We are home. Yes, the nest is empty.
We traveled 10,200 miles
Went to 26 states (some very briefly) and Canada
Completed 3/4 of a knee sock
O Curves workouts
Stayed at 13 different Hampton Inns
Found 177 Geocaches
Saw countless numbers of Roadside America oddities
Ate at 3 Diners, Drive ins and Dives
Received only 1 ticket
Spoke to police twice
RPI is stealing our daughter!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Day 33: Rapid City to St. George, UT
We started out the day going through Grand Junction, CO. It has a really cute downtown area. There are a zillion pieces of art scattered all over the downtown.
Just after crossing the border into Utah we stopped at a rest stop for a cache. I think this was the best one we have found on the whole trip. It was actually inside the rest stop info center. It was a really neat old box with a combo lock on it. In order to get the combo you had to answer questions from the info in the center. There was this really nice old lady working in there and she had fun showing us where the info we needed was.
We then stopped in Green River, UT to see the worlds largest watermelon and pick up a few caches.
We stopped and picked up a watermelon and a cantelope at a roadside stand. Some people we met at the stand has a son in SLO who is a geocacher!
They also had the best rocks so I picked up a few for our yard!
This truck gave me a good laugh today.
Just after crossing the border into Utah we stopped at a rest stop for a cache. I think this was the best one we have found on the whole trip. It was actually inside the rest stop info center. It was a really neat old box with a combo lock on it. In order to get the combo you had to answer questions from the info in the center. There was this really nice old lady working in there and she had fun showing us where the info we needed was.
We then stopped in Green River, UT to see the worlds largest watermelon and pick up a few caches.
We stopped and picked up a watermelon and a cantelope at a roadside stand. Some people we met at the stand has a son in SLO who is a geocacher!
They also had the best rocks so I picked up a few for our yard!
Filling up the car today was painful!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $3.00 a gallon, YUCK!
OK knit wits I have a sock update for you. The leg is done. I will start on the heel and gusset tomorrow. I should have something to show you on Tuesday.
OK knit wits I have a sock update for you. The leg is done. I will start on the heel and gusset tomorrow. I should have something to show you on Tuesday.
This truck gave me a good laugh today.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Day 32: Rapid City to Rifle, CO
Oh Boy! We started out the day bright and early. The people next door must of had their hearing aids turned off since their alarm went off for 10 minutes, 3 different times. Its quite nice at 5am! I had a little chat with them and let them know what I thought of their alarm!
We had a long drive today. It took us 2 hours extra getting over the mountains because of road work. We have another long day of driving tomorrow.
The fun is coming to an end..................
We had a long drive today. It took us 2 hours extra getting over the mountains because of road work. We have another long day of driving tomorrow.
The fun is coming to an end..................
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Day 31: Mt.Rushmore
We started out the day bright and sunny. We drove up to Mt. Rushmore. Once we got there we went on a Ranger led walk and watched a movie on the creation of Mt. Rushmore. It is really as magnificent as all the pictures you have seen. As we were leaving Ed turned to me and said, "did you notice that there were no kids here?" and I said did you notice that we were the youngest people here?
I think we went through at least 8 granite tunnels today.
On the way back to our hotel all of a sudden the sky clouded up and it began to pour buckets of rain on us. We sure don't have storms like this in California.
After Mt. Rushmore we decided to take a drive behind the mountain and what do you know but there were several geocaches! So we took several mini hikes. Then we did this loop drive to see the Crazy Horse Memorial which wasn't much of anything. Below is a picture of what it looks like and what it was suppose to look like if it had been finished.
Then onto Custer State Park and the Needles Hwy. Along the road we saw several granite needles and had tons of animal sightings. We saw bison, mountain goats, mountain sheep and deer.
I think we went through at least 8 granite tunnels today.
On the way back to our hotel all of a sudden the sky clouded up and it began to pour buckets of rain on us. We sure don't have storms like this in California.
Once we got back to the hotel it became even more vicious. The wind picked up there was lighting and thunder and the rain got worse. The parking lot of our hotel became a river. The TV started broadcasting this horrible sound. It was quite exciting. We were worried about driving through Colorado tomorrow with all the fires they have been having lately but I guess that problem was solved. (hopefully they got this storm too)
Total Geocaches this trip 147
Earthcaches 5
Day 30: 1 Month, Minneapolis to Rapid City, SD
A long day on the road today. I guess thats the price I have to pay for shopping all day. We took a small detour down to Iowa to grab a cache in that state. Then we stopped in Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace.
