The weather has been nice; warmer than we expected. We forgot that this was Columbus weekend so there has been more traffic than we anticipated.
The Lewis & Clarke Plum Ridge encampment overlooking the Missouri River, no buffalo except on nickels, lot's of "Welcome Hunters" signs (explaining why the aforementioned highway workers wear day-glo green vests), and the first signs of "western" motif in architecture and garb. AND we visited the imfamous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Much hype (billboards start about 100 miles away; sort of like South Of The Border on I-95 south to Florida) for what is essentially a huge multi-store gift shop, with the same items available at every other gift shop, but with Wall Drug decals (how cynical!!) But we did meet a couple of interesting locals; quiet but real cuties...
Day Nine – Rapid City, SD to Gillette, WY
A real mixed bag, today. First, it was off to Mount Rushmore. Call us naive bumpkins, but like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, this was very impressive, a real must-see. The entire National Park facility is a very well thought out, attractive compliment to the mountain. Absolutely awe inspiring…
Then there was the Crazy Horse monument. Recognizing that this is a private venture, not a national park, some latitude has to be exercised in one’s expectations. However, along with our lack of overwhelming interest in the deep, quasi-religious aspects of Native American culture, and the recognition that this project has been going on for some 50+ years, we came away with several non-complimentary impressions. One, as former professionals, this whole operation is the epitome of a very poor business plan. Lack of resources, insufficient manpower, poor funding solicitation, lack of major support and short-sighted management have conspired to drag out the entire undertaking to the point where one has to ask is this a memorial in the making, or is it a memorial to the making of a memorial. Particularly bothersome is the fact that if this is supposed to be a cultural focal point for all Native American tribes, where is the support ($$$$) from the now wealthy members, who are earning millions from their casinos? OK, enough beating a dead Indian…
Final sight of the day, along with much travel across the high plains (real cowboy country; sage brush, rolling hills, dry gulches, tumbleweed, lots of cattle, and a few oil derricks here and there), was Devils Tower. Again, even though it is just a drive by, look at sight, it was worth the detour. Unfortunately, our schedule prohibited waiting ‘til dark to see if the spaceship was going to make an appearance and we could have a “Close Encounter”; and Richard Dreyfus was nowhere to be seen.
Day Ten – Gillette WY to Douglas WY
We can’t imagine how Montana got the title of “Big Sky Country”; don’t see how it could be any bigger than Wyoming. The odd thing is, even for those of us accustomed to close horizons, it doesn’t take long to get used to seeing the horizon in all directions probably 50 to 100 miles away. The “wow” factor fades surprisingly fast. One thing has changed as we get further into mountains from the Great Plains; more rock formations, cliffs, buttes and deep ravines, and lots of cattle. Most of the day today, the Big Horn mountains were off to the west, and even though it’s in the 50’s here on the high plains, most of the mountains are snow topped.
First stop was the Hoof Prints Museum in Kaycee, Wyoming (Pop. 250). The museum, hosted by a grandmotherly older lady, has a huge collection of western historical artifacts, presented in an old store. Kaycee is a real western town; small, dusty, quiet, with a surprising town center garden and statue dedicated to hometown rodeo champion, songwriter and singer Chris LeDeaux.
Next stop was a Natural Bridge in Douglas. Very scenic, included a very well developed campground, and though it was nothing really breathtaking, access was, being via a drive down into a canyon on a twisting 1 ½ lane road…
And the finale for the day was a visit to a statue of one of Wyoming’s least seen wildlife creatures, the proud and noble jackalope. Thought never captured in the wild, many have been spotted during late nights, especially around Wyoming’s numerous human watering holes. A rare sight, indeed…
Today’s random observations…
The first sighting of middle to high end homes, visible from the highway, many even in the McMansion category. Most homes out here seem the be either double-wide mobile homes, or manufactured homes…or old packing crates; or what appears to be a pile of trash with a door… And most seem to be congregated into small enclaves (maybe to ward off Indian attacks) , surrounded by acres of derelict cars, trucks, tractors, indescribable complex farm equipment, and assorted rusted flotsam; …
No cowboys, and ATV’s seem to have replaced horses…
Many 50 wheel trucks, most carrying feed or corn. (essentially very large big rigs with three trailers)
And some new local speak:
Rapid City, SD is simply “Rapid” (“I’m going in to Rapid today, need anything?”)
Pierre (SD Capital) is pronounced “Peer” or “Pier” (didn’t know that…)
Pierre (SD Capital) is pronounced “Peer” or “Pier” (didn’t know that…)
And the best news of the day came from a lady from Nebraska (who really looked and sounded like you would imagine a lady from Nebraska would) declared at breakfast that she and her husband were traveling now because they we “ahead on harvest”. Gotta remember that line next time we’re caught up with or veggie picking…
Day Eleven – Douglas WY to Laramie WY
We drove a lot today but we’re still in Wyoming; can’t get accustomed to these large states. We could have driven thru all 6 of the New England states in a day. The nice part about this is that the posted speed limit is 75 mph, seemingly more a suggestion than much else, because traffic moves at 75 to 90 most of the time. We’ve seen a grand total of two state troopers since leaving the Chicago area…
A guard rail salesman would get laughed out of this part of the country. Where we would have a guard rail protecting a 5 foot drop from the road surface, out here, not even a 500 foot drop gets as much as a curb…great fun!); there’s no traffic, very few cars and lots of ranches and cattle. We think the cattle are Black Angus since that’s the only name we’re familiar with. (great basis for that conclusion).
We noticed that quite a few of the tractor trailer rigs had exceptionally tall exhaust stacks, extending a good 6 to 8 feet above the cab. Then we noticed that most of these were hauling stock trailers, and the obvious intent of the tall stacks was to avoid showing up at the stock yards with a load of asphyxiated cattle…
Top sights of the day:
Lost Springs, Wyoming, population = 1. According to a local story, someone stopped in at the only business in town (a bar; the bars in Wyoming seem to open at sun-up, and close at…), and asked who of the two customers or the bartender the one resident of Lost Springs was. Problem was, all three were from out of town… (just down the street was Shawnee, Wyoming, population = 0; just a boarded up school, and a couple of crumbling mobile homes)
Another point of interest was a stop at Register Mountain. According to legend, beginning long before the Oregon Trail went through this area, early 18th century trappers began the tradition of carving their initials into the soft stone cliff face. And the tradition, unfortunately, has continued to today. However, in one fenced off area, there are names and dates from the pioneer years…
Next up was a WPA era park, who’s claim to fame was an extremely over designed and build… outhouse. However, in spite of its over-engineering, the impact of the facility was far outweighed by the views, including the local biggie, Laramie Mountain.
So here are some things we’ve discovered: Even in the wild west, piercings, tattoos, hip hop music and cell phones are everywhere. Flat screens are the norm , hotel breakfasts always include Cheerios, Bran Flakes and sausage and biscuits with gravy. Someone’s fear of regaining their former ‘biscuit’ look keeps her headed to the Cheerios and Bran Flakes! There are no Dunkin’ Donuts in this part of the country; people like their coffee very strong and very black. Yuck! The idea of flavored coffee is completely foreign. Generally speaking, the people we’ve met have been friendly and polite and very willing to promote their home state. They’ve heard of Massachusetts but have never been there and don’t plan to go there.
The temperatures are beginning to drop. Daytime highs are around 60 and the wake-up temps are in the very low 40’s. The natives say they usually get snow by the end of October; we’ve moved into warmer clothing.
Other random stuff…
Lots of cottonwood trees, most ablaze in bright yellow foliage. All of them grow along the rivers, even though at this time of year, these “rivers” are nothing more than dry beds. However, I imagine in the spring, with the mountain snow melt, they are raging rivers.
