DAY 25 was a big surprise in a few ways. We did get up on time to avoid paying the parking fees and slowly meandered to Muir Woods National Monument. When almost to there, we see signs saying parking reservations required, but no other info so we kept going. Down at the parking area we meet with an attendant that was marginally helpful giving us a card as to how to reserve a spot. Problem was there was no signal . . . so we moved on to Muir Beach. There we had signal and info on parking reservations. We opted out of visiting the woods and spent some time at the beach.

From there we went back towards Battery Spencer, stopping at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. The rangers there were very helpful and the exhibits encouraged using all senses. I especially liked the jars that had the scents of the plants along the seashore. The other highlight was learning about the draw that brought my great grandfather on my father’s mother’s side out to California. Many people from the Azores came during the gold rush seeking gold. Failing at that, they became cattle farmers where they made a good living. This matches up with what I heard from my dad a while back, minus the drive about the gold rush. Turns out he was pretty well off. That’s a story for another blog entirely.

We toured the Marin Headlands spotting a lot of wildlife including Pelicans and Harbor Seals. After grabbing some cloudy photos from up top at Battery Spencer, we headed down to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Presidio Visitor Center for a few more photos from a different vantage point before heading to Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad (closed due to heat) and finally to Pinnacles National Park.

I wasn’t expecting much at all from this park so I couldn’t be disappointed. Well, I was really impressed but getting there was a little tense. It was a one lane road for about 6 miles. On the way in we passed exactly ZERO cars thankfully but had a relatively close call with a fox. We got there about 2 hours before dark and managed to get a hike in. I don’t think I could have made a hike during the day due to the 95 degree plus heat. Check out the pictures through the cave and on the ridge. We had the park pretty much to ourselves.

Before leaving, we managed to make some rice since there was electric at the visitor station (no fires allowed due to the high fire danger rating) and also get some great night photos. Leaving the park we passed one car – who apparently didn’t think we pulled over enough to the side to let them pass, as they decided to drive partially off the road. We got through it and made it to where we planned to stay for the night. The Pilot Travel Center was not what I would have considered safe or restful, so we looked for another spot. On recommendation of a site, we found Food Co and asked if it was ok for us to stay for the night after explaining the Pilot situation. The manager understood and asked what vehicle we were in so she could alert the towing company to let us be. We’ll see how the night went in the next post.

DAY 24 again did not disappoint. We weren’t but about 30 minutes from Lassen Volcanic National Park. I hadn’t expected to stay so long at the park, but there was a lot more to it than it sounds. On our hike around the lake we not only took some picturesque photos, we met some nice Californians that lived not TOO far from the park. I heard one of the young ones needed a Band-Aid and I offered up one (when we got back to the parking area – as it was in the car).

While it wasn’t necessary, Chris asked if I wanted some organic nectarines that she had brought from her orchard. Although I am somewhat allergic to pitted fruit, I couldn’t resist. We stopped by their campsite and chatted a bit. Turns out she is a retired teacher so we talked a bit; making her burn some of the lunch she was preparing. After causing the damage, we walked away with an organic tomato and cucumber as well. I hope they end up checking out this post so that they know to send me an email.

The photos were plentiful. We ended up spending close to 8 hours there, and we could have spent more. I think this park had the coldest water thus far. The ice in the lake I was in pretty much assures that. Oh, we also Parkcached while there and earned ourselves some carabineers. Just in the nick of time, as the visitor center was closing in 10 minutes. We left the park and headed for Battery Spencer overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

We got some nice night photos then headed to a parking area to catch some Z’s for the night. The sign said you start paying for parking at 7 AM, so we planned to get up by 6:45. Let’s see if we don’t oversleep!

DAY 23 met us bright and early so we could get one of the first spots at the Medford, OR Firestone to get the tires rotated and the oil changed. They were very efficient and pleasant, even letting me brew a pot of my own coffee. The quoted price of the oil change was the actual price. Oregon doesn’t put a sales tax on anything, at least as far as I can tell. We were off for the day before 9 AM.

We hit an interesting rest stop in O’Brien, OR where it was conveniently located next to a Post Office. The Post Master was very nice warning us of the curvy roads ahead along with letting us know we were in for a beautiful drive. It took me many days to find a convenient place to buy a stamp to send the postcard to my mom (I bought it in Minnesota). With that errand complete, we headed into California.

We made it to Crescent City, CA planning to visit the Battery Point Lighthouse. We missed the museum and tour by about a half hour because the hours that they run are based on the tide. We toured on our own (outside the lighthouse of course) and about an hour later set off on our drive down the coast through Redwood National Park. We checked out the Big Tree on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. I have to say it was pretty big. Check out the pictures on the gallery page for that and more.

Taking our time through the forest we stopped frequently to enjoy the sites and take small hikes. We made it to perhaps the best rest area thus far. We were the ONLY people there the entire night. The sound of a brook flowing lulled us to sleep. It was great!

DAY 22 got on without a hitch. I promised info on the rest area campsite, so here it is. The moths there were the size of a golf ball and they were in swarms of hundreds. We chose to stay away from light sources. I have never in my life seen any moths that size. I guess they grow big like the trees do here.

