There's No Place Like Home

We. Have. Arrived.
Home safe and sound.

Actual mileage: 7341 in the rig.
Plus 224 miles to the RV rental place and 224 miles from the RV rental place

Grand total: 7789 miles, from start to finish.
And that's just the northern, western part of the U.S.
Wow. What a great country we live in!

Good night and farewell for this blog. No more posts shall be posted (at least until the next trip!).

And here's what we'll drive NEXT:

Trip in Review: Acknowledgments and More Lessons Learned

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all of the people who expressed support and enthusiasm for our trip. When our enthusiasm flagged, yours brought us through. Estimated mileage for the trip: 7400 miles. Wow.

Thank you to all the people who hosted us along the way. What an honor and privilege that you (a) wanted us to stop by and (b) let us know that you enjoyed the visit, too. We are very sensitive to the admonition of Julie's personal hero, Ben Franklin, that fish and visitors stink after 3 days. Hosting visitors can be stressful; you all didn't let us see that part and made us feel so welcome. Specifically:

To Lee and Mary: Thank you for the welcoming us (and Nick) with such open arms and amazing hospitality. We cannot thank you enough for the best Fourth of July and breakfast at Dornan's AND the backroads tour of Jackson Hole. It's been years and years since we've seen each other, but it felt as if no time had passed. Thank you.

To Marianne and family: Thank you for the most amazing weekend of the trip. Who knew what a 690-acre ranch in NW North Dakota would be like? And who knew Lisa would get baptized by a sorority sister? Now we know--it's amazing! Thank you John and the rest of the family for making us feel so welcome, and thank you to the parishioners for welcoming Lisa into the fold.

To Aelred: Thank you for sharing your new life with us and for the yummiest parting gift, the raisin bread you made for us. Lisa says that she will always treat the towel you wrapped it in to cool as a holy towel ;-) It won't mop up spills, that's for sure.

To Renee: Thank you for the best drop-in visit experience. We had originally thought we'd meet in the big city for lunch, but when the temp was so high, we asked you about shade. Turned out you had the best shade (and doggie TV experience) ever on the farm with the goats. And then--even better--you shared your life and your family with us. How very great. Thank you.

And then there's Virginia. We are so very pleased to have a new auntie friend. (You said that you became everyone's aunt, so we're taking you up on that.) Please rest assured that a handwritten note is on its way to you, properly, but everyone else should know what an amazing person you are. You have led the life that you've wanted to lead. Made changes when necessary and not looked back. Developed principles and values that you live by and share. You are an awesome person. Thank you for sharing yourself with us.

And finally, Jim and Gaela. You all are the newest friends we visited on this trip, but the oldest. Ah yes. A Zen koan. You'll figure it out. Thank you for the opportunity to deepen our friendship and for the oh-so-necessary respite and rejuvenation period. And of course Jim WOULD help us repair the broken van light.... The man spent over a year fixing our house....

And thank you to the strangers who left us comments. We particularly are grateful to Elizabeth of JCLC (Jefferson County Library Cooperative) who identified herself and let us know that she got some travel fun from our journal.

Oh, and one more acknowledgment. To all the pioneers: the mountain men, Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery, the Mormons, the OR and CA trail emigrants. How on God's green earth did they manage to do this? We have traced so much of their journeys (in a gas-powered vehicle no less) and still remain in awe of what they accomplished.

Best/Worst List
Best Roads: Oregon with sleep strips on each side and in the middle, plus shoulders (worst: North Dakota--no shoulders!)

Best National Park: Yellowstone. There's a reason it's the most popular national park. It's spectacular. So many things to see, so much diversity of geology and flora and fauna, and there's nothing like it anywhere. (worst: Mount Rushmore)

Best State Park for Camping: Steamboat Lakes, Colorado. GORGEOUS and lots of dog-friendly trails. Big sites with views. (No worst. We liked them all.)

Best State Park for a Day Visit: Donner Memorial State Park, CA. Swim beach, hiking, museum, interpretive trails.

