Tag: road trips

RealImaginaryWest 2024 Day 1—We’re Finally Back

It’s been a while since I kept a trip journal, but here we go again! I enjoy writing these, but the past few years have been…crazy…to say the least. We have still taken the trips, but we have both been so emotionally exhausted from COVID and losing Becky’s mom that I haven’t kept a journal. I have also had some health problems that have dampened my energy quite a bit. So rather than focusing energy on sharing our trips, we’ve focused on just decompressing and living more in the moment.

So this trip breaks some new ground for us by way of old ground.

Last year we finally made it to Texas outside of the Panhandle along Old Historic Route 66, and obscure reaches between Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Lubbock. I got my first taste of Texas barbecue—consider me hooked! And who knew the TexMex would also be great? We also had plans to camp at Big Bend National Park way out in West Texas, but we nixed it because it was May, and that’s the start of the tropical stormy rainy season. We will be returning to a hopefully dryer Texas to see more of Austin and the Hill Country to the West on the way to Big Bend, which will be our 44th U.S. national park.

In October 2021 we finally made it to the I-10 corridor to see Saguaro, White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. We won’t visit those national parks this time, but we will see more sights along the I-10 corridor in Southern New Mexico and Arizona before heading up to Sedona and Las Vegas.

Finally, we will work our way up to one of our favorite campgrounds in our favorite national parks—Devils Garden Campground at Arches National Park in Southern Utah. I haven’t made a final decision on whether we’ll keep all 4 nights of our reservation or if we’ll give the first night back so we can spend a day working through Zion National Park and maybe stopping at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

From Arches we will cross the Rockies in Colorado in fall 😬 where hopefully there will be no snow…as we spend a night with Becky’s sister and brother-in-law in Denver before spending a night either in Missouri or Iowa on the way home.

We got our start late yesterday, about 7:25pm Eastern Time. Our goal was to make it to a rest area around Effingham, Illinois for the night. Thankfully we did so around 1:15am Central Time. Why did we opt to spend a few hours sleeping in our car over sleeping in a hotel? Well, on the first night of our trips, we really only sleep and get right back on the road at sunrise…and hotels are astronomically expensive right now. So why spend $100, give or take, on a bed for a few hours when you can spend $0 and not have to unpack?

Speaking of cars, we aren’t in one of our little hatchbacks. We typically rent a larger sedan with a trunk—it gives us more room for our stuff, it gives more cover for our stuff with the trunk, and it puts the 6-7,000 miles of our trips on their car instead of ours for a pretty reasonable price. However, we had a terrible rental car experience for our trip last fall—that’s a whole other story about mechanical and customer service issues—but it has left us a bit traumatized after YEARS of great experiences. For this trip we have a basic but comfortable 2025 Nissan Altima. So far it has been mechanically sound, thank goodness, and it’s getting the great fuel economy we love. I swear they’ve shrunk the trunk though…our stuff just doesn’t fit as well as I remember…which is odd to me.

So that’s the start of our journey…next we’re on to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home in Mansfield, Missouri. Whats funny is we started our very first #RealImaginaryWest road trip with Laura…how fitting we start this trip, almost 10 years later with her.

RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 4—Our Return to Yellowstone

Waking In Wyoming

Bridgegate

Last night was not my best sleep. The white noise from the river running was wonderful when I was awake, but too loud and too much like howling wind, so I woke up after only short bursts of slumber. I wish I’d put in my earplugs, I think they would have helped. To top it off, my pad deflated, which just made the bad situation with my back worse.

While the humidity was not much indication, this was our first night at altitude, as Ayres Natural Bridge sits at about 5,000 feet. Usually it’s pretty dry here, but the forecast dew point was actually close to our overnight low. Thankfully, though, dew wasn’t too bad a problem as our tent was dry on top. Since we’re now rather high, it’s time for the peeing to begin, as we have to drink ample water to stay hydrated.

So now you know what motivated me to get up at 6am. After this, I thought about the park gate—didn’t it say they lock the gate between certain hours? Sure enough, the checkin slip says the gate is *locked* from 8pm to 8am—and my notes indicated we needed to leave by 7am! So does that mean we’re stuck here until 8??? Since I didn’t feel a bit like trying to get more sleep and I didn’t know if I should wake Becky up, I needed to investi-gate!

