn while trying to make peace with an anxious German Shepard. Acorns falling noisily on the houses and cars, leaving little dents in the roof of our Honda.
Making ourselves at home, we set up camp in the family room. We are treated to dinner at an incredible find....a restaurant/bar with a happy hour menu that is great.

Day 16. The next morning.....
Dennis is off to learn how to say, "Is this a soup kitchen?" in 14 different languages. Carolyn graciously agrees to guide us into Boston via Walden Pond.
Then on to Boston. A neat little entrance via the subway and we are on the Freedom Trail. With characters in Ben Franklin outfits leading trails of tourists, it is often hard to remember that this is a real city and not a section of Disneyland. (Paul Revere's House)

DAY 17. We head north out of Marlborough towards Maine. It promises to be cooler today. A quick stop in Kittery Maine is imperative. When Pigs Fly bread company requires critical inspection and taste-testing. As does Yummies, the candy store which doubles as a walk down memory lane.
Rockland is our destination. We wanted to head up to Bar Harbor, but I wanted to be someplace for a couple of days instead of going someplace. Next trip.
It is too late in the year now for the seaside lobster stands, but we still get a fabulous restaurant version just up the road.

Day 18. Brusque morning. Frost on the cars but clear blue sky against the reds and oranges and greens. Every where I look reminds me of a picture puzzle of fall in New England. Found Camden just a few miles north. Walked about a bit, breakfasted, then headed inland about 15 miles to Sweetgrass Winery and Distillery for a little tasting. Can't say I was very fond of the blueberry or cranberry inspired wines, but the apple brandy was just fine. And Brian has acquired a bottle of gin that he says is worth every penny.
We spend our second consecutive night at the Claddagh Inn, a B & B type hotel done in over-the-top Irish decor. Fun owners, also Irish and very friendly.

MILE 4626

Day 12: The Next Morning: We rise, embrace the mundanity of another motel morning, and head back over the bridge to give Pt. Pleasant West Virginia one more try. The Festival is coming to life slowly as we slip into town. 1st, an attempted photo op at the local statuary. (Forgive the picture, but it was right into the sun!) Then, into the only spot in town advertising "expresso." Strange (but good) coffees; stranger (but good) folklore.

Later, that same morning: hand drawn map in hand, we set out for the bunkers of the beast........you know, the usual...army bunkers built over old Indian burial grounds.....


















We hit the road and meander our way out of West Virginia. One house is mansion-like, the next is made from trailer pieces jimmy-rigged together. Businesses are closed on every corner here. The recession is evidenced here big-time.
So it's on through the up and down rounded hills of West Virginia, smoothing out once we hit the Pennsylvania border. We leave the interstate at Meadville and, dodging Amish buggies, arrive at Woodcock Lake to camp for the night....beautiful, rolling hills of grass and trees....electricity, showers, and only two other campers in the 100+ sites....and one very noisy bug rubbing his legs for love all night long. I was ready to mate with it myself just to shut it up...

Day 13. Our first toll road...$3.00...??...(WTF are gas taxes for?)
Niagara Falls...$10.00 to park
Maid of the Mist boat ride for two....$27.00
All worth it

























We drive on through upstate New York to the Finger Lakes and camp at Cayuga State Park. Many more bugs, not quite as nice a spot as the previous night, but every bit as empty.
Pizza parlor in Seneca Falls was wrong in so many ways.
The bugs began their "e-disharmony." I was so longing for the camp nights in the cold so deep that all the bugs were dead.
And then the rains came.....

Day 14: September 22, 2009

Woke up in one of the finest wine-tasting regions of the East Coast. Wineries plentiful and welcoming all around this finger-lakes region. MMMMmmmm. Can hardly wait!
Have to decide....get into Vermont or waste several hundred dollars on impulse wine purchases.
Compromise is reached....Dunkin Donuts for burnt coffee and donut holes! Then back onto Toll Road (90) across NY state. Another $7.25 and they let us off THIS road. Out of New York state and into Vermont. Bennington on Hwy 7 and then across state to Brattleboro.
Sweet little town. Lots of fun, good food, brew pub and an Econolodge and shower.

MILE 3487

Day 11. After last night's all-you-can-eat chinese buffet, we wake up from a restless MSG-induced slumber. Green mussels, frog's legs, and crawfish...hmm, hmm, hmm....
Continental breakfast (with hard boiled eggs this time) and we're off to Santa Claus, home of Holiday World and other family oriented attractions. Too many kids...we are outta there.