Best Camping Experience: Custer, SD, for shade, grass, good bathrooms, wifi, and big ole thunderstorm. Runner up: Crater Lake because it was our first experience. (Worst: Yellowstone: Fishing Bridge. Yucky potties, lots of mosquitoes, big Class A buses breathing down our necks on all 3 sides, screaming children)

Best Hotel: Ramada Inn in Caspar (worst: Fargo)

Best Meal: Restaurant next to Days Inn in Bismarck, ND, because it was within walking distance and had killer rainbow trout after days of camping (worst: Fargo. See Day 21.)

Best Blog Comment: Fargo (If you haven't sung along to "When Taco Boats Are Sailin'" in Day 21, you have missed a great chuckle.)

Best Interpretive Centers: North Dakota

Best Rest Stops: Iowa with free wifi and usually inside an historic site (Worst: Nevada--shadeless, grassless, hell holes)

Best Doggie Hike: Scottsbluff, Nebraska (worst: Lake Tahoe on a summer Sunday. No parking, no dogs allowed)

Best Cities: St. Paul, MN. Made us want to go back and spend time and have another Jucy Lucy. (worst: Deadwood, SD--so touristy that it makes one's skin crawl)

Weirdest Visit: Julie's phone call with a "Susan Andrews" who wasn't THE Susan Andrews that Julie knew.

Best Treat: Bumbleberry Pie. Runner up: Huckleberry ice cream in Estes Park, CO. We had seen huckleberry ice cream signs all through Glacier, Yellowstone, and then the signs stopped. And we hadn't tried it. But then...miracle...it showed up again on the way home through Colorado. And boy is it good.

Lessons Learned

Camping has a hierarchy just like everything else in life. We enjoyed the egalitarian campgrounds (where there were tents on up) more than the RV-only "Coachland" kinds of places. Variety is truly the spice of life.

It's good to admit that one does not know what one is doing--that is, strangers are useful sources of information. (And they're happy to do it.)

Plan loose days. 200-300 miles driving, something fun in the morning and in the evening. Makes a long driving trip work. We made this happen for most of the trip (UT and NV deserts excepted, of course).

A little dirt doesn't hurt.

Day 35: The Last Day (and Reflections on the Donner Party)

Spent a lovely Monday at Donner Memorial State Park. What a difference a day makes--no crowds, had the place to ourselves. Contemplated the pioneers once again. First, at the museum during the cheesy 1970s era film and secondly back in a canyon (where dogs were allowed) that was an actual part of the Emigrant Trail. We didn't see any iron marks on the granite, which apparently are still around some 160 years later, but we did see and walk in some swales in the hardpan. Then we dipped our toes in Donner Lake--gorgeous (but brrrr!).

Lots of lessons from the ole Donner Party:
1. Don't believe everything (and everyone) you hear. The Donner Party believed that the Great Salt Desert was 40 miles across.... We can attest that it is not.
2. Sometimes, a shortcut is not a shortcut. (Or there is no such thing as a free lunch.) They went over 100 miles out of their way in the brutal Nevada desert.
3. When it matters, hire an expert. The other wagon trains had professional mountain men guides. Guess who didn't.
4. Don't dawdle or you'll spend the winter ill-prepared in the mountains.
5. Get along with people, or at least have a competent leader who can ensure that people get along. George Donner was in his 60s (back then, an advanced age. Of course, quite young now ;-) and had zero, zilch, nada experience leading such a party. When the families started feuding (as would be natural when so many things went awry), ole George couldn't get things resolved.
6. Good luck is important. Apparently, the winter of 1846 when they were all trapped up in the Sierra eating each other was the earliest and worst winter in 100 years. This base of this statue shows how high the snow was that year--22 feet.



Pretty good lessons to apply to just about everything in life, I'm thinking. Didn't feel too inspired to take photos today, as we are really eager to just get home now. Spent a good chunk of the day cleaning what we can clean until we unload, filling the propane, dumping, um, other things. Getting ready to prepare the last night camping feast--plan to poach some fish on the grill!

Here's our white-trash-with-master's-degrees still life photo. Nice champagne (the upscale part). All-Bran Crackers (the good for you part). Squirty cheese (the white trash part).



Stay tuned for one final post--a review and what our next trip will be.

Why We Like Camping

'Nuff said.

Day 34: The End Is Nigh

Let's just say that finding somewhere to go with (a) a dog and (b) a 22' rig on a summer Sunday at Lake Tahoe isn't easy. Actually, it isn't even possible. Lovely weather (if a bit smoky from the fires) and the entire northern half of California is in the Tahoe region. No photos today, but we do have a revised plan:

Monday: Donner Memorial State Park (to complete our tour of the western pioneers) and our last night of camping

Tuesday: Depart early, clean and return rig, be home before sunset.

