Kentucky

The best days are those that are not planned. From Armish towns to the Mississippi River it was all delightful.


New Florence

After waking up in a lovely hotel, we felt first proper cold chill as we loaded up the car which had been washed overnight by cold rain that lasted until late morning.

Giant hay bales were stacked to create a honey bear, which I snapped from the window as we whooshed past a small town.

We stopped in Centralia for a coffee, posted cards and checked in on the news.

We were lucky to have Pam give us a tour of the museum in Mexico. She escorted around a lovely house and shared the stories of its treasures.

Soup and Sandwiches for dinner in New Florence.



American Gothic House

What a day! We had a long lie-in before being tied up in a detour just outside the hotel but we negotiated this and escaped the town. Iowa is one giant field with wavy hills and today’s adventure was light and fun.

An hour or so into today we stopped at a giant flee market in a town called What Cheer. Considering the surrounding towns are small, this is on an industrial scale. We stretched our legs and explored for an hour or so and still didnt manage to touch the edges.

The car gave bleeped a 10k mile check oil warning message, so Matt has dropped the rental an email to enquire as to action as we have other six weeks on the road.

We crossed Fox River leaving Eldon where we visited the American Gothic Home and museum. Such a treat. We watched a “reel” of the artist.

Now tucked up in Bloomfield and tomorrow we are back in a state we have visited previously as we cross over to see the southern states then head up the east coast.

Iowa!

This was a treat of a day, we had planned a route to bypass a Detour and ended up meandering through lots of little towns. One was called Independence, where I took pictures of an amazing front yard that had a Halloween-attack and was magnificent in its spookiness. We popped into the local library and chatted to two charming ladies who were generous with bookmarks. Amy had moved to the town 5 years ago from Texas and has family in the area.

A few towns along, the trees had been decorated with loo roll. We think from students in local schools.

We stopped at a local farm where we walked through many varieties of pumpkins. the strangest of which are Peanut Pumpkins which are quite warty. the farm had been in the family for three generations. Mary was behind the counter and suggested we visit a park which overlooks the Mississippi river which she sweetly described as her happy place.

Tomorrow we continue our adventure south.


We are Half Way

A day of detours, many many detours. America has decided to dig up as many roads as possible. The company making concrete barriers and those orange barrels (equivalent of traffic cones in the UK) must be raking it in. I also think we are the only ones who kept to the speed limit.

We made tracks towards Duluth, the boarder town into state # 21 of 48 which of course means a glug of whiskey tonight to celebrate. II had a light lunch of soup and salad at Appleby’s whilst Matt had real food in the form of a a burger, and then we browsed in the bookstore of Barnes & Nobel next door.

Today was a day without plans but we needed to head south and lay down the miles as we had gone rogue for a few days of snagging Big Things. We had epic skyline views before our light journey became a slog.

Our journey was sprinkled with numerous roadworks taking out one lane or another, or full-on diverts with no real guidance and TomTom having no clue. Luckily we purchased a spot wifi and could fire up google maps to get lists of roads and town names to ping-pong towards our hotel. Today was particularly gruelling as driving HOURS were added and our hotel felt like a mirage.

We saw the most beautiful sunset this evening which filled the the sky with another hot evening that felt like we were again in Dubai.

On opening our hotel room with a kitchen and living room we simultaneously agreed that this would be a doubler so I plodded back to reception to book a second night. Walmart and Aldi as well as a slew of shops are nearby

We are changing our route slightly and heading south over the next week or two towards New Orleans, across to Florida and then up to Maine before circling back to Illinois to pick up the final states before we hand back the car. This replanning will take place tomorrow over wine after the most welcome lie-in after our longest driving day so far.

Fun Day Sunday

It has been an epic day followed by dinner in Grand Rapids Bar where I tried a Quadavesary beer served in a girl sized cup (which was disappointing) and Matt had a mighty Thunderstruck in a proper pint glass. We travelled north to a sculpture garden, and a few Muffler Men, Paul Bunyan Museum where there is a giant of a Muffler Man where you can sit in his hand! I also loved seeing the giant Blue Ox - far larger than expected. With it being Sunday everything is quieter so the car chewed up the miles and we are now in Grand Rapids.

