The chronicles of my summer cross-country road trip

I forget the exact amount, but I have now driven over 2600 miles since the start of this trip. I have my trip B odometer keeping tally for me.

Mt. Rushmore was better than I thought it would be, but the weather wasn’t. It was overcast and misty when I got there. It was $10 to park, but otherwise free to get in. I paid my dues and went in. Took a bunch of pics and got some video. While there I saw a Ranger talk about to begin so I joined the tour and listened in on some history. I also checked out a video of the carving of Mt. Rushmore that was good, except for the really annoying kid who would not shut up!

Anyway, after that I left and started heading toward Denver. It was a long way and I knew I couldn’t make it in one night since I wanted to stop at Rushmore first. I asked the GPS to find me a state park my AAA campbook told me about and it found it but then told me it’d take 25 hours and 1600 miles to get to. I was pretty shocked at that and got out my atlas and found the GPS was giving totally bogus directions. I told it to reroute for shortest distance instead of fastest, and it gave a much more drivable figure. The GPS has definitely attempted to mislead me several times here out west. It just doesn’t really know enough about a lot of these roads, I guess. Plus there’s a lot of road construction so things have probably changed a lot since the maps it came with were out.

Driving through Wyoming is the most middle of nowhere place I have been. There were long stretches of road I drove for miles without passing another car or even any buildings. No gas stations or anything for miles and miles. Fortunately they were 65MPH roads (not interstate though, which is 75). I had no cell signal at all for around 5 hours. I got to Glendo as the sun was getting low. I got a quick bite at the corner store and got a bundle of firewood and went into the park. It was insanely crowded! I guess I found out where everyone in Wyoming had gone. Granted it was a nice park with a nice lake, and it was Memorial Day Weekend, but it really messed with me. There was no other campground for 50 miles. Fortunately some guy saw my trouble in finding a camp spot and told me to use his spot, since he wasn’t planning on using it anyway. Weird, but I accepted his offer and had a decent night sleep. It was really windy and the wind blowing the tent and making a lot of noise woke me up frequently. The tent held fast though, just a little noisy in a strong gust.

I got to Denver early today. The weather for the most part was overcast but dry the entire drive into Denver. I found a hotel that had internet and laundry and was cheap and checked in. Talked to Brian and… he has some flight/baggage issues. It’s a long story, but basically his bags are headed to Colorado Springs and he’s getting off at Denver. Not sure how we’re gonna work that one out yet. He hasn’t arrived yet but will in less than 2 hours.

Denver is a pretty big city. I can’t say much about the view yet due to the weather. It has been thunderstorming off and on since I got to the hotel. Good thing I have a roof after 4 straight nights of camping. I’m definitely getting tired of camping now.

My laundry experience at the hotel was less than satisfactory. First a lot of people were looking to do laundry apparently. The I finally got in the line and after drying, my clothes weren’t completely dry. Gah! At least they don’t smell like camp fire anymore.

Finally I uploaded day 5 through day 8 pictures! Check them out: http://gallery.james2009roadtrip.com It has awesome pictures of Badlands National Park in Day 7!

The weather for tomorrow isn’t looking so good… rain, rain, rain. Might not be suitable for hiking and camping. We shall see…

I’m all packed up and ready to leave. But I got access to an open wifi access point and I am happy so I have checked the weather and found where the local post office is so I can mail out the latest batch of postcards.

The weather today is iffy. Cold, overcast, breezy. It even had a brief shower this morning before I got up. In anycase, I will be leaving South Dakota today. I’m going to Mt. Rushmore first and then driving through the black hills for awhile before starting my journey south-west toward Denver. I am meeting B. Cook there tomorrow who is flying in to partake on some of my adventures.

The Badlands was really awesome. I enjoyed hiking there. It was like being on another planet. I’m glad the weather yesterday was so nice for it. Today it would be cold and kinda miserable I think.

Well, I better get started and get on the road. I need gas, ice and coffee and to mail some postcards. Tomorrow when I’m in Denver in a hotel and have good internet access I will be uploading a lot more pics!

Lo and behold in the middle of nowhere there’s an open wifi point at the Badlands visitor center.

Day 5 was pretty much just a travel day. I drove across Minnesota and 2/3 of South Dakota. Basically, the middle of nowhere. Minnesota has tons of wind farms. I must have seen several hundred wind turbines. Pretty amazing site. Before nightfall I arrived in Wall, SD and found a nice camp ground called Sleepy Hollow. It’s not that sleepy though… at 5:30 in the morning a train went past about 30 yards away. That was loud.