Our Nicky boy hasn't had his appetite or regular energy level for a few days now, so he's telling us he's had it, too.

So, we'll finish up at an even 5 weeks. Pretty good for our first adventure. We've even got ideas for future adventures....

No comments? Are You People Out There???

Please post a comment to let us know you're out there, as we wrap this trip up.....

Day 33: Thank Goodness! We're on Home Turf in California

A quick post. Glad to have traversed 550+ miles across Utah and Nevada deserts to be back in soft, cool, California air again in Truckee, CA tonight. Ah. Afternoon temp = 80s. Evening temps = 40s. We plan to stay here through Monday and then head down the hill toward the rental return place....

The day began sleepily, as Nick was on guard at every noise last night (at the murderous Motel 6). No one got more than a nap all night long. We had to trade drivers rather frequently today! Here's the photo opp at the Bonneville Salt Flats, where all the land speed records were made:



Once we got to Elko, NV, though, we had a great road trip moment. Found a shady park (a doggie plus), adjacent to a historical visitor center (the largest log cabin in Nevada--really, a mansion. These people had 10 children. And each of the children had a ton of kids--the most was 13--and now there are 800 descendants from the mid 1800s!). As we went in search of a recommended restaurant, we saw a site that had us both gasp. A place that said "Cornish Pasties--the Original Miners Food." We turned around and had the surprise of the trip--a most wondrous lunch. 5 kinds of pasties (huge ones!). We each had one, and then bought 2 breakfast pasties for our camping weekend, along with a strawberry rhubarb pie, because this fellow knew his crusts. Wow. Plus the sauce--so tangy and peppery. We'll find more uses for this than just pasties. But boy howdy, will it be time for the gym when we get home!





That was the highlight of today. The rest was just ugly--hot Utah salt flats and Nevada desert. Although, we learned of a beautiful canyon we must come back to visit (no time today): Lamoille Canyon, 20 minutes south of Elko. And given how much we like Elko (the last time we drove through it a few years ago, we loved its old timey charm, too), we may just be back. We have to manage to go on the Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada, as well.


Signing off now, in the lovely cool of Truckee....

Day 32: The Great Basin

We continue to be in awe of the majesty and just plain ole horror of the west in the summer. So very hot, so very mountainous. How did the Oregon/Calif/Mormon Trail pioneers DO this? We find ourselves tonight in Salt Lake City--the destination of the Mormon Trail pioneers.

Today was a huge driving day for us--and a very hot day, to boot. Poor Nick got car sick today for the first time. Not sure if it was the heat, the new food we bought, the water from the campground, etc., etc. But he's on the mend tonight, thank goodness. Fun with carpet cleaners, though.

This morning brought beauty at the northern Colorado campground:



Then a hoot of a 2-hour detour to Dinosaur National Monument, where more intact skulls and skeletons have been found in the U.S. than anywhere else. SOOO hot, though. We just dashed out for the occasional photo of scenery AND petroglyphs (carved approximately 1000 years ago):



Here's the formation they call Elephant's Toes:



And here, of course, are the eponymous critters of the park:




And then there was the monsoon (remnant of Dolly?) we drove through today that almost pushed us off the road unexpectedly with its gale force winds:



We are now in a motel-of-last-resort tonight--a Motel 6 by the Salt Lake City airport. We learned that the police in the parking lot for the last few hours are guarding a room (blocked off by police tape) where they arrested 2 wanted murderers from California earlier in the day. Neat. We know how to pick the motels! (All the other motels that took dogs were booked, FYI.) Here's the article.

I decided against taking a photo of the police or the ABC News truck across the street...

Tomorrow brings a most welcome return to the Pacific time zone and CaliforNYyay. It's going to be a long drive for us--some 550 miles to Truckee--but worth it. I expect to listen to a lot of podcasts because the Great Salt Desert puts Lisa into a sleep coma. She'll get the reins after Wells or Elko, NV. I may have to play a few hands of $2 blackjack as a reward for driving across that nasty stretch of desert! We'll see.

