Home! Home! Home!

Not the best way to start the day!

Is there a problem, Officer?

Not to be repetitious, but we started our day meeting one of Eau Claire’s finest.  He was quite polite and listened to our story about how Ross made us drive on this highway, even though we didn’t want to, just because he (Ross) had designed it.  As stated on Facebook, I happened to be wearing my lucky hat and luckily it worked!  I’ve decided to wear it for the rest of our travels.

53 was designed by Ross!

Wisconsin is without doubt, beautiful…with lots of forests, lakes and rivers.  We loved driving through the state (after Officer Mike let us go) and viewing the water birds and the great scenery.

Can I have those shiners fried?

We told you how Montana has casinos everywhere….gas stations, campgrounds, steak houses, and even laundromats.  Wisconsin is a lot like that, except it’s not casinos…it’s bait shops.  Pictured is the bait shop we found at the Taco John’s we stopped at for lunch.  (We bought a dozen minnows and three dozen night crawlers.  Yum!)

We arrive in Decatur around 5:00.  We have driven almost exactly 5000 miles this trip and visited twelve states.  We have now visited 33 states and have 15 to go to meet our goal of visiting the 48 contiguous states this year.  The map below shows in red the states we’ve visited so far this year.

We've already got our next trip planned.  Just gotta do a little laundry and then we'll be off again.  Can't wait!

P.S.  Still pulling out cactus!

Water Water Everywhere!

“Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Mona's hand in mine…”  Yep, today was a rain day…over four hours of driving in the rain.  But, I’m ahead of myself…now let’s start from the beginning…

We started east from Fargo, North Dakota and quickly crossed the Red River into Minnesota.  The landscape here is dotted with lakes (Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 lakes.) and the lakes draw all kinds of water birds such as cranes, egrets and herons.   We could easily see these birds from the interstate, especially a Great  Blue Heron who was standing serenely in the middle of one of the lakes.

About 40 miles into Minnesota we hit the rain.  It was a big storm system and we just drove…nothing else to do.  I kept trying to find a polka station for Mona to listen to, but no luck.

Inside the Mall of America

Our first major stop of the day was Mall of America.  We were told by Aleta that we had to stop here if we were in the area.  She was right….this is a destination all by itself!  This place is H.U.G.E!  520 retails shops and so much more.  There is a full-size amusement park with several  roller coasters along with a bunch of other rides.  There’s a hotel/casino, a miniature golf course and even a wedding chapel! 

Can this creature be from this world?

Last but not least is a very cool aquarium.  (Thanks, Ross for the recommendation!)  This place has virtually every kind of sea horse and jellyfish you’ve heard of plus more. Some of the seahorses are only about 3/4" tall!  It also has a tunnel of glass that you walk through while fish of every kind swim around you, including huge sharks and giant sea-going turtles.  Amazing!

But what’s most amazing is that we left the mall having only purchased our lunches and our tickets to the aquarium.  OMG!  Who is this with me and who took my wife????

Ross!

Today’s journey ended in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  We stopped by Ross Johnson's house for a visit, meeting his son , Ben for the first time.  Mary had a busy schedule, but managed to come by to say hi to us.  Hadn’t seen Ross in over 17 years.  We caught up on old times on their patio and then headed to downtown Eau Claire for dinner at The Livery.  This is a reclaimed livery stable in the heart of Eau Claire with a long history of horses and cars.  This place is remininscent of The Stable in St. Louis and the food was great!

After dinner, we did a little geocaching and then headed to our hotel via Highway 53, which was designed by Ross.  We’ve never driven on a road designed by a friend before.  How cool is that!?!?

Tomorrow – Decatur!

Dakota Day

North Dakota Badlands!

Within minutes of leaving our hotel in Montana we were in North Dakota and seeing jagged spiked peaks and striped cliff walls.  We were in the Badlands of North Dakota.  We took exit 24 to go to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  After a brief orientation at the visitors' center we headed out for the 35 mile loop through the park.
Almost immediately, we came upon on prairie dog town.  (Have I told you how much Mona loves prairie dogs?)  We stopped for awhile to enjoy their antics and then moved on to see some nearby buffalo.  We watched the buffalo for a few minutes and then headed out on our true quest....wild horses.

They've gotta be out there somewhere!

We drive slowly through the park...our eyes peeled for horses.  Sadly, none to see, but lots of beautiful scenery!  Erosion has done it's job here, as it did in the South Dakota badlands, and many beautiful rock formations are at every turn.

