Memorial Weekend

We left the red clay prairie of Okalahoma, and drove across the wooded prairie of Missouri, all the way to Saint Louis.  We pretty much followed the old Route 66, so it was a lot of fun to see many of the historic old towns and eclectic stops along the way.

Once in St. Louis, we had a delicious dinner of St Louis style pork ribs, a pulled pork sandwich, fried corn on the cob, cole slaw, potato salad, and baked beans.  It was so delicious! We drove to the arch and across the Mississippi River into Illinois. 

From the wooded prairie and farms of Illinois we drove through the rolling hills full of corn fields in Indiana, and into the wooded prairie and farms of Ohio. We stayed for the Memorial Day weekend in Columbus.  We wanted to avoid the holiday traffic, and the upcoming thunderstorms and severe weather.  We took advantage of this time to be tourists and enjoy the sights. 

First we had dinner at Steak N Shake.  A regional fast food chain serving tasty "steakburgers" and thick, wonderful shakes!  I will have to stop at one of these places again!

We spent Sunday at the Columbus Zoo.  It was 92 degrees and humid, but we had a wonderful time.  The polar bears were swimming in the pool and even the gorillas were showing off for the onlookers.  The zoo was large and had a good selection of animals. Our feet hurt at the end of the day, and we drank gallons of water, but we had a really great time.

Today, we went to see the Santa Maria.  It is a replica of the ship Columbus sailed.  We toured the ship and learned how miserable it was to sail in those days!  With little in the way of comfort, those were brave sailors to embark on such long journeys.  We enjoyed seeing all levels of the ship, and even handling the tiller.

For lunch, we stopped at a cafe well known for its monstrous 3/4 pound hamburgers.  We shared one covered with sauteed onions and mushrooms, ham, mozzarella and american cheese, banana peppers, lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo.  It was as good as its reputation!

Ever Onward

After leaving Flagstaff, we drove out of Arizona into the white, sandy desert of New Mexico.  We stopped for lunch in Gallup, where Rebekah caught an arrow

and I got shot!

Then we drove through the pan handle of Texas, on to the red clay of Oklahoma, where we stayed inTulsa for the night.

On the Road Again... Again

We got the word this morning that the car repair shop had finally gotten the necessary part and was finishing up our car.  They finished and we headed out of Barstow, that hot, dry dusty town about noon. 

We were about 20 minutes outside of Kingman, Arizona, when we heard some flapping noise coming from under the car.  Oh no!!  We pulled over and looked under the car, only to see a big piece of black plastic hanging down.  It was time to call AAA again.  I saw a sheriff car driving by and flagged him down.  He recommended we go to the Ford dealership in Kingman where a friend of his is a service rep and would treat us right.  AAA towed us there, and the man fixed the loose piece for us for free!!  He even waited around for us to arrive 30 minutes after his closing time.  We were out of there in about 15 minutes and on our way again.

We finally arrived in the Flagstaff area 6 days after leaving the LA area, but we are on our way!

Off to a Rocky New Start

We stayed in Torrance for a couple of days to settle with the insurance.  We decided to pare down our stuff since we weren't using it all, plan our route, and pack up my car.  When that was all done, we started out on our journey heading east.

After we passed Barstow, and were half way to Needles, there were lots of tire pieces in the road.  I was avoiding them.  Then there was another thing in the road, I centered over it, but it rumbled underneath before it finally broke free.  I pulled over, and saw that it tore something open in the bottom of the car, and fluid was pouring out.  AAA to the rescue once again!  It was a semi truck brake pad that I had run over. When traffic was slow, I pulled it out of the road.

We were towed back into Barstow only to find out the oil pan had been ripped open.  So we are waiting a couple of days for a new one, it is on order because they don't keep them in stock, even at the Ford dealer.  We are stuck in the desert in 100 degree heat in Barstow.  Not much to do here but wait. 