As at the Cape, with its respect for the power of the ocean, and the acceptance that it will and often does do things contradictory to man’s wishes, the people of Wyoming show similar respect for snow. At most interstate entrances, just before proceeding up the entrance ramp, there are lights, warnings and actual crossing gates that drop down to prevent highway access, should blizzard conditions exist. Drivers are prohibited entry, and must somehow seek shelter. Also, in many areas along the interstate, usually back 100 to 200 yards from the highway, always on the upwind, mountain, side, are these huge (12 to 15 feet tall, 300 to 500 feet long) lattice-like snow barriers, that are intended to mitigate snow blowing across the road. Must be a pretty scary place on a snowy, windy, winter night…
And as a sobering close, purely as a social comment, the abused drug of choice in this part of the West seems to be methamphetamines, unlike in the East, where cocaine and heroin are the “fashion” substances There is much advertising and youth oriented media exposure of the risks, penalties and life changing impact of even casual meth use.
Day Twelve - Laramie, WY to Midvale (Salt Lake City), UT
Not too much to report today; lots and lots of driving, mostly just more Wyoming high plains. About the only change was it is much colder in the morning (about 37 when we left Laramie at 8:30am), though it does warm up later in the day. We got an earlier start than normal because the hotel lost their electricity due to some construction in the area at about 8:15 am. This seems to happen often; there was even a forewarning notice at the check-in counter. Fortunately it was after one of us got her coffee!
The western Wyoming terrain is subtly different than the rest of the state; grass seems more golden than dead brown, but the same miles and miles of sage brush, no cowboys and fewer cattle. However, we are seeing a considerable number of what are probably natural gas plants, and even more wind turbines.
Even though we’re not really that far into the Rocky Mountains, we are seeing a number of snow-topped peaks, particularly Elk Mountain, just west of Laramie. At 11:00 AM we crossed the continental divide at 7900 feet. So now I guess all the rivers are supposed to flow west to the Pacific Ocean, instead of east to the Mississippi basin.
Weather still excellent; a few clouds and a couple of rain drops early this morning, but then all clear and sunny and into the 60’s. But very dry; need lots of hand lotion and nasal spray.
Western Wyoming and eastern Utah are definitely much more mountainous, at least visually so. Although we’ve been in the high plains leading up to the Rocky Mountain range, now that we’re in Utah, the scenery is much more dramatic, and more like what one thinks of as driving through this area. Just the drive down into the Salt Lake City area was a down grade of probably 30 miles, from about 7000 feet to essentially sea level. And you do notice the altitude. At a rest area at about 6000 feet, we got out and took some pics, and climbed about 100 feet up a paved path to an observation point, and for two people who normally walk 4 miles a day, we were pretty pooped at the top!
Oh, and no tolls since Indiana…
And finally, the profound comment of the day…
As we were driving through the very deep mountain canyons in eastern Utah, I couldn’t help think how convenient it was that this reasonably easy route existed for the construction of a major interstate. And then it occurred to me that the path was always there, for millions of years. First the rivers defined the most direct route through the mountains, then many years later the Native Americans followed the rivers, then the white man copied the Native Americans and followed their paths, then the railroads came through and replaced the trails, and now the Interstates run parallel to the railroads.
Day Thirteen – Midvale (Salt Lake City) UT to Richfield, UT
On the way into Salt Lake City yesterday, we came down a mountain for about 10 miles at about a 7% grade. Today, our first stop was Park City, which is southeast of Salt Lake City, so it was back up the mountain, then after visiting the Park City Olympic Sports Complex, it was back down the mountain…sure gets old fast, but I’m learning how to drive downhill at 75 mph around 90o curves…
The site of the 2002 Olympic Winter games was quite interesting, although as we had seen at Lake Placid many years ago, the whole complex is much smaller than it looks on TV! And one has to exercise considerable imagination to picture the entire venue buried in 4 to 6 feet of snow (typical snowfall in Park City). And the run-off areas for both the jumping hills and the freestyle jumps seem sooooo small; like one small miscalculation, and you’d end up on the roof of a building!
No, I did not participate in the bobsled ride. A pro-slider takes two paying customers down the run in a wheeled sled at up to 75 mph / 4.0 g’s…WOW! But we did find an activity I was even less suited for. The freestyle skiers practice during the summer months by “skiing” down a run carpeted with Astroturf, do their aerials, then land in a swimming pool! If the jump / acrobatics / landing didn’t kill me, I’d drown in the pool…
Then it was off to Great Salt Lake. About 12% salinity (vs ocean = 3%). No fish; all dead from high blood pressure...too much salt (just kidding!) The lake is surrounded by mountains, and many salt works. The water is simply pumped out of the lake, sprayed into the air and over huge sections of the lake banks, the water evaporates (ultimately going back into the lake), and the salt is harvested and purified for consumer use. There is a huge marina; very popular sailing locale for all the $$$ from Salt Lake City. Also interesting is Saltair, an on-again, off again resort on the Lake. Since the late 19th century, entrepreneurs have attempted to develop the lake front as a resort, with little success.
After many days of being in the small town west, Salt Lake City was a real contrast. SLC is an immense city, population of 898,387, immense highway system (compact, narrow, crowded, unlike most of the western cities), immense traffic jams, lots of very high end homes (especially Park City and Provo). On our entire trip so far, we haven’t spent a lot of time in the cities we pass through. Although we’re sure they have much to offer should you want to stay for many days, it takes more time than we have to sort out the unique minority of attractions from the stereotypical majority; like shopping malls, restaurants, etc. As is probably obvious by now, our tastes are somewhat more eclectic, and we find greater pleasure in seeing the off-the-beaten path America, rather than the cities.
For instance, the finale stop of the day was to check out 4 tall fuel storage tanks painted to look like soda cans, and truck-in-a-tree, in the burg of Salina, Utah (population = 2393).
Random thoughts: More horses, fewer cows, more snow capped peaks visible, weather still excellent. The season here in mid-southern Utah seems almost a month behind Massachusetts; green trees, flowers in bloom, lush lawns…
Day Fourteen – Richfield, UT to Cedar City, UT
Biggie of the day: Dixie National Forest, specifically Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks National Monument. Following the route into the park that we took, the first area encountered is Red Canyon, sort of a miniature (if 100’s of feet high is miniature) Sedona, Arizona. Driving through, you are surrounded by red cliffs on both sides of the road.
Of all of the vistas we’ve seen so far, Bryce Canyon has to be the most camera-card consuming. It is one breathtaking view after another. In no way can photos do justice, nor can the mind comprehend the immensity of the canyon. I don’t think that the brain can process the concept of height on such a grand scale, so even if one normally has a fear of heights, it is nonexistent when encountering such a place as this. Most viewing areas are no more than a 10 to 20 minute walk / easy climb from the parking area, and all paths accessible to visitors other than diehard, equipped hikers, are paved or packed stone. This may sound weird, but the National Parks Service is sort of like Disney; they sure know how to put on a good show, and do an excellent job of accommodating tourists!
After Bryce Canyon, but still in the Dixie National Forest, we than drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is essentially a long drive up (and of course later, down) a 4% to 8% grade to the top of the mountain, with a view that is significantly different than Bryce. Instead of miles and miles of rocky canyon, the majority of the mountains and canyons at Cedar Breaks are tree covered, reminding us of the Pacific Northwest. Oh, yes there was snow; both on the ground (in shaded, north facing areas) and falling (briefly). On a mini, mini, mini scale, we saw firsthand how quickly the weather can change. The transition from driving along in bright sunshine, through miles of yellow-leafed white birch and green cedars on a mild fall afternoon, up and into dark, low hanging clouds and wind and snow happens in MINUTES and FEET, not slowly over several miles. Pretty wild place; wouldn’t want to have to run out for milk on a winter’s night…
Random thoughts / observations:
Lots of fall foliage; again, out here seems to be a few weeks behind New England
Cool. High 30’s this morning, got up to low 60’s, except in the mountains…stayed in the 40’s
National Park pass for seniors is the best deal ever. For $10, it gets us old folks into any park for free. Bryce is normally $25 per car…
Lots of cattle and most are pretty fat; getting close to you know what…
And…our FIRST COWBOY SIGHTING, in Panguitch, UT, herding tomorrow’s prime ribs and steaks into a trailer. And just by coincidence, he was being assisted by another “rider” on what we’ve now decided is the rancher’s new faithful companion, an ATV. They’re everywhere, and seem to have replaced ol’ Paint. Cheaper to feed, no vet bills, don’t get crabby, and no poop.