Good night! Sleep tight, now that the murderers are caught.

Day 31: A High Altitude Day

After our wonderfully rejuvenating 3 days off the road and with hosts who made us feel so pampered (and with the dog off having his own break), we all reassembled Thursday morning and headed out onto the open road again, taking US 40 through the mountains (11,000+ feet passes). Gorgeous day.

This was also our first attempt at having Lady Luck ride along with us. We had no reservation anywhere as we headed into major camping/tourist land in Steamboat Springs. Well, we got to the state park early enough to find just a few spots that were not reserved for Thursday PM (but all were reserved for Friday through the weekend). Lucked out. Found a spot right on the lake, at the end (no neighbors nearby), with lots of hiking trails that are hospitable to dogs. (State parks tend to be, while national parks are most definitely not). Slept soundly at our 8200+ elevation. Lovely cool breeze and so, so quiet.



Figured out our plan for our remaining days. Looks as if we will make the full 37 days ;-) Stay tuned. We hope to have wifi for the rest of the trip and not let the unblogged days pile up!

Days 28-30 in Bullet Points

Now, I am no Joyce McGreevy, but...

We must be terse
As the day's drive is long
Let's use some verse
Even though it will be sing-song

(oh heck, who am I kidding? I'll just use captions....)

Monday
A trek through our 10th national park, Rocky Mountain



A visit to a potential 49th wedding anniversary gathering place for the Crawley clan (sorry--we don't think it's the right vibe for the whole family, but a neat place!)

Then off to doggie spa for Nick. What a great place. If you're a dog head,
check this out.

Lunch in Boulder, the Napa of Beer. Got new hairdos at a cool salon and walked around groovy Boulder.



Tuesday
Leisurely breakfast and laundry at the home of our most hospitable hosts, then off to Denver (in a real car!) for a grown-up, dog-free afternoon

Denver Art Museum


Denver Library


Then dinner with our friends at a most amazing only-in-Boulder place--an authentic Tajikistan teahouse (i.e., shipped in pieces and reassembled in Boulder). Fabulous food and atmosphere, sitting alongside the Boulder River....



Wednesday
Amazing brunch at Lucile's. I will be writing a review for Roadfood on THIS one. Utterly delicious.



This is a biscuit. They had homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam for it....



Then off to Nederland and Lyons, up in the mountains.

The requisite afternoon thunderstorm clouds, which makes the air cool


A scenic home


My new favorite sign of the trip. Would that all of the scolding signs we've seen had a bit of this humor. Goes a long way!


Our wondrous hosts and best dog ever (well, after our dear departed Sara), Kini, in a Colorado creek


Then back to Boulder and its scrumptious farmer's market to pick up fixins for dinner.


I stand in awe of Jim's sauteed mushrooms.

Day 27: Rocky Mountain Ahhh.

Yesterday started off just wonderfully in Scottsbluff (the town is one word), NE, when we got to the Scotts Bluff National Monument (two words) at 7:30AM. There was a ton of ground fog, which kept things cool, but was kinda funny when trying to view an 800-foot tall monument. So, we followed trails and got a bunch of exercise (about 4 miles total), enjoyed the museum, and then the sun started to come out. At that point, we:

--walked through a narrow pass where the stone ground was still worn in grooves from the (get this) 350,000 emigrants and their oxen who passed through this famous landmark between the 1840s and when the RR was completed. I had not known that this was the largest *voluntary* human migration in history. Winding our way through this path, all signs of modern life disappeared and we could actually be present to the vast expanse of prairie and get a little taste of what it must've been like. Really moving.



--drive through 3 tunnels to reach the top of the bluff and get views that were emerging from the hazy/foggy morning





All in all, one of our favorite national park/monuments. Very good experience of the history there as well as being dog friendly (very rare!).

Then we hit the road again, taking small roads through backcountry NE and Wyoming. Did a drive-by of Cheyenne--looks like a great Western town to explore. Very busy at the moment as its big annual festival was going on, so we pressed forward into Colorado. Stopped at a park in Greeley to have a picnic lunch. Had to flee rapidly--heat was over 100. Not pleasant picnicking!