We headed out for the day to Crater Lake National Park. Check out the gallery for the beauty we were able to take in. Another social media comment I put up might have egged you on to check out this day’s post. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

When attempting to fill the Sawyer Straw container, shorts hiked up mid-thigh; I managed to slip on a rock and ended up waist deep in Crater Lake. I had wanted to take a swim but neglected to bring my swim gear down the 1.2 path so I opted out. Fate/Divine Intervention felt otherwise, so I gave in and enjoyed a refreshing 50 degree or so swim. I am so happy to say that I swam in Crater Lake. We drove along rim stopping multiple times along the way until heading out of the park to get some errands taken care of to cover the next few days.

We ended up driving in squircles (square circles) between a Firestone, carwash, Walmart, laundry mat, and rest area. We would need to come back in the morning for Firestone as we got there right before they were closing. We plan to return early in the AM for a tire rotation and oil change. We managed to get a good majority of the suicidal bugs off the front end of the vehicle. That was my first time using the self-serve car wash. We met Deb, at the The Laundry Center, who was really great to talk to and let us stay there using the internet (so I could put up the previous days posts) until it closed. Oh, and we got our laundry done too. Then it was off to the busiest rest area we’d ever been to. Thankfully we had a place to park and managed to bunk down for the night. More to come tomorrow!

DAY 21 started very early, with a 2 AM photo session of the night sky. We’re still learning the camera, so the photos aren’t exactly what we hoped for, but beautiful all the same. We managed to get a good night sleep any way. We were then off for a non-National Park day, instead it was a Voodoo Doughnut expedition.

I couldn’t remember which one I liked to visit and of course I set my itinerary to the one I least liked. There was no parking and as we drove by the line wrapped around the corner of the street. I opted to go to the less crowded one that had parking a few miles away. So off we went. We got there and found parking right out front. Awesome!!! Until some 12 year old kid (nice) let us know it was closed for a wedding. Yes, look it up, people have weddings there. Frustrated to no end, I decided to wait until we could get to the one in Eugene Oregon less than 2 hours away.

From the social media post, people should see that I was finally successful. I bought a half dozen vegan doughnuts. I was ecstatic and downed 2 of them within 10 minutes. Eugene rocks, Portland not so much. After getting my fix, we headed to the rest area we were planning on staying for the night. There will be more info on that in the next post.

DAY 20 was off to a halfway decent start. Well rested we made our way up to Olympic National Park, the only real stop on the list for the day. It was good that it was set up like that. The tour up to and through the park was eventful. The views were amazing, as so many of them in the past.

The weather was a bit unpredictable; warm and sunny one moment, cloudy and freezing at another. At the top of Hurricane Ridge was especially cold. A plus was seeing the family of deer grazing near the visitor center. We chose to skip touring the temperate rain forest, since we took care of that the day before.

We continued on making a few pit-stops along the way. One was the Big Cedar Tree and another was the Forks Timber Museum. We missed the museum by about an hour, but the grounds were open and contained some neat things to look at along with a memorial to lumberjacks that had lost their lives in logging accidents.

We made it to Ruby and Kalaloch Beaches. We were now officially on the west coast. The water wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be. The sand, a dark charcoal color that I have only seen in a few places before, met a smooth rocky shoreline also littered with a great deal of driftwood. If that wasn’t enough, looking westward into the ocean were huge rocks standing out in the water. We stayed until the sun set (check out the gallery) and then found our way to a remote campsite and called it a night.

DAY 19 began on a relatively good note. We got up and to Auburn Muffler & Auto Repair just as it was opening. Daniel fit us in right away and less than two hours later we were back on track. We had to get a new muffler and tailpipe as the muffler had a crack in it. It didn’t matter much because the place where the tailpipe broke off really didn’t have a chance to be welded back together.

So we actually were only about 1 hour behind schedule due to the repair. We were off to Mount Rainier National Park. We first went to the temperate rain forest on the northwest side of the park. There we biked 3.5 miles to a trailhead, then hiked 1.25 miles to the falls. It was probably the best falls yet since we had to go through so much to get there (as far as the hike). . . a wet, rocky/log strewn, uphill battle that took about 45 minutes to. Thankfully the hike down and the bike ride back was predominately downhill.

We then set off to Crystal Mountain Resort to ride the gondola up to check out the surrounding views. It was FREEZING at the bottom and even colder at the top, between 40 and 45 degrees. Despite the cloud coverage, we got some great shots and enjoyed the perspective.

We missed the visitor centers being open by about 30 minutes, but I count that as divine intervention propelling us forward. Check out the pictures in the gallery. I have updated the site a bit to contain a link at the end of each post that will bring you right to the photos of the day. We took a nice drive through the park and 3 hours later we were heading to our rest area for the night.

The rest area was closed; I mean locked gates/no entry. I took a look at the map and chose another location. An hour or so later we were at an I-5 rest area. I had used the mapping software to find it, but it grabbed a different one than the one I chose so we were a bit further south than I wanted to be. So be it . . . we’ll see how that turns out!