Day Fifteen – Cedar City, UT to Page, AZ
Started out the day with a very unique sight right in downtown Cedar City; a lighthouse. And it’s a full size, 88 foot tall one disassembled and brought from Europe to promote the Providence mall, a small retail mall in Cedar City. Others say it is a tribute to Utah’s long, non-existent, maritime history.
Then it was off to Hurricane, Utah. Three distinct features of Hurricane are:
1) A very long canal that was dug between 1898 and 1906 to bring water down from a mountain lake to the canyon, turning a dry, acrid landscape into what is now tillable farm land
2) Many gated, exclusive high end residential communities. Locals say these are primarily retirement homes bought by people from California during the property boom, in pursuit of the clean, simple, country life. Personally, we think they are “country” get-ways for the high rollers from Vegas; sin city is only about 2.5 hours away…
3) And finally, a very small, cramped, jam packed town historical museum with a 70 year old fruitcake (the kind one would eat, not the two-legged type). Why?
Our next stop, Zion National Park is another of Utah’s spectacular canyon and mountain attractions. Unlike Bryce, here the cliff structures are much more massive, and the ascending / descending drive much more convoluted. However, Zion was VERY crowded; lots of cars, buses, RV’s, kids. In spite of all the planning that went into this trip, our stop at Zion was not as well thought out as it should have been. Though we drove through the Park along a very scenic, winding road, the Mt. Carmel Scenic Drive, we learned when we got to the park that the real outstanding views are seen only via shuttle buses that take an entirely different route. So, because we’re planning to come through the area on our return trip east, a redo may be in order.
Last stop was Glen Canyon Dam / Lake Powell. Very interesting, and the “technology” was a nice break from being overloaded with all the scenery!
Random thoughts / observations:
Two of two off the list…yesterday, it was the cowboy, today we saw our first buffalo herd. Even though it was at a buffalo ranch (about the only place you can see them, because they are a protected species), it still counts as an official sighting!
Weather still very good. Partly sunny, partly cloudy today, with one big downpour up in the mountains. Temps still in the 40’s early morning, but getting warmer by end of day; mid to upper 60’s here in Page, AZ.
Ever the auto fanatic, several impressions of the country’s taste in motor vehicles are:
· Lots of motor homes / RV’s, etc. Everything from old pickups with even older slide-in campers, to motor home slightly larger than our house towing full size SUV’s
· Lots of pickups. And most of them are relatively new Ford F350 diesel crew cabs. There are probably more Fords than Chevy, Dodge, GMC, Toyota and Nissans combined.
· Not as many prestige brands, even in the larger cities. Nowhere near as many Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, BMW’s, etc.
Day Sixteen – Page, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ
Ah, the best laid plans, etc, etc. Today we drove 5 hours round trip, and overmillion miles (as in “Vermillion Cliffs”; it’s an Arizona joke), to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. However, the North Rim remains a just a myth. The whole canyon was nothing but myth, as far as the eye could not see. Actually, I think the clouds had settled over the entire area, pretty much obliterating beyond about 20 feet. Great view; see photo, below. Thankfully, the drive out and back was quite scenic, with the Vermillion Cliffs escarpment stretching for miles along the northern side of the plateau.
Oh, well, we can’t complain. Weather has been excellent so far, with only a few sprinkles here and there.
Random thoughts / observations
I guess we’re spoiled by the close proximity of everyday conveniences living in densely populated areas, even as rural as New England. The bustle of Flagstaff was a perversely welcome relief after seeing so many Native American enclaves literally hours away from the most basic services like schools, groceries, gas, etc.
Day Seventeen – Flagstaff, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ
Much nicer this morning then it was last night. The rain is all gone, mostly sunny. Drove to Sedona; nice place to visit, and probably a nice place to live if you have lots of $$$$’s. Did some shopping (surprise!), went to an art and craft show, and to the delight of the inveterate reader, a book sale at the Sedona public library.
We had been to Sedona many years ago, and other than having traffic circles instead of 4-way intersections, not much seems to have changed. The drive down from Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon was as scenic as we remembered. Very different than what one would expect; towering cliffs and serpentine curves and hairpin turns, but all the while surrounded by dense evergreen and oak forests. Very cool (literally). Another place, where if you lived in this canyon (and people do), the sun doesn’t come up ‘til 11:00 am and sets at 1:00 pm!
Before heading back to Flagstaff for the night, we drove south of Sedona through the Red Rocks area. Mile after mile of towering sandstone formations that truly change in color and appearance depending on the time of day.
Day Eighteen – Flagstaff, AZ to Buckeye, AZ
50o this morning; there were cars in the shade in the parking lot with FROST ON THE WINDOWS! But it warmed up quickly…
First bigee of the day on the way to Phoenix was a stop in Camp Verde, the see the world’s largest Kokopelli. Kokopelli is the Navaho god of wealth and fertility, and is seen everywhere throughout the southwest, ranging from the smallest items of jewelry and figurines, to the 32 foot tall guy in Camp Verde. Interestingly, he used to be the eye-catching “logo”, if you will, for the now defunct Kokopelli Trading Post, which has since been replaced by a Burger King and a Starbucks, and the giant Kokopelli has become an attraction in and of itself!
Next up was Hobo Joe, in Buckeye. Buckeye is one of many booming suburbs of Phoenix, whose growth, though slowed by the economy, has been so recent that all the streets and stores look like they were just built last week! However, downtown Buckeye still has that older desert city look, with wide streets and typical southwestern architecture and store fronts. And poor Hobo Joe, all 40 feet or so of him, a leftover advertising gimmick from a chain of burger joints, is in a pretty seedy part of town. But he sort of got the last laugh; we had to wait to get a photo ‘til one group cleared out, and another car full of tourists was right behind us, cameras at the ready!
Day Nineteen – Buckeye, AZ
Ah, finally a day to relax! We spent yesterday afternoon and all day today visiting with friends in Buckeye. They are fellow Cape Codders, with a summer home in Wareham, and a winter home in Arizona. They’ve got the warm weather schedule figured out so well that they can pretty much spend the entire year in shorts and tee shirts!
While in the area, we spent a lot of time checking out new model homes in a couple of communities under development. All were very nice, and as people accustomed to the Cape Cod home price structure, we were shocked. We saw model homes that ranged in size from about 1200 to 2800 square feet, and the prices ranged from $130,000 to $280,000. However, homes of similar size and with similar amenities on the Cape would cost at least twice as much, if not more! And for those of you in California, they’d probably be 4 times as much!
Oh, and of course there had to be an attraction-of-the-day, in this case finally finding our way via a dirt road to none other than Big Baby, a giant cut-out installed along the Interstate by a local vegetable grower, not so much to advertise, but to simply amuse. Big Baby is one of several large cut-outs in the area, all done by a California artist who specializes in flat but seemingly 3-dimensional renditions of life-like figures.
Day Twenty – Buckeye, AZ to Anaheim, CA
After bidding our hosts good-bye in Buckeye, it was west on I-10 to California. I-10 is the only route across the southwest, and we and all the other tourists (not too many) and the truckers (hundreds) cruised west through the desert of western Arizona and the thousands of wind turbines of Palm Springs to the land of freeways and traffic, Los Angeles. However, before leaving Arizona, we did check out two difficult to locate but very interesting sights in Quartzsite. First was the Hi Jolly memorial, essentially a monument to the Middle Eastern camel driver who at the behest of then Secretary Of War Jefferson Davis (yes, that Jefferson Davis), attempted to institute the use of camels in the American desert as work animals. It didn’t work out so well, however, primarily because the camels not only didn’t particularly take to the handling by American cowboys, but they also didn’t get along with all the other horses, mules, burros, donkeys, etc.!
Next up was Celia’s Rainbow Garden. This is a desert garden build by the town and a group of RV enthusiasts (Quartzsite seems to be some sort of RV Mecca; don’t know why; the camp sites look like paved desert…) in remembrance of Celia, a 9 year old girl who died in 1995. Since then, the garden has grown to include many other hand built memorials to various people, all placed there by family and friends. It’s actually a lot more tasteful and meaningful than I am making it sound… It is very impressive when you consider the time and effort people have expended to memorialize their loved ones. We were glad that we took the time to locate it.