Investi-gate

I didn’t want to leave Becky without the car or wake her up, so I decided just to hoof my way to the gate and determine the situation before proceeding. I guess my attempts to get into better shape before we left paid off, since I had hardly any trouble at all hiking the 1/2 mile or so uphill at 5,000 feet to the gate. Turns out it’s electric, and a car parked in front will trigger it—so we can leave anytime we want—fantastic! Now to go get back to Becky and start packing up camp.

By the way it was a beautiful morning, even though a bit overcast. The clouds and the colored light of the rising sun really made the mountain in the distance to the Southeast look dramatic! My hike also caused me to cross paths with several creatures, including a big black beetle and several rabbits.

Breaking Camp

By the time I returned, Becky was already astir and ready to help break camp. We got everything put together by 7am, but I had to take advantage of the much brighter light to get some photos and video before we left…which didn’t happen until about 7:20 or so.

Pit Stop In Casper

We stopped just inside Casper for gas, mostly so I could clean the windshield and of course, pee again. I really picked the wrong gas station though…an older gentleman stood outside the restroom…and there was a handwritten “OUT OF ORDER” sign on the men’s room door. He sheepishly went into the women’s room, and then came out saying something about the flapper on the toilet…oh man. I walk in, see the cover off of the toilet tank and decide I’ll figure it out, and tried to close the door. Seriously??? The door was not properly hung, so I couldn’t close it! I didn’t have the time to monkey with it, so I closed it as much as possible and hoped for the best. I did have to make sure the flapper in the tank didn’t get hung up on the lever pulling it open, but otherwise everything went fine after that.

I ran back outside to work on the windshield and apologized to Becky for picking the worst possible gas station. I guess it was clean…but they really need a handyman to get things in proper order. Becky came back a couple of country songs later (the pickup truck song really got me working faster) and we got back on the road.

A New Route To Yellowstone (For Us)

Now the usual road to Yellowstone for a lot of people from the East is to cross South Dakota and most of Wyoming on I-90, and then to take either US-16 from Buffalo or US-14 from Rochester. We did that route with US-16 on our first trip back in 2015, passing through Ten Sleep Canyon and Cody. Since we were coming through Casper farther south this time, we would continue to follow US-20 and pass through Cody again. This would give us an opportunity to see some new parts of Wyoming.

I-25 between Douglas and Casper mostly follows the North Platte River, with mountains off in the distance, mostly to the south. After we diverged to stay on US-20, the road basically passes through barren lands without much of a view of anything but grass, sagebrush, and an occasional oil or gas well until you get to Shoshoni.

Hells Half Acre

Our first stop, Hells Half Acre, breaks up this drive. This rugged canyon actually sprawls 320 acres, and appears to have at some point had a building there, but all that’s left now is the foundation.

A multilayered jagged rock wall in a canyon with mountains in the distance against a blue sky
Hells Half Acre on US-20/26 west of Casper, Wyoming

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 4—Our Return to Yellowstone

RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 3—Nebraska’s Bridges To Buttes Highway & Beyond

Waking Up On the Niobrara

Turning In By Moonlight

I forgot to mention in last night’s post that I finished packing up by moonlight. The campground at Smith Falls so far as I could tell lacked artificial lighting, so my eyes were able to adjust very well. It’s incredible that a 3/4-full moon could light the night up so well, and for the most part we modern humans have no idea how well our eyes adjust to it because of all the artificial light we surround ourselves with. The funny thing about it is that orange or yellow light from a fire doesn’t prevent your eyes adjusting to the moonlight. Had it not been for me sitting there in just firelight, I don’t think I would have realized how bright the moonlight was.

Getting Started

Anyway, I think I may have actually slept reasonably last night. And my mattress stayed inflated all night too! On last year’s trip I realized it was losing air when we camped at Yosemite. I found a tiny little hole on the bottom and patched it up earlier this season. After two weekend camping trips since, I wondered if a leak might still be present because it seemed to still lose air, albeit more slowly. Perhaps that was not the case.

I stirred around 5:30am, about an hour before sunrise. The moon was gone but the sun had alrighty begun to intrude with first light. The entire campground was quiet with the exception of the tranquil flow of the Niobrara River.

Becky awoke around 6:15. We witnessed some brilliant red colors this morning—I should have thought about that saying, “Red sky in morning, roadtripper take warning,” or something like that. We certainly ran into some weather today…but I get ahead of myself.

What’s With the Humidity?