A moment's distraction in Kentucky when we find several suggestively named communities needing the "WELCOME TO sign photo op collage". Unfortunately, all signs were missing, but the KY countryside just south of Cincinnati was beautiful.
Did make it to the Creationism Museum, but our curiosity was not enough to overcome the required $22 a piece to support the absurdity. So we photographed some of their dinosaurs....




























Then headed into Ohio to view some ancient Indian mounds.















This is the Serpent Mound which was built several thousand years ago.
The curves in the "snake" body are designed to match the various sunrise and sunsets and moonrisings and settings. Pretty cool and clever.

And then it was off to the border. After we drove around Point Pleasant, WV for about ten minutes, we turned around and crossed back in to Ohio and got a motel and dinner.
"The Mothman Prophecy", a film based on a 1967 bridge collapse (and some mythological creature) was filmed around here about ten years ago. This weekend in Point Pleasant is the Mothman Festival. The police have the place blocked off right now...we tried to get there but can't.....

MILE 3052

Day 8. One word: CARHENGE!

























As we drove down through Nebraska and into Kansas, we were impressed with the brick streets we found in many of the downtowns.








We dropped down about twenty miles into the (E-W) center of Kansas, then headed east. We noticed that the further east we got, the better the towns looked, probably an indication of the local economies. Many trains pulling many cars full of coal.
A brief visit to the geographical center of the USA.


















Day 9: Kansas
Stayed in Concordia. Nothing spectacular (apologies to Concordia). Stopped in Marysville for coffee and breakfast. Met George, knowledgeable about entire sandwich selection at restaurant. Also fast friend of everyone in the place who, in turn, were knowledgeable about town. Lovely little place....more brick streets, 1st Pony Express building. Jostling shoulders with biker dudes for photo ops. I held my own.
So much corn, so many questions.

Onto Hiawatha Kansas to visit the strange grave of John M. Davis. Lovely marble statues. Great story.








Crossed Missouri River into Missouri at St. Joseph in the early afternoon.

Hunkered down for the evening in Hannibal. Apparently this was the birthplace of fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher. Charming Mississippi riverfront area with many fine pubs and cheesy shops(selling Wisconsin cheese). Adding to the ambiance while strolling through park was Meth dude. He could have posed for riot of Wyoming billboards cleverly encouraging folks not to use meth.

Fun little Italian restaurant and back to very luxurious room. A swim and off to bed.

Day 10. We cross the Mississippi on the Canton Ferry, the oldest ferry still serving the Mississippi River.













It drops us off on a gravel road on the Illinois side. We wander aimlessly through small towns on one and two lane roads, stopping only for a brief visit with the fertility stone
before hitting the interstate and winding up in Dale, Indiana. Where? Right next to Santa Claus, of course.

We have had to make executive decision that will effect our survival. Creationism museum may not happen for us. $44.00 seems a high price to pay. And, talk radio has provided us already with minutes of hilarity.

MILE 1985

Day 6. Headed to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center. There were many sections and exhibits, but most interesting to me was the Buffalo Bill Museum. Western civilization's expansion to the Pacific has been so romanticized in American culture, and this man is a big reason why.


My favorite was the Plains Indians Museum. A great circular display of masks and headgear used in ceremonies, such as the buffalo mask worn in dance. A Ghost Dance robe was also on display. Amazing descriptions of painting of the hides, and several hides with painted scenes depicting Custer's defeat and the Sand Creek Massacre.






















Then it was a short drive down to Thermopolis, home of the largest Mineral Hot Springs in the world, or so they say. Hot springs and mineral deposits galore.
















In 1903, someone put a metal pipe into a hot spring with 25 ft. of that pipe sticking straight up out of the ground, trickling water. 106 years later this is the result:














And it is still trickling hot mineral water out of the top...
Taco John's crap food for dinner, then off to another cheap, funky, yet remarkably comfortable motel room.

Day 7. OK, enough of Wyoming, we've really got to get going...but not before Patty takes a soak at the Hot Springs. There's a state park bath house, (still free to the public, according to the treaty with the Wind River tribe over a century ago.) It is a wonderful experience. Temp is kept DOWN to 104 degrees. Very small group in outdoor soaking pool at 8:30am. I am youngest by 15 to 20 years. Most spend time bemoaning population growth everywhere they want to be. Hmmmmmm. I shower after my max. time of 20 minutes, feel exhilarated, but smell slightly of rotten eggs for the rest of the day.
Then we're taking the long way to Casper to stop and visit Independence Rock where 150 years ago travelers signed in.














