Take me home, country road...

SM drove into West Virginia. Our first stop was Charleston - the capital and largest city in the state. We stopped first at the Capital Market - an open air and enclosed space, year round, farmers market in downtown. We checked out all the vendors, but only bought some tomatoes.... We noticed that none of the vendors there today were organic. :(

Meanwhile, back at the RV...

We had noticed in Kentucky that our refrigerator didn’t seem to be working. We gave it a day to see if perhaps it would “reset” on it’s own. But by Charleston, it was clear this wasn’t going to happen. The parking space at the Holiday Inn in Lexington was on a bit of a slope. I guess it was more slope than the propane-fired refrigerator could handle. The automatic shut-off kicked in. So, it stopped working. Now, it had to be reset by an RV dealer. We decided that we were close enough to the end of the trip to pass on spending the time getting the fridge controls reset. Rather, we opted to buy bags of ice to keep just the freezer cold. We needed to keep all of our Benton’s bacon and ham and our artisan cheeses cold!!!

We decided to grab a bite to eat in Charleston before we headed the hour or so North to our RV park in Sutton, WV. Every time she researched Charleston restaurants, a place called Bluegrass Kitchen came up. We punched the address into the GPS and headed over... or not. Turns out the address in our WV State-Sponsored brochure was wrong... FYI - it isn’t 600 Washington Street, it’s 1600. You would think that would be right down the street, right? Nope... all the way across town... miles! Finally, we arrived. From the outside the place looked closed and, in all honesty, a bit suspect. Dark curtains hung blocking the view inside from the tinted window storefront. Hmmmm... we’re never quitters when it comes to food. So, we slowly walked up and tried the door. It swing right open and inside was an almost full (pretty impressive for 5:30 pm) and bustling restaurant. We were met immediately by a smiling man who offered us any of the three remaining tables. We sat down along a wall that was covered with flyers and posters advertising local events and services. Brightly colored paintings lined the tops of the walls. All in all, a pretty cool space.

And the menu! Yum. Organic, sustainable and local - Oh My. It seemed sort of like soul food with a local twist. We split a mezze plate of vegetables, hummus, pita bread and dip. CP ordered a chorizo stuffed onion with grilled corn. SM ordered the trout and grits. Everything was delicious. Even though the meals had us pretty full, we took a look at the dessert menu. We split a Blueberry Buttermilk Pie. We weren’t sure what to expect but it was a just sweet enough baked custard pie with a perfect amount of berries mixed in. The crust was flaky, dark (but not at all burned), and the custard had carmelized on the crusts edge. It was perfection. CP already has plans to try to beg them to email her the recipe...

We continued on to Sutton, WV our home for the night.

We slept in a little bit and hit the road towards Harpers Ferry. CP had done some research and found that the national offices for the Appalachian Trail are located in this town - population 300. She has a fascination with the trail and hopes to one day hike from Georgia to Maine on the 2,175 mile trail. It will take her 6 months.... next road trip?

This sleepy little town also played a big part in the beginnings of the Civil War and continued to be a strategic position (located at the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rovers) for both the Union and Confederate armies. In 1859, a local abolitionist named John Brown raided the armory in Harpers Ferry. His objective: capture the ammunitions and arm a slave rebellion. The shots fired are considered by some to be the first of the Civil War. John Brown’s tiny “army” was easily defeated and only three survived the assault, including Brown. He and the others were hanged. His last words: “I, John Brown, am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” Several months later, South Carolina left the Union of the United States after Abraham Lincoln was elected President vowing to end slavery. The other Confederate States soon followed and the war had begun.

We didn’t raid any armory nor fire any shots in Harpers Ferry, rather decided on taking a nice hike on a portion of the Appalachian Trail with Murphy. The round trip was 5.5 miles. Murph as usual was a bullet out of the gate. He has a tendency to pull ahead on his leash when he starts a walk (he would make a great sled dog). SM had a little “discussion” with him, telling him he’d better save his energy for the long hike. He didn’t listen. It was in the mid-90s and humid. The hike led across the rivers from Harpers Ferry, then went straight uphill - pretty steep. Aside from sweat and lots of it, it was just a nondescript wooded hike - until the end. We passed through a clearing of trees and onto the top of an outcropping of rocks. It was an amazing 270 degree view. We were directly opposite Harpers Ferry, straight up from the Y at the banks of the river. It was literally a birds-eye view looking down the Potomac, the Shenandoah, and the two rivers continuing together as one. Check out the pix!!

We hiked back down the trail - much easier! - and cooled off swimming in the river. At this point Murphy had a pretty good pant going. Seeing as he wouldn’t swim to cool off, SM threw water over Murph covering him. In protest, Murph rolled in the sand from the banks and refused to go near the water again. He was covered in sand and looked like another dog. He is so stubborn! CP - like dog, like owner. SM - he wasn’t like that until CP moved in. :)

We finished the hike and headed back to the RV, crashing at the Harpers Ferry KOA for the night.

Kentucky: Den of theives

We left Chicago with Lexington, Kentucky in mind as our final destination. All that stood in our way was the great State of Indiana. We ducked off the highway for some bagels in Lafayette, home to Purdue University. It was beautiful country and a far cry from our first impressions of the state having passed through the very depressed Gary, Indiana.

At a rest stop, we found a flyer for Traderspoint Creamery - an organic and grass-fed dairy and meat farm in Zionsville. We had nothing else going on. So, we decided it was well worth a visit. We poked around the farm, determining that - although much smaller - an organic farm looks and smells very much like a non-organic farm. We headed to their “Dairy Bar”. CP got a small bowl of organic strawberry ice cream that put the organic ice cream in Jackson, Wyoming to shame both in taste and portion size. SM got a chocolate shake (chocolate milk with chocolate ice cream). SM - I have never had a shake that tasted so good. It was an amazing balance of deep chocolate flavor and a smooth, full creamy texture. Writing this, I want some more! We left the farm quite satisfied with the stop. Oh yah, we took some milk, yogurt, cheese and honey with us too. All organic and all to fill our bellies along the remainder of the trip.