The first weather we noticed last night was the humidity. Smith Falls State Park is just west of the 100th Meridian, which is about where the altitude of the Great Plains increases and in turn the climate becomes more arid. In general, you can grow crops without relying heavily on irrigation east of the 100th Meridian, but not west of it. We’ve noticed in years past that the air is generally much dryer overall than it was tonight. It felt positively clammy well before sunset—more like an Ohio summer.

When we woke up this morning, our tent was soaked from the dew. We’d left the rainfly open last night to get airflow since it was rather warm. I made the mistake of leaving my sandals out in the open and they were terribly wet. Once we bit the bullet and got down to business, we made short work of packing the bedding and tent, leaving the campground around 7:30am.

Real Food For Breakfast!

Our original plan included a full day of stops at a few more places in Nebraska before heading into Wyoming for the night. One of these was Toadstool Geological Park, which sounded wonderful, but required a 13-mile drive down a gravel road. Maybe we’ll try that in the future during a more normal dry year when the road is less likely to be flood damaged like we saw in the campground in Smith Falls State Park.

Since we’d dropped Toadstool, that freed up plenty of time for us to get real food for breakfast! We headed into Valentine and ate a full breakfast at the Bunkhouse Restaurant in the center of town. The service was great, and the food was good diner fare that hit the spot for us.

The Bryan Bridge

After breakfast we headed south of town a mile or two to check out the Bryan Bridge, which used to carry US-20 across the Niobrara River. On the opposite side of the new US-20 bridge sits an old railroad trestle that now carries bicycles instead of trains.

The entire area around Valentine has incredibly beautiful terrain! The hills around town are lovely, and the Niobrara River seems like a wonderfully quiet place to canoe or kayak through them.

Northwest Nebraska

Not far west of Valentine, the terrain becomes less rugged with more rolling hills and fewer trees. The aridity west of the 100th Meridian certainly becomes apparent. We drove about two hours through another handful of very quiet tiny little towns.

As we approached Chadron the terrain changes again. Along with rolling hills, rocky buttes began to impose themselves on the horizon. Chadron was a bit larger than Valentine and even had Walmart. Here we turned south to visit Chadron State Park.

Chadron State Park

The buttes only became bigger and more concentrated as we approached the park. This area reminds me very much of the drive between the Badlands and Black Hills on Highway 44 in South Dakota and Wyoming. We pulled into the park office, paid the $8 out-of-state day-use fee, and headed up the park’s scenic drive.

I wanted to see the Blackhills Scenic Overlook, but the narrow high-crested gravel road made us rethink this. We instead continued on the scenic drive past a picnic shelter with a nice retro playground near the horse pasture. We didn’t stay long here since we hoped to get to our campground for the night a bit earlier than originally planned, and we still had one more stop…

Horses graze in light-green grass meadow with grass-covered peaks in the background. Evergreen trees dot the meadow and the peaks.
Horses grazing in a pasture at Chadron State Park in Northwest Nebraska

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 3—Nebraska’s Bridges To Buttes Highway & Beyond

RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 2—Nebraska’s Outlaw Trail

Seven Hours, No Stops!

We made it…this far! Once we got out of Greater Cleveland, traffic was a breeze, even around Chicago. Incredibly, Becky made the entire 7-hour drive without even a single stop! This got us to our hotel in the Quad Cities last night at 11:30pm local time. Checkin at the LaQuinta Inn Moline Airport was a breeze, and we settled into bed maybe a minute or two past midnight.

Iowa

‘Tis the Season

I haven’t had the best time sleeping lately…it seems 4 or 5 hours is about all I get most nights. I set an alarm for 6:15 with the hopes we could grab a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby and get on the road. My sinuses had other ideas—every year they let me know when August arrives. This morning they reminded me, which made it difficult to exist let alone get up. Becky was feeling it too.

“The World’s Largest Truckstop”

We finally got out the door and back on the road at 7:30am. The Iowa 80 Truck Stop just west of Davenport was our first refueling stop of the trip. It bills itself as “The World’s Largest Truckstop”, with about half a dozen fast food franchises, a ton of retail, a buffet restaurant, plenty of American automotive memorabilia, and of course gas and diesel.