The pumpkin sightings are growing. They are taking over carts, doorways, petrol stations and queuing outside people’s houses and even spotted surrounding a tree.

Chasing down big things

Pinch Punch (this is being posted on the dawn of 1 October if you are waking up the in the UK).

Our primary mission is to travel 48 states in 94 days. We are rocking and a rolling, and up to State 20 so the primary mission is on track. The secondary mission is to collect “big things” such as Muffler Men. As a hobby I am also gathering flat pennies and Matt is collecting mosquito bites as well as an impressive array of bookmarks. There you go, you are all caught up.

We spent the early part of today in New Ulm at a Musical Museum which was next door to the library (a good source of bookmark hunting). I recognised a handful of bands who had been inducted into the “hall of fame” such as the Everley Brothers, whose songs filled the home of my early childhood.

After hopping back into the car we set off to find the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine. Yes it is a thing and it clearly wasn’t large enough, as we drove past it. To be fair, it was housed in its own gazebo, outside its own museum, which looked like a house. The twine is in a town called Darwin, and the welcome sign has adopted the Twine symbol as its logo. We spotted this, and a large billboard with its location long before we located the thing itself. It has a circumference of nearly 40ft, 11ft tall and diameter of 12ft 9 inches. It also weighs a hefty 11 tons but I didn’t check. It has it own facebook page and twitter handle should you wish to follow.

You may be relieved to know the short lived ladybird attack is settling, apart from one that kept headbutting Matt.

We had a pot of coffee in Hutchinson and then headed north to Alexandria, which was our end point of the day. In Alexandria we had a McDonalds dinner and photographed a Viking Muffler Man.

America’s and now my own new-found obsession for Pumpkins continue. You can spot them in every village piled up in various shapes and shades, queuing outside stores and up the stairs of buildings.

Into Minnesota

Once we had left Sioux Falls, the roads emptied and we popped on a West Wing Weekly podcast to while away the journey. Matt stopped the car at a pretty church in Garretson. I pointed my camera at the windmills and listened to the cacophony of crickets that filled the air as surrounding windmills kept tine.

Shortly after we stopped at a giant Lake Yankton and the air was full of ladybirds. We took turns checking we were not covered in them as we settled into the car at each point during the day.

In the town of Tracy we took pictures of a magnificent train station at the closed Wheels across the Prairie museum.

The highlight of the day was visiting Walnut Grove which was established in 1879 and today has a population of 871 people (according to the sign as you enter the town). A couple of days ago we had explored the Ingles Homestead in De Smet, and this was her childhood home and their story was documented in books and then turned into a tv series. We took pictures and spotted the wedding photo of Laura Ingles parents - they didnt look very happy. Matt pointed out her quilt and I bought a tshirt and flattened another penny for my collection. Matt checked an old fashioned organ was working and in tune playing a lovely melody.

We had lunch in the Walnut Grove Grill & Bar of breaded cauliflour and cross-fries.

We are in New Ulm, and in a different hotel to the one we had booked. The booking never arrived despite paying for the reservation so after a few phone calls by the team at the original hotel we are now tucked into a Best Western.

Sioux Falls

This is a huge town, and we are drove through the middle of it to take a photo of Mr Bendo our latest Muffler Man. The main arteries of roads expand and contract with each exit. Exit lanes disappear with each turn off only to reappear to feed cars into the next exit. I also don’t understand how you are able to turn right on a red light, and the gaps in the doors in public loos. Quite disconcerting.

We walked to Walmart to pick up salad for dinner. Matt has calculated we are 10 days ahead of ourselves at this stage, so we may have another couple of day stays in future locations.

On today’s route, we spent the morning in De Smet (to see the house that Pa built), the cemetery, the mercantile store which has operated since the Ingles were around, and a cafe for a grilled cheese sandwich. We then headed to Souix Falls and stopped off at a couple of villages on route. One stop was at a vineyard, but it was odd, greeted by a giant white dog and another was an art gallery but TomTom took us to a university so we headed to find Mr Bendo instead.

ps everyone has pumpkin fever.