Back in LA

The car is totaled. Tonight we are flying home to LA, and shipping our stuff.  It is rather a bittersweet moment.  We don't want to have to start all over again but are left with no other choice.  The severe weather is a factor in the middle of the US.  The heavy rains and thunderstorms are a deterent.  We shall have to make a new plan to continue on.

accidents and moving on

  We got all our stuff out of the car, and very little was damaged in the crash.  We are waiting to hear from AAA about the disposition of the car.  It looks totaled to us. 

We are making plans to return to Calif. to get my car to continue on our trip.  We still want to go directly to New York to avoid the severe weather in the middle of the US. 

Misadventures in the Midwest

The next day we drove through Rugby, North Dakota, and viewed the marker of the Geographical center of North America.

Then we drove up to the US/Canadian Border to the International Peace Garden.  We were planning on tent camping there, but the campground didn't have the water turned on yet, so they had us stay in one of the dorm rooms.  We felt like we were in camp luxury!  The next morning we drove out and back through US customs.

We drove to the Blanchard, North Dakota area to see the world's third tallest structure.  It once was a radio tower and now is a TV tower.

Then  we drove on down to De Smet, South Dakota to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead and Memorial.  This was a lot of fun!  Not only did we get to walk around the land Charles Ingalls homesteaded on the prairie, we visited several examples of the houses Laura lived in.  They had a prairie house, a sod house, and a shanty.  They also had a school house, a church, and a building with information all about the different books she wrote and places she lived.  Then we drove through the town and saw the church where Laura and Almanzo were married, their first home, the first home of the Ingalls family that Pa built, and where the town school was. 

"Pa's grass roofed barn"

the little house on the prairie

From there we drove on to Mitchell to see the Corn Palace.  What a unique building this is.  They pick a theme and decorate the outside mostly with corn cobs and a few grains every year.  Inside they have pictures of every year's decorations, and in the arena area they have permanent murals also done with corn.  We enjoyed seeing this!

a closer view of the outside murals

 the inside murals

Then it was time to head south.  We drove through miles and miles of yellow prairie grass and brown farm fields with ramshackle homes and barns, to Hastings, Nebraska.  We stopped at Runza, a local chain specializing in Runza sandwiches.  They are meat and vegetable, and cheese filled pastries, and were delicious! 

Then we went to the Hastings Museum to see the Kool-Aid exhibit.  Although they are remodeling, we got to see part of it.  Kool-Aid was invented by a man from this area.  They also had very nice displays of all the local Nebraska animals as well as animals in all of North America.  We also sat in the planetarium and had a personal showing about stars in the night sky.  It was interactive with a local astronomer, who was excited to tell us all about the currently visible constellations in the sky, and point them out.

From there we drove to Kansas to see the Hollenberg Pony Express Station.  It is the only station left in its original spot.  It was fascinating to see.  This was also the first area where we saw tall grass prairie.

see how the grass is almost as tall as I am?

this is the original Pony Express stop building

From here we went  just over the state line into Iowa and the Waubonsie State Park.  It was a very nice park on a loess hill along the Mississippi River overlooking Iowa and Nebraska.  It was so good to see green again! There were lots of birds singing in the trees in the morning. 

this is a portion of the view of Iowa to the right and Nebraska to the left

Our next stop was just as beautiful and green!  We went back into Nebraska to Bellevue and visited the Fontenelle Forest Nature Center.  We went for a mile hike through the forest and really enjoyed the forest, and the coolness under the trees, although it was still pretty humid.

Next, we headed to the Omaha area.  We set up our tent for the night and were watching a tv program on the computer when the local police came by to warn us of severe thunderstorms, lightning, and possibly hail coming real soon and that it wasn't safe to camp.  So we quickly packed up and headed to a motel.  As we were driving into town, the storm hit.  We finally made it to the motel, and were glad we made that decision!  The weather channel talked of continued severe weather, with severe thunderstorms at night, so we decided to stay in the motel another night. We went out during the day and toured the sights of Omaha.

the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge across the Missouri River from Omaha to Council Bluffs, the longest pedestrian bridge linking two states

I lost the pictures we took of these, so here are pictures from the web similar to the ones we took.