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Interstates…

Normally we just follow I-80 all the way across Iowa. This time I wanted to try a different route farther north. US-20 runs from coast to coast—Massachusetts to Oregon—and it passes maybe 50 miles north of I-80 through Central Iowa before running across Nebraska within a few miles of the South Dakota border. Today we’ll head up I-380 to join US-20 until Sioux City, where we’ll diverge on the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway to follow the Missouri River more closely.

The Great Plains: #NotFlat #NotBoring

I can’t say this enough, but I don’t understand why people repeat over and over again that the Great Plains are flat. I mean, I realize it’s not exactly mountainous (except it actually is in the High Plains!), but most of it has rolling hills. Eastern Iowa is especially pretty where farmers sow their crops to follow the terrain. We usually go through in July. August offers larger and more mature plants, including tasseled corn, but everything is still a wonderful green. When we passed through last September, things definitely appeared less verdant.

Splat 🙁

The weather was mostly cloudy at first. We even hit some rain between Cedar Falls and Fort Dodge. We also hit some gigantic bugs with yellow innards. Yuck. (Turns out these were actually monarch butterflies! Now I feel guilty too! Those poor things have it tough enough!)

Driving Across Iowa on US-20

We found the drive across Iowa on US-20 very pleasant compared to I-80. Traffic is nearly nonexistent past Fort Dodge, and the route is more scenic in the Western part of the state. The only drawback we discovered was the total lack of rest areas…but there were adequate numbers of gas stations all the way up to Sioux City.

Nebraska

At Sioux City we crossed the Missouri River and the state line into Nebraska. After stopping for fuel we diverged from US-20 to begin our journey along Highway 12—the Outlaw Highway—which follows the Missouri River and the state line with South Dakota.

Ponca State Park

Our first stop, Ponca State Park, preserves a section of the River that still looks much the way it did back in the time of Lewis & Clark. We stopped to enjoy the view at the Three State Overlook, where you can see South Dakota and Iowa while standing in Nebraska. This is one of the few places where the Missouri River hasn’t been dammed, straightened, or bypassed with a canal to better facilitate shipping (and flooding). The overcast sky and humidity weren’t the most comfortable, but it was exciting to ponder the beginning of Lewis & Clark’s adventure across the continent, as well as their return through this stretch of river two years later.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2019 Day 2—Nebraska’s Outlaw Trail

RealImaginaryWest 2017 Day 3 – Plains, Canyons & Mountains on Route 66

We again covered some serious mileage on Route 66, starting in Stroud, Oklahoma. We followed a good section of the original highway west of Oklahoma City. Next we made a few stops on the Texas Panhandle, including Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo. Finally we passed into New Mexico, following the highway’s pre-1937 alignment up to Las Vegas and Santa Fe.

An Early Start from the Skyliner Motel

We were packed up and ready to go at 6:15-6:30am. Vic was up in two seconds to brew coffee for Becky, just like he promised! He has some big plans for this place…more on that when we return.

38-Span Camelback Bridge

We got right back on I-44 and passed through Oklahoma City to I-40. About 15 years ago I traveled here on business. It looks like they added a very large new skyscraper since then.

We exited I-40 at US-281 so we could drive over this 38-span camelback bridge near Geary, Oklahoma. Route 66 passed over it starting in 1933…and it still keeps going on, and on, and on!

Lucille’s Route 66 Gas Station

We got back on I-40 near Hydro, Oklahoma after driving to this historic and well-maintained gas station.

Conoco Tower Station in Shamrock, Texas

Next we entered Texas, and stopped here at the Conoco Tower Station in Shamrock. Unfortunately, very little in Texas seems to be open on Sunday, so we couldn’t do much but admire the old art deco exterior.

The Leaning Tower of Texas

A proprietor purchased and moved this water tower next to his truck stop in Groom, Texas. He purposely had someone drive a tractor into this tower so it would lean about 10 degrees. This set motorists up to stop in…often frantic to warn him that the tower was tipping. He’d reply, “Oh, it’s been that way for years…can I get you anything?” You gotta love gimmicks that get people to stop!

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon just south of Amarillo comes in as the second longest in the country, second only to the Grand Canyon. We took a detour to come check it out, and the intention was to have lunch here.

Cadillac Ranch

This public art installation of old Cadillacs invites people to “repaint” them. I was careful not to get me or my camera spraypainted!

Late Roadside Lunch

Since we didn’t stop and make lunch in Palo Duro, and since we didn’t see anything resembling a park or a picnic area around Amarillo, we stopped at this rest area to the west on I-40 and cooked up some hamburgers.