DAY 18 was both good and bad. We were behind schedule, although that is a loose idea. The good totally outweighed the bad and the unfortunate changes led to us getting back on schedule.

We were going to tour the Albeni Falls Dam, but talking to a ranger we found out since they were short staffed, they didn’t have anyone on until much later in the day. We couldn’t wait 5 hours, so we moved on. We then stopped at another welcome center in Kettle Falls, WA and it too was closed for the day. Hmmmm! We were then off to North Cascades National Park.

Once at the park we saw more amazing views and waterfalls. We were also met with intermittent rain, so we chose to forgo any lengthy hikes. It was still a great day in the park and allowed us to recoup some time. Another unfortunate thing was that I just missed the visitor center so I was not able to get a park map and the stamp that indicates the date I visited. Oh well, it just goes to show I’ll have to visit again.

We got through the park and headed to Seattle. We arrived at the Seattle Space Needle with plenty of time to make it to the top. It was still light out when we got there and nice and dark when we left. This was all in the span of one hour. Despite the cloudiness, the view was great! The glass floor gave a great perspective of how high up in the air we really were. I should mention the walk up to the elevator up had a timeline indicating the stages of construction and what was going on during that time. There were also 3D printed replicas of the base and tower construction to give a more up close look at it.

Once finished in Seattle, we headed to Muckleshoot Casino as a place to stay for the night . . . and yes a little gambling. I walked away $2 in the hole . . . but that provided me with a good half hour of fun. I think of it as the camping fee. I hope to get an early start to get the tailpipe fixed. We’ll see what the morning brings.

DAY 17 I actually felt even more refreshed than the night at the hotel. I got almost a solid 8 hours sleep for the first time during this trip. The view from the camp site was not a disappointment at all, as you can see from the photo attached to this post.

We headed out to Glacier National Park without making any breakfast because we wanted to make the most of the day. En route to the park we were met with such beauty that we had to stop a few times to take some photos. We also had a short delay due to construction. Since the roads are so long with very few side roads, when they do construction they span in for miles; I think this one was about 10 miles of construction. They seem to have their system well developed, as the choreography of the operation was impeccable. Besides the roughly 10 minute wait to get into the line going our direction, we really had no delays even though we got passed off to two other pilot cars during the journey.

Once that was over with, we had only a short distance to the park. I cannot describe with words the magnificent sights that passed our eyes. It took us so long to get from the east side to the west side of the park since we couldn’t help but stop at the majority of the pull-offs. I decided we needed to take one hike while in the park; only a 3.5 mile round trip excursion.

Well the parking area for that trail was full so we needed to go to the next one. On the map it looked like it joined in to get to the falls about an equal distance to where the original trail head. It should have been about a mile. We bumped into a park worker that was maintaining trails and he informed us otherwise. Looks like the map isn’t exactly to scale! So the 3.5 mile round trip in the guide (which by the sign actually was about 4 miles) turned into a just shy of 6.5 mile trip. Had it not been for the guys advice to grab the shuttle to the next stop where we parked, it would have been more like 8 miles. Well worth it as you will see by the pictures.

After we saw all we could handle in an eight hour day, we headed out of the park to our camp location. On our way we decided to take one last short hike, under 2 miles. We stopped at a place call Kootenai Falls. Yes more falls, but also a suspension bridge. We got back to the car with about an hour to spare before it got dark. It is best to let the photos speak for themselves. So we made it to the Idaho Welcome Center. Idaho allows for a 10 hour stop as long as you remain in your vehicle while you sleep – no tents. We are set for the night!

DAY 16 I awakened somewhat refreshed after sleeping in a very comfortable bed. Posts got updated all the way up until the previous day and I was able to get the previous day up while tethering in Helena, MT. We stopped at the Montana State Capitol and took some time to go on a self-guided tour. The symmetry of the architecture was right up my alley. The art strewn about was lovely and reflected the history of the state. The grounds were even a work of art. None of the chambers were open for us to enter, but there were windows to take a peek at them. Not as elaborate acoustically as North Dakota, but very artistic and visually appealing.

We moved on to some last minute errands like filling up with gas and getting a few staples to tide us over for the next few days. We won’t be back to an area with a large supermarket for a couple of days. Since I am very particular on what I eat (I may explain that post-trip), it is important I have options. After that was taken care of, we moved on to finding a free campsite for the night. En route we started hearing an awful sound when going over rough road or bumpy areas. We thought it was the shocks/struts.

Once we found a great spot (we hope), inspected the problem with the car, discovered the culprit – the tail pipe detached, made dinner and ate while it cooled, then removed it to keep it from dragging. We’ll get that fixed when we hit a metropolitan area. Surprisingly the muffler is still pretty quiet. Now I am writing the post that probably won’t go live for a few days. Stay tuned for a rating of the campsite.