We arrived in Lexington, Kentucky around 4:30 pm. There were no local RV parks so we booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express. We hadn’t stayed in a hotel for several weeks. So, we took the opportunity to workout in their gym and swim in the pool. Based on a recommendation from the hotel concierge, we biked downtown for dinner. Note to self - don’t bike to a nice restaurant in Kentucky when the temp is in the mid 90s and so is the humidity. We were soaked through.

We would venture a guess and say that Lexington is not a hot-bed of culinary activity. A big HOWEVER... we were quite surprised with DeSha’s. Most likely, it would have been a place in Boston that we would have peeked at the menu and walked right by. But what a great meal! CP initially ordered the scallops, but they were out. She labored for another 5 minutes scouring the very small menu trying to settle on something sounding even remotely appetizing to her or maybe wishing something else would magically appear in print. She finally ordered the fried chicken. CP - it was the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten. It was an incredible plate - two huge boneless breasts, a mound of mashed potatoes, and veg. Once I tasted the chicken, I didn’t take one more bite of potatoes or veg so I could save the space on my palate and in my stomach for all the chicken I could eat. SM - I tried a bite or two as well. My oh my. I ordered the grilled salmon with corn risotto which was a great take. But if I could turn back time, we would have had two plates of fried chicken in front of us.

After dinner, we walked around town. It seemed so quiet, which we assumed was because it was a college town (University of Kentucky) and it was summer break. We’d asked our server at DeSha’s for a recommendation on a place to hear some live music. He pointed us to the “Cheapside Bar”. We turned the corner and saw what must have been 75% of the city’s population at a park next to the bar. Turns out we had just walked into the tail end of the towns “Thursdays at the park”, a food and music festival that they have each week in the summer. We were bummed to have missed it.

We made our way through the town and ended up at Mellow Mushroom - a hippie-infused/inspired pizzeria and bar with over 100 different types of beer. It was the first time in six weeks that we had seen a bottle of Boston’s own Harpoon Beer. SM snagged one and we both got a little sad knowing that we were getting closer to the end of our trip. We grabbed our bikes and headed back to the hotel, locking them on the back of the RV and calling it a night.

In the morning SM woke up and headed out for some coffee. SM - The routine before getting into Mel and hitting the road is to do a once over to make sure everything is disconnected (water and electric) and that all is secure (bikes). I had a weird suspicion when I was walking towards the RV. I went to the back and saw my bike dangling from the rack. Someone had tried to steal our bikes!!! They had cut the rubber straps that tied down my bike but were thwarted by a small bike lock and thin wire chain. Lexington, Kentucky - a den of thieves....

Our next stop was Berea, KY, a quaint artisan town about 40 miles south of Lexington. This would not have been on the list of towns to visit if it hadn’t been the birthplace of SM’s brother-in-law, Rob. We drove down, unsure of what to expect. The first thing we saw was “College Square”, the home of Berea College. Berea is a “work college” which provides low-income students the opportunity to go to college for free. Each student is given a 4 year full-tuition scholarship. In exchange, they work a minimum of 10 hours each week on campus. Another interesting fact about Berea College - It was the first coeducational and racially integrated college in the southern US. Pretty neat! We did a drive-by of Rob’s childhood home and continued on to the visitor’s center in old downtown. We were told that there were close to 20 working artist studios in the area. We poked around and went into some of the traditional craft studios. There were weavers, glass blowers, wood and metal workers, and potters. We headed up to the College Square and checked out the Berea College Student Craft Store. If you ever have the chance and enjoy handmade crafts in a quiet town, check out Berea. It’s a super cool town. We are so glad that we went.

We hit the road. West Virginia was calling!

Yeah... We have friends.

We had hit three states by 8am.

North Sioux City was in South Dakota. South Sioux CIty was in Nebraska. Sioux City was in Iowa. We woke up in North Sioux City at 7am intent on doing another good days worth of driving. We sped 15 minutes down to South Sioux City to grab some to go breakfast at a local bakery and to officially get another state visited under our belts. We were in Nebraska for a total of about 15 minutes. We cruised up to Sioux City and onto a highway leading to Cedar Rapids, Iowa - our destination for the day. SM has friends in Iowa and we were so excited to see them!

We had emailed and phoned with Erica and Joe along our trip to coordinate the day of our arrival in Iowa. SM had lived and worked with them in Tacoma at the Catholic Worker house. It had been almost 8 years since seeing them. Now their two small toddlers had morphed into two growing children. Wow!!! It was so nice to finally meet them - as in converse with them. Oh, and we can’t forget Max, their dog. Murph tired the old guy out. We arrived around 1 pm and spent a few hours catching up with the family (SM) and meeting them (CP). Erica had to work for a few hours later in the afternoon, so we took the chance to drive around Cedar Rapids to check out downtown. The bones of the older midwest city were great. But, two years ago a flood came through submerging the downtown and low-lying areas in 12 feet of water. It virtually wiped out every home and business in that part of town. And after 2 years, maybe half the buildings were still vacant and boarded up. It was tough to witness and we can’t even imagine what it was like to live through.

After poking around, we still had some time to check out the area. So, we took a short 30-minute trip to Iowa City. It’s a small college town, home to the University of Iowa. Who can guess the first stop?... the Old Capital Brewpub. After a bump, we walked around the campus a bit and the small businesses that inevitably surround a college. We ended up at Devotay, a tapas restaurant for a an appetizer. The food was all locally grown and pretty darned tasty. We made our way back to Mel, stopping off at the local organic food market to re-stock our supplies of fruit.