Day Twenty One – Anaheim to Catalina Island and Return
Just a short update today (finally, the blog followers sighed…). No odd and unusual memorials, no peculiar signs or statues, no weird sightings. Today was a short drive to Long Beach, and a one hour high speed ferry ride to Catalina Island. It’s amazing how fast you can go from the crazy world of LA to what could be an island paradise thousands of miles away. Just a day of beach, boats, shopping, restaurants, sun and a very laid back atmosphere. Though totally unrealistic, Catalina is one of those places you really don’t want to leave.
About the only excitement, similar to the drive into Anaheim, was the freeway traffic. Though the driver doesn’t mind (sort of like driving through Boston four or five times in a row at commuter hour), the passenger just can’t seem to adjust to the California freeway lifestyle! On the return drive from Long Beach to Anaheim, we drove on surface streets (which nobody uses) and though it took a little longer, it was much easier on the right front passenger.
Day Twenty Two – Anaheim to Los Angeles and Return
Today we took a day long bus tour of Downtown Los Angeles. The highlight of the day for me (usually the passenger) was that I got to watch my co-passenger (usually the driver) turn into the same stressed out, hyper-ventilating rider that I had been as we watched our tour guide travel the lanes of the freeway; crossing in and out of the HOV lane at 70 miles per hour while simultaneously processing charge slips, writing out receipts and blasting classic rock music from the driver’s seat. It was agreed by both that being the passenger is not as relaxing as one might expect when traveling the freeway.
One of the strangest things is trying to get accustomed to the Japanese rice burners roaring up between the lanes of traffic; they look like Ninjas hunched over their machines. Doesn’t anyone drive a Harley? But on the plus side, we find California drivers to be rather considerate and respectful of their fellow motorists; allowing them to fit in line after signaling. Unlike Massachusetts drivers, who wouldn’t think of signaling, since you might figure out what they’re intending to do. Actually, in Massachusetts, when you go through the inspection process, they automatically disconnect the directional signals since no one’s ever going to use them anyway.
So, getting back to the tour, we saw all the standard tourist stuff like Beverly Hills, the Hollywood sign the Avenue of the Stars, Chinese Theater, yada yada yada. Rodeo Drive was nice; I picked out several useless outfits (in my head) and enjoyed looking in the nearly barren windows (they go for the stark look when it comes to window dressing).
Our tour guide was severely lacking in the field of entertaining idle chatter so we amused ourselves by watching the antics of our fellow passengers. We had a group of German tourists who seemed wowed by anything Hollywood related; even the coffee shop where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio had their first date (really, a coffee shop; he must have had a premonition..Mr. Coffee and all). They took pictures of every possible site, including an IKEA store. Their camera cards must have contained enough memory for 2000 photos. We were relieved to know that we’d never be invited over to see their vacation photos; not enough no-doze in the world to survive that snooze fest.
One of the last stops was at Venice Beach where there were enough shops, people, glitz and strange happenings to rival the equivalent of 3 Provincetown’s. It pretty much defies description but the entertainment factor was a 10. The perfect ending to a jam-packed day. No wonder they call it La La Land; nothing is real.
Day Twenty Three – Anaheim To Anaheim
Today it was off to see Mickey and his pals at Disneyland. The park was within walking distance (about a mile) of our hotel, so we figured we should check it out. Similar to Disneyworld in Florida, the park consists of several separate but related venues:
· Magic Kingdom
o Very similar to our experiences at Disneyworld; thrill rides, quasi-informative/educational attractions, and the Disney-typical jungle / adventure / fairytale features.
o Even by avoiding the real heart-stopping thrill rides, we did all the stuff everybody does at Magic Kingdom (Main Street, castle, monorail, train ride, haunted house, jungle cruise, etc, etc). Our only disappointment was that “It’s A Small World” was closed. But at least the song doesn’t keep playing over and over in our heads all night…
· California Adventure
o Again, lots of rides, and a movie set attraction, another Disney Park staple. The best show of the day was in the Aladdin Theater, where a “condensed”, live version of the Disney movie was presented. Very good performance by a very talented cast to a packed house.
· Disney Downtown
o Never got there…… (Entertainment centered, with shows / attractions geared toward young adults (…I think…)
As has been our experience during several visits to Disneyworld, all is done in a very professional, well thought-out fashion. The entire park is exceptionally clean, with minimum intrusion by the maintenance staff, and everything look new and freshly painted. (And that’s all pretty remarkable, considering Disneyland opened in the mid-1950’s).
We probably didn’t pick the best time to be at Disneyland, however. It being Halloween weekend (that’s right, not just a day anymore; second largest holiday after Christmas, according to merchants), the park was FULL of kids (and adults) in all manner of costumes for the big Halloween bash later in the evening. We were going to go dressed as to old tourists, but like the rest of the old tourists, it would have meant too late at night…
Ah, to be young again. Or not…
* Forgotten factoid for yesterday’s update:
· Population of the City Of Los Angeles: 4 million
· Population of Los Angeles County: 16 million
· Population of California: 40 million (More than the population of Canada)
Day Twenty Four – Anaheim To San Simeon
Short report today. We got out of LA County as fast as possible; nowhere near as much traffic on the freeway on a Saturday morning. (Of course, up ‘til now all of our travels around the Los Angeles area had been during commuter hour; bad planning…). Quick stop in Santa Barbara; looks like money… Lots of vineyards covering all the hillsides; reminds us of Sonoma. Also, a lot of veggie farms; can’t tell what they’re growing.
Made it to the Pacific (actually, second time; but Venice Beach hardly counts. With all the entertaining characters on the beach, you don't really notice the water...)
Day Twenty Five – San Simeon To San Simeon
Woke up this morning to another beautiful day. Temperature update: Very mild and sunny during the day, low to mid 70’s. Very cool at night (not sure, but probably in the mid-50’s). When we checked in at hotel last night, we realized there was no A/C. However, by nightfall, even having the slider on the balcony opened a couple of inches, it was plenty cool enough for us sleep-in-a-meat-locker types.
Today, the Castro Valley family arrived, and we all scooted up CA Route 1 to check out the elephant seals. And, man, were there ever a lot of them! They look like a bunch of sausages, wallowing around on the beach. But like many wild animals, you can actually get quite fascinated just watching their antics. They do much grunting, belching and roaring, along with an excess of rude behavior; pushing, shoving, crawling on each other, breathing fish breath into each other’s faces, and what almost appeared to be angry confrontations. However, probably due their voluptuous figures and their 1500lb to 5000lb (!) weight), most exertion was short lived, followed by long periods of rest, and the flipping of sand onto their bodies.
The big event of the day was Hearst Castle. Constructed on top of a nearly 2000 foot high hill overlooking the Pacific, and designed and built over a period of 27 years, this home prides itself as being one of the most magnificent private residences ever built. The level of attention to detail, compounded by the desire to constantly alter the design during construction to capture all of W. R. Hearst’s many fine works of art and European architectural acquisitions, is outrageous, to say the least. Though perhaps a bit too much a display of the ostentatious wealth of the “Gilded Age” of the 1920’s, it nonetheless is a captivating mansion and grounds. It spite of its over-the-top presentation, in actuality, Mr. Hearst was a quiet, somewhat reserved individual, who simply enjoyed sharing his good financial fortune with others, and frequently did so by inviting numerous movie stars, entertainers and public figures to his home to play and relax. Now days visitors do not drive the 5 mile winding road to the Castle; buses transport tourists to the house. But it must have been quite a trip in pre-WWII vehicles! Now a State Park, the entire complex is very professionally presented, with tours conducted, in our case, by a very knowledgeable guide.
Day Twenty Six – San Simeon To Bakersfield
Hopefully, another short update…unless I get carried away expounding on some inane topic…
After seeing the Stafford’s off for home, we hit the road again. Originally, we had planned to get to Barstow, today, but fate intervened; SHOPPING! We got delayed at a Wal-Mart stop to buy supplies (too bad Lewis & Clark, and Jim Bridger, and Ward Bond (who?) didn’t have Wal-Mart in their time. Their travels would have been much easier, and they could have traded low-cost Chinese products with the Indians…), and ended up with the first (finally!) dumb purchase; a little flat screen TV just the right size for our guest room at the Cape. Even though it was greatly marked down from the original price, the State Of California adds on a $16 disposal fee for electronics! I guess years from now we’ll have to bring it back to CA when we decide to get rid of it...