DAY 15 was slated as a slow-down day. Since we were in Twin Falls in the morning, we decided to stick around a bit to check out the BASE jumpers. We didn’t know how early they start, so we chose to check out Shoshone Falls a few miles away. These falls were highly recommended to me by a former Twin Falls resident who works at NVCC. Although we have seen many falls this trip, these were different that all the others we had seen. Beautiful and powerful, they are part of hydroelectric power plant. I didn’t get all the details on this, but impressive all the same.

After an hour or so at the falls, we made our way back to the bridge. We didn’t have to wait too long to witness the jumps. FYI, the Perrine Bridge is the only place in the United States that this is legal. Pretty exciting to watch, don’t know if I would do it. I think jumping out of a plane would give a longer thrill.

Well before noon we were on our way to our hotel in Montana. This gave us a chance to get laundry done, some of this and that taken care of, and hopefully a solid night sleep. I’ll let you know with the next post.

DAY 14 greeted us with a gorgeous view of the Tetons. We got going early in search of gas. We needed to use the gas reserves again to be sure we would get to a decently priced gas station. Turns out we really didn’t need to use both of them; one gallon would have done it. We were going to try to do the scenic chair lift at Snow King in Jackson, but we were way too early. We decided to get on the road.

Three hours later we were at Reed’s Dairy in Idaho Falls, ID enjoying a lunch of grilled cheese made with fresh cheese from the cow in the fields out back and fresh bread from a local bakery. After I had two of those, I managed to get a rich vanilla ice cream cone into me. Well in all honesty I dropped most of the scoop into my root beer cup and just ate the little that was left in the cone. I was full so it was time to go do some errands. Before leaving Idaho Falls, I had to return to get a milkshake and some cheese curds for the road. You’ll see it on the social media posts.

Our schedule has been altered and we decided to cut out a few attractions we were going to hit while in the area. That gave us plenty of time to explore Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. This was a great experience. It started with the best film of the park. The special effects and motion graphics fit the content, the content was informative in an attention grabbing way, and it was very well done. We then got permission to go caving.* We took a few small hikes (one steep hills was Inferno Cone) before checking out the lava caves.

After getting in a few miles of hiking and cave exploration, we decided it was time to take a ride to Twin Falls, ID to check out the Perrine Bridge and the canyon. We caught an incredible sunset. After realizing a campsite was too far to drive to, we decided to spend the night at the Flying J in the town next door. Truck stops are a good back up location to sleep.

*Permits are required to go into the caves in order to protect the bat population. There is a disease being transferred into caves via a certain spore that travels on clothing. In order to prevent the spread, it is important that anyone entering a cave that is the home to bats go in with clothing/equipment that has not previously been in other bat caves. White Nose Syndrome is horrible. Paraphrasing what I have learned: the hanging bats end up getting a stuffy nose waking them up before their normal hibernating time concludes. There are no insects from them to eat at that time so they end up starving to death. Bats are very important to our ecosystem. They take care of eating those pesky mosquitos that cause us some much discomfort. Let’s protect them!

DAY 13 started our pretty early and we were in Yellowstone National Park about 8 AM. The park is HUGE. Don’t kid yourself to think you can even get to the highlights of the park in half a day. There is so much to see, and the unexpected herds of bison and other wildlife captured our attention and we ended up spending over 2 hours just trying to make it 50 miles to the Canyon Visitor Education Center. We took a quick 40 minutes to check out the exhibits, but we could have spent more time there. We visited the falls and hiked a bit to get to some good viewing areas.

After visiting the falls, we started making our way to Old Faithful Visitor Education Center (OFVC). The 42 miles took us about 2.5 hours to get to with all the stops that we opted to make. Sights and animals captured our attention all along the way. We arrived at the perfect time, Old Faithful was expected to erupt at 4:15 PM give or take 10 minutes. At 4:24 PM (Mountain Standard Time) the geyser erupted. If we had missed this, we would have had to wait until 6:50 PM for the next one.

We started to go to Grant Visitor Center and on our way we noticed a RV had a mechanical issue. While we could fix a broken belt, we were able to give Jason a ride back to the service station at OFVC. It was an 8-mile backtrack, but we felt good being able to help out. After some small talk, we found out he was from the Killingly area of CT. What a small world! We made it to the next visitor center just before it closed. I dipped my feet into the lake. As you can see from the photo, it wasn’t very warm . . . between 40 and 45 degrees.

We spoke with the ranger there who advised us not to go to where we planned on camping for the night, as the road really required a high clearance vehicle, which we didn’t have. We still had a few hours of daylight and he said the time we would be driving through Grand Teton National Park would be great, as animal activity is higher then. He was right. We saw a few beavers and a herd of pronghorns bedding down for the night in an open field. The views of the Teton Mountains were excellent. We managed to get through the main part of the park before it got dark and also found a free place to camp in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. We found our spot, brushed our teeth and went to bed.

DAY 12 was a full day of stopping and going. Our day began with the realization we camped in the wrong spot, although it worked out well for us. We went to sleep late because the locals like to party and were playing loud (good) music until around 1 or 2 AM. We got going a little late in the morning and headed to our first destination that was supposed to be hit the day before; Medicine Wheel (Medicine Mountain National Historic Landmark).