We headed back to Cedar Rapids for an evening of Thai food (not too shabby for middle America!) and great conversation. SM - It was so nice to re-engage with the Zitos. It was like we dropped conversation 8 years ago and picked up where we left off. We are so thankful to have made the visit and so appreciate their hospitality. For the second time on the trip, we slept in Mel in front of a old friend’s house.

The next day, our destination was Wisconsin! SM has another friend, also from his days in Washington, that lives in Milwaukee. The first stop on the way to see Tracy was the town of Mount Horeb. She had recommended it as a stop “if we wanted to see some trolls on a hill”. Yah, of course we did! It didn’t hurt that there was a sign at the exit of the highway for “The Grumpy Troll Brewery”. We drove into town and right to the visitor center. Once inside, the woman at the desk asked if she could help us. Without skipping a beat, CP exclaimed “We wanna see some trolls”. Taken a bit aback (CP- I thought she seemed thrilled by my excitement), the woman grinned and said, “Well you have come to the right place”. She gave us a map showing the location of each troll statue in town - 17 in all. We headed out in search of trolls, hoping to catch a few pictures of those sneaky little suckers. We felt like we were on a TV show entitled RV Troll Hunters. It was an adorable little town and we were so glad we stopped by.

Our next stop was Madison, WI, home to the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin. Since Portland, OR, we had not been to a decent-sized city. Madison certainly isn’t huge, but it felt a bit like culture shock. We spent most of our time walking around the State Street area, a pedestrian-only street full of independent shops stretching from the capitol building to the university’s campus.

Question for you all.... what three things do you think of when you hear Wisconsin? Beer, cheese, and bratwurst? Well, we are food-centric individuals and that’s what comes to our mind. On a recommendation from our Dorchester upstairs neighbor (a Badger), we tackled the local fare at State Street Brats. For food, we split a red brat, a white brat, and some fried cheese curds. For drink, we spilt a New Glarus Bewery Company favorite - the Spotted Cow. You could have guessed by this point. But just to be clear, we have not shied away from eating and drinking to our heart’s caloric content on our trip thus far. Today’s lunch was the greasy, faster-food equivalent of dinner at the Ritz. It was just such unhealthy goodness!

Not to be upstaged by faster-food, we walked up the hill to the capital to check out a local artisan cheese shop - Fromagination. After much browsing, we settled on several Wisconsin cheeses and some local honey and crackers. Yum!

With our bellies filled with brats and cheese and the fridge packed with cheese just the same, we made our way to Tracy’s home in Franklin, just outside of Milwaukee. We were greeted with open arms by the entire Patterson family... what a great bunch of folks and such wonderful hosts! It just so happens that the days we visited Franklin coincided with Tracy’s days off. The night we arrived, she took us out to a local soul food restaurant. SM - boy do my friends know where to eat. CP scored some yummy crab cakes and SM got the Kansas City BBQ beef ribs and homemade cole slaw. We waddled our way home and into Mel. We were bushed from a long day.

Tracy had a pretty good plan tailored for our visit. We had already checked BBQ off the list the prior evening. We slept in a bit and when we were all ready, we headed out to explore downtown Milwaukee. We grabbed some lunch at a funky pub and then scooted across the street to walk the Public Market. We were told in no uncertain terms from a Facebook friend that we had to get some frozen custard when we were in Milwaukee. Who knew? Add that as number four to the must eats of Wisconsin. YUM!

Stop three of the day was the Lakefront Brewery (of course) for a tour and tasting. Listen up Rogue Brewery! SM - This tour was by far, hands-down, the best brewery tour I’ve ever been on. The guide was phenomenal... funny, captivating, informative, beer and brewing knowledgeable, well-spoken, and as of that day, Tracy’s soon-to-be new boyfriend. He was adorable... Anywho. We loved the beer and the tour - a must do if you are ever in Milwaukee. One of the coolest things we learned on the tour is what Lakefront does with all it’s left over grain from the brewing process. Most breweries sell or donate it to local farms to be used as food for livestock. This has always troubled us since the grain mash from beer isn’t, actually, the healthiest thing for cows and pigs to eat. Lakefront is different! They donate it to an organization called Growing Power (WWW.Growingpower.org) which, long story made very short, feeds it to worms which compost the material. Super cool!

After the tour was over, we got a few certificates for more free Lakefront brew, good at 8 or so bars around Milwaukee. We ended up in the East Town neighborhood for a drink. What a neat part of town - full of independent shops, restaurants, and bars - all on a welcoming, tree-lined street. We also scored some coffee to replenish the RV stock.

Next stop - the Harley-Davidson Museum. One more thing that Milwaukee is proudly known for is the birthplace and home of these great machines. We spent a few hours inspecting some awesome mechanical works of art dating back to the beginning in 1903. We actually got to see the very first Harley Davidson motorcycle ever built. Pretty cool stuff!!! The museum chronicled not only the development of motorcycles and technology into what they have become today, but also the birth, growth, and survival of an iconic American company. (As you can tell, SM wrote this section and was beside himself - like a kid in a candy store. Thanks for being patient with him.) CP scored a few more Harley Davidson shirts for the boys (and girl) back home.

All-in-all, Milwaukee was a wonderful city. And, certainly not even remotely what either of us expected based on our limited knowledge of the city... which was pretty much what we knew from watching reruns of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley.