The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. The third and present building was completed for it first festival at the present location in 1921. The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year. The theme is selected by the Corn Palace Festival Committee and murals are designed by a local artist.
Another stop we made today was in Wall, SD to see Wall Drug. Ed had this exact picture taken in 1976 when his family traveled across the USA in a motor home. We will have to get the original picture from his parents to compare them.
I thought I would post the story behind Wall Drug for all of you. It is quite an inspiring story.
It was December 1931. Dorothy and I had just bought the only drugstore in a town called Wall on the edge of the South Dakota Badlands. We'd been open a few days, and business had been bad.
I stood shivering on the wooden sidewalk. In this little prairie town there were only 326 people, 326 poor people. Most of them were farmers who'd been wiped out either by the Depression or drought. Christmas was coming, but there was no snow, no sparkling lights — just viciously cold air. Out on the prairie the cold wind whipped up dust devils. I could see a Tin Lizzie chugging along the two-laner. Suitcases were strapped to the running boards. Someone's going home for the holidays, I thought to myself. I wished they would stop, just for a cup of coffee, but they didn't. Here on Main Street, no one was out.
When I went back inside, I turned off the light off over the soda fountain and joined Dorothy and our four-year-old son Billy in our "apartment", a room we'd made by stretching a blanket across the back of the store.
I had graduated pharmacy school in 1929, and after two years of working for other druggists, I knew that Dorothy and I had to find our own store. My father had just died, and he'd left me a $3,000 legacy. I'd work with that.
We were living in Canova, South Dakota, when we began our search, covering Nebraska and South Dakota in our Model T. As we searched, we were sure of two things: we wanted to be in a small town, and we wanted the town to have a Catholic church. In Canova, the nearest parish was 20 miles away. We wanted to be able to go to mass every day.
In Wall, where the drugstore was for sale, we found both a small town and a Catholic church. And when we talked to the priest, the doctor and the banker, they all told us that Wall was a good place with good people and that they wanted us to come live there.
Dorothy and I were excited about Wall, but when we got back home and told our families about the plan, we found them skeptical.
"That town is in the middle of nowhere," a cousin said, "and furthermore, everybody there is flat broke busted."
My father-in-law was understanding, but even he said, "You know, Wall is just about as Godforsaken as you can get."
But Dorothy and I couldn't give up on Wall, so our families agreed that we should all pray about the decision. Led by two of Dorothy's aunts, who were Dominican nuns, we asked God's guidance.
In the end everyone felt that it was God's will for us to go to Wall. But now that Dorothy and I were all alone here, we wondered if we'd heard God right.
The first few months went by and business didn't improve. "I don't mind being poor, " Dorothy said to me. "But I wonder if we can use our talents to their fullest here in Wall."
When Dorothy spoke of talents, my heart sank. My wife had a teaching degree and had taught literature in a Sioux Falls high school. Was I being fair, making her work in this prairie drugstore?
But the next minute Dorothy said, "We shouldn't get down, Ted. I'm sure we can use our abilities fully here. We can make this place work!"
Dorothy's optimism lifted me. I said to her, "Five years, Dorothy, that's what I think we should give to this store. Five good years, and if it doesn't work by then, well, then we'll. .."
"Don't worry about then," said Dorothy. "We'll make it go. And just think, Ted, pretty soon that monument at Mount Rushmore will be done, and then there will be an endless stream of people going by. I'm sure they'll visit us!"
We weren't starving, it's true, and we'd begun to make good friends in Wall. Our pastor, Father John Connolly, had become a tower of strength, helping us keep our faith strong. And we had worked hard to serve our neighbors well. Filling prescriptions for a sick child or an ailing farmer made me feel that I was doing something good. I also studied some veterinary medicine on my own so that I could help out farmers when their stock were ill.
But all of this didn't seem to be enough. I still spent too many hours looking out the store window for customers who never showed up. I felt I was wasting too much of my life watching people pass by. Maybe, as Dorothy's father had said, Wall was Godforsaken.
By the time the summer of 1936 came around, our business hadn't grown much at all. Our five-year trial would be up in December. What would we do then? Along with nine-year-old Billy, Dorothy and I now had a one-month-old daughter, Mary Elizabeth. What hardships was I putting them in store for?