First National Bank's Spirit of Nebraska and Pioneer Courage

the Chef Boyardee statue in front of ConAgra foods

 The weather didn't seem to be getting any better.  All over the state and in the direction we were heading was tornado watches, hot air and severe thunderstorms.  We decided to get out of the area and head to the northeast, where there were no severe weather alerts.  We drove the next day to the Chicago area, spent the night, and started driving to the Cleveland area the next day.  We were going to spend the night there and head to New York.

We made it into Ohio and were on the turnpike when suddenly it was pouring rain and I found it difficult to drive.  I moved over to the slow lane, but all of a sudden we were hydroplaning and then we spun to the left.  We were hit by a semi truck on the driver's side, and then smashed into the center divider on the driver's side.  We were stunned for a few minutes, but we were okay.  The rain slowed down so we climbed out of the car while we waited for the state trooper, tow truck, and an ambulance. The trooper wasn't the most friendly and gave me a ticket for not staying in my lane! We went to the hospital where I was diagnosed with a cracked rib.  We both have abrasions, bruises and are sore, but we are okay.  Rebekah chipped two teeth. We are staying in a motel in the Fremont, Ohio, area.  AAA gave us a rental car to get around while we wait on the disposition of the car. I think it is totaled, but we shall wait and see.

Our Little Tent on the Prairie

We spent the night in Bear Butte State Park in Sturgis, South Dakota. The butte isn't really a butte, but a mountain of spiritual significance to the local Native Americans. It was peaceful and quiet, no buffalo meanderings through our campsite!  We camped by the lake and heard the birds singing in the morning.

We then headed to the historic town of Deadwood.  It is an old Western town complete with Western store front buildings, all made out of brick, and with a brick main street.  We passed by Saloon number 10 where Wild Bill Hickock was shot, the Midnight Star Casino owned by Kevin Costner, and the place where the man who shot Wild Bill was captured. 

We stopped in Sundance and took our picture with the Sundance Kid in jail! 

Then we headed back through the corner of Wyoming to see Devil's Tower. We were going to camp in the campground there where they filmed some of the movie "Close Encounters", but it was too windy. We had to break camp because the 40 mph wind gusts were breaking our tent posts. I am learning how to camp with big wind gusts that we don't have in Calif! You have to use rope to tie down your tent! In the meantime, duct tape will hold our tent poles together until we get new ones.

We stopped at a park and made a delicious lunch of toasted french bread with a hot spring vegetable and goat cheese dip.  What a great lunch that was!

Our next stop was in Miles City, Montana, where we went to the Range Riders Museum. This was a museum all about cattle ranching and the life of the local cowboys. They also had the history of the town of Miles City. It was a large museum and we spent quite a bit of time there.

We headed east to North Dakota  and Fort Abraham Lincoln next. There we saw Custer's house.  It was a large two story house. He had a very nice home! The rest of the fort was remnants except for a couple of buildings that had also been restored, such as the commisary.  They have yet to rebuild the barracks and other quarters.  What was really interesting there was the Indian homes built right outside the fort.  They were round lodges built with logs and twigs and covered with mud.

There are ring-necked pheasant everywhere here.  They run across the roads and pop their heads up in the fields.
We had dinner at a nice little restaurant known for its local fare.  It was crowded when we got there, so we knew it had to be good.  We ordered the knoephla soup (creamy potato and chicken with dumplings), a fleischkuechle (spiced meat wrapped in a dough and cooked crisp), a side salad, and for dessert a caramel roll and a piece of rhubarb pie.   It was delicious!

Next we headed over to the Knife River Indian Village where Sakakawea (Sacagawea) was originally from.