Quite satisfied with the day, we made our way back to the Patterson Estate. Another of SMs friends from Tacoma - Amy - also lives in Milwaukee. She and her new beau, Pablo, came to Franklin to join all of us in a steak dinner. SM - again, I had so much fun catching up with old friends. What a treat for me to see a handful of people in both Iowa and Wisconsin that mean so much to me. Thanks guys!

In the morning, we reluctantly left the peace and quiet of the Patterson driveway in Franklin to head to the big city - CHICAGO.

On our way to Chicago, we stopped at one last Wisconsin locale - The Cheese Castle. There are no words to describe it. You simply must go. We bought cheese curds. Our bellies recommend them.

We arrived in Chicago late afternoon and stopped at The Green Market (actually, CP did - no parking - so, SM just drove around): a farmers market in Lincoln Park that specializes in local, organic and sustainable meats and produce. CP picked up some fresh, good eats. We then headed over to find parking in the nearby Lakeview neighborhood. We got lucky being in a city - mid-week, in the middle of the day - and found a spot pretty quickly.

After dusting off the bikes, we rode the several blocks down to the lake front. Being in a big city was a bit of a change. It seemed that pretty much everyone in town was walking, running, or biking the paths by the water. It was a refreshing change to see the level of exercise and fitness. Feeling somewhat inspired, we biked from Lakeview to the Aquarium - a round trip distance of five miles or so. We were drenched in sweat. It was in the mid 90‘s and we had biked in the mid-day sun. Of course that means we developed an appetite. When in Chicago.... Chicago-style pizza! We earned (having walked another mile from Mel to get there) a medium sausage and cheese from Gino’s East. Yum!

We had made plans to head to CP’s friend Joanna’s house for dinner and stay in the area that evening. So, we decided to get Mel a little closer to her house and check out the parking situation. It was tough... we found one spot but it was severely crooked and sloped (which impacts the generator - aka makes in not work - aka no air conditioning in 90 degree weather - aka not gonna happen). It also required that we “feed the meter” every two hours... We needed to figure out a better plan. SM stayed put in the RV and CP took Murphy for a much needed walk. While on the walk, CP and Murph saw a parking garage which looked possibly tall enough to fit the RV. They went inside to investigate and passed a man, a pastor actually, in his car leaving the garage. He said, “Can I help you with something?” CP said no, but felt the urge to explain that we were from out of town, taking a seven-week trip, that she was checking to see if our RV could fit in the garage because it wasn’t going to work on the street, that we were in town visiting a friend living around the corner, and we needed a safe place for Mel that evening. The man thought for a minute and leaned in to say in a hushed tone, “You can park it over there in the church lot.” CP was surprised. “That lot?” she asked eyeing the large, level, well lit, empty lot. “Yes.” he whispered. “Just write Saint Luke’s and your phone number on some paper and leave it on the dashboard. They won’t tow you unless the church calls them. And, I am the one who would call.” Smiling, he said, “I won’t tow you.” She thanked him profusely and skipped back to the RV to tell SM the good news.

We slid Mel in the Saint Luke’s (Lutheran church - by the way) parking lot, showered the day’s activity off, and walked around the neighborhood a bit. We headed to Joanna’s for another delicious home-made dinner on the grill and some great company of Joanna, Robert and Evan.

In the morning, we hit the road so glad we had been able to see such wonderful friends over the past few days.

Next stop: Kentucky!

Who knew South Dakota had so much to offer?

Vrooom, vrooom...... We chugged in to Sturgis, South Dakota - population 6,700. For those of you not in the know, Sturgis is best known for their annual week-long motorcycle rally. This year is the 70th anniversary!!! This sleepy little town transforms into one the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world hosting nearly 500,000 visitors and exhibitors during that one week. Yikes! The population was only 6,702 the day we showed up. Driving through the town, you can see the massive infrastructure built for just that one week - most noticeably were the bars and saloons. They were huge indoor and outdoor structures with stages and scaffolding quietly waiting for August. You could envision the party.

The reason we decided to drop in to Sturgis is that CPs parents are Harley enthusiasts. There are also several people at Wayside Glass (CPs father’s business) that share in that enthusiasm and are huge Harley-Davidson fans. Most cities have a Harley-Davidson store, each with merchandise specific to that city or region of the country. The artwork and “colors” of the area carry a certain sense of pride with it. Sturgis - the Mother Ship - was actually our third Harley-Davidson shop where we picked up some local shirts. Pretty neat stuff!!!

SM - When we were checking out of the store, I looked into the parking lot to see a young-ish woman laying down in the bed of her pick-up truck. She was wearing only a bikini. She was sun-bathing. Only in South Dakota, only in Sturgis, and only in the Harley-Davidson parking lot...

We rolled out of town and took a short drive down the highway to Mt. Rushmore. If you recall, we had purchased a National Parks annual pass back in Jamestown, VA. What a bargain. We had traveled the east, midwest, southwest, and pacific without a problem. Just flash the pass, get a park map, and head on in. Mt. Rushmore - not so much. They wanted us to pay $10 to “park” at the monument. Phooey! We didn’t bite. We had clear, albeit brief, views of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Why pay? So, CP drove as slowly as possible with SM hanging out the side windows of the RV snapping pictures (picture crazy paparazzi trying to get “the” shot). It took three passes by the monument to get our satisfactory pictures. We probably spent $10 in gas doing so, but it is the principle! We’re not going to pay $10 to park in a lot in the middle of nowhere!

Back in Aspen, our friends Karla and Brian recommended we swing by the caves in South Dakota. We had no idea what they were talking about until we did some research. There are several different cave-type National Parks in South Dakota. Who knew? We decided to visit Wind Caves. Native plains people seemingly always knew of its existence, but in the late 1800’s a white settler discovered this place for the anglo-saxon history books. This young man was on a summer walk through the Black Hills and passed by a hole in the earth just larger than the width of a basketball. A whistling cool breeze blew up from this hole and piqued his curiosity. He went home, grabbed some string (for a way to mark his route and get back once in the cave) and a candle, and headed into the hole.

