GADT Day 5 - And On the 5th Day She Rested

Today was not a long driving day, just about sixty miles from Cheyenne, WY to Loveland, CO. We got up and asked the people at the front desk for breakfast suggestions. We ended up at a little place called the Egg and I. I guess this is a local chain and I highly recommend it. They really serve up some delicious looking dishes with flavor to match.

I had always planned this as sort of a down day. I had hoped to meet up with some writing friends, but they couldn't get free until Friday. So mom and I just settled into our hotel room and relaxed for the day. I managed to do some writing while she mostly read a book on Laural Ingalls-Wilder who wrote the Little House on the Prairie books.

After dinner we went to see the movie "Nights in Rodanthe" with Richard Gere and Diane Lane. Although the plot was terribly obvious from the beginning, it was enjoyably romantic. Lane plays a recent divorcee who is struggling to make a new life for herself and Gere a doctor facing a disastrous malpractice suit. They come together at a B&B on North Carloina's outer banks during a hurricane. The rest is steamy, but all too predictable. We both enjoyed it and a movie was the perfect way to end this day of rest.

Day 5 mileage: 74

GADT Day 4 - A Monumental Driving Day

First on the plate today was the Corn Palace, but before that we needed breakfast. Driving down Main St. in Mitchell, SD mom noticed a little cafe about two blocks from the Corn Palace. Cafe Teresa turned out to be a lovely little place with great coffee and good simple food. Wifi and a wine bar are things you don't normally associate with a small town diner, but this place manages to pull off a little cosmopolitan flair without sacrificing hometown hospitality.

The world's only Corn Palace turned out to be the town's civic center, home to basketball games, town meetings, concerts and once a year a corn festival. What's so special is that the exterior and much of the interior is covered in corn cob art. These are large murals made from twelve different varieties of corn husks, cut in half and nailed to the walls. The people of Mitchell have been doing this every year since 1892. And they have been taking pictures of the place every year since then.

That's the bulk of what there is to see inside the building and it's more fascinating than it sounds. The pictures aren't just of the building, but also the people of Mitchell as they lived through two world wars, good and bad economic times, and the changing world outside this little town. The artwork swings from patriotic to historic, from mundane to exotic while below them the people and the town change. It's all free and we spent a great hour there looking at the art and chatting with the people.

Now the drive to Mt. Rushmore was a real eye opener for me. I've never driven beyond Iowa before, so I've never seen the real prairie of Laura Ingalls-Wilder. I think what awed me the most was that for three hundred miles we were almost constantly going uphill! I'm used to going up a hill and then going down the other side. Out here you go up, it levels off and then you go up again. It reeked havoc on my gas mileage and at one point I was worried the Prius might run dry.

Those of you from the East Coast will probably be familiar with South of the Border, that icon of tourist traps whose aggressive billboard advertising provides Florida bound travellers along I95 with amusement and frustration. But did you know where Pedro got the idea for all those billboards? From Wall Drug, that's where. Back in 1931 Ted Hustead bought the only drugstore in the little town of Wall, SD. Disappointed at the small number of customers coming in he started putting up amusing signs on all the roads leading into town offering people free ice water if they came to Wall Drug.

Those signs now reach all the way into Iowa and who knows how far in every other direction. Some are funny, some are silly, some are just advertisements, but all of them entice the weary traveller to push on to Wall and experience its now famous drugstore. As with most tourist traps, Wall Drug doesn't live up to the hype, but it was a fun little side trip that doesn't take long. There's plenty to see in this souvenir mini-mall and you'll be hard pressed to walk away without buying something. We bought a Chapstick for mom.

Okay, I'm about to step on some patriotic toes here. We got to Mt. Rushmore, a place I have wanted to see since childhood, and my first impression was... it's smaller than I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing sculpture, but it's just not as grand as movies and pictures led me to believe. It was a beautiful day, with nice puffy clouds in the background and I got some nice photos, visited the gift shop, bought some books and a t-shirt, but on the whole it was a bit of a let down.

