Takes From the Trail - Day 16

Big trouble this time!

Well Linda ya better send Helen for me cause I'll be in big trouble before we leave this motel. Let me digress for a bit (you know I never do that} Our plans to go to Yellowstone got scuttled due to bad weather and road closures. We were supposed to stay in Cody WY tonight then 3 days in the park but headed north instead. We are in Billings MT and now have a few days to stall somewhere. Called the NP reservations services, cancelled those reservations and cancelled the Cody reservation. So we decided to just make our own reservation rather than go through Hotel.com. Here is where our trouble begins. We booked to our old trusty Motel 6. I had for gotten how crappy they really are. We have been getting huge rooms with a nice easy chair to sit in, Well Motel 6 has two beds practically jammed up to one another. They only have one straig) Motel 6 has coffee in the lobby. Big deal. I have a coffee pot. Motel 6 has Internet but ya gotta pay for it. And for only one computer for each Internet card. We have been signing on for each computer for free. This room has no place for both of to sit so I am propped up on the bed. Now is where Helen comes in. Since we can only get one connection in this room (legally) and of course Lee had his farming to do I started fooling around and I am bootlegged onto Holiday Inn's wireless. Between that and if they catch us cooking in the room I am doomed to a night in jail in Billings MT. So Helen, COME AND GET ME!

It has been a rainy yuggy day all day. Crummy driving but one good picture to share. Guess we'll hole up here for the next couple of days and do an anti rain dance. Next stop will be Great Falls MT. Room should be better. Costs a lot more.

All for now.

Forgot to mention we are in the foot hills of the Rockies and it is cold. I thing it about 45 or so. Burrrrr!

Preview

Tales from the Trail - Day 15

Cancellations!

Not much to report for yesterday. Rained on our parade all day. We were headed from Rapid City SD to Gillette WY stopping along the way to see Deadwood and Devils Tower. Road Conditions on the secondary highways are bad due to the rain, rock slides etc so many roads are closed.

We got to Deadwood and it was raining. Didn't particularly feel like walking around in the cold and rain (46 deg that is cold for us) just to see an old Historic Town so we drove through and around just to say we had been there. Then off to drive through Belle Forche. That is the town John Wayne was driving his cows to in the Cowboys so I says lets go look at it. It is right on the way. Still raining, another old Historic town so we just kept on moving. On to Devils Tower. When we got there the road was closed so NO DEVILS TOWER. Oh well we saw Shiprock in New Mexico. So on to Gillette where we spent the night. Still cold still rainy so we spent the afternoon in the motel room Lee doing his farmville and I piddling around on the small notebook. Sure glad we brought both the laptop and the notebook. Of course Lee won't fool with the notebook so I get stuck with that. To avoid going out in the miserable weather we ordered room service. Food wasn't the best I have eaten (far from it) but it was hot and plentiful and it wasn't the worst either (But close.)

I think when Lee gets up we will have to make some decisions. I have been on the phone and the computer checking road conditions and looks like Yellowstone is out for us. Lots of road closures rock & mudslides and snow on the road. They are saying use snow tires. SNOW TIRES? We are from Florida. "We don't have no stinking snow tires!" Then to put the icing on the cake for bad luck. I went out to the car to get our coffeepot (first place they didn't have a pot in the room. Micro and Fridge but no coffee pot) anyway I went out to get the pot and found a huge ding in the passengers side of the car. I hadn't noticed it yesterday so don't know when that happened. Lee didn't hit anything so someone must have hit us while we were parked. Ba&%$^rds. Oh well I sort of looked for a ding or two on this trip but I figured it would be from rocks flying on a gravel road somewhere on the Alaska Highway but nothing like this mega ding and while we are parked. Guess we will have to see a body shop when we get home.

Tales From the Trail - Day 14 May 28

We passed Badlands Park as we were coming into Rapid City on Thursday but we did not drive the loop. Were just in a rush to get to Rapid City and Mt Rushmore. Well some friends we met along the way our BFFD (Best Friends For the Day) told us we should really go see it as it is just beautiful. Well since we had seen all we had planned on seeing while staying in RC we decided to take our remaining day and backtrack to drive through the Badlands Loop. Well it was well worth the trip back. It was just gorgeous and we opted to take the gravel road down Sage Creek Rim and look for buffalo. After traveling out into the wilderness on this little gravel road we found a couple of very small groups of them grazing. We saw three antelope but they were too fast for me. They were gone before I could get the camera focused. We saw Prairie Dogs and that was the extent of our wildlife sitings. Back at Rapid City we bought KFC had lunch and enough for dinner. We did out laundry then spent the remainder of the day chilling out in the room.