Little House on the Prairie

We had a long drive today which turned into a bit of an adventure as we hit a closed road which necessitated a detour which confused the heck out of TomTom who we wisely ignored whilst travelling through lands filled with cows. There are infrequent rest areas but today’s one was informative and the host spent a lot of time sharing travel information. We learnt the first American flag was adorned with 13 stars and 10 stripes.

We had a subway lunch in Watertown and picked up bookmarks from the local library. On leaving we spotted an unexpected Muffler Man and then negotiated a crossway on foot to get it. America is not set up for walking but we are doing our best to champion exploring on foot.

The highlight of the day was landing in De Smet, the home of the Wilder family. We had to visit the Laura Ingle homestead and explore. It was joyous and I was overwhelmed and explored with wonder. We walked through a field of corn, rang a bell, visited a school house, climbed a tower and of course we bought post cards. We spent a good 90 minutes exploring and then headed to the hotel with a broken tv clicker as it is debate night and we are keen to see any on-stage melt-down.

(No) Bison

North Dakota is the home of Bison. Despite visiting a Bison Museum in Jamestown with a Bison protected area hosting an overlook and armed with binoculars we struck out. Only 4% are wild, with the rest privately owned (info from Matt) the chances therefore were already slim. They were hunted near to extinction from 30 million to a few hundred by the 1800s. We have seen many statutes both big and small.

Fun facts: The picture below is the largest Bison in the world. It was designed in 1959 and given a name 50 years later following a worldwide competition. It stands 26ft fall, 14ft wide and weighs 60 tonnes. Not something we can bring home in the suitcase.

We travelled east to Fargo where there road was foggy and pinned by many many lakes. Autumn is here and it is starting to get chilly. I prefer Fargo to Bismark as it is friendlier and more homely. We popped out to a pub this evening and sampled a couple of beers before blogging. I also had a chocolate fudge thing with more pudding on top.

North Dakota (be legendary)

We had a reasonably shorter journey today, of less than 140 miles, most of which was on empty roads until we hit the outer edges of Bismark and then it got busy. After a gentle start we headed into a nearby museum. What I found interesting was seeing an impressive work of art by an artist who is famous in the town. A historic event was documented commemorating a man surviving a bear attack and this is also represented in a film The Revenant.

We had a pizza break in Flasher, ND. Each little town is a handful of houses or farms. We stopped to take pictures of the vast farmland - did I mention that the roads where pretty empty? I absolutely love the hay bales, the round ones. They fill the landscape signalling that Autumn is here.

In Bismark we got to visit the State Capitol, taking a lift to the 18th floor to see views of up to 35 miles around. The patio doors were locked since someone dropped a bottle over the edge smashing through a car window below. Still, the views were great. The gardens below hosted at world record event for the most number of snow angels created and that record stands today.

We took a walk around a mall that was mostly shut down, we ended up in a 50s Dinner/Bar where the owner advised that Minnasota smells of turkeys… that is going to be something I wont be looking forward to.

The hotel is large and you can get lost as soon as you step out of the room. We prefer the small motels on quiet roads. Our window overlooks the echo filled indoor swimming pool but it closes for the night soon and we can sleep.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Fargo.

Petrified Forest

We stayed put for the day… this meant only one thing… a proper lie-in. Lemmon is located on the border where a few streets are in North Dakota with different state taxes. Apparently cigarettes are far cheaper over the boarder. This may only be our only state where we cross the border on foot. It is also a town full of barking dogs, some chained up (or not) which we discovered when exploring the small town.

Highlight of the town is “The world’s largest Petrified Forest” and of course it is now closed for the season but we got to experience its oddness.


Calamity Jane

It was a packed day, travelling an hour to Deadwood in South Dakota. It is known for Wild Bill and Calamity Jane (her middle name) she was Mrs ME Burke. Calamity Jane and Wild Bill are buried near to each other. We located their graves and ticked this off the list. They were located near a famous brothel owner who was buried with her pet parrot called Fred, and her husband. Deadwood was a faux cowboy town.

We had a long drive to Lemmon with a couple of hundred miles of quiet roads, South Dakota really is very empty.

On route we slammed on the breaks at Sturgis, the famous home of the bike rally which is in its 83rd year. A giant Muffler Man stood outside the Full Throttle Saloon, which had burnt down but has now been rebuilt. We bought a tshirt and a gooooood bottle of whiskey.