On the other hand, about twenty miles away is the Crazy Horse sculpture and this one was actually bigger than I expected. I'd been warned away from going inside the park, they charge $10 a head and you can't see anything inside that you can't see from the road. We pulled off and I pulled out the binoculars. If this thing ever gets completed it will really be a wonder. Only the face seems to be completed and there didn't seem to be any work going on. Should they have blasted away the natural wonders to replace them with man-made wonders? I don't know, but at least I have a t-shirt!

After leaving the monuments area we headed down US 385 towards Nebraska. We had no idea how far we'd get, but wanted to have a short a drive on Thursday as possible. I ended up driving all the way to Cheyenne, WY, pulling in at 9:30 pm Mountain Time -- a thirteen hour day.

Day 4 mileage: 637

GADT Day 3 - Rainy Days and Tuesdays

The day started out with the promise of rain showers all day and delivered on that promise before we could even finish our breakfast. We headed west across Iowa under gray skies and drove through alternately light and heavy showers all morning long. Rather than stop for lunch, mom wanted to stop somewhere to get some fruit and maybe a heavier jacket than the one she'd brought with her.

We were able to accomplish both when I found a Super Target near Des Moines, IA. We don't have these in Maryland yet, so it was interesting just to see Target's answer to the Wal-Mart all in one stores. We got some bananas, dried fruit, and yogurt drinks before heading over to the other side of the store to look at jackets. Someone needs to explain to the garment workers in Vietnam that XXL is supposed to be larger than XL not smaller. In spite of the sizing confusion, mom found herself a very nice jacket that fit and was even on sale.

I spent most of the day playing with the GPS on the Prius, finding new ways to display the maps and POIs that I hadn't had time to figure out before. Meanwhile mom studied her map book. There just wasn't much to see outside the windows except rain and corn. One thing I did notice is that the 21st century is coming to the corn belt as witnessed by free wifi at all the rest stops in Iowa. Now who would have guessed that?

The western border of Iowa is defined by a series of hills that were once wind blown sand dunes in the last ice age. Now known as the Loess Hills, they extend from Sioux City, IA down to St. Joesph, MO. They rise over sixty feet above the otherwise flat prairie, are about fifteen miles wide and run for over two hundred miles. Coming from the east the hills begin gradually, but along the western edge they drop off dramatically. As we were driving over this final hill we spotted a sign for a scenic overlook and decided to check it out.

By this time the rain clouds had been replaced by blue skies with thousands of puffy little clouds. The overlook consisted of a small concrete building and a tall wooden tower. I managed to climb all but the last level of the tower before the high winds spooked me, but the view was still amazing. You could easily see twenty miles in any direction and the scenery was awe inspiring.

When I finally caved into mom's insistent cries for me to come down, we walked over to the small building to use the facilities. While we were standing there a man in a dark sweatshirt came out and gave me a pamphlet about the Loess Hills. He seemed to be a fountain of facts about them too. We talked with him for twenty minutes before we realized that under the sweatshirt he was wearing a uniform and that he was in fact the caretaker for the park. Bernie Lee is one of two men who come up to the overlook every day and tend to visitor's needs.

We told him where we were coming from and where we were going to. He told us more about the Loess Hills and the valley beyond. He told us about the birds that used to nest at the top of the tower and how they ran them off only to have the birds replaced by wasps. (I was then glad I didn't go all the way to the top level!) At one point he went to his car and gave us an autographed copy of his wife's book.

"Tales of Tails" is a small book of true anecdotes about people's pets and other animals they've met. Compiled by AnnJeanette Lee, the book is filled with charming illustrations by Eldon Riesgaard and no single story is more than a few pages long. Mom started reading a few of the stories aloud in the car and we were entertained by them for hours. I would recommend the book to anyone with small children, but grown-ups will certainly enjoy it too.

We ended our journey today in Mitchell, SD, home of the world's one and only Corn Palace. I have no real idea what this is, but mom's been wanting to find out for five years ever since she and a friend came here only to find the place closed. We also got here too late to see the Palace today as well, but decided to spend the night and go find out what it's all about first thing in the morning.