We drove down a rough dirt road.....hoping to see horses...none.  But did see where lightning had hit a coal seam, burning out the coal and dropping the remaining surface at least twenty feet.  That's called a coal slump and I'm hoping that will be my first Earthcache!

Wild Horses!

We leave the dirt road and are now back on the main loop.  Suddenly, Mona shouts, "A horse!!!!"  Sure enough in the distance we see a black horse!  Driving a little closer we see two horses!  Two wild horses!  Both are black and one has a white face.  We are entranced.  We keep looking at the horses through the binoculars and taking pictures.

Finally, we tear ourselves away and continue our drive through the park.  Lots and lots of incredible scenery, prairie dogs (Have I told you Mona loves them!?!?) and a large herd of buffalo.  We see one more wild horse who is visiting horses in a paddock....I guess he was telling them how good life is on the other side of the fence!

We had never heard of Theodore Roosevelt National Park before this trip.  Now, we're ready for a return visit!

Red hits a milestone!

Our next several hours are spent driving across North Dakota.  The scenery slowly transforms from wild and woolly badlands to tame fields of wheat and corn.  However, many of the fields are marked with stoney protuberances, reminding us of the badlands that lie just beneath the surface, just waiting for a little wind and a little rain so they can emerge and show their stuff!

We do get to see some other great stuff along the way, including the world's largest Holstein and the world's largest buffalo.  Must see sights on the way to Fargo!

Finally, we reach today's destination, Fargo, North Dakota!  With a population of 105,000, this is North Dakota's largest city. 

We're going to fit in here just fine!

Our first stop is the F-M (Fargo/Moorhead) Visitor Center.  We've heard that they have the actual wood chipper used in the movie "Fargo".  You betcha, it's there!  We don our wool hats and pose for pictures....we're now on the Woodchippers Web Page!  Ya, ya!  You Betcha!

We're feelin' a mite peckish so off we go to a local eatery, Lucky 13's Pub.  There is a wait for a table so we sit at the bar and order a glass of wine.  There are used bingo cards on the table so we ask what's going on.  It's bingo night...$1 a card.  We've never played Bingo for money, but what the heck!  About ten cards later I yell "Bingo!"  I just won enough money to pay for our entire evening.  I don't want to leave!!!!  (You betcha!)

Just one more game...
Pla-eeze!

But leave we must.  We gather our loot and head for our hotel at Mainstay Suites.  This inexpensive place is very cool and our room has a king size bed, a TV area and a full kitchen.  Suite!

We've loved our Dakota Day and hate to see it end.  But the road is calling our name....well it sounds like our names, could be just road noise.  Tomorrow we hit our last two states of our trip and we get to visit some old friends.  Can't wait!

Head East!

Started our morning by heading east on I-90.  Within five miles on the interstate we saw something we’re still not sure we saw.  It looked like a little old man pushing a little old woman UP the mountainside along the interstate in a wheelchair.  Did we really see that?  If yes, was it really old people or someone in disguise trying to get someone to stop?!!?  This was a steep incline with no place to safely stop, so we’ll never know. 

Big skies!

Neither of us has ever been to Montana before (other than the one cactus-filled stay after Yellowstone) and we didn’t expect the majestic beauty of the scenery in this state.  We absolutely love it!  There are no pictures that do justice to what we’ve seen.  Mile after mile we see something new and breathtaking!  Lots of horses, lots of buttes, lots of mountains….it’s just beautiful! 

Little Big Horn Ranger, with battlefield in the background.

We take a little detour to visit the Little Bighorn Battle National Monument.  Our timing is good as a Crow Indian Ranger has just begun his talk describing the events leading up to the battle.  He gives lots of detail and switches between Crow and English in his narrative…making sure the Calvary side is discussed as well as the Indian perspective.  It’s amazing how many miles the Calvary traveled in one day and how many misconceptions and errors led to the battle.

After the briefing, we walk up the hill to the graves of the fallen soldiers.  They were buried where they were found after the battle.  Using the graves you can see the skirmish lines and the final fall-back position where Custer made his last stand.  This is a solemn site…many men died here….both white and Indian.  At the top of the rise is a monument dedicated to the 7^th Calvary…this is  where all the soldiers’ bodies were re-interred.

Buried where they fell.  The stone with Black is Custer's.

Indian Memorial at Little Big Horn

Just northeast of the memorial to the U.S. soldiers is the memorial to the Indians who fought in the battle.  This memorial lists the major tribes in the battle: Lakota, Crow, Cheyenne, and Arapaho.  The theme of this memorial is “Peace Through Unity” and commemorates the 100 warriors, women and children who died in the battle. 