Finding the Absaroka County Sheriff’s Office in Las Vegas, New Mexico

No photo on this for now, but we did find the old town plaza in Las Vegas, New Mexico where outside scenes for the TV series Longmire were shot. Las Vegas sat in as Durant, Wyoming. We even found the door, which was still marked for the show.

Santa Fe

The drive to Santa Fe was incredible! The sun set as we drove into town, and we checked out the old town plaza before checking in at the Kings Rest Court Inn. This place was immaculately preserved from 1939, just two years after Route 66 was realigned to connect directly across New Mexico from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque…bypassing Santa Fe entirely. We’ll actually have time to stop and smell the roses before heading west again to the Holbrook, Arizona tomorrow.

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RealImaginaryWest 2017 Day 2 – Giants, Murals & Bridges on Route 66

For our first day on Old Historic Route 66 we began at the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, Illinois. We checked out the Standard Oil gas station in Odell and the Bunyan Giant in Atlanta before stopping on the Illinois side of the Chain of Rocks Bridge in the St. Louis area. Next we drove across the Mississippi River on the McKinley Bridge and followed I-44 out of the city. We then ate lunch at The FourWay in Cuba and stopped at the Red Rocker and the Devils Elbow Bridge before proceeding into Oklahoma. We finished the day in Stroud, Oklahoma with dinner at the Rock Cafe before checking into the Skyliner Motel. Purely for the sake of time we drove mostly on I-55 and I-44…but we’re already sold on coming back for the full Route 66 experience!

Waking in Wilmington

Last night we checked into Van Duyne’s Motel in Wilmington, Illinois to begin our Route 66 adventure to the Southwest United States. As I mentioned in the previous post, there were aspects of our room that made it a no-go for travelers with particular tastes. But the room was clean, the bed was comfortable enough and the shower was good and hot when we got up at 5:15am.

The Gemini Giant

At 6:30 I dropped our key in the lockbox and we headed to our first stop, the Gemini Giant right here in Wilmington. We saw him in the dark as we came into town last night, but the early morning light made him much easier to appreciate. He’s one of several statues manufactured by International Fiberglass in Venice, California to attract customers to all sorts of retail businesses across the country.

While the original made for The Paul Bunyan Cafe on Route 66 in Flagstaff, Arizona was designed to hold an axe, so many held exhaust pipes and mufflers to advertise automotive dealers and shops that they became known as “Muffler Men”. The Gemini Giant has invited customers to stop at the Launching Pad diner since 1965. Sadly the restaurant closed in 2010 and still remains for sale today despite efforts to sell and reopen it.

The 30-foot tall Gemini Giant invites customers to the Launching Pad diner in Wilmington, Illinois.
The 30-foot tall Gemini Giant invited customers to the Launching Pad diner in Wilmington, Illinois. The restaurant closed in 2010 and is still in need of a buyer.

Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell

Opened in 1932, the Standard Oil Gas Station in Odell, Illinois used a “house and canopy” design that welcomed customers to feel at home when caring for their automotive needs. The station hasn’t sold gasoline since the 1960s and fell into disuse and disrepair by the the 1970s. Preservation began in the 1990s and included efforts and funding from the Illinois Route 66 Association and the National Park Service. The gas station was restored to its former glory by the early 2000s.

We arrived at 7:30am, way before attendants opened for visitors. There was however a button we pressed that played an interpretive audio recording. Through the window we could see that the interior is as authentically restored as the exterior.

The Standard Oil Gas Station, built in the “house and canopy” style on Route 66 in Odell, Illinois around 1932.
The Standard Oil Gas Station, built in the “house and canopy” style on Route 66 in Odell, Illinois around 1932.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2017 Day 2 – Giants, Murals & Bridges on Route 66

RealImaginaryWest 2017 Day 1 – Our Adventure Begins in Illinois

Our drive on the first night of this trip is a short one for once! We drove from Middleburg Heights, Ohio near Cleveland to Wilmington, Illinois just outside Chicagoland.

Packing Up for 3½ Weeks (😮!)

I know 24 days is only a week longer than our usual road trip. For some reason it feels like we’re leaving for good. It’s weirding me out…

Anyway, I think we managed to pack everything we need except for one thing. When I picked Becky up from work to hit the road, she immediately asked about the clip that holds her phone up on the vent. I totally forgot about it. She almost wanted to go home and get it. I suggested we live without it if we can find one along the way somewhere. This worked for Becky, so we officially got on the road at 3:45pm.