Day 3 mileage: 532

GADT Day 2 - Pretzels and Back Rubs

Day two of our trip wasn't supposed to be terribly exciting. Driving across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois are old hat for me and there just wasn't much to see or do. We tried to find a branch of mom's bank around South Bend, IN and the GPS led us to a closed up building, but other than that not much happened. By the time we reached Iowa I was tired and we decided to bed down in Bettendorf, IA for the night.

Neither of us were very hungry, having had a big breakfast at a Friendly's in Westlake, OH and lunch at a Cracker Barrel in Elkhart, IN, so we decided to just pick up something to snack on. We briefly discussed ordering a pizza, but decided it would be too much.

I was getting set up for an evening of relaxed writing when mom mentioned that she was actually hungry for soft pretzels. She had seen them at the truck stop where we stopped for gas in Indiana and had been thinking about them ever since. I said, "No problem, we'll just go down to the pretzel store and get some."

"Don't be silly, there's no such thing as a pretzel store," she said.

"Oh really?" I replied with a wicked grin. "With a good German name like Bettendorf, this place has got to have a pretzel shop somewhere."

I dug the phone book out of the dresser and sure enough there was a Wetzel's Pretzels listed. Mom called them and found they were open until nine, so we set out to find hot soft pretzels in Iowa. The place turned out to be in a mall about three miles down the road. They were just putting some in the oven when we got there, so we said we would wait for hot ones.

While we were waiting we decided to walk around the mall a bit. My back was aching from two long days of driving and I guess it showed because when we passed the two Chinese guys at the Comfort Zone massage kiosk, they poured on the sales pitch. One of them offered to give me a little demo and when he touched my tensed up shoulder muscles I knew I needed his services.

While our pretzels baked, mom and I had short but intense back rubs. The guy working on me was really good, his moves precise, strong and very deep. He worked all of the kinks out of my neck and arms and did a serviceable job on my lower back as well. Mom paid them and I thanked them with a respectful bow. We picked up our piping hot pretzels and were on our way.

We stopped at the front desk of our hotel long enough to pick up a couple of bottles of beer. Mom got a Sam Adams and I got a mid-west microbrew I'd never heard of before, Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer from Kansas City, MO. It had a clean citrusy taste that really complimented the pretzels and mustard. It was an unexpected and perfectly wonderful end to an otherwise long forgettable day.


Day 2 mileage: 538

GADT Day 1 - The Beginning

Okay, so it's been a while. I know you're expecting me to be writing about another tombstone hunt, but plans have changed... several times. Mom decided she didn't want to go on the Mediterranean cruise in November and would rather take a long driving trip in the fall. How long a trip? How about to California and back all within two weeks. Can we do it? Will we have fun? Stay turned and find out :-)

So it's day one of the Great American Driving Trip for 2008. We started off at 7:00 this morning when I picked up mom and we went to breakfast at The Main Ingredient, a local eatery within walking distance of our houses that serves a really nice breakfast. We were on the road and heading north by 8:00. The plan (such as it is) was to drive up through the middle of Pennsylvania to see what the fall foliage looked like.

The farther north we went the brighter and more colorful the trees became. It was certainly worth the extra miles to see such beautiful scenery on such a nice day. We arrived in the Southern Tier of New York State around noon and stopped in Bath, NY for fuel and lunch. We drove around the little downtown shopping district until we spotted the Chat A Whyle restaurant. The place looked charming enough so we turned around and parked the Prius.

As we're getting out of the car this adorable older couple comes walking up the sidewalk. The man stops and asks me something. I didn't hear him at first so I asked him to repeat the question in my best seriously listening to you manor.

"In the morning, who makes the coffee?" he said. "The man or the woman?"

"Um... I don't really know," I said.

"The man," he declared with a devilish grin. "Because according to the Bible it was He-brew."