Tales From the Trail - Day 13 May 27

Today is Lee's Birthday and he had a good one.

On the way to Rapid City on Thursday I was browsing through the AAA tour book for the Black Hills area and came across a tour to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, the Needles Highway, The Iron Mountain Road, Custer National Park and all the sights along the way. Included with the tour was a cowboy breakfast, a chuck wagon dinner and a foot stomping country show. The price of the whole day (a 9 hour event) was $74.00. Sounded like a good deal to us so I made the call. We had to be at the Ft. Hays meeting place at 7:30 on Friday morning. What a great day it was. As stated above we started with a hearty breakfast of flapjacks, biscuits and gravy, and smoked sausage. Plenty of coffee, tea, hot chocolate etc. We boarded the bus at 9:15 or so and off we went. Our first stop was Mt. Rushmore where we spent a little over an hour. Then we drove the Needles highway where we went through tunnels so narrow there might have been 3 inches on either side of the bus clearance. The driver told us the new buses will not fit through the tunnels as they are 102 inches and that is what the tunnels are. I don't remember what this bus was but I want to say 96 inches. As we came out of the tunnels we could see Mt Rushmore framed in the tunnel opening. Just beautiful. Our driver stopped the bus and let us off for pictures. The road was a maze of switchbacks and steep grades. Lee was so glad he did not have to drive on these roads.

Back at the Chuck wagon center we had a chuck wagon meal of baked potatoes cooked in coals, barbecued beef or breaded, chicken, baked beans, chunky applesauce, biscuits and spice cake. Plenty of coffee, tea, and lemonade. Then the show where we had 4 male guitar players a drummer, steel guitar player who was the father of the drummer and an award winner and a young girl who played the fiddle. A great finish for a great day

Tales From the Trail - Day 12

May 26, 2011

This may be the day!

We left Mitchell and are traveling through South Dakota heading for Rapid City and MOUNT RUSHMORE! Woo Hoo. We paid the most we have for gas so far in Mitchell. Shell station and it was $4.06 per gallon. We will expect to pay more and more as we head further west and then through Canada and Alaska. I am typing this as I travel so if I seem to jump around about where we are and what we are doing bear with me. In fact I don’t think we have internet in Rapid City so you won’t read this for a few days.

Passed up the 1880’s town and got off at next exit and went back. Twelve miles out of our way and well worth it. Lots of movie sets from Dances with Wolves and just an excellent little 1880’s town. They had the theme song from the movie piped all through the town and at the train station they had sounds like a train coming in. Well worth the detour. Then we stopped at Wall Drug Store and had lunch.

The terrain has been changing. Flat open fields and lovely old barns have given way to rolling grasslands and more cattle ranches. We rolled into Rapid City around 5:00 pm Mt. standard time. After problems with reservations and an exceptionally helpful desk clerk and owner we got checked in (upstairs room ugh) but the clerk helped us get our stuff to the room. Just couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning when we have our tour we headed out (as tired as we were) and saw Mt. Rushmore.

YES! After 37 years and 5 attempts we are here and we saw it. Yea! To bed early we have to be at the place to catch our tour bus at 7:30 am tomorrow. More later

Tales From the Trail - Day 11

We got up this morning with a full plate. We had three museums to visit today. We wanted to see the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Museum, the Dakota Discovery Museum, and the Enchanted Doll Museum We started off with the Prehistoric Indian Village which was excellent. It is an Excavation of a village of the Mandan Indians from 1000 years ago. Very nice. Then we went to the Dakota Discovery Museum only to find it is closed on Wednesday. Bummers! Then we went to The Enchanted Doll Museum to find it has been closed. So we consoled ourselves with a gift shop where we bought a map of the United States with magnets of the states. We found we had been to most of them or will catch them on this trip so we bought them all and will put the remaining ones on as we visit the states. We decided this was our birthday present to ourselves. Back at the motel we had lunch in the room and went for a swim. NO I DID NOT GO DOWN THE SLIDE AGAIN. Some other old guy went down but I noticed he didn't go the second time. We will eat out tonight then go see the Corn Palace lit up. Early start tomorrow to see MOUNT RUSHMORE.

A mistake

Whoops posted two of the same picture and don't know how to get one of them off. Sorry guys.

Tales From the Trail - Day 10

Traveling through Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota.