Feeling Less Organized Than I’d Like

I just remembered another thing I sort-of kind-of forgot. I’ve been working out the itinerary for this trip since all the way back in January. I had to make some last-minute tweaks over the last week or two, but I did finish it. It contains the best information we have to keep on time over the next week as we make stops on Route 66. Unfortunately I neglected to print it out… Thankfully I stored it on Dropbox, so I can still get to it. But I really like to have a hard copy handy just in case my electronics fail.

I always experience a great deal of anxiety in the final week or two leading up to a road trip. I felt super confident and calm after we left for our trip to the Black Hills in July. For some reason I feel so much less organized for this trip than I’d have expected. We’ve been planning for months, most every reservation was made back in spring, and I’ve taken good notes. And yet I feel so flat-footed. Maybe I should have made up some mileage charts like I did on the last trip? Maybe the cold and rainy weather has pushed me off of my game?

Our Weather Outlook

Speaking of weather, there’s a lot going on across the country right now! For starters, we’ve had one of the coldest Augusts I can remember in Ohio. The hot and humid “dog days” of summer never came this year. It dropped below 70°F frequently this past month, when temperatures often approach or surpass 90°F. I’m glad we’re heading to the Southwest where temperatures will feel more like summer again!

The good news is that this cold snap across the Eastern United States is also holding temperatures down to a more comfortable range in Oklahoma and Texas. The bad news is that everything west of the Rocky Mountains has been experiencing a heat wave.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2017 Day 1 – Our Adventure Begins in Illinois

RealImaginaryWest 2017 – Route 66 & Southwest Road Trip

This September we’ll get our kicks on Route 66 as we head to the Southwest! The “Mother Road” starts in Chicago, so we’ll drive out to Illinois and follow it all the way to Los Angeles, camping for a couple of nights at the Grand Canyon along the way. After driving all the way to the Santa Monica Pier, we’ll visit Death Valley and the “Big Five” national parks in Utah. After our stops in Colorado, we’ll have visited TEN national parks in total!

This is our longest trip by far, clocking in at 24 days! We started planning back in January and have our itinerary ready to share below. Watch for our posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with the hashtag #RealImaginaryWest.

Highlights

Our route along Old Historic Route 66 to the Southwest & Canyon Country for RealImaginaryWest 2017
  • 24 days
  • 6,800 miles
  • 13 states
    OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, OK, TX, NM, AZ, CA, NV, UT, CO
  • Old Historic U.S. Route 66: “The Main Street of America”, “The Mother Road”
  • Part of the Santa Fe Trail in Eastern Colorado and across Kansas
  • 10 national parks:
    • Petrified Forest National Park
    • Grand Canyon National Park
    • Death Valley National Park
    • Zion National Park
    • Bryce Canyon National Park
    • Capitol Reef National Park
    • Canyonlands National Park
    • Arches National Park
    • Mesa Verde National Park
    • Great Sand Dunes National Park
  • Cities:
    • St. Louis
    • Tulsa
    • Oklahoma City
    • Amarillo
    • Las Vegas, New Mexico
    • Santa Fe
    • Albuquerque
    • Flagstaff
    • Los Angeles
    • Las Vegas, Nevada
    • Dodge City, Kansas
    • Kansas City
  • Also:
    • Palo Duro Canyon State Park (TX)
    • Meteor Crater (AZ)
    • Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park (CA)
    • Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (NV)
    • Valley of Fire State Park (NV)
    • Kodachrome Basin State Park (UT)
    • Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (UT)
    • Dead Horse Point State Park (UT)
    • Natural Bridges National Monument (UT)
    • Bears Ears National Monument (UT)
    • Monument Valley (UT-AZ)
    • Fort Larned National Historic Site (KS)
    • Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (MO)

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2017 – Route 66 & Southwest Road Trip

RealImaginaryWest 2017 Lite Day 3 – Roasting in the Badlands & Relief in the Black Hills

After a very early start at Badlands National Park, we packed up camp and made a short hike at Saddle Pass, followed by hikes on the Notch, Window, and Door Trails. Before driving the Badlands Loop Road and heading to Wall Drug, we returned to Cedar Pass Campground to get showers. After lunch and a couple of hours perusing Wall Drug, we took I-90 to Rapid City and SD-79 & SD-36 into the Black Hills and Custer State Park. Finally we followed US-16A to Bismarck Lake Campground near Custer in Black Hills National Forest.