We are taking a little break as we are slightly ahead in our plans, and taking a couple of nights to rest up in Lemmon, and put the suitcases through the washer and empty and organise the car.

Big Head Mountain

So we are in South Dakota, and the Big Head Mountain is an essential stop. We didn’t stay in Keystone which is a major tourist trap, but 20 miles away in a little town called Custer in a little lodge for the night and it has its own kitchen so we can burn pizza. There is a coffee shop called Calamity Jane so we had to buy Calamity Jane wine to wash down the burnt pizza.

Today I was able to flatten my 19th penny at Mount Rushmore. It is going to be a good collection that I can nail to the wall in a wonky fashion when I return home.

We had a eggs and hash browns at a stop off point. I have been ordering “over easy” for weeks, but occasionally finding the eggs are not always cooked which is a bit ick. Today I learnt you can ask for “over medium” which is a game changer.

On the way to the Big Heads, we drove through a proper storm (as expected American over-sized). Lightning filled the skies with a proper rumble that lasted quite a while before giving way to blue skies.

We meandered through the little town, gazing at freakishly worrying animal skins in one shop that still had their snouts. That is going to keep me awake tonight.

Fun facts: Mount Rushmore wasn’t carved with chisels… it was 90% blasted with dynamite. George Washington’s head is 60 ft tall and his nose, 20ft followed by an 18 ft mouth and each eye 11 ft across.

Soda Fountain

Today started off cool but not quite jumper weather. The hotel was perfect and I slept like a (snoring) log. We had a lovely call with Max and Sasha who are in London today. Matt decided to shave off his beard that had been cultivated over 35 days (update from Matt: it grew of its own accord). After a light breakfast, we packed up the car and aimed it for another state line.

The journey today was fairly light, with soft round yellow hills punctuated with cattle and horses. The first part of the journey was spent listening to Night on Bald Mountain, a quite dramatic soundtrack for a gentle drive. Matt advised that this soundtrack inspired the boop boops in The Shining film.

The first pitstop was Chugwater with a population of 75. We had milkshakes and apple pie in the oldest operating soda fountain in Wyoming. It had an Elk mounted on the wall called Wendell. Wendell has been a fixture in the soda fountain since 1947, Chugwater resident Wendell Carlson shot him near the Yellowstone River in 1946, but realised the mount wouldn’t fit into his house, asked the soda fountain owner Lee Snyder if it could be hung in the store instead. A town ordinance prevents Wendell from leaving the store so he is officially here to stay.

I was also amused by Chugwater Fire Department. Now that is a good name.

On route to our next stop we saw abandoned barns and to break up the flat lands, we spotted a mini-canyon called Lone Tree Creek leading into the town of Le Grange with 375 people.

We tipped into Nebraska just after lunch. On the drive, what looked like a monster rolled across our car bonnet, and up the window screen I froze in my seat with dread (given that I now have an irrational fear of the springy crickets). This seemed a new horror to face in Nebraska…. but fear not… Matt casually mentioned it was tumbleweed. I will now add Tumbleweed to the list of things to avoid.

Later in the afternoon we booked into the hotel, then headed out again to take pictures of Car Henge. The wheels do move in the upright slabs rammed into the ground, and it is home to flocks of birds. A couple of the cars are time capsules to be opened in 2053.

Big Head

The steering wheel got a rest today as we travelled through flat lands into Wyoming our 16th state. It is a comfortable 68 degrees outside. The radio blasted country music. Matt found a way to play the audio only of episode 1 of West Wing which was a highlight.

In Cheyenne, the state capital, we visited a couple of museums and flattened three pennies. Messenger’s Old West Museum was delightful and had stage carriages, old cars and wagons. We then visited the state museum which was a broad mix of everything including guns and horses with stuffed wild animals frozen in time chasing each other. We learnt that Wyoming was the first to give women the vote as well as sit on juries, and it would be 50 years before other states followed suit. This measure was passed to “grow” the state. Wyoming set up free libraries in each town, with the proviso that 25% of the books were fiction to build knowledge. In the early days there were few schools or churches but every town was filled with many saloons which competed with each other.

The state capital building filled its own square and as you’d expect gold topped and commanding. We found a tree called George Washington’s Elm from 1775.