Since then, other explorers have uncovered 120 miles of caves on this site under the rolling hills of western South Dakota. Park rangers estimate that only 5-10% of the cave has actually been explored. We decided to take a two hour, mile and a half long, guided tour of the caves 250 feet under ground. It was amazing. We thankfully dressed for the 60 degree temps of the cave seeking refuge from the 90 degree weather outside. Unlike most caves, Wind Cave is not made up of stalactites and stalagmites. Based on the type of material and the erosion patterns, this cave contains a few unique formations - calcite boxwork, popcorn, and frostwork all of which line the cave walls and ceilings. Check out the pictures. This was by far the most unique and unusual National Park we’ve visited. Check it out! Cool stuff...

We made our way to a last minute reservation at the Rapid City KOA and hunkered down for the night.

In the morning, we decided to make up some time driving. We were still only 2 hours driving distance from where we started the day before at Devil’s Tower. We pushed eastward. All along the highways and bi-ways of South Dakota are hand-made, small, painted billboards (signs actually) that read Wall Drug - 100 miles ahead. Or - Wall Drug Home of Free Water and 5 cent Coffee. CP had mentioned this place way before we even started this seven week trip, so Wall Drug made its way onto the list of must-dos. What else is there to do in Nowhere, SD?

SM - I was either sleeping or blogging, not paying much attention to our surroundings as we came into town. CP spoke up and said... “I think we’re in a parade”. I came to only to find us in the right lane of a two lane road through the small town center of Wall, South Dakota. The double yellow line of the middle of and the sidewalk of the other side of the road were swarming with locals. We crawled down our side of street as the waiving members of the Wall high school class of 1960 rolled by on a float to our left. “Hey hon - check out the fire engine! Oooh, a cool Dodge Road Runner...”. We ducked on to a side street, left Murph behind, and on foot blended into the crowd to watch the rest of the parade. What a trip!

There is not much to Wall, SD. The parade was over 20 minutes later. Now, on to the real reason we came... Wall Drug. In the 30s, this place was just a small town drug store. As businesses surrounding the store closed, the store expanded physically and the products it sold. To drum up some interest for passers-by and tourists, Wall Drug started putting signs all over the state directing people to Wall and their store. The gorilla marketing worked and now people (including country-traveling Bostonians) come from all over to shop at Wall Drug. The store now has 76,000 square feet and sells pretty much everything. They have a souvenir shop, a gourmet coffee shop, a western art gallery, an animated T-Rex, Jackalopes, a Train Station water show, a pizza parlor, and more. A whole lot more! We shopped around for some time, but only bought few post cards and scored a free bumper sticker - Where the Heck is Wall Drug? - more gorilla marketing.

Must do, SD - place #2 - the Corn Palace. We had been talking about visiting this place long before the trip too. Mitchell, SD - home to said palace - was conveniently another blow-by stop on our way to the evening’s pit stop. We had envisioned a rural oasis - a quaint corn-decorated barn on farm with little pigs and sheep flitting about. And the inside as a museum/homage to the staple crop of the area. Disappointingly, we weren’t even close. The building was covered with different colored ears of corn affixed to the exterior walls in a patterns to create images - this years theme was transportation. Check out the picture. Although it was amazing art (and easily the highlight of the stop), the Corn Palace was a complete bust. It’s in downtown Mitchell (no barn, pigs, or sheep) and is attached to the city hall. It doesn’t even have it’s own building!!! Basically, this place is a small-town convention center. No museum. No tour. Nothing. They did have a huge gift shop to sell a bunch of crap to tourists, but other than that it’s just a shell. Do yourself a favor if you’re in the area.... google the Corn Palace, enjoy some on-line pictures, and drive as fast as possible right past the exit to Mitchell, SD.

We hurried on out of there and pointed Mel to North Sioux City, SD. The prior evening in Rapid City, we had heard in the distance the dull roar of race cars tooling around a local track. We had been too tired to partake of the races, but SM was still wanting to cross that adventure off the small list of trip must do’s. North Sioux City was a nice compromise - it fit nicely as an evening’s pit stop, it had a clean KOA, and a local race track a few miles down the road. After settling in a bit and having dinner, we jumped on our bikes and headed to the track for a night of racing. SM had way more fun than CP. As late dusk hit, we made our way back to Mel to crash after a long day of driving, sight-seeing, and racing.

In the morning we took a quick ride to Nebraska (only a couple miles away) and grabbed some breakfast at a Panaderia, then we headed to Iowa! Final destination: Cedar Rapids!

The devil's in the details...

There was a small list of "extras" we really wanted to do on this trip: whitewater rafting, horseback riding, seeing a minor league baseball game, going to a car race, and watching a rodeo. So far, we'd done only one. :( We left Yellowstone to head the hour or so east to Cody, Wyoming. A town with a rodeo every night, all summer long! :)

We rolled into town late-afternoon and were not surprised by the lack of suitable food/dinner options. And neither of us wanted to do much cooking. So, what does anyone do when faced with such a dilemma? You order pizza! Even though a few of the ingredients were canned and the dough was partially baked before they added our toppings, it turned out to be pretty tasty and really hit the spot. Sufficiently full, we moseyed on over to the rodeo. If you all recall, in Nashville SM picked up a western shirt (with snaps and everything!) and in Wyoming we both picked up cowboy hats. If ever there was a time on this trip to adorn our western gear, it was tonight. We really looked the part (of tourists, that is!)