Made it to Estes Park, Colorado, and our campsite at 8200 feet. Whew! It was low 80s when we arrived and then a delightful 53 degrees to sleep in. The campground itself is quite funky, but neat--all smaller campers and tents. Here's a Where's Waldo photo of the terraced hillside--we're up there somewhere ;-)



Off to Boulder to visit our friends. Since they're much lower and in the heat, we're consigning Mr. Nick to a "spa" experience at a kennel for a few days to keep him safe. It'll be interesting to see how that goes, but we feel like we can do some serious playing now!

Day 26: Westward Ho!

When we left the VERY humid Omaha area in the morning we jumped on I-80 to get out of Dodge quickly. We made it to about Cozad, NE--the 100th meridian and the place where we left the East and entered the West, based on aridity. Yay. Then, after 4.5 hours on the numbing interstate, we just had to get off and take the US route 30. Ah. Much better.

We went through great, small towns like Gothenberg, a Pony Express site. This is a cabin that was one of the way stations for this 18-month long experiment back in 1860-61. (Many of you will remember that the Pony Express was put out of business by the completion of the telegraph. One of the first "disruptive" technologies in the country that have become commonplace to us now. The backers of the Pony Express ended up going out of business $100k in the hole.... But it gave us great stories.)



Then we wandered through many towns until we hit this sod house on the side of the road in...101 degree heat! But it WAS a dry heat.... Those pioneers really did rough it.




Then Chimney Rock--the major landmark (and graffiti spot) for emigrants on the California, Oregon, and Mormon Trails back in 1840-1880s (until the transcontinental railroad put the trail out of business).




Then we checked into our motel in Scotts Bluff, NE. This is our smoke alarm:




This is the strategy for having the smoke alarm work:




Off to figure out where the heck we'll be tomorrow. We weren't expecting the heat wave to follow us up into the Rockies, but it was 99 in Boulder today. We were not counting on that.

We lost an hour today--back in the Mountain time zone--and we want to get a very early start going to the Scotts Bluff National Monument tomorrow before the heat builds up. It's one of the few national parks/monuments we can take Nick hiking with us. Just have to beware of rattlesnakes, apparently. But no bears.

Starting to have a very distinct feeling that we'll be making a marathon trip across the Colo. and the Great Basin. Perhaps we'll hole up in Tahoe for a few days to cool down! Stay tuned....

Day 25: Of Farms and Family

What a lovely, gentle day today was. Now, it wasn't gonna start out that way. Last night, Nick did something he hasn't done thus far--he was unruly. Of course, we made two strategic errors. (And any dog trainer will tell you that almost all dog errors can be traced to handler error!) One: we stayed in a motel near casinos. People were coming in at all hours of the night and, of course, slamming their doors. German shepherd must do his job and bark. And, boy, did he. Second, yesterday was a big driving day (7AM till 5PM and then too hot/humid in evening to do much substantive exercise). Dog had excess energy. So, at 11PM, after a bout of barking that was gonna get us evicted, Julie took Nick to the van and slept out there with him. And I use the word "slept" loosely. We are next to a highway. I now understand why communities put restrictions on trucks and jake brakes. Those puppies are loud. We survived, but if I'd have written the blog in the morning, it was gonna be called, "Game Over. We're Going Home NOW. Dad Crawley wins the bet." But we persevered.

Did laundry and washed/vacuumed the van this morning, in anticipation of increased camping the coming week. Then we headed south to Glenwood, Iowa, on the Loess Hills Scenic Byway. Gorgeous country. We so enjoyed our visit with Renee. She has a lovely farmhouse, with a big shady tree under which we parked Nick. He could see cats, goats, and sheep and be comfy in the shade. We then toured the area and had a lovely lunch in Malvern, Iowa, at a pretty little cafe. Ah, a Midwest pork tenderloin, pickle, and mustard sandwich. Bliss. I forgot to take my camera with us on the trip, so, I'm photoless. But picture a cute town square, tidy shops, and tons of green punctuated by zinnias and dahlias.









After lunch, we returned to the hotel where Lisa so kindly dropped me off for a much-needed nap. She took Nick and the rig across the way to Harrah's and dropped a big $7 on the slots. Apparently, we don't need to worry about her becoming a gambling addict. And when she asked a staff person at the casino where she could get change, the gal shook her head and said, "It's been a long time, hasn't it?" So, she had fun, I got a nap, and Nick didn't bark.