The drive there was amazing and we kept stopping to take photos. The one hour drive turned into two hours. Once at Medicine Wheel, we had a 1.5 mile hike to the site. It was well worth it, as the views were amazing and the site itself very calming. It is hard to describe the feeling but the best I could say would be that it felt like the ultimate place to meditate. After the walk back, we set off on the Beartooth Scenic Byway.

We didn’t rush our way through as the sights were so different and inspiring. We knew we were now behind our proposed schedule, so we slowed down a lot. There are a few pictures in the gallery to show what kept us in awe. Since we didn’t make it to our next attraction in time, we decided to camp early for once. Since we were in bear country, we opted to pay for a campsite that was part of the USDA Forest Service. This allowed us access to a bear proof box. Turns out we didn’t have bears there, but we did have a bison in the area. Getting in early allowed us to get to sleep a little earlier than usual, hopefully meaning an early start the next day.

DAY 11 started by waking up at a decent hour to find out that the campsite we chose was surrounded by water. Not in a bad way; there was plenty of land between us and the water. We decided to wait to eat a little later, hoping there was an electric outlet we could access to use the rice cooker so we could make oatmeal. We got to the Tri-State Museum, home of the Geographical Center of the Nation (which includes Alaska and Hawaii), before it opened and luckily found an outlet. After we finished eating, we took a look around. I posted a photo of the marker on social media, but the gallery has a better image.

When we left there, we headed to Devils Tower National Monument. I have been there before, but hoped to do a bit more hiking. The line to enter the park took about 15 minutes, then another 30 minutes to drive to the top and struggle to find parking. The walk was good and we got to witness about a dozen and a half climbers attempting to make it to the top. We had other things on our list to do, so we didn’t get to see anyone succeed.

After that we headed to the Rockpile Museum, and made it there about 30 minutes before it closed. I didn’t expect much from it, but boy was I wrong. I sped through it and learned very little besides that fact that I will need to return in the future. I am not really a museum person, but this had so much variety on life in Wyoming (hunting, ranching, sheep herding, fashion, etc.) and interactive exhibits that I think I could spend a few hours here. A few pictures later, we were off to our next adventure . . . an oil change!

I was able to connect to the Wi-Fi there and upload another post. We took care of a few necessities while in an urban area to prepare for the days ahead when we wouldn’t have access to nearly as many luxuries and the lower prices. We set off to find our campsite. Again we arrived in the dark, so I’ll let you know how we did in the next post.

DAY 10 started with me actually getting some real solid sleep. This was the quietest truck stop I have ever stayed in. We got a little later start than usual, but that didn’t really hold us back too much. We made it to the Badlands National Park by 9:15 AM. The visitor center had so much to offer which helped to understand all what laid ahead of us. The film shed light on why things where the way they were.

We saw so many new things and were able to get up close to some wildlife, bighorn sheep in particular. . Some people almost got a little too close. The pictures on the gallery page should say a lot. I am working on fixing the issue of how it is showing the images, but it is a little more involved and would cut too much into the itinerary. When I stop at a hotel in a few days I hope to at least add a link with an anchor so the day’s pictures will show up at the top of the page for ease of viewing. This is a work in progress, so I thank you in advance for working with me.

We spent most of the day in the Badlands, but made it to Wind Cave National Park before the last tours should have been going out. The elevator to the entry was broken, so no tours were going out and won’t be until possibly next month. The film was very informative, and although we weren’t able to take the cave tour, we were able to see lots of bison (aka American Buffalo).

We still had time to make it to Mount Rushmore National Memorial before it got too late. It is pretty incredible how much went into carving the mountain. Exhibits and plaques on the trail explain various aspects of the process. If I calculate correctly, it took about 5 years to complete.

We stayed for the lighting ceremony, so we didn’t get on the road again until close to 10 PM, so we didn’t get to our camping spot until nearly midnight. Let’s see what it looks like in the morning light.

DAY 9 began with a wonderful sunrise and an easy breakfast on the camp stove. After saying goodbye to our new friends we headed to the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We watched the film and look around the visitor center a bit before heading through the park. There were prairie dogs aplenty but buffalo (bison) were scarce. The views, so varied every few miles, did not disappoint. We were able to capture photos of a few bison. Unfortunately 4 miles of the loop were closed due to unstable roads, so we had to go out and back, adding about 20 miles to our tour. It allowed us time to really see the park.

we left TRNP, we traveled back east a bit to catch the Enchanted Highway, a 32-mile stretch of road that has larger than life metal sculptures as roadside stops. It was well worth the back-track as you will see on one of the photos I included in the gallery.

Unfortunately we were too late to catch the Petrified Wood Park and Museum open, but we were able to walk the grounds. After a brief stretch we were back on the road heading to our camping spot, the Kadoka Truck Stop. We took some rough roads to get there, but we made it with no issues.