We saw the Lincoln Monument- such a big head, completed in only 11 months commissioned in 1959 by Robert J Russin to commemorate Lincoln’s 150th birthday and the sculpture (head) alone weighs 4500 lbs. The head was cast in 30 pieces and bolted together and stands 13.5 ft tall on top of a 35 ft tall stone pedestal.

We spotted the famous Tree in the Rock in Buford and then headed to see the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie, this was a great find, we explored the Warden’s house, prison with large heavy read metal doors and a prison factory making brooms. One room was set aside for an exhibition. We learnt that prisoners were not allowed to speak in prison, only in the factory, where they had a 24 hour operation, in two 12 hour shifts.

The Mountains have given way to Big Skies and we picked up dinner at Safeway before booking into the hotel


Mountains, Goats and a Haunted Hotel

Well we had a champion day. We woke into cold coldness, threw on layers and headed to a cold breakfast. Yesterday’s storm clouds gave way to blue skies as the air slowly warmed again. We took bets on when the jumpers would be shed… for those who want to know - it was late morning. The roads were again a little hairy for the first 30 minutes or so, we pulled off into a scenic overlook (more to take a breather from the mountain zig-zags and trucks and jeeps with a death wishes).

Other tourists also taking a break pointed out mountain goats so we pointed our cameras and took pictures. See if you can spot them in the picture below. Over the ridge of the overlook was a steam train playing peekaboo amongst the trees. I stood well back from the edge. There are no guard rails in ‘merica.

So far - 34 days of not falling over - however I have kicked the heck out of my little toe by testing it on a table a week ago… it is still swollen like a little sausage and a wont bend but it doesn’t stop me hiking up hills.

We then headed through snaking hills to Central City and it was full of murals, buildings had an old-world façade but it was the gambling town with Casinos around every corner. We popped into a pub for a coffee and picked up a corkscrew. The pub had cowboy style swing doors, the bar gave way to a neon fest of one-armed bandits.

On the way to Rollinspark we had not one but two giant deer leap into the road.. Deer one stopped the car, we took a breath as all cars had also stopped. We then tentatively started before a much larger deer made an appearance. It was a sight to see.

Again a day of twisty turn mountain roads with little straight road. More curves over steep drops that makes your stomach hit the floor. The steering wheel got a workout today.

We then found the Haunted Hotel. The Stanley Hotel sits majestically in the grounds of Estes Park and the inspiration behind The Shining. Much fun was had and many pictures taken.

We end the day in Johnstown within Loveland, Colorado. Wine bottle purchased yesterday drained while we made pasta and catch up on our blogs.



Hot and Cold

The wifi is slow in the motel so we are a day late in posting.

Today we visited a winery and picked up a couple of good bottles of wine. Palisades was nestled in the base mountains and surrounded by fruit vinyards. We had been seeing Palisades Peach adverts for miles so we are now in that town. Quaint and has a homely feel.

The afternoon was stormy and the car finally received a much needed power shower. We caught our first traffic jam down a mountain into the village we are staying in. I can tell you that travelling down steep gradient mountains in stop/start mode with roads that have been stripped and therefore a little less grippy does make you hold your breath a little. We spent a good 30 minutes travelling to the Snowshoe hotel which was only 12 minutes away… it was a test of the bladder. We arrived in Frisco which is only 1.8 miles, still high in the mountains at 9097 feet above sea level compared to London at 82 feet.

Earlier in the day started off at 30 degrees in the morning but travelling into the mountains it dropped to 19 degrees and it is so very cold after weeks where temperatures exceeded 40. Jumpers are just not cutting it this evening.

In Glenwood springs we hiked up a steep hill to Doc Holidays grave (passing visitors up and down in a continual stream)… it seems a right of passage, on the hike up, we heard ominous thunder over neighbouring mountains that turned into big splashes of rain on our descent. We passed another large group heading up in the rain and Matt advised them that the elevator was out of action. We thought it would be a little walk but nope… it was a proper hike up winding paths with steep overlooks of the villages below.

We travelled through tunnels carved through mountains and the roads were a continual rollercoaster (up/down and sideways) from Glenwood Springs into Frisco - on arrival we recovered and warmed up in a pub.