We camped in state parks, national parks, and national forests; we ate at roadway diners and cooked up camp feasts with chance local ingredients; we left the van for some exercise (the van got a lot too) and brief encounters with the people and landscapes where we travelled. Anyone that has been on the road in America knows that praise amounts to understatement and awe can't capture enough.
This trip served as a bit of a vacation for me; mostly it's a move of my freelance biz (editorial and otherwise) and my life back to Seattle. Many thanks to my friends and coworkers in Boston and elsewhere.
I've adapted my dad's wireless updates from the last ten days on the road below:
Day 1
Schraepfer and I left PA at 10:30 Sun morn and made it just 25 miles south of Michigan, east of Toledo, OH, on Maumee Bay, which opens onto Lake Erie.
Day 2
Today we drove about 225 miles and stopped in Muskegon, MI, and had lunch with my 90 year young Uncle and his wife. He was in the process of digitally editing music on his PC (running XP and using Sound Forge to clean up the files, for you techies) and entertaining his wife's son and grandson. She prepared a great lunch, and we are on our way north to the Upper Peninsula to camp tonight.
Day 3
Traverse City -- cherry capital of the world -- happened to hit upon the National Cherry Fest today. Saw the Native American cultural heritage portion. Off to the Upper Peninsula.
Day 4
So, after the Day 3 pic of the festival in Traverse City, MI, we drove about 160 miles across to the Upper Peninsula and stayed on Lake Superior at Bay Furnace State Park in Christmas, MI.
Today we drove 450 miles across Wisconsin into central Minnesota to the headwaters of the Mississippi (you can step across it!). The real treat was meeting up with C and his girlfriend Erika who have been in Alaska and Canada. Basically the old story about two trains leaving stations, where do they meet? Bemidji, MN.
Day 5
Schraepfer and I traversed North Dakota after leaving central Minnesota today. We are in Theodore Roosevelt park on the Little Missouri not far from where Teddy came to hunt and cattle in 1880s. Simply beautiful hanging under the cottonwoods!
Day 6
Stellar day. Went mountain biking in the North Dakota badlands and grasslands. Schraepfer's maiden voyage (it was his idea) and amazing sites, animals (feral horses, bull who made us get off the road), weather, exercise.
Followed up by some brewskis and our first shower of the trip -- what could be better? Oh yeah, doing some laundry.
Day 7
Well, we left Medora, ND, (will definitely be going back) and crossed Montana to Glacier Nat. Park. Today was green grasslands, huge big sky, Native Am. res', and cool little towns and a big wind turbine farm (couple hundred).
But we stopped in Lewistown, MT, at a farmers market and chatted it up with two Hutterites (think Amish with a flair) and bought some great bread and chokecherry jam (Lewistown is capital of chokecherry).
Beautiful weather but it will probably get to freezing tonight.
Day 8
Hard to describe the majesty of the peaks and valleys in Glacier Park. Another beautiful day, with a nice hike up to (no) Fish Pond to try out Schraepfer's new fishin pole but the only things biting were skeeters and black flies. Otherwise every view is awesome here.
Day 9
Well, the pic sums up our drive, lots o' rain from western MT, thru Idaho and then beautiful skies in eastern WA. Vineyards and farms. Last full day tomorrow, no more country stations singing 'bout "gave up smokin, women and drinkin, worse 15 minutes of my life" or "honky tonk badongadonk" or "drinkin on sat., prayin on sun." etc.
Day 10
Another stellar day from eastern WA (big country, big vineyards and fields of fruit, etc.) into big mts (Cascades) thru tall Douglas fir and Pacific silver fir back on the grid.
Thanks for travelling with us.