Two things were apparent when we got to the rodeo. Everyone attending was a tourist from out of town and all of us were sporting our best western attire. Even though we were cuter than all get out, we were not the most original in our garb. Second, not many people ride bikes to the rodeo. Go figure! In fact, nobody besides two blue-state yankees ride bikes to the rodeo. Two yankees dressed in western attire, that is. We're such dorks...

Parts of the rodeo were pretty cool and fun to watch... the barrel races and the calf-roping competition. And, parts of it were really quite disturbing to two animal lovers like ourselves. CP, a lover and rider of horses, had tears in her eyes when the cowboys rode the bucking broncos. "We would never do something like that to Murphy" - CP. It just seemed cruel and very unnecessary. One of the bulls seemed to agree with her when the rodeo hands were prepping him for a ride. We watched this enormous, 2,500 lbs, muscular, extremely angry animal try to buck and climb it's way out of the metal holding area. It almost succeeded! The rider never stood a chance. We stayed for the whole thing and left the rodeo with mixed feelings. But still glad we were able to see the reality of this kind of "sport".

In the am, we were on to Devil's Tower National Monument - America's first national monument. You may know it better from the movies. It's the famous rock formation seen in the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This one-of-a-kind formation was created by an intrusion of igneous material (that was from wikipedia :) - we're not that smart), although there are many theories as to specifically how this intrusion occurred.

We stayed at the KOA campground right outside the entrance of the park. Besides a small liquor establishment and a store across the street from the KOA, there is nothing else around Devil's Tower for miles. If anyone has ever stayed at a KOA, you'd know that the company logo and colors are not subtle. This KOA was no exception. In their store and registration area, there must have been 30 bright canary yellow placards with the name KOA. The entry rug was bright canary yellow, reading KOA. All the employees wore bright canary yellow shirts saying KOA. The sign out front is huge and, you guessed it... was bright canary yellow. Mind you, besides the two stores across the street... nothing for miles. SM - Which all leads me to my point.... Americans are stupid. I overheard a woman just entering the store ask the clerk... "Is this the KOA?" Really?

To shake the stupidity off our clothes and clear our befuddled heads, we jumped on and rode our bikes up the three mile hill to the base of the tower. SM - I suffered. Oh, I suffered. CP is in way better biking shape than I am. Shhhh... I walked the last 1/4 mile. CP- WHAT? Quitter!!!

We hydrated and then walked the 1.3 mile paved trail around the base of Devil's Tower. The monolith is pretty amazing. Although it looks like one solid structure, it's actually hundreds of columns together. It's commonly believed that it once stood as one solid mass - like a butte. But, over time cracks formed in the butte and the weaker sediment eroded away leaving individual, but tightly-knit columns... pretty cool stuff (CP - nerd alert!). Halfway around, we looked up at the shaded side of the tower only to see climbers scaling the rock walls. Scary! But super cool (SM - nerd alert!). We felt somewhat athletically inferior. Then we felt redeemed as we passed a suffering, huffing and puffing family who were only .3 miles into their walk asking us "Are we almost done?" Aw honey, you aren't even halfway there yet!

We coasted down the hill back to our RV, made ourselves some burgers, drank a few beers, threw in some laundry, then called it a night.

SM - Murph got me up kind of early for a walk - maybe 6. I saw nobody else up and about. The sun was rising over the hills to the east and was casting a reddish light on to Devil's Tower to my west. And I heard music. BAH, BAH, BAH.... bah, bah - the theme song from Close Encounters. It was so cool! At night, this KOA shows the movie continuously. I was walking Murph at the same moment when the movie was showing the "Third Kind" playing the theme song back and forth with the scientists. Again, so freakin' cool!!!

After a bit, CP awoke. We packed up and moved on to South Dakota!

We're goin' to Jackson...

We arrived in Jackson at about 7 pm. You won’t be surprised to know that after settling Murphy down, we grabbed our bikes and headed to.... the local brew pub! Snake River Brewing Company located on the outskirts of downtown. We had a couple beers (a yummy IPA and a brown ale called OB1 - their first all organic beer) and some dinner. We split a bowl of tasty buffalo and bean chili. CP got the cobb salad (trying to catch up from lunch) and SM got a grilled tuna steak sandwich. As a whole, the beers and food were great. BTW - I hope you all reading our blog realize we’re not total booze-bags - going to brewpubs every chance we get. Usually, brewpubs take as much pride in their food as in their craft beer. The brewpub is a really safe place to go and get decent food. It also serves as a great place to chat up the locals for food and activity recommendations. Well, at least that’s the story we keep telling ourselves.... we’re sticking to it.

We left the brewery and rode further downtown to explore a little more. It’s a really cute little town - although a bit contrived. The current town was created to cater to the ski area in town and summertime hiking in the nearby Tetons, aiming to maintain and play up it’s western roots. The store fronts all look like the old west and the sidewalks are covered in wood - like a boardwalk.

In our exploration, we passed by a local theater housed in a really cool old 1916 original building. Lights and colorful advertisements drew your attention to the marquee reading “Annie, Get Your Gun”. We grabbed a flyer of the show and continued on. It was getting late and not all the shops were still open. We ducked into a few touristy t-shirt shops and finally into a western clothing store. CP was itching to get herself a cowboy hat. After trying on a bunch, she narrowed it down to one but didn’t buy it. She wanted to check out a few of the closed shops the following day to compare prices and check out a few more hats. The only other store that was open was the local organic ice cream shop. OK, we’re in. We each bought a small ice cream. CP - Delicious! SM - tasty, but they really meant “small” when they said small. Mine was barely one full scoop on top. Three bites later, I had a dry cone. I guess organic = calorie saving in Jackson... :)

We headed back to Mel (our RV) to get ready to hike the Grand Teton National Park in the morning. We found a mess inside the RV. Murphy had torn open a bag of snap peas, having eaten most of them, and had just found our stash of trail mix. There were snap pea strands, peanut crumbs, raisins, and M&Ms mashed into the carpet and cloth of the front seats. A dog with ears drooping to the floor and his tail between his legs sat looking at us through a set of sad puppy eyes. Just what we wanted to do late in the evening... clean up. SM took Murph for a walk (he was dying to get some of that ruffage out) and CP got to picking up the dog show shrapnel. Good times!