Anyway, we only got to Bakersfield…
Highlights of the day:
· Almond trees and oil fields in Lost Hills, CA
· Roses (acres of them) in Wasco, CA. Assume they must be nursery stock
· We always thought Bakersfield was like Jell-O and Spam; sort of a joke. But it’s actually a very large, bustling (but flat) city, with many malls, businesses, restaurants and lots of traffic. Think its oil money (or maybe almonds…)
Day Twenty Seven – Bakersfield, CA to Las Vegas, NV
“Still in the desert west; getting pretty sick and tired of seeing rolling mountains a couple of hundred miles off in the distance, while crossing the Mojave” (Clem Shlumphnoodle, Fall of 1871)
Many years ago, I remember reading that crossing the Mojave Desert was not a casual undertaking, even with 1950’s era automobiles. Much care and preparation was required, like making sure you had ample water, food, spare tires, and miscellaneous replacement parts and perhaps even survival type gear should misfortune strike. But now, since the singing wire has been replaced by the ubiquitous cell phone (and their attendant need for towers), and the proliferation of vast interstate highways, numerous rest stops, and fully capable vehicles that take a 4 hour drive across sand and scrub in stride, a lot of the ol’ adventure is lost.
Highlights of the day:
· Viewing the vast borax plant in Boron, California. Originally, this was the closest rail connection to load borax hauled out of Death Valley by mule teams (20-mule, mule teams…). However, a large deposit was discovered close to Boron, where it is still mined from an open pit operation, putting the Death Valley works out of business.
· Lots of Joshua trees. They grow only at specific altitudes (somewhere between something and something else…) and are surprisingly members of the lily family. They draw their water from a network of near-surface roots, and then store this water in bulbs up to 30 feet below ground level. They live anywhere from 200 – 400 years, and get up to 30 feet tall.
· Calico Ghost town, a now abandoned silver mining town in the foothills east of Barstow. With a late 1880’s population of about 2000 people, it was at that time the largest and most financially rich silver mine in all of California. Of what must be at least 50 structures, 7 still are original from 1881, including the home of a lady who lived in Calico from 1886 ‘til 1967. The town prospered for only a short time, as did the entire California small scale silver mining business. Between 1880 and 1906, the price of silver dropped from about $3.60 per pound (1880 dollars!) to $0.36 per pound. Sort of like GM stock. As a point of reference, there is still much silver in them hills; one particular rocky area, pointed out by a tour guide, was assayed to have approximately $6 million dollars worth of silver still within recoverable reach. But it would cost about $11 million to refine it…
Zipped through Las Vegas (what doesn’t happen in Las Vegas, doesn’t happen), and are staying tonight on the east side of Sin City. That way, tomorrow we’re not lured back into the clutches of the vile world of gamblin’ We save that for the Atlantic City Tropicana in the winter…
· Gas prices (regular)
o Valley Wells, California: $3.99 per gallon
o Las Vegas, Nevada: $2.59 per gallon
Day Twenty Eight – Las Vegas, Nevada to Richfield, Utah (again…)
“…and they that win assume the responsibility and accountability to lead with honor, wisdom and compassion, always remembering that victory is no more than the light that is day, and that the darkness of night irrevocably follows. And those that lose do so knowing that they also must continue to foster balance and compromise, continue to pursue their ideals and goals, and not fade into the shadows of bitterness and spite.”
Well, the southwest loop is officially over; today we ended up (as planned) in Richfield, Utah, where we stayed way back on Tuesday, October 19th. Utah: Mountains with trees on them! Colorful fall foliage! Green fields! Cows! (Who ever thought we’d be happy to see cows?) But no Ken Jennings sightings. Not much has changed; still warm (mid 60’s) and sunny, and maybe a little more snow on the mountain peaks, but not much. Found out this morning that temps in Las Vegas were about 5o to 10o above normal. No wonder 85o seemed so warm.
Big highlight for today was a visit to the Virgin Valley Heritage Museum. Nice little town historical society museum in what appeared to be the very nice little city of Mesquite, Nevada. The only downside to visiting these small town historical museums is that one is reminded, especially as one gets older, that more and more from your own past is becoming antique sooner and sooner! Also, because most of the contents have been donated by townspeople, a couple of messages are clear. One, for those of us who tend to hoard too much, perhaps getting on good terms with your local historical society is order (seems like they’ll take anything!). Two, whenever you wonder why you’ve saved something, it’s good to know that our ancestors similarly saved a lot of what appears to be meaningless clutter…
Now that the resident political pundit has finished expounding, I’d like to add one thing. We had another buffalo sighting today. It was on my dinner plate in the form of a burger…yum...tastes like hamburger!
Day Twenty Nine – Richfield, UT to Grand Junction, CO
More and more driving through canyons and open high desert. (In general, “high desert” has snow and goes below freezing, “middle desert” does not get below freezing, has less vegetation, and is drier, and “low desert” is warm-to-hot and much drier). As` I’ve mentioned before (probably too often), it is amazing how quickly you get accustomed to the wide open highway (75 mph speed limits) and the vast landscape. Eventually, you even get to the point where you’re passing trucks on 6% downhill curves at 55 – 65 mph, without even thinking about the lack of guardrails and the hundreds of feet to the bottom of some canyon…
Biggest highlight for today was that as we entered Colorado from Utah, the whole terrain slowly changed from the dry, brown, rock of the southwest / California / Nevada, to the much more ragged, sharply defined mountains of the west slope of the Rockies. Also, much more vegetation and vivid foliage (mostly yellow cottonwoods, a welcome sight after days of sage brush.) is abundant.
After a quick stop at Devils Canyon, west of Fruita, Colorado, we visited a very poignant and well presented Vietnam War memorial, also in Fruita. We took in a quick wine tasting at a retailer in Fruita , saving us multiple trips to vineyards, of which there are many in the southwest of Colorado. But then, we’ll probably end up at a few wineries anyway…
Our destination for the day was Grand Junction, Colorado, a fairly large and quite bustling city at the western foothills of the Rocky Mountains. And of course no visit to Grand Junction is complete without checking out “Chrome On The Range”, a huge (like maybe twice life size) buffalo fabricated from chrome auto bumpers…it looks better than it sounds…
Day Thirty - Grand Junction, CO to Silverthorne, CO
We spent the day following the Colorado River through western Colorado, sometimes along wide open meadow-like valleys, but more often through deep canyons. Along one 5 mile stretch of I-70, there was so little space between the river and the mountains, that one pair of lanes, the west-bound, partially over lap, about 50 feet above, the east bound lanes. The temps dropped as we went higher in elevation, from the mid 60’s in the morning to somewhere in the low 40’s by end of day. Some spotty areas of snow early on, especially in shaded locations, and we were running around like we came from Hawaii taking pictures of snow. Then we got to the Vail Pass, at an elevation of 10,600 feet, and the stuff we saw earlier was pretty insignificant. A good 6” to 8”, except where the sun had melted it. Just like early winter.
Highlights of the day:
· Rusty’s Dream in Palisade, CO – a tribute to man’s best friend’s best friend…
· Solar panel flowers in Parachute, CO. A unique array of solar panels arranged to look like large flower petals, probably 20 – 25 feet across.
· Also in Parachute, a memorial to the last great train robbery, by a member of Butch Cassidy’s Hole-In-The-Wall Gang, in 1909.
· A stop in Glenwood Springs, on the way to Leadville*. We saw the Glenwood Hotel, where from the time of Native Americans residency in the area until today, people have come to bath in the “healing” waters. Including Doc Holliday, an arthritis suffer since early age, who died in the Glenwood in the 1880’s.
*Never got to Leadville. First we tried to get there via Aspen and Independence Pass, but at 12,800 feet elevation, the pass was already closed for the winter…too much snow. Then we tried going from Glenwood, but the further we got, the higher we got, and deeper the snow got; so we chickened out and decided we’d forget about Leadville (the highest town in America)
· Drove through Avon and Vail. Thou$and$ of $ki condo$ and va$t, expen$ive looking mountain$ide home$.