DAY 8 started a little later, but that was no problem at all. After a decent night sleep, we had a short drive to the National Buffalo Museum. That was a very educational and enjoyable visit. I won’t put much about what I learned here, but I will say there is an interesting history to the life of the American Buffalo (really Bison). It was a great experience as they had many ways to take in information; video, posters, interactive (tactile) exhibits, artwork, replicas and of course the real thing!

After spending a few hours at the museum, we headed to the North Dakota State Capitol for a tour (got lucky enough to have a private one). This activity might not sound that glamorous to many of you (it didn’t for me until my mom wanted me to stop at some on a past road trip), but it really was incredible in so many ways. You can read the site or Wikipedia for the factual information; I am going to give you the DAT perspective.

The architectural design not only had the beauty as a focal point, but the acoustics were also considered. In the great hallway where people met outside of sessions the echo was immense. To be able to have more intimate conversations, there are little “roofs” over sitting areas along each side to keep voices from carrying. In the Senate and the House, the ceiling design helps to direct sound. And in one more chamber (Judicial area) the walls were covered in velvet like material to dampen echo and the ceiling constructed as to pick up sound from the central location. Whoever was at the podium really wouldn’t need the microphone. It is definitely a place to experience first-hand.

After leaving the beautiful grounds of the Capitol, we moved on to head to our campsite. Since it was past our destination, we ended up checking out the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The views were quite different then the prairie we had spent so much time driving through. After a few pictures we took off an made it to our campsite. Dinner was started and a magnificent lighting storm way in the distance provided our entertainment. As we were cleaning up we ended up having company. Eli (moving back to Seattle) and Elijah (from NYC) added to the entertainment us by playing us some original music they were working on. Eli from NY has a band called The Living Strange . . . the will be playing two venues in CT sometime in October.

Day 7 started really well since we were able to get some solid rest, despite the cacophony of mosquito buzzing. Turning off the light source did the trick and no more pests entered our sleeping space. We were up and out before 6:30 AM allowing us ample time to get to our next destination Bemidji, MN. We visited a roadside stop that had HUGE statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. The park was great. It had a 17-mile bike trail we opted not to do . . . I took the time to post the blog and make some oatmeal in the rice cooker since we had access to an electric outlet at a pavilion in the park. It also had an interactive playground for the young people, but since no one was there yet we decided to check it out. There was musical instruments, nature exhibits, a periscope and other cool things for kids (not going to lie, I enjoyed the experience).

After that we headed to the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. This was another excellent experience. I thought I was nuts when I saw pelicans across the lake, but when I went into the visitor center, the ranger confirmed it. We also saw Bald Eagles, Terns, and a family of Trumpeter Swans out in the trail. At the visitor center we saw Hummingbirds, Goldfinches, and something called a Striped Ground Squirrel that looks like a very long chipmunk. The list goes on and on.

Next we went to Fargo, ND to make a gas stop and get some laundry done. We stopped at Sam’s Club for the gas and I grabbed a pretzel (no butter, little salt – a small amount of water helps it stick). We then went to a Flying J Truck Stop to do some laundry and refresh by getting a shower in. All the stopping took a little longer than expected, so we didn’t get to our camp spot until close to 1 AM. You’ll find out how that worked out in the next post.

Day 6 started a little later than usual, but that didn’t really matter too much as there was only one thing on the itinerary to do; Voyageurs National Park. We got a few things from Walmart, ate our breakfast, and headed out.

On our hour plus drive to the park we encountered many deer (alive) and were able to observe them. It seems like every time we would get close enough to get a good picture, the deer would run into the tall grass or trees. The photo here was taken at the end of the day when we managed to keep a good distance away and safely pull off the road. We took a couple of small hiking paths to some scenic overlooks, saw a wide variety of wildlife, and watched two videos about the park at the Ash River Visitor Center before heading to the center of the park to Kabetagama Visitor Center. This visitor center offered some interactive exhibits I found very well done. I enjoyed spending some time there learning about wildlife, rocks formations, vegetation, etc. We opted not to take the drive to International Falls at the far west of the park due to time constraints and upon the advice of the ranger.

Voyageurs is a beautiful place to visit if you have more time for sure. Most of the best parts of the park are best accessed by boat, which I didn’t have and didn’t make reservations for (due to the uncertainty of when I would arrive at any given location). We decided to head to our camping spot early so we could relax a bit and make some hot food.

It didn’t rain this time, but we had an even bigger foe: Mosquitos! They are the worst I have ever encountered. The spot we stopped was perfect and secluded but we couldn’t really enjoy what it had to offer as we did our best to thwart them while cooking our dinner. Thankfully when we finished cooking and cleanup it was dark enough to consider sleeping (10:30 PM). Getting settled in the sound of the mosquitos outside was so loud that if I had the correct recording equipment I could have captured a great audio sample to share.

I started writing this blog about the time we decided to call it the early night. I had the laptop screen and a small lantern on so I could see my notes. I got a little over a paragraph written before a mini mosquito invasion began. They were finding their way through the screen mesh. I decided not to encourage them so I quickly turned off the lantern and shut down the computer. That was the night.