After a good day's drive, we landed in Alliance, NE for the night. The American Inn, one of the strangest looking motels we'd ever seen. All whitewashed pressboard on the outside. Once again, very cheap but very comfortable.

MILE 1411

Day 3. There was something about the layout of Missoula MT that made it just as confusing to get out of as it was to get in: Major high speed four-lane intersections without stoplights....The interstate running through town in two different places, one westbound, one eastbound...and us with no map. We finally escaped and interstated it across the continental divide to Livingston, where we headed south and into Yellowstone.
New Mantra: "Things are different here." Struggling with concept, "Headwaters of Missouri," which expands into entire continental divide thing.
Wound up with a beautiful campsite at Norris for two nights. Norris is a perfect camp site except road closure making access to Old Faithful arduous. And a slight change of wind direction brings the elegant sulfuric fumes into our camp in the early morning hours of our final night. Our neighbor, Zeke, promising to catch and cook us trout the next night....oops, catch and release only.. The campground hosts giving us information on how we, too, could become campground hosts....there's a whole other sub-culture out there moving among us..

Day 4. The cold day started with a walk through the Norris Geysers.



























After breakfast, it was on to the Canyon Area. Amazing landscape.

We saw waterfalls





























We saw critters....
























and we saw thermal pools,





























some stinkier than others (just like our fellow campers.)

Then back to Canyon Village for an expensive and Disneyland-like dining experience. Back to tent for a rousing game of 20 questions. Brian cheats, and wins. My black jacket COULD become famous with a little more self-promotion.

Day 5 Morning on the road to Old Faithful to catch the 10:44 service. The worshipful gather. An inelegant sacrament of bad coffee and faux Egg McMuffin suffices.
































Next hit the road north to catch a short trail to the Morning Glory Pool where we stumble across another Bison. Well, across the creek kinda stumble.














Back on the road and the steep descent down to Cody. Dropping 2,ooo ft. in what seemed liked five or six miles, all in a line behind a 25 mph RV pulling a trailer. Most of us would've done just fine coasting down in a low gear, but this guy's speed required everyone to be braking constantly. The strong smell of burning breaks was disconcerting, especially with the smoke from the truck in front of us. We were able to pass him, then realized it may not have been the best idea.
Arrived in Cody in time for a few raindrops, just enough to get the windshield clean. Time for prime rib at the Irma hotel, then the solace of a cheap but remarkably comfortable motel room.

MILE 742

Day 1 started uneventfully, just another drive to Portland. But as soon as we were east of Gresham and into the gorge, we knew it had begun. The topography made its expected change right around The Dalles. Distracted by the onions and toxic waste, we made a wrong turn at Umatilla, causing us to miss seeing Walla Walla, but leading us on to a beautiful road heading east to Clarkston/Lewiston. Vanilla and chocolate swirling across the rounded hills.













A modest little brewery in Waitsburg was discovered. A delightful oasis in a dry landscape.













Tempting to stay around, but looking forward to exploring Lewiston and campground that has received good reviews.

Personally, I think reviewers were clinically deaf.
The river was beautiful and the other campers were considerate and self-enclosed. The other side of the river sported a busily traveled highway against a rock wall, bouncing the roar of the road back across the river to us, thus creating, literally, a "wall of sound."
Morning arrived with a thick cup of french-pressed. A game of scrabble followed. I have been told that it is acceptable to include the fact that Brian got all the good letters. But, I don't think I will.














Day 2 found us heading up Hwy 12 out of Lewiston along the Lewis and Clark trail (also known
as the Nez Perce trail). Many beautiful historical references along the way, especially the Canoe Camp where Lewis and Clark learned how to make canoes, and so began the rest of their trip by water. This had also been used by earlier Indians as a home site with pit houses.













After road construction delays we start a hunt for Big Sky Brewing company in Missoula. After almost an hour of trying to snag internet access from unsuspecting cafes, we checked into a motel, accessed, and headed for dinner and sampling. Found our brewing company, but....Oops! Tasting only, no food. Also, no charge! Local tip leads us to the Dinosaur Cafe, serendipitously sitting right next to the cafe who's internet we had been trying to access earlier. I think we owe them coffee in the morning.