We finished up with Iowa and traveling through southern edge of Minnesota and finished the day in South Dakota. Minnesota barns not that impressive. Countryside more rolling than Iowa. There are lots of windmill farms which brought up the discussion of how do they get the electricity from the windmill to he the destination. Had to text Jason (my google maniac Grandson) to get me an answer. The answer turned to be "Just like any generator of electricity. Through the power lines" Imagine That! We stopped for lunch just after we crossed over the border of SD. Had a sandwich wrap, strawberries, banana. and a nutter butter cookie. Another cheap lunch.

Here in South Dakota, this is the closest I have ever come to seeing Mount Rushmore and God willing in two days I will finely see it after 4 previous attempts. Woo Hoo! We ended our day in Mitchell and went over to see the Corn Palace. Pretty awesome!

Back at the motel and adventure number 2 of the trip. I don't know why I think I am still 50 years old. At 50 (or even 60) I could do all sorts of things. Well at the motel they have an indoor swimming pool with a giant slide. Now a few years ago I went down one of these damned things and it was fun but today I almost drowned myself. I got to the top and started down. Well the first curve I hit I turned over on my side and then fell over on my back. I finely got myself up in a sitting position until I hit the next curve. Well I decided to just stay on my back to the end. Thought I would never make it. Scared the pudding out of me. Not really the pudding but will try to keep it clean LOL. Anyway when I hit the water I flipped over and got discombobulated. I literally did not know which direction was up. Lost my breath and was really scared then. I felt like I was in that scene from "A Few Good Men" where they have to go down into the water in the device simulating ejecting from a plane and hitting the water. They get disoriented and don't know which way was is up. Well that is how I felt. I finely sputtered to the surface of the (4 foot) pool and got over to the side to catch my breath. Not owe of the smartest things I have ever done. Won't be doing that again. Cooked dinner in the motel room. Tuna helper this time. Tomorrow we will splurge and eat out. Have 2 or 3 museums to see then will chill out for a bit.

Stay tuned for the next exciting adventure.

Tales from the Trail - Day 9

Our first Adventure

So we have been on the road for 9 days and until today, NO ADVENTURES. Well everyone who knows Lee and I knows that any road trip worth its salt MUST have an adventure every few days. So today was the day. After lovely visits with Bill, Kay, and Jim in Springfield we had our (FREE continental breakfast (this trip is about seeing how cheap we can be and still see everything we want) we hit the road at 7;30 and Jill (our new GPS told us we would be in Mason City Iowa at 2:30.

1st detour. I had seen Canada Geese up the road from us (going the wrong way of course,) Since I had never seen Canada Geese on the ground before I asked Lee to go back the other way for a Kodak Moment. Being the good guy he is he went so we killed 15 min to a half hr there. Next stop out in the middle of west Wazoo Illinois,no rest area in sight we stopped at a convenience store to pee. Of course ya gotta buy something cause they will surly chase ya down and shoot ya. So we bought doughnuts. Well the were worse than doughnuts the were called "dunking sticks" and I am here to tell you the were surly duked in pure sugar. They were SWEEEEEET. Killed 20 minutes there. Back on the road Lee mentioned he would like to go through Bushnell IL. His home town. So we looked at the map and you have to visualize a big square. Well we had to go north then turn West. So I found we could turn West taking local roads then head north and end up on the road we were supposed to be on. Off we went in search of Bushnell IL. Well as you might have expected it was typical "Small Town USA" Many of the buildings were boarded up but a lot of them were still as Lee Remembers it from 50 years a go. We found the cemetery and his Parents and Maternal Grandparents grave sites. Saw the theater where he used to work, the house he was born in, his Grandparents house and the last house he lived in before going to Chicago. We killed a good 2 hours there.

We then asked Jill very sweetly mind you "Can you please find your way out of here? Ya know Jill, Sally could have!" Well since she is a more spiffy GPS than good old Sally Girl was, I think she got a little put out with me cause she took us on the most God Awful roads you have ever seen. Up one road down another and all just slightly wider than an Amish horse and buggy. Even though we were deep in Amish country we didn't meet one thank goodnes cause one of us would have to have given way. The roads were chock full of (not pot holes) but craters, It was a hoot. Beautiful countryside mind you.

This trip (or at least this portion of it) seems to be about barns. Some of my trips I am shooting doors but today it was barns. Especially old barns. Got some pretty ones today with not toooo many turn arounds for the "Kodak moment" Lots of farms here. Acres and acres of them. Corn wheat and soybeans.