Day 5 was very productive early on, but plans had to change as the day went on. It was an odd night of sleep for me, not for external factors, I just could seem to get comfortable. The area was quiet since the casino closed at 1 AM. I managed to get an interrupted 5 hours of sleep, but it didn’t seem to hinder the day. Since we got up early, we were on the road by around 7 AM.

The first stop of the day was a rest area on US-41. Sounds relatively boring, right? Well not at all correct. We managed to get in a 1.5 mile hike (round trip) to a gorgeous waterfall (Canyon Falls – the picture from the Facebook post from that day). We met Agent F (Men In Black reference, but really was a cute pug named Sadie) while there. While leaving the rest area we witnessed a dog bolt from one guy’s car to another dog guy’s car and hop in. It was hilarious . . . I guess you had to be there.

Since we were so much ahead of time with the early start, we decided to take our time on Black River Scenic Byway. The first hike to the falls took about an hour, as did the subsequent two. Check out the gallery page for some of the amazing shots. We were about to go on a third hike when a downpour put an end to that. Unfortunately we had to miss one or two more great waterfalls because of this. So we set off in the pouring rain to our next destination. We met a great couple from South Dakota that gave us some tips on what to see around the country. Thanks Fred and Janine!

We drove to Bayfield Wisconsin with the hope to take the Sunset cruise to the Apostle Islands. Unfortunately, visibility was not that great (awful for someone who wants to take pictures) we decided to forgo the excursion. We drove for a while and found a Way Side stop that had electricity available to us. The Cornucopia Museum was a great place as it kept the rain off of us. What is it with our outdoor cooking time seems to be raining? Oh well, it was a great meal and it gave me time to blog. I haven’t had any signal that allows me to tether, so it might be another day before things get uploaded.

The Upper Peninsula is a great place to visit. It does not disappoint. They have tons of ATV trails, snowmobile trails in the winter, and so much nature to explore. I will definitely be back in the not too distant future. Tonight we are back at Walmart in Duluth, MN.

Day 4 wasn't as early as the others which meant a little more sleep was had, at least 6 full hours. The temperature was just right (66 degrees), but the fan came in handy all the same. The location was perfect. There were only four other campers in the whole area, so we really didn't have neighbors. We got up, did what we needed to do to get on the road and we were off to play on the dirt roads.There was about 15 miles of dirt roads to navigate to get back to the main route. The phone GPS was useless, so we used an older model that did the trick. It took us 5 miles out of the way compared to the printed directions we had, but I am not complaining. If we had tried to follow the written instructions, who knows how long we would be in those woods. Not all roads have street signs, most of them in fact. The visual representation helped make sure we got out in on piece.

We were right on schedule and arrived at the Mackinac Bridge rest area about 10:15 AM. We spent about 45 minutes there taking photos and since there was a good signal I uploaded the post from the day before. It is an amazing bridge that connects the lower and upper peninsulas. I am sure at one time one would have to take a ferry across.

We made good time to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as the speed limit on the state highways are the same as our interstate highways. There isn't much traffic and the only time you really slow down is when going through a town. We spend the rest of the day seeing the highlights of the area. All together we hiked about 10 miles. The pictures will hopefully tell the story.

We finally got to have a closer to real meal as we found a source of electricity at the Munising Welcome center on the west side of the park. I made rice and added some leftover baked chicken to it. It was great to have something other than snacks and bread-based meals. I am running low on my healthy snacks, maybe one more serving. I guess I will need to restock.

We stayed in Christmas, MI at the casino in town. The next entry will tell you how we made out.

Day 3 came early as the sleeping conditions were HOT. I still managed a solid 5 hours sleep. I attribute this to the fact that I had a usb powered fan that was loaned to me. I plugged it into my charging brick and it hardly used any of the juice. I should get a few nights out of the battery pack at least. Without the fan I think it would have been a lot worse.

We got on the road by 8:30 AM and took our time to get to the Motown Museum in Detroit, MI. We were going to try our luck at being able to visit when we got there (you need reservations to ensure a time), but the earliest time for a tour was 4 hours after we arrived. We toured what we could, saw and looked around the area (seeing some of the run down areas and diverse graffiti art) before heading out to our next destination, Hell, MI.

It actually worked out very well, as there was a lot more to do in Hell than originally planned. They are the nicest, most welcoming community. We learned the origin of the name, got some great photos, and experienced what it felt like in Hell. The car temperature gauge when we left read 125 degrees Fahrenheit, although the moment we got moving it made its way down to 92.

We hit some traffic on our way to out remote campsite so we pulled into a rest area and started to grill some food. Within minutes of putting the burgers (organic/grass-fed for those that know me) it started to pour. It didn't stop us as we were prepared with golf umbrellas. It was great to have something that was closer to a meal.

We made a few more stops for gas and such before heading to our campsite at the McKinley Horse Camp in the Huron National Forest. This is a free dispersed campsite that is very remote. We needed to take about 10 miles of dirt road to get there but it was well worth it. Unfortunately we made it in just after it got dark, so we can't comment on how it looks. It is definitely peaceful.