We continue our journey east.  The geography continues to be beautiful and nothing like we’ve expected.    It’s rolling hills/mountains with buttes and gulleys everywhere.  We see cattle, lots of horses and many pronghorn antelope.  Loving this drive!

We end today's journey in Glendive, Montana, a small town just a few miles from North Dakota.  We walked across the highway to the Yellowstone Inn for dinner.  Of course, the restaurant has a casino inside, so we go in to play Keno and to enjoy an after-dinner glass of wine.  Ahhhh...gotta love Montana!

Rounding the Turns

Washington Desert

We started the morning in Western Washington, near Richland. On our way into town yesterday, we noticed that all signs seemed to point to Walla Walla. We loved saying this name and it made it fun to be the first one to find the sign and to shout out "Walla Walla!" Today started out the same....seemingly every sign was pointing to Walla Walla. More fun! A few more miles down the road we noticed we were actually getting closer to Walla Walla (Walla Walla!). Damn, we had missed our turn onto Route 395 and were now actually headed to Walla Walla. We found a place to turn around and then had a fun discussion as to who made the mistake, the pilot or the navigator. We'll never tell!
We soon refound 395 and got back on track. We were now headed north through a desert area of Washington. Lots of grape vines and lava out-croppings. Yes, lots of lava flows in this part of the state. Remember, Mt. St. Helens is here in Washington, meaning this state has recently active volcanos!  About 50 miles out of Spokane we start seeing pine trees.  It’s not long before we are in dense pine forests again.

Moutain Tsunami!

After Spokane comes the Idaho panhandle.  This part of Idaho is very different from the southern part of the state.  We’re steadily climbing up through dense pine forests and there are mountain peaks all around us.  We round our northernmost part of our trip in Idaho,  now our primary directions are east and south.

Big Sky Country

Idaho is only about 70 miles wide here and soon we go through a 4700 foot pass and enter Montana.  More mountains and pine forests and after about 30 miles we’re joined by the Fork River which twists back and forth along our I-90 route.  About an hour into the state, we start entering wide valleys with rounded green peaks and with lots of cattle.  This is Big Sky country and it’s beautiful!



Butte, Montana is our destination and we arrive here early evening.  Butte was a famous wild-west mining town, almost the stereotype for such towns.  Thousands of men worked in the gold, copper and silver mines and the town did what it could to support them and to take their hard-earned money.   Most businesses were open 24 hours, including the red-light district which didn’t close until 1982.

Headframes

Much of the historic part of town was destroyed by a series of fires in the 1970s, but the old-west town flavor is still there.  It’s accented by the mine headframes which dot the upper sides of the city’s mountain.  Headframes are the structures built above underground mines and which were the primary means of raising tools, men and mine products.  Each headframe has a plaque with a bit of the mine’s history, including how many men died in that particular mine.  These headframes are lit up at night and can be seen for miles.

Mona had done some research on where to eat, settling on The M&M Cigar Store.  This restaurant received great online reviews and one review talked about Brian, the bartender and how he made the meal special.  I was a bit skeptical, but hey, if it’s online it must be fine, right!?!

Outside the door of the M&M is a plaque denoting that this restaurant is on the National Historic Register!  It dates back to 1870 when it was a saloon open 24 x 7 to support the miners.  It was owned by several different men and each new owner had a ceremony where they broke the keys to the door because this saloon never closed.  It was renamed from M&M Saloon to M&M Cigar Store during Prohibition.  They didn’t stop serving alcohol, they just changed the name to “conform” with the law.

Inside the M&M

Inside, the bar is on the left and the diner is on the right.  Both are long counters with stools.  In the back is the casino…about 8 machines for playing Keno and Poker.  We settle at the bar and soon meet Brian, the bartender.  He grew up in this town and remembers coming to the M&M in the mornings when it was filled with beer drinking miners, waiting to go on shift.  Brian has lots of stories about the town and himself…making this a truly fun meal!  (The hamburgers we had were among the best we’ve ever had…especially since they had a fried egg on top!)

After dinner we decide to visit one of the many casinos in the city.  Montana has a very different take on casinos.  Unlike Illinois and Missouri, Montana doesn’t require a riverboat base for gambling.  Here, casinos are everywhere and combined with the strangest things.   You’ll see signs like: “Gas, tires, steaks and casino!”  Or “Tobacco, Motel Casino and Gas!”  Lots of interesting combinations.  We visited the casino at our “Gas, Tobacco, Casino and Hotel” and were warmly greeted by the two guys who ran the place.  There was a poker table in the front with about ten cowboys playing Texas Hold Em.  In the back were about 20 machines, each with different variations of Keno or Poker.  No funny penguins nor chattering monkeys on these machines!  We had never played Keno so tried our hand at that…cost us about $3.50 in losses for our visit, but that was more than compensated for by the free chardonnay!