For dinner, we cleaned up and headed across the river to Omaha to meet my big brother's wife's mom--an amazing woman. We so enjoyed hearing her life stories and stories of the area. And we got present to the power of family ties, even when the parties haven't met in person yet. We're still connected. Plus she so kindly gave us tons of gifts--jewelry and beaded leashes for our glasses (and boy, did I need that--I'm forever misplacing my glasses!) that she made herself and my favorite--an illustrated history of Nebraska. We'll enjoy reading this tomorrow as we make our way all the way across Nebraska. Again, I forgot to get a picture taken with Virginia (doggone it!), but we did take some pix of the exterior of this great 50's steakhouse (which apparently Warren Buffet frequents. Mr. Buffet was not in attendance tonight.)






The heat is expected to be intense this weekend, so we'll make 500miles tomorrow and then Sunday beat feet into the Rockies seeking, if not cool weather, then at least cooler/drier air up in the mountains.

Think good thoughts for us as we double our regular mileage tomorrow on, we hope, a good night's sleep....

I'm on Roadfood. I'm Somebody Now!

Who knew these folks were as persnickety as I used to be in my editorial days? I submitted 4 reviews, but only made it with this one. And I'm proud.

Check out my new claim to fame.


:-)

Day 24: Well It's a Dry Heat....

I always thought people were a little off when they talked about the "dry heat" of say, Arizona, vs. the humid heat of the Midwest and South. Now, we understand. It was in the high 80s/low 90s the last 3 days. In the arid West, that would've been hot but bearable. In Minnesota and Iowa, not so much. The heat covers every part of one's body with a clammy, yucky grip. Even if the temp is in the 70s, as it was this morning. We were packed up and gone from our nice RV park by 7AM, and we were dripping. (We can't run our A/C at night--too loud.)

But today, the A/C saved the day. Meant gassing up more often, but oh well. Gas is pretty cheap in these parts: $3.85 and certainly worth the A/C.

We intended to be on the interstate all day today, but that really isn't our style on this trip. We managed to be on I-35S and I-80 for most of the day (taking side trips to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Mason City as well as "The Music Man" sites there, as well as seeing Iowa State University in Ames).



We were about 1 hour outside of our destination when we had to switch drivers. Lisa, who had been driving, was falling asleep. Julie, as the passenger, was nodding off constantly. We decided to get the heck off the hypnotic interstate and spend an extra hour taking 2 scenic byways to our destination. Ahhhh. Beautiful, even though a T-storm was brewing. Rolling hills, bluffs, and terraced corn fields. This Illinois girl has never seen terraces for corn. Pretty!




We even stopped at a "Good Eats Restaurant" for 1 scoop of homemade ice cream at one point--yum. Our favorite part of Iowa, though, has been the state DOT rest stops. Several of them are spectacular tourist stops on their own; and all have very nice picnic spots AND wifi! Here's the first one we stopped at, just over the MN border:



Plans are all lined up for tomorrow to visit friends, and then we face the apparently soul-killing drive across Nebraska. We'll figure out a way to make it interesting!

Day 23: St. Paul—Our Kinda Town

Despite the heat/humidity and the fact that city driving is a bit tricky in the rig, we had a great day in St. Paul, our kinda town. We toured the sites, including Mickey’s Diner and The Fitzgerald Theater, familiar to anyone who is a Prairie Home Companion fan. Great architecture. We think we’ll have to come back and stay downtown and go to a live show sometime at The Fitz. Lisa thinks January would be good (for our birthdays)—that would certainly be a very different Minnesota experience.



Then we headed for another Roadfood.com AND Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (the Food Network TV show) site: The Nook. The target for lunch was a Jucy Lucy. This food was sooooo good that I couldn’t be bothered to take a photo of it. We did snap a few photos on the phone whilst waiting for a table. Wednesday afternoon at 1PM and the place was packed. Understandably so—one of the best burgers ever. For Californians like us, accustomed to water conservation, we really liked the sign "Save Water. Drink Beer."






We were going to head back to our campground for a swim, but Lisa wanted to at least do a drive-by of the Mall of America, that retail behemoth and bastion of commerce in Bloomington, MN. Just driving by it made my skin crawl—it has parking for 20,000 cars! A train drops tourists off from the nearby airport right at one of the mall entrances. (Apparently the mall is a major destination for Chinese and, I think, Icelandic visitors, if I remember the recent Wall Street Journal article correctly.) At any rate, I know lots of people must love this mall, but I took a bad picture from the car window because I didn’t want to get any closer….