So today I have been touring the Badlands. They are awesome! I hiked over 10 miles. My feet are pretty tired now, but I feel great to have accomplished it. I’ve taken photos and video. No new photos will be uploaded until I’m in Denver most likely. I barely have any semblance of cell phone service way out here. It’s enough for text messaging and short phone calls, but I don’t even have EDGE wireless access out here even in “town”.

I will sleep again tonight at Sleepy Hollow. I’m in Mountain Time and it’s 5:30PM here. I’ve worked up quite an appetite with all my hiking. I think I’ve earned going out to dinner tonight.

I bought my National Parks pass and I definitely plan on getting my $80 worth. 1 year access to all National Parks and National Forests.

Anyway, I had to take advantage of this random wifi access point. Good thing my phone continually scans for wireless networks and let me know there was one here. 🙂

Tomorrow: pack up camp, head to Rapid City, SD, tour the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. Then camp somewhere between there and Denver. Sunday: Get to Denver fairly early… AND I get to meet up with a friend who will get to share these amazing adventures with me! I’m looking forward to having some company on this trip.

I had a great night sleep. The weather was perfect. Not cold, not hot. My camp spot was very nice and serene too. Anyway, I’m going to be breaking camp in a few minutes here and packing up. I have a very long drive ahead of me today, the longest so far. I’ll be going from La Crosse, WI to if not the Badlands themselves a camp ground nearby.

Finally for today the google map update:

View Larger Map

Today when I woke up I did some laundry at the hotel and had some free breakfast there. Then I went to downtown Madison around the capitol building and also around the UW campus. I took a bunch of pictures and the weather was amazing. Madison is a beautiful town. I think I would’ve liked it if I had gone to UW.

Anyway after walking around Madison for a few hours I went to House on the Rock. There’s a link in my last update I think. It was pretty cool. Good suggestion compe.

Then I drove through a whole lot of middle of nowhere. Eventually I ended up in La Crosse, Wisconsin which is where I am camping right now. I’m camping on the banks of the Mississippi (I think). The weather is pretty nice, in the 70’s right now at almost 11pm.

I have a lot of driving tomorrow to get close to the Badlands. I’m happy to have some internet here. No more pictures are likely to come until I spend the night in Denver. I may not have internet access or cell phone access at all for the next couple of days.

Since it is so nice outside I think I’m going to sit outside and enjoy my campfire for awhile more. Good night.

Yesterday started out nicely from the good night sleep. After getting my stuff together and letting traffic die down, I told the GPS to get me to the Sears Tower. It got me there quickly and accurately. I found parking and went in line. There was hardly any wait, so I paid my fee and went to the top of the Sears Tower. The weather was perfect for going to the top. I got some great pictures and video. When I got back to the parking garage I found that parking for the little bit over an hour I was there was $22! More than the ticket price and the souvenirs I bought at the top of the Sears Tower.

The pictures will be uploaded soon (30 minutes or so). The internet here isn’t as fast as the place last night, but I really like this hotel. Clarion Suites in Madison. Total bill here was $91. Seems expensive compared to a campground but I wanted to stay close in to Madison and this place seems nicer than the Best Western in downtown Evanston that I stayed at on Monday night.

After the Sears Tower I started heading for Milwaukee. I hit a rest stop and made some lunch. A little over 2 hours after leaving Chicago I arrived in Milwaukee. A few friends suggested the Miller Brewery tour, but I mainly just wanted to walk around and find some nice places to get a couple of tappers. The weather was awesome. In the 80’s, not a cloud in the sky. Perfect day to walk around a nice city. I hit up Water Street Brewery which was good and also Rock Bottom in Milwaukee! I’ve frequented the Rock Bottom in Bethesda many times so it was nice to check out one halfway across the country. They had mostly the same beer selection, but they had a Scotch Ale that Bethesda doesn’t have. So that’s what I drank, and it was good.

After Milwaukee I drove (soberly, of course) to Madison WI and checked into my hotel. The person at the front desk gave me a good recommendation for a place to get food and tappers so I headed out to that place. It was a good place filled with friendly people who were all interested in hearing about my trip. After that I went to downtown Madison and walked around the capitol and found another nice bar to get some local tappers. Then I headed back for a good night sleep.

Today the plan is to walk around downtown Madison, snap a bunch of pics, then head over to the House on the Rock. After that I’m going to find a camp ground somewhere. Tomorrow will probably mostly be a travel day. I want to get close to the Badlands tomorrow, so I can do some hiking there on the 22nd and 23rd. I will also try to see Mount Rushmore on the 23rd. Then the 24th will mostly be a driving day to Denver. Brian gets there around 8pm, so I’ll have plenty of time to get things situated.