One hot Sunday in July, though, a great change swept us up. It started quietly, in the deadening heat of an early afternoon, when Dorothy said to me, "You don't need me here, Ted. I'm going to put Billy and the baby down for a nap and maybe take one myself."
I minded the empty store. I swatted flies with a rolled-up newspaper. I stood in the door, and no matter where I looked, there was no shade, because the sun was so high and fierce.
An hour later Dorothy came back.
"Too hot to sleep?" I asked.
"No, it wasn't the heat that kept me awake," Dorothy said. "It was all the cars going by on Route 16A. The jalopies just about shook the house to pieces."
"That's too bad," I said.
"No, because you know what, Ted? I think I finally saw how we can get all those travelers to come to our store."
"And how's that?" I asked.
"Well, now what is it that those travelers really want after driving across that hot prairie? They're thirsty. They want water. Ice cold water! Now we've got plenty of ice and water. Why don't we put up signs on the highway telling people to come here for free ice water? Listen, I even made up a few lines for the sign:
"Get a soda . . . Get a root beer . . . turn next corner . . . Just as near . . . To Highway 16 & 14. . . Free Ice Water. . . Wall Drug."
It wasn't Wordsworth, but I was willing to give it a try. During the next few days a high school boy and I put together some signs. We modeled them after the old Burma Shave highway signs. Each phrase of Dorothy's little poem went on a 12 by 36 inch board. We'd space the boards out so the people could read them as they drove.
The next weekend the boy and I went out to the highway and put up our signs for free ice water. I must admit that I felt somewhat silly doing it, but by the time I got back to the store, people had already begun showing up for their ice water. Dorothy was running all around to keep up. I pitched in alongside her.
"Five glasses of ice water, please," a father called out.
"May I have a glass for Grandma?" a boy asked. "She's in the car."
We ran through our supply of cracked ice. I began chiseling more off the block.
"Say, good sir," one traveler said in a Scottish brogue, "we're going all the way to Yellowstone Park. Would you mind filling this jug with your water?"
"Hey this free ice water is a great idea," said a salesman, sidling up onto a stool. "How about selling me an ice cream cone?"
For hours we poured gallons of ice water, made ice cream cones and gave highway directions. When the travelers started on their way again, refreshed and ready for new adventures, they gave us hearty thanks.
When the day was done, Dorothy and I were pooped. We sat in front of the store, watching the sun set, feeling a cool breeze come in off the prairie. In the summer twilight, Wall looked radiant. It looked like a good place to call home.
"Well, Ted, " Dorothy said to me, "I guess the ice water signs worked."
They surely did work, and we've never really been lonely for customers since then. The next summer we had to hire eight girls to help us, and now that the store is in the the good hands of my son Bill, Wall Drug draws up to twenty thousand people on a good summer day.
Free Ice Water. It brought us Husteads a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that's that there's absolutely no place on God's earth that's Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need!
In South Dakota the speed limit in 75 and they have great roads. But, literally NOTHING to see. SERIOUSLY, just brown grass! (and lots of billboards) All they sing about on the radio is how great rain is because it makes the corn grow and the corn makes whiskey which makes all the girls frisky, REALLY!
The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. The third and present building was completed for it first festival at the present location in 1921. The exterior decorations are completely stripped down and new murals are created each year. The theme is selected by the Corn Palace Festival Committee and murals are designed by a local artist.Another stop we made today was in Wall, SD to see Wall Drug. Ed had this exact picture taken in 1976 when his family traveled across the USA in a motor home. We will have to get the original picture from his parents to compare them.
I thought I would post the story behind Wall Drug for all of you. It is quite an inspiring story.
It was December 1931. Dorothy and I had just bought the only drugstore in a town called Wall on the edge of the South Dakota Badlands. We'd been open a few days, and business had been bad.I stood shivering on the wooden sidewalk. In this little prairie town there were only 326 people, 326 poor people. Most of them were farmers who'd been wiped out either by the Depression or drought. Christmas was coming, but there was no snow, no sparkling lights — just viciously cold air. Out on the prairie the cold wind whipped up dust devils. I could see a Tin Lizzie chugging along the two-laner. Suitcases were strapped to the running boards. Someone's going home for the holidays, I thought to myself. I wished they would stop, just for a cup of coffee, but they didn't. Here on Main Street, no one was out.
When I went back inside, I turned off the light off over the soda fountain and joined Dorothy and our four-year-old son Billy in our "apartment", a room we'd made by stretching a blanket across the back of the store.