I know, it's an awful pun, but to have some little old man stop me on the street some 300 miles from home just to tell it to me was enough to make me crack up! He then told us another one and I was afraid we had unleashed the pun demon, but his wife grabbed his arm and pulled him away before he could launch into the second set.

The floor show over we went into the restaurant and had a lovely little meal while mom had the waitress tell us her life story (my mom can do this better than anyone alive, trust me!) We finished lunch and got back on the road heading west. Our goal was Cleveland, but just a few miles down the road mom spotted a billboard for the Seneca Allegany Casino. I told her it was her vacation and if she wanted to stop we could. Two hours later we left the place happy, entertained, and minus most of the contents of both our wallets.

Around sunset we pulled off the highway in Erie, PA to look for dinner. While we were looking for a Cracker Barrel that was supposed to be there somewhere we stopped at a light and I spotted an OCB. One of our favorite haunts back home is the Old Country Buffet (OCB). The food's not bad and it's easy for me to get a plate full of veggies without the hassle of explaining that I'm a vegetarian. We both thought a little bit of home would be the right touch to finish off the day and we pulled in.

We were feeling so good that we decided to head for Cleveland in spite of the two hours we'd spent at the casino and checked into a Courtyard on the west side just after 9:30pm. Now mom's asleep and I'm trying to wrap this up before I join her. This was only day one and already I'm thinking this trip is a winner. I do need to take more photos and I'll try to remember that tomorrow when the adventure continues.

Day 1 mileage: 593

Making Lemonade

You know the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"? Well, I find that some of traveling's finest moments often come as a result of bad situations turned to my advantage. Tonight for instance I'm staying at the Crowne Plaza West in Richmond, VA. After a long day of driving and then attending convention panels, I was looking forward to a quiet dinner in the hotel restaurant before the evening panels started.

However, when I went there I discovered that there wasn't a single vegetarian dish on the menu. Even the salads all had some kind of meat in them. Now I could have asked them to make me something without meat, and would have done so if I'd been dining with someone else, but I decided to make an issue out of it. I cornered the manager and pointed out that there was nowhere else within walking distance to get food, a monopoly that I'm sure adds quite a few customers every night. Not to have even one hot meal on the menu for people who don't eat meat is an insult.

He actually agreed with me and said I wasn't the first guest to point this out. He said their menus were dictated by Crowne Plaza corporate food services and suggested I write to them, which I intend to do. He also offered to make something up for me, but by that point I wasn't willing to trust them to make it totally meat free.

So I went back to my room and made my plight known to my friends on Twitter. One of them who lives in the area recommended Sticky Rice, a sushi place in one of Richmond's trendier neighborhoods. It was only about five miles away so I hopped into the Prius and drove down there.

I had the devil of a time finding a parking place on Friday night, but it was time well spent. The place was great and packed with all sorts of people. I took a seat at the end of the sushi bar and looked over the menu. There was a whole column of vegetarian dishes and many of them were clearly marked as vegan. I picked the Garden Balls (a veggie pate stuffed into inari pockets and deep fried) and Spicy Shiitake mushroom rolls. I topped it off with a Kirin Ichiban SPR beer.

That bad taste left in my mouth from the hotel restaurant experience was totally forgotten as I dug into this wonderful meal. I left the Sticky Rice relaxed and happy. It was an amazing experience I would never have enjoyed if the hotel had just put some bland tasting pasta dish on the menu. Lemonade indeed!

Stalking the Wild Elepherpiller

I love the park near my house. Not only does it provide me with a convenient source of exercise, but as a wildlife refuge in the midst of urban sprawl it just can't be beat.

Take today for example. I was out walking the main trail and came across a rare example of the nearly extinct Mid-Atlantic Elepherpiller. As you can see from the photograph, this elepherpiller has fattened itself up over the winter on bits of peanut butter granola bars discarded by careless hikers and is preparing to spin its cocoon. In just nine short weeks he (or she, it is difficult to accurately sex an elepherpiller) will emerge as a beautiful butterphant. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to walk this way again on that wonderful day!