About 10:00 PM we decided to drive up through the mountain top to see the lit-up headframes.  They are beautifully silhouetted in red lights above the twinkling lights of the city below.  This is a must-do when visiting Butte!

Time for bed!  Tomorrow….more Montana!

Westward Bound!

Our first stop of the day was to pay homage to the primary agricultural product of Idaho.  Of course we’re talking about the potato and the Potato Museum in the Potato Capital of the World: Blackfoot, Idaho.

We pay our senior-citizen discounted entrance fee and step into the magical world of the potato.  We learn that 40% of the country’s potatoes are produced in this area and 80% of those potatoes are Russet Burbanks. The potato is the fourth most important crop in the world after wheat, rice and corn.

The potato, which originated in Peru, took a long journey to reach North America. The Spaniards took it back to Spain in the 16th century; from there it made its way to Italy and northern Europe, then to Bermuda and the Virginia colonies of North America.  The potato is now grown in all 50 states and throughout the world.  In fact, it’s considered to be the world’s favorite vegetable.

Potato Masher Collection

Marie Antoinette was known to wear potato blossoms as a hair decoration and yes, the French did indeed invent the French Fry!

Trust me, I could go on and on with potato facts, but I’ll stop for now.  (Email me if you want more!)  We ended our visit with the purchase of a couple of souvenirs.  And guess what!?  They bagged them in a potato sack!

 Back in the car, we soon turned west on I-84.  We hadn’t gone very many miles when we started noticing unusual terrain: rolling black rock, huge fissures everywhere….it looked like the Big Island of Hawaii….volcanic!  We saw a geological information station and pulled in.  Learned that we had just driven through a fairly recent (5200 years ago) lava flow.  And, one fact sheet said that Idaho had more extinct/dormant volcanos than any other state in the U.S.  Also, we learned that this volcanic soil was very conducive to growing…..yep, you guessed it, potatoes!

We continued our Westward push along -I84.  I-84 follows the Oregon Trail which was used by immigrants in their Conestoga wagons, crossing the west to their new lives in Oregon.  This trail leads you along the Snake River which sometimes is at road level and other times is it deep, dramatic canyons with shear cliffs and incredible beauty.

Perrine Bridge
Makes you want to jump, doesn't it?!?!

Nowhere illustrates this beauty more than Twin Falls.  You exit I-84 and drive a few miles south on Route 93 to cross the Snake on the Perrine Bridge.  BREATHTAKING!  The Perrine Bridge is world famous because it is the only man-made structure in the United States where you can Base Jump year round, 24 hours a day, without a permit.  In case you didn’t know “base jump” means to jump off the bridge with a parachute! 

I asked the docent at the nearby Information Center if anyone was jumping today.  She said, “First off, you’d have to be half crazy to jump off that thing.  Second off, you’d have to be totally plumb crazy to jump off in this wind!”  Glad to hear I’m only half crazy!

We walked down to the nearby overlook for a view of the bridge and the deep canyon cut by the Snake River.  Incredible!  How did they build that bridge?!?!?  No wonder I love bridges!?!?!

Snake River Canyon

As we departed Twin Falls we could see the ramp where Evil Knievel tried to jump the Snake River Canyon on his jet motorcycle.  Us oldies can still remember that day when Evil’s parachute deployed too early causing his jump to fall short and crash into the canyon hundreds of feet below.  Luckily, and unusually, he broke only his nose.  The ramp is a pile of dirt now, but there are efforts to purchase the site and rebuild it as a memorial to Evil.

Many, many beautiful scenes in Idaho: mountain ranges;  fields of potatoes stretching as far as the eye can see; irrigation canals winding through the valleys; and volcanic fields springing up from nowhere.  All too soon we leave this beautiful state and cross into Oregon.

Oregon's Blue Mountains

This part of Oregon is not the lush green of the coast that comes to mind when you think of Oregon.  This is semi-arid desert…with stark mountains and deep canyons.  The Snake River is still beside us for much of the way, twisting and turning like a serpent through this beautiful landscape.  Again, we take lots of pictures….but most of them are obscured by the rain.  Desert?  Rain?  Yep!  And apparently, this desert gets lots of snow because there are huge snow fences everywhere and lots of signs giving snow chain instructions.  Glad it’s not snowing now, but it is cold…about 43 degrees!