The map so far:

View Larger Map

It is highly likely I wont have internet access the next few days. We’ll see how that works out. I don’t anticipate having very good cell reception in the middle of nowhere that I am going to. I also will be camping every night (unless there’s really bad weather which seems unlikely currently) until I get to Denver. So, back to roughing it! I’m going to miss these comfy king size beds.

Day 4 pictures will be uploaded shortly after this is posted. Check em out: http://gallery.james2009roadtrip.com

Well, I really enjoyed sleeping in a nice king size bed, in doors. I slept in good and feel nice and refreshed. Today’s plan is to go to the top of the Sears Tower, formerly the tallest building in the world. Then Milwaukee and finally Madison for the night.

Chicago rush hour traffic should be dying down soon so I’m going to get ready to roll out of here. I forgot to update the google maps “tracker” so I’ll do that now… Here’s where I’ve been:

View Larger Map

Well, it’s already nearly 1am here. But I had an awesome night hanging out with a long time online friend. We hung out and went out for an awesome steak dinner and then some beers. He showed me around the area of billionaires and Lake Michigan. I’m currently at the Best Western in Evanston and this is by far the nicest accommodations I’ve had since the start of the trip. Nothing much exciting happened on the over 7 hour drive here from Geneva. I saw a lot of people pulled over. Not me though. I had the cruise control on almost the entire way.

Anyway, I’m really tired, but I’m almost finished uploading all the pics. I haven’t done anything with the video. It has been a long day. Anyway I figure the pics are good enough for now. I’ll try to add captions probably when I get back.

Tomorrow’s plan: Sleep in until almost 10am so the rush hour traffic dies down. Then, drive to the Sears Tower and go to the top of it. After that, drive to Milwaukee, have a beer or two there, then drive to Madison where I plan on staying the night. Looks like the hotels there are $100/night too, but I think I’d rather stay in the city and hit up some college bars or something. I’ll have plenty of more camping to look forward to so I’ll take another night in a hotel.

So the awesome pics should be finished uploading soon. I’ve got all 3 days uploaded now. Check them out: http://gallery.james2009roadtrip.com! (For the record I don’t endorse taking pictures while driving… but I’m going to do it anyway.)

I might have decent internet access tomorrow, but chances are I may not even get on the computer. We’ll see how the night goes. After that I’ll be in the middle of nowhere for awhile until May 24 when I get to Denver. Chances are I won’t be updating much for the next few days, but when I get a chance I’ll upload a bunch more pics. I plan on doing some hiking in the Badlands. I’m sure the pics of that will be awesome too.

Enjoy the pics!

As I sit here huddled in my tent in sub-40F temperatures, I am happy I got this new sleeping bag. It worked well and I was warm and toasty all night. And to top it off I got a really good night sleep. Almost 9 hours!

Well I have pack up my stuff here and then I’m going to check out the Lake Erie beach front here at the Geneva State Park before hitting the road again. I don’t think I will cook breakfast this morning. It’s too damn cold. I will just have some cereal bar and a bagel. Today will be the longest drive yet. I might stop for a minute in Cleveland just to say I’ve been, but I have no real interest in seeing much of anything in Ohio.

Tonight I’m staying at a hotel in Evanston, IL. A real bed! High speed internet! I’m looking forward to it. Time to get a move on.

After leaving the Tumble Hill campground I needed gas. I had already had breakfast but when I saw a Dunkin Donuts right across the street from the gas station… I didn’t hesitate to hit that up.

Anyway after about 2.5 hours of driving I got to Niagara Falls. I walked for miles and took tons of pics. Can’t show you any yet, but tomorrow I’ll have high speed internet and I’ll upload them all.

I went to all the main points of interest on the US side of the falls and took a lot of pictures and video. Then I walked over the Rainbow Bridge over to Canada so I could take a look at them from the other side. No matter which country you view the Falls from, it is awesome.

Then after that I started heading west. Along the way I hit up a Walmart and got a new 20F rated sleeping bag that’s also taller. And I got a pillow. So, I’m totally set for a good night sleep. Camping tonight in Geneva State Park right beside Lake Erie. Fortunately it isn’t windy at all, but it is cold. There’s a frost warning in effect. I figured, I had to camp in higher elevations out west, it’ll be cold there too. So might as well make sure that problem is delt with now and camp tonight safely, instead of wimp out for a hotel. 🙂

Chicago, tons of pics and video will be tomorrow.