I had graduated pharmacy school in 1929, and after two years of working for other druggists, I knew that Dorothy and I had to find our own store. My father had just died, and he'd left me a $3,000 legacy. I'd work with that.
We were living in Canova, South Dakota, when we began our search, covering Nebraska and South Dakota in our Model T. As we searched, we were sure of two things: we wanted to be in a small town, and we wanted the town to have a Catholic church. In Canova, the nearest parish was 20 miles away. We wanted to be able to go to mass every day.
In Wall, where the drugstore was for sale, we found both a small town and a Catholic church. And when we talked to the priest, the doctor and the banker, they all told us that Wall was a good place with good people and that they wanted us to come live there.
Dorothy and I were excited about Wall, but when we got back home and told our families about the plan, we found them skeptical.
"That town is in the middle of nowhere," a cousin said, "and furthermore, everybody there is flat broke busted."
My father-in-law was understanding, but even he said, "You know, Wall is just about as Godforsaken as you can get."
But Dorothy and I couldn't give up on Wall, so our families agreed that we should all pray about the decision. Led by two of Dorothy's aunts, who were Dominican nuns, we asked God's guidance.
In the end everyone felt that it was God's will for us to go to Wall. But now that Dorothy and I were all alone here, we wondered if we'd heard God right.
The first few months went by and business didn't improve. "I don't mind being poor, " Dorothy said to me. "But I wonder if we can use our talents to their fullest here in Wall."
When Dorothy spoke of talents, my heart sank. My wife had a teaching degree and had taught literature in a Sioux Falls high school. Was I being fair, making her work in this prairie drugstore?
But the next minute Dorothy said, "We shouldn't get down, Ted. I'm sure we can use our abilities fully here. We can make this place work!"
Dorothy's optimism lifted me. I said to her, "Five years, Dorothy, that's what I think we should give to this store. Five good years, and if it doesn't work by then, well, then we'll. .."
"Don't worry about then," said Dorothy. "We'll make it go. And just think, Ted, pretty soon that monument at Mount Rushmore will be done, and then there will be an endless stream of people going by. I'm sure they'll visit us!"
We weren't starving, it's true, and we'd begun to make good friends in Wall. Our pastor, Father John Connolly, had become a tower of strength, helping us keep our faith strong. And we had worked hard to serve our neighbors well. Filling prescriptions for a sick child or an ailing farmer made me feel that I was doing something good. I also studied some veterinary medicine on my own so that I could help out farmers when their stock were ill.
But all of this didn't seem to be enough. I still spent too many hours looking out the store window for customers who never showed up. I felt I was wasting too much of my life watching people pass by. Maybe, as Dorothy's father had said, Wall was Godforsaken.
By the time the summer of 1936 came around, our business hadn't grown much at all. Our five-year trial would be up in December. What would we do then? Along with nine-year-old Billy, Dorothy and I now had a one-month-old daughter, Mary Elizabeth. What hardships was I putting them in store for?
One hot Sunday in July, though, a great change swept us up. It started quietly, in the deadening heat of an early afternoon, when Dorothy said to me, "You don't need me here, Ted. I'm going to put Billy and the baby down for a nap and maybe take one myself."
I minded the empty store. I swatted flies with a rolled-up newspaper. I stood in the door, and no matter where I looked, there was no shade, because the sun was so high and fierce.
An hour later Dorothy came back.
"Too hot to sleep?" I asked.
"No, it wasn't the heat that kept me awake," Dorothy said. "It was all the cars going by on Route 16A. The jalopies just about shook the house to pieces."
"That's too bad," I said.
"No, because you know what, Ted? I think I finally saw how we can get all those travelers to come to our store."
"And how's that?" I asked.
"Well, now what is it that those travelers really want after driving across that hot prairie? They're thirsty. They want water. Ice cold water! Now we've got plenty of ice and water. Why don't we put up signs on the highway telling people to come here for free ice water? Listen, I even made up a few lines for the sign:
"Get a soda . . . Get a root beer . . . turn next corner . . . Just as near . . . To Highway 16 & 14. . . Free Ice Water. . . Wall Drug."
It wasn't Wordsworth, but I was willing to give it a try. During the next few days a high school boy and I put together some signs. We modeled them after the old Burma Shave highway signs. Each phrase of Dorothy's little poem went on a 12 by 36 inch board. We'd space the boards out so the people could read them as they drove.