Well today had a pretty good start with a rather dry finish… I suppose another way of putting it would be, “The Great Plains strike again!” Let me start at the beginning…

Sunrise at Badlands National Park

It all started at about 4:30am for me. I didn’t quite sleep as long as I’d hoped, but I did feel OK. The eastern horizon was already alight with the impending sunrise and birds were up singing. And just like last night, except in reverse, the moon was close to setting in the west.

Since we got to bed fairly early the night before and the forecast high would likely surpass the century mark, I woke Becky. It wasn’t supposed to get truly hot until late morning or noon. If we got up now, we could do some hiking and beat the heat as well as the crowds. While Becky moseyed to the restroom and got herself ready for the day, I packed up the tent and everything inside. We might come back later to cook or take showers, but there was no need to leave the tent up since it was already bone dry. I’m proud to say I had our bedding and tent all packed up solo in 25 minutes.

Just as the sun began to peek through the clouds over the Badlands wall, I ran off and shot a panorama of the brilliant sunrise! There were some reds but mostly oranges and violets. I would have shot the moonset too, but clouds on the western horizon totally obscured it.

Saddle Pass Trail

 

Looking up the Saddle Pass Trail in Badlands National Park. Blue markers help to identify the trail amid the indistinct terrain.
Looking up the Saddle Pass Trail. Blue markers help to identify the trail amid the indistinct terrain.

We were on the road before 6am and drove the short distance to the Saddle Pass Trailhead. The temperature was comfortable for now, around 70 degrees and low humidity. The Saddle Pass Trail is short at only 1/3 mile, but it’s a steep 216-foot climb up to the top of the Badlands wall.

We were on the road before 6am and drove the short distance to the Saddle Pass Trailhead. The temperature was comfortable for now, around 70 degrees and low humidity. The Saddle Pass Trail is short at only 1/3 mile, but it’s a steep 216-foot climb up to the top of the Badlands wall.

We started up the trail around 6am. It starts out exceptionally steep and has loose gravel footing. We were nearly halfway up when Becky decided she couldn’t go any further. It was just too much for her first thing in the morning. All the literature promised 360-degree views, so I decided to continue up to the top. The view did not disappoint!

Looking south from Saddle Pass in Badlands National Park.
Looking south from Saddle Pass. The tiny black thing in the parking lot near the tree is our car!

After shooting a few photos, one of the car from all the way up on top, I headed back down. There’s a trail that runs along the top of the Badlands wall, but I didn’t check it out because I wanted to make sure Becky was OK. I was off the trail and back at the car just 45 minutes after we arrived. Becky was starting to feel better and suggested that she probably just needed something to eat to get her energy up. While I’d guess our bodies were still on our usual Eastern Time Zone schedule, it was probably just too quick of a start to the day for her.

Up to the Door/Window/Notch Trailhead

A bighorn sheep rests in morning shade north of Cedar Pass along the Badlands Loop Road in Badlands National Park.
A bighorn sheep rests in morning shade along the Badlands Loop Road on our way to the Door/Window/Notch Trailhead.

When we visited Badlands back in 2015, our only real hike here was the Door Trail. The same trailhead actually has two other trails, the super short Window Trail, and the more challenging Notch Trail. None of the three trails are particularly long, so we had plenty of time to do all three if we wanted to. The sky was crystal clear with bright sunshine now, but the temperature was still comfortable.

We made it to the parking lot around 7am, still well ahead of the crowds. We started with the Notch Trail, which is only 1.5 miles round trip. It winds through a small canyon for about 1/3 mile or so, and then there’s a ladder that takes you up to the rim so you can continue through a slightly larger canyon. We somehow missed the ladder, and realized it when the trail suddenly ended at an impasse. We could hear people just above us, so we retraced our steps. Turns out we followed a wash and went right past the ladder. It’s pretty easy to get disoriented and lose trails here! Almost all of them, including Notch, are actually marked with stakes at regular intervals so you can tell you’re going the right way.

Becky awaits my return as I hike the section of the Notch Trail above the ladder.
Becky awaits my return as I hike the section of the Notch Trail above the ladder.