We did a little shopping for dog food and sundries, et al, and came back to camp. Thank goodness a breeze kicked up—made for a pleasant late afternoon. Time to fire up the barbie for dinner (chicken and veggie kabobs). We’re off early tomorrow for our longest segment yet (almost 400 miles) to get through Iowa quickly and onto the Omaha area. Friday holds social occasions—lunch with an old friend and dinner with a new friend.

We’re getting excited about making the turn back west on Saturday. After Omaha, we head to Oregon Trail country in western Nebraska and then Boulder, Colorado (another one of our kinds of places ;-) and the mountains again. Yay! Once we cross the Rockies, the mosquito problem goes way down!

Day 22: Into Lake Wobegon Territory

Last North Dakota learning (and this looks as if it may also apply to Minnesota): the people here are very nice. This may explain the fact that every single gas station in a town has the same, exact price for gas. No need to shop around; it’s all the same. Now, some might call that collusion, which is of course illegal. But I think it’s simply neighborliness. An even playing field. But seriously—Minot, Grand Forks, Fargo. All unleaded gas was $4.09. We saw one gas station—out of dozens—that was $4.07. Probably a renegade from back East. A fellow without any manners. In Minnesota, the price so far has been $3.99 at many towns, including Minneapolis. Amazing. I don’t know about YOUR town, but in ours, the prices vary widely (not on the same street corner but across a town).

Lisa here – we hightailed it out of Fargo this morning and found our way to Collegeville, MN, to meet our friend who is a novice. He happily showed us around the campus - the highlight of the tour being the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library to see the display of amazingly beautiful illuminated bibles they have produced. 5 out of 7 books are now printed. You must see them here: St. John's Bible.

We also enjoyed greatly knowing that Garrison Keillor launched his career here at St. John’s. Minnesota Public Radio—the powerhouse of public radio and precursor to NPR—was launched here as Minnesota Educational Radio. The Lake Wobegon Trail even meanders past here in the form of a bike trail made from former RR tracks.

It was wonderful to see our friend, Julie’s former co-worker, Aelred (formerly known as Johnnie), and to have a guided tour, complete with seeing some of the private monastery spaces. Thank you, Aelred, for sharing your life with us. He also baked us a round loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that we are anxious to have for breakfast. We were so absorbed in the experience that we forgot to take pictures, except for this terrible one on my iPhone (no fill-in flash capability on the ole phone):



Once again we have hit a heat wave and we knew we could not leave Nick in the van for too long, so between sights, meals, and a very lovely mass, we checked on the dog to make sure he was OK in the heat. This required moving the RV twice. Thank goodness that the Benedictine tradition is rooted in hospitality. Julie had to park the RV across many parking spaces late in the afternoon to capture a little shade in the 90+ degree heat. When she emerged from the RV, a brother was getting into his vehicle. He welcomed her and assured her that it would be fine for her to take up 5 parking spaces in the faculty parking lot at this time of day. St. Benedict would be proud of his hospitality.

Remaining present to the constraints of the trip can be frustrating for us, but it does provide a very clear, and therefore, comforting path. For example, before we arrived, we had planned to spend the night in the very swanky guesthouse of the monastery, but it was clearly inappropriate for us one of us to be sleeping in the van with the dog in the parking lot in this particular place. (We had no idea how large—and lovely—the place was!).

The other issue was that we were not really 100% present to Nick. So, today he ate the rest of the *#&$& Chippers we bought in Fargo (Julie meant to put them away in the fridge but forgot), the rest of the box of dog treats (the bathroom door wasn’t secure and we keep all his food locked up in there), and some trash (we had him tied up outside tonight and thought he was far away). Can’t wait to pick up that #2. Right now, it’s still pretty hot and humid in our bedtime quarters, as we write this, and Nick is sound asleep. Julie has broken from all tradition to shower at night; Lisa is now doing the same. (And Julie has taken over writing this. I wonder if you can tell when I took over….)