* Getting things uploaded on a daily basis may be suspended periodically, as the time it takes to upload via tethering is really not efficient and cuts into the enjoyment of the experience. Blogs will still be written daily, it just could be up to a week before they are all posted.

Day 2 didn't disappoint but proved that no matter how much planning one does, things don't work out as smoothly as you'd think. The night was the perfect sleeping temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Getting adjusted to sleeping in a new “bed” will take a little bit, but it was a solid 5 hours sleep. The sounds of nature beckoned I get up and get moving. This helped as it is taking a lot to get find the groove of setting up the sleeping area (privacy and safety precautions) as well as taking care of the daily routines. I haven't gotten on a great eating schedule, but thanks to a good friend I have a few days-worth of healthy snacks to make sure I am not going hungry. I should hit my groove in a day or two.

We left the camp site nice and early (7:15ish), since our breakfast attempt was a flop. I have a low wattage rice cooker and a power invertor that should be able to handle the load; should being the key word. I was trying to make oatmeal and ended up blowing the fuse. No spares in the car at that time, so we sacrificed a low beam fuse so we could use the power outlet to charge our phones and the cooler.

Our first stop was Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. Due to unusually high ice melt from Canada, the Great Lakes are unusually high. This left a lot of flooding on the bike path. I had some fun in the water. We biked about 15 miles in total between 10:15 AM and 1:30 PM, taking our time to see the sites the park had to offer. I mean, we were ahead of schedule at this time, so why not? I then took an hour to post the blog from the previous day. That was not a challenge I was expecting. The technology I have moves slowly, I was tethered to my cell phone using data . . . so there is slow upload and download speeds there, and it just wasn't a comfortable working environment (hot and cramped). Well enough complaining, we finally headed on to our next destination around 2:30 PM.

We arrived at the Boston Store Visitor Center in Cuyahoga Valley National Park at 5:30 PM, just enough time to get in to get the America the Beautiful Annual Pass before they closed. We got turned around a bit due to some road closures, but ultimately found our way to beautiful Brandywine Falls (the photo attached to this post). We took in some nature and drove through the park checking out the sites before heading out for the night around 8 PM.

We made it to the planned gas stop with 10 minutes to spare before it closed. As I said, I did my research and this was an important aspect of the trip. The Sam's Club gas was at least 30 cents cheaper per gallon then anywhere around. On a road trip this size, it is an important thing to consider. We got back on the road and made it to our campsite (Walmart - Sandusky). We got the fuses and took care of whatever needed to be done, then it was time for bed.

Overall day one went great. Despite a 30 minute delay to the plan due to an underestimation of how long it would take to adequately pack all the gear needed for car camping, we set off from Waterbury (we're calling that our home location) at 9:35 a.m. with 211,675 miles reading on the odometer. We hit NY state in good time, and were at the PA Welcome center by 11 a.m. First attraction of the trip was to the Lakawana Coal Mine Tour. We got there about 1 pm. This was a great way to stretch our legs, learn some very interesting information, experience what it was like to be a mine worker, and be surprised where DAT related ideas would exist. During the mine tour, our guide Garrett was explaining the importance of the system of the proper way to blow up a coal vein. The worker was always to set 10 explosives off. When it was time to detonate the charge, the person would call "Fire, Fire, Fire" so everyone would know to get far away, then all was not well until you heard all 10 explosions. A kid got to operate the "dead" box and as he called out the key words, pushed down the handle to set off the explosives, Garrett triggered the audio sample that contained what should have been the 10 "booms." He then asked us if there were all 10. Most of us, including me said no. Only one or two people thought yes. Since we weren't paying attention like a mine worker would the first time it happened, I asked him to do it again. Even while paying close attention, it was hard to hear all 10. The tour hit on more detailed information that we saw in a historical video prior to the tour. I allotted 2 hours for the tour, we were there for 2.5 hours . . . so now we were an hour behind schedule.

Next stop was a rest area and shortly after that we took in some magnificent views of what is know as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (Leonard Harrison State Park). We took a short hike to see different vantage points and discovered what would be a beautiful waterfall during the spring thaw. Due to changes in the environment, which I don't exactly remember what I read, water flow during the summer is very limited and shallow.

The plan was to be at camp in the Allegheny National Forest sometime after 9 PM, but we knew with our delay it would be at least 10 PM. Always looking for a bargain, I planned even the gas stops. Problem was, we wouldn't have enough to get where I wanted to go since I chose not to stop at the first gas stop in the morning. Luckily I brought gas cans, and we put that in the tank before we left the canyon. We made it with just enough gas to spare. We arrived at the gas station at about 9:45 p.m., and since I was so hungry it was time for dinner. The logistics of getting everything ready by working out coolers and whatnot made it a slight challenge to get into the groove. We took our sweet time there, cleaned the windshield in did a little bit of organizing, and prepped the car for the evening's sleep.

We finally left the gas station at about 11:15 p.m., and managed to find our way up a Forest Road 142 to find our final place for the night. Our little pull out was great; we got to listen to the water to fall asleep to and wake up to. Light's out a little after midnight!