· And best sight of the day…
· Frisco, CO, a small, Main Street centered burg with an outstanding historical museum and mini-village consisting of a number of original, though relocated, structures from the late 19th and early 20th century. Very interesting, very informative, and very well presented.
Day Thirty-One – Silverthorne, CO to Fort Morgan, CO
First, some corrections to yesterday’s blog…
· Doc Holiday died of tuberculosis, not arthritis
· The road from Glenwood Springs via Aspen, through the Independence Pass was closed
· The road from Minturn, CO (a somewhat shabby looking little collection of houses and mobile homes, that paled in comparison to Avon, Vail and Glenwood Springs), was the start point up to Leadville, where we did not venture.
· Amusing anecdote regarding Frisco, CO. Originally settled by miners and their families, it naturally attracted its share of single women, both of good repute (teachers, etc.) and those of ill repute. With the burst of the silver bubble in the late 1800’s, the men and families moved away, leaving behind a town full of single women. To the surprise of all, these women proceeded to take over and govern the town for a number of decades, up until the time skiing and the attendant money caught the attention of male entrepreneurs, at which time they moved back and assumed control. But if it hadn’t been for the independent and willful women of the late 1880’s, there would probably be no Glenwood Springs today.
Today started out with a short drive to Georgetown, CO. We were a little apprehensive when Carmen (our faithful navigation lady, who has proven to be indispensible throughout this entire adventure) lead us into town via an unpaved, narrow, rutted Main Street. We’ve gotten accustomed to the western way of small town life, so we were not too surprised, but concerned nonetheless. However, when we reached our destination, the Hotel de Paris, it was worth the drive. This large, stately building was the site of a hotel begun during the silver boom years of the 1860’s through the 18890’s by one Louis Dupuy. Louis was quite the character; Paris born, seminary drop-out, plagiarist newspaper journalist (twice), US army deserter and accomplished chef and hotelier. Amazingly, the entire hotel, the kitchen, dining room, Louis’ bedroom and sitting room, plus six guest rooms remained intact and furnished with original furnishings from the time Louis died in the early 1900’s until the local historical society and the State Of Colorado took it over in the 1960’s. Interesting economic note: rooms rented for $4 per night for ½ bed; most if not all travelers were men, and it was not unusual for 4 men to share two beds per room…
Next up was our final (and most frightening for the passenger!) mountain drive. This was the Lariat Loop, 1600 feet up Lookout Mountain to an elevation of about 7000 feet, above the cities of Golden and more distant, Denver. Many twists, turns, immense drop-offs and to further complicate the issue, hundreds of bicyclers, huffing and puffing their way up, or tearing downhill at breakneck speed. The driver isn’t crazy about these “scenic drives”, either. The driving part isn’t too frightening, but unfortunately, he never sees the scenery; too busy concentrating on keeping the car on the road!
And today’s odd and unusual…
· Buffalo Bill’s gravesite, at the top of Lookout Mountain
· Giant lighthouse / candle at a storage complex in Golden
· Concrete cowboy (about 50 feet tall…)
· Savery Savory Mushroom water tower in Denver
Footnote: If you noticed there were no Harleys on the road “back east”, it’s because they were all in the Denver area…
Day Thirty Two – Fort Morgan, CO to North Platte, NE
Today was long on driving / short on sightseeing. Actually, much of the day has been spent trying to figure out what the correct time is. Between the change from daylight saving to standard time, and the crossing from Mountain to Central Time, further confused by watching shows on TV from one time zone while viewing in another*, we’ve become pretty much dependant on ol’ Verizon cell service to let us know the correct hour.
*Unlike at home, it’s not unusual to be in one time zone, watching a show broadcast from the adjacent time zone, with the time on the crawl not being the actual time where you are viewing. Confused?
As it has since we left home a month ago, the weather has continued to be outstanding. Yesterday, as we were poking around Denver, it seemed quite warm, and there appeared to be a lot of people out and about town, it the parks and such with their dogs and kids. Only this morning did we learn that on Saturday, Denver had a near record high temperature of 77o, the highest since 1935! Last year on the first weekend of November, Denver had 6” – 8” of snow on the ground.
Big sight of the day, even for non-train people, was the Golden Spike Tower at the Union Pacific Bailey Yard. Like ourselves, one probably never stops to think about the fact that all cars on a particular train are in all likelihood not going to the same place. This huge2,850 acre rail complex, where the west lines meet the east lines, sorts and makes up trains at the rate of 10,000 cars per day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Essentially a computerized replacement of the old roundhouse, the network of tracks “breaks up” incoming trains, and “remakes” outgoing ones. Hard to describe, impressive to watch.
Random thoughts…
· Though it may sound somewhat a cliché’, it appears as though the ATA (American Trucking Association) is right; everything we touch moves by truck. The number of 18-wheelers on the road at any given time, especially out here on the Great Plains, has got to be nearly 50% of all road traffic.
· How you can tell when you’re out of the southwest and back in cattle country…
o Return of colored houses, white, blue, red, green, rather than earth-tones.
o Stock pens with hundreds of cattle waiting for the promised ride in the big truck…
o Cornfields and pivots (our new favorite word. Pivots are the 200 – 300 yard long irrigation “arms” that have a wheel at one end, hook-up to a well at the other, and move in a semi-circle to water the crops)
o The smell…!
· Is farming really in decline? It seems as though all available land for farming is being used for farming; don’t see much going back to grassland…
Day Thirty Three – North Platte, NE to Grand Island, NE
Though it only functioned for a few years, the Pony Express mail system played a crucial role in the development of the American west. Today we visited a Pony Express station that has been preserved in a very nice park in Gothenburg, Nebraska. Actually, because it was once a stop in the route, Gothenburg is pretty much consumed by all things Pony Express related. Restaurants, car washes, street names, auto dealerships and even a huge mural on the side of a downtown building all pay homage to the Pony Express riders. In addition to the Station, we also stopped at a replicate sod house, similar to and probably in similar condition, as those lived in by the early settlers on the Great Plains. On the grounds of the sod house there was also a full size buffalo and Indian on horseback, all made from barbed wire; 4.5 miles for the buffalo and 3.5 miles for the horse and rider!
After a couple of missing “Roadside America” sights (always a risk with RA sights; they come and go…), we went to the Great Platte River Road Archway, an immense structure built right over I-80, that includes many facilities, displays and even a theater that explores all aspects of Great Plains culture. Unfortunately, it was closed when we were there…only open on Fridays through Sundays. Oh, well…
And finally, after checking out a waterfront antique auto dealership, we visited a memorial to two brothers, who while riding on a single horse being chased by Native Americans in the mid-19th century, were shot by several arrows, one or more of which pierced both of them and pinned them together. They survived, and for some reason, someone decided to memorialize them with a rather large granite monument…go figure…
Random thoughts…
· Unlike us cold, aloof New Englanders, the Midwest (and even some of the rural west) is just full of friendly, self-appointed tour guides. Though it can really slow down the travel process, you just can’t be rude and walk away in the midst of some yarn about whatever you happen to be looking at, be it an impressive monument or statue, or a cow…
· Grain / feed elevators from a distance look like skyscrapers
· Lots of Harvestors (tall, always blue, silos)
Day Thirty Four – Grand Island, NE to Omaha, NE
A few days ago, it was the “non-train “people spending time checking out the North Platte rail yard. Today, it was the “non-museum” people spending just about the whole morning at the Hastings Museum in Hastings, Nebraska. A very large, extensive facility with many different displays and diorama’s depicting early Plains life, and a multitude of wildlife, all in full size, mounted presentations. Very professional, and probably an excellent starting point should one plan to spend a lot of time on the Great Plains, and was in need of a good background education.