Luckily, the rain had stopped before
we went down this pass.

We’re in Oregon for about two and a half hours.  In Hermiston, Oregon we reach the furthest west we’re going on this trip.  Just after Hermiston we stop in the border town of Umatilla, Oregon.  Here we find a geocache on the shore of the Columbia River.  The last person to find this cache was a close friend from St. Louis.  Guess who?!?  (And, I must admit...we had to call that person for help finding the cache.  :-(    )

We cross into Washington State and head for Richland.  The scenery here is seemingly familiar to me.  I’m sure it’s because so many co-workers at Clinton Power Station came from this area after working at Handford or WPPSS (Washington Public Power Supply System).  I remember one of my supervisors who came from here and him talking about the desert and the dessert wines that are produced in this area.    We’ll be traveling more through here on Sunday.

All this wilderness and westward travel has gotten me interested in Lewis and Clark again.  I'm reading another journal of their expedition along the Missouri, Snake and Columbia rivers.

As I said, we hit our western-most point Saturday.  On Sunday, we’ll travel to Spokane where we’ll hit our northern-most point and then being our 2000 mile journey home.   Lots of fun places yet to see!

Yellowstone and Tetons

View from the cache!

I (Marvin) started my morning lying on the mountainside listening to the roar of the Yellowstone River below me and taking in the breathtaking beauty of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains across the river.  I came to this spot to find a geocache and as I lie there I mused upon how much enjoyment geocaching has brought to me.  After savoring this piece of paradise for a moment, I then decided to take a quick inventory of my body parts.  Toes move - check!  Fingers move - check!  Hundreds of needles in my left side – damn!

I had come to this place to find a geocache to drop off a trackable and was immediately enthralled by the magnificence of the site.  I grabbed my bear bells and set out for the cache keeping a watchful  eye out for bear, elk, bison and wolves which are all in this remote area.   (Yes, Maryellen, I got your scat comment!)   When I got to the geocache site I discovered that it was tucked under a large rock.  The rock was big enough to provide shelter for an animal on the lee side.  Being “Mr. Safety” I decided to check for wildlife on the other side of the rock before grabbing the cache.  I stepped up onto an adjacent rock and immediately went whoosh/bam….down onto the ground with my left side in the surrounding cactus.

It’s been almost 24 hours since the geocaching fun and I’m still pulling cactus needles out of my arm, hand and leg.  Good times!

Trail View

Mona and I then linked up for another day in Yellowstone.  We started with a hike along the north rim of Yellowstone’s Grand Canyon.  This is a beautiful area with the sounds of rushing water and incomparable views of waterfalls.  I’m still not sure if we wanted to encounter wildlife on the trail or not.  Regardless, we didn’t see anything other than birds.

Mona loves buffalo!

Then, time for another drive through Yellowstone’s Hayden Valley.  This is the area we’ve seen the most wildlife in and once again, we saw hundreds of buffalo and a large herd of elk.   In one spot the buffalo was within twenty feet of our car.  Love this!!!

Grand Tetons!

Now, we turned Red south and headed for the Grand Teton National Park.  We stopped at the first Ranger Station and asked where the best places were for wildlife viewing.   She recommended a gravel road by Moose Junction.  Off we go!  As we drive through Jackson Hole we see incredible views of the magnificent Teton mountain range.  These beautiful  snow-capped mountains, seemingly float on the water below them and pictures will never do this justice!  We don’t see much wild-life, even though there are lots of warning signs around.

Our first moose!

We start down the gravel road at Moose Junction and soon there is a pull-off.  There’s a sign here saying this is perfect moose habitat.  We agree it’s beautiful, but alas, no moose.  We drive farther along the road and come up to a group of cars pulled off to the side.  We pull off and ask a passing driver what’s up?  He said, “Look behind you.”  We turn around and there’s a bull moose within 30 feet of us!   Our hearts pound as we get out of the car and start taking photos!  This is incredible!!!

After nearly exhausting our cameras’ storage we leave Mr. Moose and start farther down the road.  Within 100 feet there’s another moose, a cow moose this time!  We were certain we’d never see a moose on this trip and now we’ve seen two!

Teton Pass

We pull into Jackson, Wyoming and stretch our legs a bit.  We debate staying here, but in the end we decide it’s just too crowded and not for us.  We head west, on a two lane highway, bound for Idaho Falls.  This route takes us through the Teton Pass which has very steep inclines of 10 degrees and which crests at 8600 feet.   More breathtaking views!

We’re not sure where we’ll end up tomorrow….can’t wait to find out!

(Still pulling out those damned cactus needles!)