We traveled the half hour or so to Grand Teton and got to the park mid-morning. We had initially planned on hiking Jenny Lake, but it was already crowded! No more parking spaces left in their lot. We pushed on further to String Lake. Also full. Not finding parking at the first two areas actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We ended up at the less populated Leigh Lake. We started off thinking we’d take a few mile hike around the lake and call it a day. In the end, we had hiked around Leigh Lake, past String Lake, and about halfway around Jenny Lake to the beautiful Hidden Falls. Not only was it awesome getting out for a hike and stretching the legs, but we were rewarded by getting to see some unbelievable falls. We SOOO needed it! Round up the few mile hike to a wonderful 7 plus mile hike through a beautiful area of the park.

Back in Jackson, we decided to go see “Annie, Get Your Gun”. We set of a few hours before the show for some food and local shopping. For dinner, we checked out the other local brewpub (shocker!) - which was, strangely, part Thai food restaurant, part brewpub. The joint was called “Thai Me Up”. Cute in a western town, huh? We thought the combination was odd, but somehow it worked - really well. Thai Me Up offered three brews, all of which were quite tasty. We shared a Thai appetizer sampler and split the ginger curry. YUM on both!!! We had been aching to score some asian-inspired food since leaving Boston. Not many opportunities had presented themselves so far. Who’d a thunk we’d get our fix in Jackson, Wyoming?

Time for a hat... We spent a few minutes meandering through some western art galleries, some t-shirt shops, and a few other western stores. But in reality, they were just filler until CP got to shop for her cowboy hat. There was a cowboy hat only store that CP was itching to check out to compare their hats to the one she found the night before. Crap - they had crap. With enough cowboy hat homework done, we headed back to the previous evening’s store. CP got the one she wanted. SM - she looked so cute! SO inspired, SM also picked up a cheap hat. Yeehaah!!

Annie, Get Your Gun was hilarious - very cheesy, sophomoric, and way over the top - but hilarious. It was a perfect cross between a high school production and a show on a cruise ship. They may actually have been trying to spoof both. (If not, what a horrible review, huh?) We laughed our butts off full of sarsaparilla and popcorn, very happy we had decided to go.

We woke in the morning and headed to breakfast at the local hot spot on our way out of town. The Bunnery. SM ordered the Glory Bowl - an egg and hash brown combo plate with some vegetables mixed in (it was OK) - and CP got the OSM (Oatmeal, Sunflower seed and Millet) pancakes with blueberries (CP - quite possibly the best pancakes I have ever eaten - sorry Mom!)

We left Jackson and made our way up to Yellowstone Park. We avoided joining the crowds at Old Faithful and decided on seeing some of the smaller hot springs off the beaten path. We drove on a bit further and then hiked up to Natural Arch (A cool little arch, but one that was overshadowed by our recent trip to the inspiring Arches National Park). All-in-all, Yellowstone was not very user-friendly. Seeing as the park is so huge, the park maps provide neither enough detailed and adequate hiking information nor enough information on the six or so small towns within the park. Travelers make sure to pick up a book about Yellowstone before entering or you’ll get lost in the expanse of non-information.

We left Yellowstone and headed to Cody, Wyoming - home of the Cody Nite Rodeo!

Those potatoes sure look like grapes... that's ok! I'd trade a potato for a grape any day!

We got up relatively early with plans of driving a hefty amount (6+ hours) through eastern Oregon and into Idaho! It was the 4th of July.

Ok, really, we had no idea where we were heading. We were a day or two behind and we just knew we needed to make up some ground... it was time to get out of Oregon. We'd been there for an entire week! To recap... Medford sucked. Bend was phenomenal. Newport and Rogue sucked. The coastal drive and Portland were both amazing. To all you travelers... pick your spots in this state carefully.

We figured we had enough driving stamina to make it a bit east of Boise... mapping the area and looking through our guide book, CP found a town - Glenns Ferry. Why not? It was said to have "true small town charm". Sure, we’re in!

Once into Idaho and finally through spotty cell reception, CP called ahead to a campground. They sounded great! For $20, they offered full hookup (electric, water, and sewer). And, they made it a point that they were less than 5 miles from the winery with a free shuttle to it. "Whatchu talking about, Willis?" A winery? In Idaho? In the town we planned on staying? Are you kidding us? CP was inspired to dig a little further and do some more research... turns out in one compound - Carmela Vineyards - there is a winery, a golf course, and an RV PARK. Um, yes please! Sign us up!

We blew off the first campground with bus service TO the winery in favor of staying AT the winery. CP gave Carmela a ring and they had ample room to accommodate us. The RV is not big enough for gymnastics. So CP and SM just did some mental back flips and a few high-fives at the chance to stay at a winery and golf course RV park. Are you kidding us? We got to the address only to find we were in a $20 RV spot literally stuck in the middle of a 9 hole golf course and a vineyard! The grounds were absolutely beautiful.

As we set up camp, we were told that there would even be fireworks in town at 10 pm that we could easily seen from the fairway of the 4th hole... score!