But the real highlight for the trivia minded was an entire section of the Museum dedicated to one Edwin Perkins, a Hastings, Nebraska native, and inventor of Kool Aid. Inventor, marketing wiz and beneficent employer, Perkins had a keen sense of how to sell to the mid 20th century consumer, especially housewives, and utilized a number of techniques still practiced today. Direct marking to retailers by “jobbers”, incentive programs for sales staff and manufacturing workers and eye-catching advertising and display gimmicks were all a part of the Kool Aid story. From what started out as a liquid to which one added water and sugar (a poor approach; the bottles tended to leak or break during transit) to the perfected concept of a powdered drink mix, the entire history of the company is presented in a detailed series of displays and photographs.
From an intellectual point of view, the day then pretty much went downhill. Follow-up visits were made to:
· Very small police station in Friend, Nebraska (get the irony? With a name like Friend, why would a town need a large police station?)
· Fried chicken restaurant with large chicken outside on tall post. Supposedly, there is a piano player in the restaurant that plays requests, but to be honest, the neighborhood didn’t look all that spiffy, and there didn’t appear to be much in the way of clientele, so we passed on the piano player.
· A lighthouse in Gretna, Nebraska. Yes, again, we’ve found a lighthouse in the midst of a landlocked state. There seems to be a theme here…
· Coffee pot water tank in Omaha. Don’t ask…
Today’s random thoughts / observations:
· What is the logic behind having a paved driveway when you live on a dirt road? (Very common in this area…)
· In New England, with all the streets, roads, avenues, and other assorted thoroughfares, we pretty much give them all names; some meaningful, some kind of silly. But out here in Nebraska, and elsewhere in the west, there is a overwhelming propensity to give the few streets they do have numerical names, rather than real words. Like “Lars Noodstrums place is at 74638 356th Road…”
· Still seeing lots of corn (actually, remnants of where there was corn), not so many cows, and a sizeable number of our real favorites, pivots…
· The heartland feeds America. Especially if you like high fructose corn syrup and / or ethanol
Day Thirty Five – Omaha, NE to Newton, IO
We zipped through Omaha first thing in the morning. After spending what seemed like hours looking for a good steak restaurant last night, although it was dark, we felt as though we had pretty covered most of the City of Omaha. Seriously, it looks like a pretty vibrant place, with a lot of stuff to see, but as we have from the beginning, we’re trying not to get too bogged down spending time in big cities. It’s hard to make time that way; we’d be on the road ‘til spring…
Today’s biggies:
· A Volkswagen Beetle mounted on legs to resemble a spider in Avoca, IO (Actually, Avoca looked like a pretty neat little old town; reminded us of older New England communities, like something you’d see in Maine or Vermont).
· A pair of cow statues in Des Moines. The quirky thing about them is that either the mother cow is way too big, or the calf is way too small.
· A tree in the middle of an intersection in Prairie, IO. Located 1000 miles from nowhere on at the junction of two dirt roads, the question is why wasn’t the tree just cut down when roads were made? Or, by the apparent age of the roads, why was the tree allowed to remain and grow so big? Another distraction at this site (a first on this trip) was that only a brief stay was possible; a couple of hunters were just up the road, shootin’ stuff, and we didn’t want to be dinner…
· Smiley face water tank in Adair, IO. These seem to very popular…
· And the best (seriously) was the Danish windmill in Elk Horn, IO. Built originally in Denmark in 1849, the mill was purchased, dissembled in Europe, shipped to New York, railed to Elk Horn and put back together as a community project in the mid-1970’s at a total cost of $33,000. All of the funding was raised in one week (!), and the reassembly was done completely by volunteer labor. Pretty impressive, in as much as the only intent was to have a Danish-heritage artifact to promote the town. Nice attached gift shop, short historical video, and a tour of the interior of the mill, including access to the upper workings, always of interest to us mechanically inclined…
Random comments:
· First day of the entire trip that wasn’t sunny. Cloudy most of the day, cooler; mid 40’s to mid 60’s.
· Iowa vs Nebraska:
o No more pivots (almost like they were banned in the state)
o Fewer cows
o Rolling hills. We’d heard that Iowa was really flat. But so far, at least, the terrain is much more __^__^__^__ than Nebraska, which like South Dakota, is just about__________
o More wind turbines; first since California
o Bigger, more affluent homes and farm houses. With all due respect, many of the farms in Nebraska appeared to be struggling, if you simply judge their viability by outward appearance. But in Iowa, the houses, barns, outbuildings and property in general seem to be in a better state of repair. Just an observation…
Day Thirty Six – Newton, IA to Walcott, IA
Three very interesting stories today, but first for the more whimsical…
· In Lynnville, IA, we visited a large (90 foot tall) sculpture made entirely of iron wagon wheels welded together by a 90 year old farmer. The reason? Who knows…
· In Newton, IA, we stopped at the Iowa Speedway, a facility designed and developed by former NASCAR champion Rusty Wallace. Very nice looking track (in the opinion of us race fans), and host to four professional level events per year.
· The town of Brooklyn, IA, a somewhat sleepy little burg whose claim to fame is an over abundance of flags. Back in 1992, to put Brooklyn on the map, they build a large courtyard in the center of town, and lined it with 50 foot tall flag poles and flags from all 50 states and several special (POW/MIA, etc) flags.
Now the biggies:
A visit and tour of the Maytag Blue Cheese plant in Newton, IA. A locally owned and operated company of about 100-150 (during holiday rush season) employees, Maytag makes and sells several cheeses, but is best known for their blue cheese. The founder of the company was the son of the man would began the Maytag Appliance Co. in Newton, which was bought by Whirlpool in 2006 and moved out of town, much to the detriment of Newton. But the cheese plant, still run by his grandchildren, is thriving, in spite of using several quaint but admirable business practices, such as much hand labor and the taking of phone orders that are hand written and sent into the plant for filling. Even included a tour (watching ladies pack cheese wedges; must be weird having tourists watch you work) and a tasting. All in all, a real surprise…
Next up was a drive to Pella, IA to check out the country’s largest Dutch windmill. (We’re on a windmill kick…). However, in addition to the really big windmill, Pella is famous for several other things:
· Vermeer Corporation, which may mean little to most people, until you look around at various pieces of industrial / agricultural equipment. In 1948, Gary Vermeer invented a wagon hoist to expedite the off- loading of harvested corn, and continued for the next 4 decades to invent and manufacture many now common items such as stump grinders, log chippers, trenchers, and the real noticeable one out west, the hay roller, which has pretty much replaced old style bales. Vermeer has a huge manufacturing plant in Pella, and employs about 2500 people. Take a look around at the big yellow machines doing the previously mentioned tasks; they’re probably Vermeer.
· The Pella Window Company, another family owned corporation that is the second largest manufacturer of windows and doors in America. Still located on Main Street in Pella, IO
· And finally, what caught our attention most was the town of Pella itself. It seems to be the Glastonbury / Chatham of central Iowa; many fine homes, an attractive, eye-catching downtown with obviously well defined and enforced zoning (even the Wal-Mart lacked the typical big blue sign and utilitarian building), and the very expense looking Royal Amsterdam Hotel, where rooms go for $200 a night and up. (we travel in jeans and sweaters, and didn’t think they’d allow us into the lobby without being formally dressed)
Finally, a short time spent in the Amana Colony in Amana, IA. As occurred in several parts of the country during the 18th and 19th century, groups of like-minded citizens of communities often broke away, usually along religious affiliations, and formed autonomous, utopian communal settlements. Though loosely related to the Amish, the Amana Colony did practice many similar communal living and work practices, but did not eschew modern conveniences. We watched some weaving at the Colony’s woolen mill, checked out the woodworking factory where they build very pricey furniture, and sampled much fruit of the grape a couple of wineries in the village. A very interesting and well presented village, but more retail oriented; to those familiar, more like Olde Mystic Village in Connecticut rather than Olde Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.
..Full day, ending at the world’s largest truck stop, the I-80 in Walcott, IA.
Day Thirty Seven – Walcott, IA to Danville, IL
…and we pick up right where we left off yesterday, at the world’s largest truck stop, the Iowa 80 in Walcott, IA. The truck stop is a huge complex of service facilities for long haul truckers, including several restaurants, hotels, fueling stations and a multi-bay truck wash. Without exaggeration, there must have been a couple of hundred 18-wheelers on site last night. This morning we toured the unexpectedly interesting Truck Stop Museum at the truck stop. Along with displays of many early to mid 20th century truck related memorabilia, there was a collection of probably 25 to 30 trucks, ranging in age from around 1910, up to the late 70’s. Admirably, most if not all were not over restored “beauty queens”, but rather well preserved vehicles from the past 100 years of the truck industry.