Then we stopped at a walmart Super center. Got the oil changed, filled up with gas and picked up a few groceries. After all the delays we got here at around 5:30. Chilling out with a glass of wine now. As I said we are trying to be "cheap" so we cooked in the room tonight. Hamburger helper made with Spam Helper. Not too bad.

More tomorrow providing we have internet.

Tales from the Trail - Day 8

Today was a "chill out" day. After our big day of walking yesterday, today we rested up. We had our Continental Breakfast downstairs, came back to the room rested a bit then we took a lot of our things we had accumulated in the room down to the car as we are leaving early in the morning. Did our laundry and had a Whopper Jr for lunch. Then we hung around the room until 5:00 when Jim Durako came over. We went to Cheddars for dinner. Jim treated us and we had a wonderful meal. Lee had his Baby Backs and I had the Chicken Pot pie and a Caesars salad. Jim visited with us for a while before going home. Tomorrow we are headed to Mason City Iowa to spend the night. Stay tuned for more Tales from the Trail.

Tales from The Trail - Day 7

May 21, 2o11

This is our 7th day on the road. Today was a sightseeing day. We caught a "Historic Site tour" which is like the "Hop on Hop off" buses in NYC. We started out this morning at around 8:30 or so. By the time we found the bus stop and got to our first site it was 9:00 am and that worked out just fine. It was the Lincoln Library. The feature of the time was all about the Civil war. Funny the different perspective of that was here in the North than we learned in the South. Oh well its all History just a different slant on things. The museum was excellent. Some wonderful exhibits. After the Museum we went to Lincolns tomb. Every thing was good but we learned quickly we can no longer do unending hours of walking. By 1:30 we were beat. So we caught the bus back to where we had parked our car. Back at the hotel we crashed and are waiting for Bill and Kay and out to dinner. More tomorrow.

May 20, 2011

Day 6 on Tales from the trail.

We spent 3 very quiet days in Hanging Limb TN. We slept late, ate our breakfast every morning of yogurt, home made granola and fruit. Then we would go over to Mary's and just sit around talking. On Thursday we went to Clarksville TN and visit Dustin. (My Grandson not long home from Iraq.) Hadn't seen him for a while. It was good seeing him. Clarksville is a really neat little town and quite historic. Will add a couple of pictures on the sidebar. Five days on the road and already have a picture worthy of framing and adding to my sunset collection on the wall.

Today was long and tiring. We drove all the way from Hanging Limb to Springfield IL a distance of 483 miles. Beautiful farm country took a couple of shots of barns but nothing too great. Will probably dump them and hope for better shots. Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour around Springfield it is $3.00 for a day pass sort of a self guided tour much like the New York City "Hop on Hop off" buses. Then we will go to dinner with Bill & Kay, Lees brother and sister-in-law and maybe Jim Durako (good friend.)

May 18, 2011

In Hanging Limb

After 2 days in Atlanta visiting Donna & Frank (Lee’s Stepdaughter from first marriage), we headed through some beautiful country in North GA and TN toward Hanging Limb TN for a 3 day visit with Mary & Larry (oldest daughter) in Hanging Limb. We rented a beautiful “cabin” as it is called. It is actually a beautiful log house. Three bedroom two bath and all furnished rustic. It is tucked in at the end of a cul-de-sac in a very wooded secluded area. The property drops off in the back to a ravine. Everything is very quiet here and very secluded spot. I opened the window blinds this morning hoping to see some wildlife but so far nothing. It is too cold for me to venture out yet. Still in P.J.’s. But when I get dressed I want to go look at the ravine. Will get up and head over to Mary’s later this morning. Really keeping in our budget. So far we have averaged $110 dollars a day. It will pick up as we are traveling more and getting gas a couple of times a day.

OK did indeed get dressed and went out to look at the ravine. It is really pretty. The whole cabin is pretty. More tomorrow or the next day. We will be heading to Springfield. Will have Internet connections there. Here at the cabin there no Internet and very limited 3g. It comes in sometimes then some times it does not.

Tales from the Trail - on our way

Well folks we are finely on our way. Got up early early early and were on the road by 6:45 am. Smooth sailing (or driving) all the way. I mostly listened to my iPod and read and snoozed. Got to Atlanta our first stop to visit Lee's other step daughter. Had a lovely visit and now back at our hotel. It is chilly her in Atlanta folks. But after our heat it is a welcome relief. Will spend on more day visiting Donna Frank and various dogs and cats then off to Hanging Limb. See ya'll along the trail.