Now, the 3 of us are trying to stay cool and away from the mosquitoes in a campground near St. Paul tonight. This is the place we had “booked” for Day 23, so now we’re here for 2 nights instead of 1. We are ecstatic that there is a Trader Joe’s nearby; we hadn’t provisioned ourselves for camping tonight. Now, we’re set with yummies for tomorrow, too.

Off to bed.

Day 22: Thoughts on the Human Condition

I now understand the well-spring of all stand-up comedy. People are dolts. I have been pondering this the whole trip, but really for the last week, because the number of signs telling people what NOT to do have been increasing to the point where you just stop, scratch your head, and say: Are people really that dumb? Do they really need to be told what to do and not to do down to the last little thing? Apparently so. This morning, Lisa took Nick out for his morning constitutional. Two truckers started to approach. Lisa told them that Nick wasn't very friendly (our nice way of telling people to back off). They ignored the warning and kept coming, at which point, Nick did his job. The men backed off, acting offended / surprised. Therefore, the need for signs on every square inch of the lovely motel properties we have been calling home these past few weeks. (Boy are we looking forward to a campground soon.)

I wish I had actually captured the language of the signs, but these will give you the flavor:

Do not remove the window screen.

Please protect yourself and us. Call the front desk to dispose of hypodermic needles.

Do not cook in your room. Doing so will result in expulsion. No refunds.

[at the "free" breakfast bar, where there was no real food, just powdered eggs, fake sausage, and high fructose corn syrup laden "goodies"]: Please take only as much food as you can eat. Control your children. Leave food for others. Do not take food back to your room. (These admonitions were actually a full paragraph of text.)

And so many more common sense kinds of things that it's just stunning. I wish I could channel George Carlin for some biting satire, but you'll need to supply that. I'm just sort of amazed.

On the brighter side (I think. It could be viewed as scary, too), there have been a series of white billboards with giant black text that say things like:

Be Grateful.
Be Kind.
Smile.
Be Polite.

Maybe those are correlated with the "don't do stupid things" signs. Not sure.

Off to shower now. Just had to share. We'll be eager to hear any of your theories.

Day 21: Crossing North Dakota

From Minot to Rugby to Grand Forks to Fargo today. We are clearly out of the West and back in the Midwest. Clearly. As Lisa pointed out (the 5-star insight du jour): If we were any farther from home, we’d know where we are. (Translation for those of you who may not know our history: We are almost at the farthest point east from our California home. Any farther east and we'd be in Illinois and back home.)

Highlights:

Yet another geographic center. I get that these superlatives do draw tourists!



The restaurant there also specializes in jams and jellies and their menu includes "toe jam" even. We didn't go in.



Loved Grand Forks. Full of historic homes and an enormous greenbelt full of trails along the Red River in town. We enjoyed walking the dog along these well-groomed trails under the overcast sun (cool!).

Not loving Fargo. Icky motel, icky almost whole town (there's one strip of Broadway that has a restored 1920s theater and some art galleries), and the heat came back--96 degrees. Our worst meal of the trip was had for dinner. Here's Lisa's taco in a boat (!). [BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENT AT THE END OF THIS POST--really funny]



Thought we were stopping at a charming Irish pub. No soap. Twas an icky bar that required patrons to sign a "contract" (after turning over one's credit card) that if one left without settling the tab, the establishment could tack on 15% gratuity and charge the card for the full amount. Huh. We picked a great place. I should point out that we love a good dive bar. Moore's Tavern in Greencastle, Indiana, is the height of a great dive--good jukebox, wonderful pork tenderloin sandwich, cold beer.

But here, at Dempsey's Publick House, there was no choice in music, just old 70s rock blaring (primarily KISS). Of course, that wasn't playing when we sat down. I need to understand why this music is the only music on the radio in the rural Midwest. (Of course we heard Bob Seeger the minute we turned on the local radio.) Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed that music myself . . . at the time (in 1977), but there's 30 years more of interesting music. Lisa and I are exploring the fact that we are snobs (or are we just well-traveled? Or lefty liberal Californians?). Not sure. Helpful comments welcome.

But worth the stop in Fargo to visit Widman’s Candy Shop. See the Roadfood review and just know that some of you will be getting “chippers” for Christmas. Awesome.




Off we go tomorrow to our last "new" state: Minnesota. Heat will continue being a problem through tomorrow. Think cool thoughts.