Next, we went to the John Deere World headquarters in Moline, IL. Though not really being big farmers, we did find the visit fascinating. We learned the whole corn / cotton / soybean harvesting process in detail, along with the particulars of the mammoth machinery involved, from a grandmotherly little lady who really liked giving tours. At the headquarters, there are representative products ranging from $1999 lawn tractors that real people might buy, up to $290,00 harvesters, that give new meaning to the phrase “bigger is better”. The headquarters building in and of itself is worth seeing, having been designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen, a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the designer of the St. Louis arch.
Then we had a lunch stop in Morton, IL, which is not only home to a very large Caterpillar distribution center, but also the “Canned Pumpkin Capital Of The World”, due to the location of the Nestle / Libby pumpkin processing plant, that produces 80% of the world’s supply of canned pumpkin. (Think about that on Thanksgiving Day…). Then off to check out an 80 foot tall water tower in Peoria, IL. Though it has an elevator to the top observation deck, it was closed today…but we did see the whimsical woodpecker affixed to the side of the tower; nice to see the builders had a sense of humor. Final stop of the day was at the Curtis Apple Orchards in Champaign, IL. Along with a very New England-like orchard and apple products sales room, there is on site a 70 year old metal Indian statue, shooting an arrow into the air. And probably not authentic to the 1940’s, we couldn’t help notice a concession to modern sensitivities by the placement of a garish orange loin cloth about the fellow’s waist…
Random Thought:
· We’re out of the Great Plains / Midwest…more hills, woods, fall foliage, industry, multi-story homes.
· It seems very possible that most of our domestically grown “food” crops go to energy use. Ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybeans.
Day Thirty Eight – Danville, IL to Fort Wayne, IN
The word for today… RAIN! ALL DAY! First rain of the entire trip. Other than one overnight in Anaheim, CA, and the high altitude drizzle / fog / clouds in Cedar Breaks, UT and at the Grand Canyon North Rim, weather has been day after day of clear skies and sunshine. Other big change for today is that the general topography is looking more like the northeast; fewer big flat farms, more trees, more hills, more CVS and Walgreen stores…
First stop today was at the rotary county jail in Crawfordsville, IL. This is an interesting late 19th century interpretation of incarceration efficiency. Picture two cylindrical rooms, one above the other, each divided into 8 pie-shaped sections (cells). Then stack the two cylinders one above the other, and put them inside another cylinder (jail building) with one opening on each of the two levels (floors). To detain or release a prisoner, the entire cell unit (16 cells) would be rotated by hand via a gear system to line up the appropriate cell with the one opening, thereby requiring only one guard to watch the entire jail population. It was built at a cost of $30,000 (big bucks in the late 1800’s) and the whole cylindrical cell unit weighed about 50,000 lbs. All very clever and effective, and during it’s years of use, it normally held up to 32 prisoners at a time, with two per each of the 16 cells. However, the tour guide did mention that the late 1800’s - early 1900’s prisoner was very unlike today’s more violent breed. Most lock-ups were for drunk and disorderly offenses, or prostitution (female perpetrators and their male customers!)
Because fall has pretty much been an elusive season for us this year, in an attempt to get into the holiday spirit (however early it may be), we stopped at a fairly big high school craft fair in Lafayette, IN. Also, while in town, we took a drive around the Perdue campus. The size of the college reminded us very much of UCONN, except that unlike Storrs, it is surrounded by a very busy, typical college town, with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, multi-story student / staff housing buildings, etc. And it was game day; so of course, all the fans were out in force, even in the rain! (Perdue lost to Michigan, 27-16…)
Then it was off to two Happy Burger Restaurants, to get pics of the two giant bulls, one at each store, both in Logansport, IN. Nice bulls, but typical fried food…ick…(didn’t eat there…)
Despite the rain, we saw a lot of nice late fall countryside, and motored through a number of quaint little villages. A lot of it looked like southeastern Massachusetts…hum…
Idle thought for the day:
Now having passed through all four time zones, twice, one interesting scenario occurred to us. Having never traveled east-west on a regular basis on business, and not living near a time zone border, we could not relate to the everyday complexities incurred by living close to a time change border. For instance, I’m sure many people get up at 8:00 am, drive 30 minutes to work, and arrive at 7:30 am. Of course, these same people leave at 5:00 pm, drive 30 minutes home, and arrive at 6:30 pm. Also, imagine the scheduling of children’s activities, when some may occur in one zone and others an hour later or earlier in another zone! One upside: if one TV network broadcast station was in one time zone, and another network in the adjacent time zone, you could watch one show while taping the show that was going to be on in an hour…it all makes my head hurt…
Day Thirty Nine – Fort Wayne, IN to Youngstown, OH
From the beginning, we’d had decided that as we headed west, we’d pretty much move as quickly and efficiently (not a lot of sightseeing, etc.) as we could at least until we got past the Great Lakes region. The rationale was that as long as we’re able and interested, anything east of this area was all within easy driving distance for future road trips. Similarly, we’re applying the same attitude as we head home.
Therefore, today was generally a driving day, but with a couple of early stops. First was at a bakery in Fort Wayne, IN, with a unique Sunbeam Bread billboard above it that gives the appearance of slices of bread continually dropping out of a wrapped loaf onto a pile. Hard to describe, but somewhat of a landmark in the area. Since 1957, and by the time its official 50th anniversary rolled around on September 7, 2007, it had dispensed 685,565,217 slices of bread (yet the stack never gets bigger).
We also stopped at our first Menards. This is a Home Depot / Lowe’s type home improvement store that we knew was prevalent and had seen often in the west, but not common (yet) in the east. Much more varied merchandise than HD / Lowe’s, but not as “builder” orientated; lots of household goods, not much for name brand tools, etc…
No need to comment on Ohio topography; looks just like southern New England. However, we did see a number of man-made ponds, or maybe they call them lakes, very close to the highway, surrounded by various RV’s, mobile homes, campers, etc, all packed in closely together. Some appeared to be movable; others seemed to be permanently in place. I guess after working on the farm, with your closest neighbor a mile or so away, it’s nice to “weekend” with lots of others nearby…
And the highlight of the day, right here in Youngstown Ohio…DUNKIN’ DONUTS!! The first since Wisconsin Dells on Tuesday, October 12!
Day Forty – Youngstown, OH to Dunmore, PA
Nothing like a drive across Pennsylvania to stir up an appetite for fresh venison…
Mostly driving today, with a couple of stops:
· At the Lycoming Mall in Muncy, PA, there is a 100’ tall twisted steel arch over the entrance road to the Mall. Why? Not sure; seems to be just for aesthetics / eye appeal…
· Scranton Iron Furnaces, where else but in Scranton, PA. Remnants of four old, very large iron furnaces in this once thriving iron / steel area. Not much to look at (except immense size); there is a museum / visitor center, but it is closed for the season.
· Crossed the highest point on I-80 east of the Mississippi; 2270 feet. Out in Colorado, they’d call that a high spot on the highway…
Observations (seemingly contrary):
· Highest police presence since we left home. Without a doubt, we saw more troopers per hour on I-80 in Pennsylvania than anywhere else on the entire trip.
· Of all the states we’ve passed through, there has been nearly universal adherence to the recently enacted “move over” laws, which require motorists to move to the left lanes when passing a vehicle that has been stopped by a patrol officer or is disabled. Not in Pennsylvania; just blow right by as though nothing was there…strange
Day Forty One – Dunmore, PA to East Hartford, CT
Really short blog today….
· Short drive from Dunmore to East Hartford; second day of rain…
· Shopping in Connecticut; finally confident we’ll make it home with room to spare in the car, so now we can start filling it up!
· Visit with family in CT
Day Forty-Two – East Hartford, CT to Mashpee, MA
The end
- 9,674 miles.
- Google Maps says that it is 6,094 miles round trip from Mashpee to Los Angeles and back; I guess we took the long route…