The next weekend the boy and I went out to the highway and put up our signs for free ice water. I must admit that I felt somewhat silly doing it, but by the time I got back to the store, people had already begun showing up for their ice water. Dorothy was running all around to keep up. I pitched in alongside her.
"Five glasses of ice water, please," a father called out.
"May I have a glass for Grandma?" a boy asked. "She's in the car."
We ran through our supply of cracked ice. I began chiseling more off the block.
"Say, good sir," one traveler said in a Scottish brogue, "we're going all the way to Yellowstone Park. Would you mind filling this jug with your water?"
"Hey this free ice water is a great idea," said a salesman, sidling up onto a stool. "How about selling me an ice cream cone?"
For hours we poured gallons of ice water, made ice cream cones and gave highway directions. When the travelers started on their way again, refreshed and ready for new adventures, they gave us hearty thanks.
When the day was done, Dorothy and I were pooped. We sat in front of the store, watching the sun set, feeling a cool breeze come in off the prairie. In the summer twilight, Wall looked radiant. It looked like a good place to call home.
"Well, Ted, " Dorothy said to me, "I guess the ice water signs worked."
They surely did work, and we've never really been lonely for customers since then. The next summer we had to hire eight girls to help us, and now that the store is in the the good hands of my son Bill, Wall Drug draws up to twenty thousand people on a good summer day.
Free Ice Water. It brought us Husteads a long way and it taught me my greatest lesson, and that's that there's absolutely no place on God's earth that's Godforsaken. No matter where you live, you can succeed, because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something that they need!
In South Dakota the speed limit in 75 and they have great roads. But, literally NOTHING to see. SERIOUSLY, just brown grass! (and lots of billboards) All they sing about on the radio is how great rain is because it makes the corn grow and the corn makes whiskey which makes all the girls frisky, REALLY!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Day 29: the Great Mall of America
Well an interesting start to the day finding out that once again ED was in trouble with the law on our trip. This is a switch, its usually me.
I have a tip for all of you ladies: I was in a hurry to get ready this morning. I have a full day ahead of me. As I was getting dressed I noticed I was pretty wrinkly. I did not want to pull out the ironing board so I thought, would a hot hair dryer get out any of the wrinkles? It worked! So next time you are in a hurry just pull out the hairdryer!
We spent 6 hours at the mall! It is 4 stories with an amusement park in the middle of it. I met ladies that had come here just for this mall and had already been there for several days. I did it in one! Did you know that there is no sales tax on clothing here? We were exhausted and then came back to the hotel for a nap. After that we went to IKEA. That was an experience. Then downtown to eat dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. That's the second one I have gotten to eat at on this trip.
Oh, we also drove to the University of Minnesota to look at the course that Jeremy will be running on in two weeks. Its pretty flat.
Good thing tomorrow is a travel day!
I have a tip for all of you ladies: I was in a hurry to get ready this morning. I have a full day ahead of me. As I was getting dressed I noticed I was pretty wrinkly. I did not want to pull out the ironing board so I thought, would a hot hair dryer get out any of the wrinkles? It worked! So next time you are in a hurry just pull out the hairdryer!
We spent 6 hours at the mall! It is 4 stories with an amusement park in the middle of it. I met ladies that had come here just for this mall and had already been there for several days. I did it in one! Did you know that there is no sales tax on clothing here? We were exhausted and then came back to the hotel for a nap. After that we went to IKEA. That was an experience. Then downtown to eat dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. That's the second one I have gotten to eat at on this trip.
Oh, we also drove to the University of Minnesota to look at the course that Jeremy will be running on in two weeks. Its pretty flat.Good thing tomorrow is a travel day!
Geocaching almost got me (Ed, not Tammy) in jail
This morning I (Ed) started the day as I usually do with a few caches before Tammy wakes up. The first was a magnetic micro on a Utility box which I found. The second was at a MetroLink station full of muggles on their way to work. As I was leaving the station not finding the cache, a police car pulled up and asked me what I was doing (this is the third time over the years I have been questioned by the police geocaching). He told me the station security guard had seen me snooping and called me in. As I was explaining geocaching to him, a second police cruiser pulled up and said that a utility worker had called me in for looking at the utility box at the first cache. So some more explanation was in order.
So the lesson is, when in Minneapolis be careful. The local citizanry take homeland security very seriously.
So the lesson is, when in Minneapolis be careful. The local citizanry take homeland security very seriously.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)