After freshening up, we meandered through the vineyard and over to the winery for a little tasting. WOW - it was GOOD! After being “loosened up”, we bought several bottles to bring home and enjoy later. The main winery building included a tasting room/gift shop, a restaurant, a separate bar, a function room, and the golf course pro shop. We settled in to the bar for the last hour it was open (It closed at 8 pm). We blogged while drinking more wine! The only sane way to blog... :)

After feeling a sense of accomplishment, we headed back to our campsite to throw together a little home cooking. We grilled some sausage (whats the fourth without a BBQ, right?) and had some garlic sauteed snap peas, and bread and cheese from the Newport farmers market.

Just as we finished dinner, the fireworks began. We dragged our fold-up chairs out to the 4th fairway and enjoyed. For a small town, the fireworks were pretty decent - 45 minutes long! And for not having any sort of plan to start the day, we really think we had an unbelievable experience this 4th of July! Exhausted but happily satisfied, we called it a night.

Since we were actually staying ON a golf course, SM rolled out of bed and onto the course to play 9 holes. SM - It wasn’t a very long course - a 2,410 yard par 34. Let’s say that there were some interesting holes. Among other things, the local rules on the score card read... 4. Hole #5 (men’s tee) and hole #8 - any shot hitting pole or power line, rehit - no penalty. And 11. Aerial OB on hole #3, stay left of tall white poles on tee shot. I’d never heard of aerial OB, but it was put in place to discourage golfers from shooting over the more than right hand angle of a dog leg right. The green was almost closer to the tee than the hole’s tee shot landing area. Clearly this course was an afterthought in developing the winery. I think it was carved into excess land around the vineyard, more as a hobby for the owner and a favor for the locals than an actual course. Besides the telephone poles and power lines running through it, the course was a beautiful space and a nice morning walk. I shot a 41.

CP and Murph went for a much-needed run around the vineyard, getting their exercise for the morning.

We sadly departed Glenns Ferry, Idaho and pointed east towards Jackson, Wyoming as our final destination. Along the way, we had to refuel our bodies. The guide book we have recommends local places to eat and avoids mentioning any and all chain restaurants and fast food places as you can get that type of fare anywhere. We were deep in the heart of the southern part of eastern Idaho and the guide book listings for food were pretty sparse. When we could not stand the stomach grumblings any longer, we pulled off the highway into Pocatello - home to Idaho State University. We figured there had to be a few good food joints in a college town...? We drove down a four-mile long stretch of road in Pocatello, Idaho (has a cool ring to it, huh?) to find every chain restaurant known to man.

The book mentioned a local place called Oliver’s Diner. OK - it can’t be any worse than Applebees, right? We pulled into the parking lot and the place looked like a diner from 1973. A nondescript cinder block exterior, and an interior with walls of wood paneling and booths sporting plastic leather cushions and faux wood laminated formica tabletops. What had we gotten ourselves in to? SM got (of all things in a greasy spoon!!) a cobb salad and a bowl of pepper soup and CP ordered the eggplant parmesan. The soup came first... surprisingly good. Things were looking up, at least for SM. Carolynn’s parm was... eh. After looking at SMs food - to quote CP - I wish I got a salad. If you can believe it, the salad was yummy!! SM - in places off the beaten path, we haven’t been so successful in scoring fresh veggies. I think I cornered the Pocatello veg market in this one salad. I so needed the ruffage... nuff said.

Back in the RV, we pulled out out atlas to determine our best route to Jackson. We could have taken the quicker highway route there, but we had decided early on in our trip that we would take the road less traveled when confronted with a mapping decision - unless of course it took us hours out of the way. This day, we decided to take a side trip to Lava Springs, Idaho. After our more than cool experience at Mystic Springs in Utah, we had wanted to hit another spring for comparison. Lava Springs, population 530, was a trip in it's own special way.

We arrived on the main street of town, a hill really, only about 3/4 of a mile long. A river wound under and along side the road. Two things we noticed... groups of people, young and old, walking up the hill carrying inner tubes and groups of people looking over the river bank. It was a natural water park! People were walking to the top of the hill, jumping with their inner tubes into the river just after a waterfall, and letting the rapids carry them through the town. They kept walking back up the hill to do it again and again. It looked so fun!

We also found the hot springs at the top of the hill. They were very different than the ones at mystic springs. Lava springs was a fenced-in, well-manicured, pool deck (for lack of a better description). The pools were of (faux?) rock and man-made, fed by the natural hot springs. The pools also had canopies covering certain sections of the pools to keep people in the shade, if desired. Our bodies were a bit tired and sore from driving so many miles over the past few days. So, we bought two “one trip passes” to the hot springs and climbed in. HOT. Very hot. But once we got used to it, we sat for about 10 minutes (all the time they recommend). Quite satisfied and now sweating (air temp in the mid 80s), we decided to go back up to the road and watch the people ride the river. Even more so now, it looked like such a blast. So, we (mostly encouraged by CP) decided to rent a two-person inner tube and give it a whirl. The woman renting the tubes asked “You sure you want a two-person? They’re harder to steer. You can flip much easier on a double. You may want two singles and tie them together.” Hell, if we’re gonna go down, we might as well go down together. :)

We plunged in with our two-person inner tube. It was COLD. How this river could be so cold and also be located right next to the hot springs being so hot, who knows? Once we were sufficiently numb, the ride down the river was an absolute trip! Sort of a cross between white water rafting and a water park. There were some pretty rough and fast spots along the way. And, we had to keep lifting our butts from the bottom of the tube and steering toward the middle so we wouldn’t get all scratched up from the river’s rock bottom and rocky banks. One time just wasn’t enough. We walked back up the hill and took another run. We would have loved to stay and spend the rest of the late afternoon riding the river, but this was an unexpected side trip and it was getting late. Reluctantly, we returned the inner tube and hit the road with still quite a ways to go to get to Jackson, WY.