A Perilous Wrong Turn

Becky took a look at the ladder and gave it a nope. I’m afraid of heights and didn’t find it at all intimidating. The easy slope and the grip of my hiking boots made it easy to walk upright the entire way.

I then made my way around the rim and came across some signs that got me confused. One said “KEEP RIGHT”, and the other was an arrow pointing at what I thought was the way to go. I’d heard the Notch Trail could be challenging, but I was surprised it would go right up this steep wash. I forgot to even look for a marker stake. Before I knew it, the wash got too steep and too loose to safely go any further—obviously a dead end!

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2017 Lite Day 3 – Roasting in the Badlands & Relief in the Black Hills

RealImaginaryWest 2017 Lite Day 2 – The Jolly Green Giant & the Big Badlands

From our motel in Madison, Wisconsin, we followed I-90 West to Badlands National Park with brief stops at Green Giant Statue Park in Blue Earth, Minnesota and The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Despite getting in late last night, I was awake at 5am. I suppose it’s always harder to sleep in a new bed. By 6:30am we were out of the motel and refueling across the street. With all of our meat still solidly frozen, there was no need to buy ice for the cooler. After Becky grabbed a coffee at Starbucks, we were back on I-90 again by 6:50.

Crossing Wisconsin & On to Minnesota

It was a beautiful morning! Last time we passed through Wisconsin, the sky was a very strange color due to forest fire smoke from way up in Alaska and Canada. This time we had magnificent sunny blue skies and good early morning light. Wisconsin is wonderfully green and pretty in summer. We’ll definitely spend more time here on some future road trip.

Since we got going early, there were no traffic problems through the often-congested Wisconsin Dells area. When we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota near LaCrosse, our chances of hitting any traffic at all dropped to almost nothing.

Overlooking the Driftless Region of Wisconsin from Jacksonville Pass on I-90 near Tomah, Wisconsin on a summer morning
Overlooking the Driftless Area of Wisconsin from Jacksonville Pass on I-90 near Tomah, Wisconsin

In the past we’d never been on I-90 across Minnesota beyond the first exit. We gradually worked our way west from Pepin along the Mississippi through heavily-wooded regions of the state. As we passed directly west this time, we noticed a significant transition in the nature of the land. After winding up the hill from the Great River and onto Minnesota’s rolling hills, it was as if all the trees were different and more sparse. The land also transitioned from mostly woodland to entirely agricultural. This dramatic change told me we were now on the Great Plains.

Cumulus clouds stretch across the sky over I-90 and prairie farmlands near Blue Earth, Minnesota.
Cumulus clouds stretch across the sky over I-90 and prairie farmlands in Minnesota.

Green Giant Statue Park & Blue Earth, Minnesota

A billboard along I-90 near Blue Earth, Minnesota encourages tourists to stop and visit their 60' Jolly Green Giant.
A billboard along I-90 encourages tourists to stop and visit the 60′ Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota.

By 10:50am we’d crossed half the state. We stopped for an early lunch in a small town called Blue Earth. Besides the town’s eccentric name, it also has a 55-foot, 8,000-pound statue of the Jolly Green Giant we have all seen on numerous Green Giant labels and television commercials. He made his first appearance at the dedication of I-90, as the very last section was completed near Blue Earth in 1978.

The Story of the Jolly Green Giant Statue

People gather at Green Giant Statue Park in Blue Earth, Minnesota to photograph a 60-foot tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant.
People gather at Green Giant Statue Park in Blue Earth, Minnesota to photograph a 60-foot tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant.

At the time, the Green Giant company operated a canning plant in Blue Earth and was headquartered 60 miles north in Le Sueur. The idea for erecting the statue to attract travelers on the new transcontinental freeway originated with local radio station owner Paul Hedberg. On his weekend program he would interview families passing through Blue Earth on US-169, providing them with samples of Green Giant vegetables. Many children inevitably asked where they could see the Jolly Green Giant. So with the company’s blessing, Mr. Hedberg assembled funding from local businesses to bring the Giant to life in time for the freeway dedication.

One year later, the Green Giant company merged with Pillsbury, and the brand has changed hands a few times throughout the years. However. another company still continues to can corn and peas at the plant in Blue Earth. And the statue attracts 10,000 annual visitors. Each year the Giant Days festival is held at the adjacent Fairbault County Fairgrounds.

Continue reading RealImaginaryWest 2017 Lite Day 2 – The Jolly Green Giant & the Big Badlands