TravelStream™ news feed for member chere on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/chere en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:37:22 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187652540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187652540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187652540/tpod.html Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:37:22 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Hometown-PA, Pennsylvania, United States

Last Day: Monday, August 20 - Toledo, OH to Hometown, PA

SUMMARY
-Rumblblblblbl...Pitter Patter Pitter Patter
-A Focused Drive
-This Trip is done for now.


DETAILS:
Rumblblblblbl...Pitter Patter Pitter Patter
The sound of thunder in the distance as we wake.
Look out the door and see the van being rained on in the early morning gloom.
Back to sleep for a bit and wait for it to blow over....

Our room at the Super 8 has been 'super'; nicely appointed and very, very quiet despite its proximity to the interstate.
Perhaps the derelict honky-tonk night club right between us and I-280 is blocking the noise?
The approach to the motel looks like something out of Mad Max; a vast nothingness with no apparent true path to follow.
This despite their sincere but inadequate landscaping efforts.
At $50 and E-Z off/on I-80/I280 we'd stay there again if the need arose.

It is still raining when we re-awake.
Local news talks about local street flooding during morning rush hour.
National weather shows a big fat storm over Ohio and moving east into PA right along our I-80 route.

A Focused Drive
Any thoughts of lingering along the way at Cuyahoga Valley National Park are considerably dampened.
Every museum listing we've read in the Tour Book for every city in Ohio says 'Closed Mondays'.
All thoughts of actually enjoying our travel back home evaporated.

It looks like we may as well knuckle down and do some exciting monsoon driving on the interstate.
Hometown PA is only a bit more than 500 miles and eight hours of driving according to Google Maps.

Off we go.....
Three stops:
one for coffee,
one for lunch, coffee and gas and
one for just gas.

Driving an interstate in the rain is like being in the Kentucky Derby.
Everyone racing down the track, jocking for position.
First one car takes the lead and then another.
It is exhausting pacing the pack in the rain.



It is just grey, grey, grey.
We avoid running into the odd invisible car or truck that does not see the need for headlights.

We avoid running into the trailer that doesn't have its brake lights hooked up.



Oh look its clearing u..... no it isn't. :(
No look, clearing....just in time to park the car in stopped traffic.

Two or three miles at a snail's pace and we get to the cranes and flashing lights picking the semis and car carriers out of the mud.

Well, at least now the road is clear....no it isn't; here comes the rain.

For about nine hours of driving.
Not so bad really.

We arrive and enjoy a reunion with Rory's mother.

This Trip is done for now.
We'll pick it back up another day.
Another day for more fun :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187526000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187526000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187526000/tpod.html Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:22:50 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Toledo, Ohio, United States

Day21 Sunday, August 19 - Sault Ste Marie, MI to Toledo, OH
Miles: 417

SUMMARY
-We Did See Colors Change. Yes, We Did!
-Just under 3 Months Might be Our Limit.

-The Haliburton Shippers of Their Day Made a Sweet Deal on the Soo Locks
-Beautiful and Reliable Water Transportation
-Back on the Road


DETAILS
We Did See Colors Change. Yes, We Did!

We are going to complete the Sault Ste Marie to Bangor leg some time in the future, probably during the ascendance of fall colors.






We saw more colors peeking through the green - promises of Trix puff balls dotting the mountainsides in the very near future.













Just under 3 Months Might be Our Limit.
So much for Canada.
Neither of us thought we'd be on the road this long - over 70 days and 10,000 miles.

Sunday morning we started talking about Sudbury's Science Center as a possible visit spot and the enthusiasm was missing.

We looked at some of the places down the road - Canada's choice wildness spots near Mattawa and didn't warm up to hiking.

Now you know something's wrong when we aren't jumping out of bed an hour early so we don't miss a hike.

It is time to go home.

We will return home by way of Rory's hometown in PA.
Rory's going to pop back to Orlando for a Wekiva Friends planning meeting and pop right back up.

We may stay with his Mother until as late as Labor Day. Whenever we head south from PA we hope to stop at Chere's sister's in Virgina for a night if they'll have us.

We can use some of the time in PA to plan for our Moab canoe trip at the end of September.

-We'll also do some yard work, paint-up, fix-up filial duty stuff.

-We'll tackle our "Missing Logs" from:
-- the California Baseboard Adventures,
-- the Pacific Coast Adventures, and
-- the Perfect 2Week Getaway From the Heat Fantasy Trip that we devised while doing the Pacific Coast. (A kind of now-that-we-know-what-we-know, here's-what-we'd-do-next-time.)


The Haliburton Shippers of Their Day Made a Sweet Deal on the Soo Locks
This morning we went into Sault Ste Marie for blueberry pancake breakfast at the Lock View restaurant right across from the visitor center. The blueberries were still big and tangy.

We visited the SOO Locks and watched a boat go through the locks.
Lake S is 20 ft higher than Lake H. It took less then 30min. Maybe less than 20min.

Prior to the locks, the St. Mary's River mile wide falls required a portage of all goods going down the river.

Once the government took over the locks, new locks were built at your and our expense to make the passage between Lakes Superior and Huron navigable.

Everytime the commercial shippers decided to make bigger ships, the government (we) built them new locks - for free!

And no fees have ever been collected to reimburse the government for this multi-million dollar commercial service.

It wasn't new then. It isn't new now.

The Army Corps of Engineers exhibits were non-linear.
Actually, though full of content, there was no apparent coordination in the layout of the material.
That is to say, confusing in their presentation.


Beautiful and Reliable Water Transportation
One of the more interesting items on display was a recently constructed birch bark canoe.



The trick is getting it out the door and onto the roof racks without alerting homeland security.





Back on the Interstates
We spent the rest of the day heading south on I-75.
Heavy traffic on the minus side, constant cell phone reception on the plus side.

So we did get to cross the Mackinac Bridge. Pretty darn high.
This journey was pleasantly uneventful.
We did a poor job of manifesting a coffee shack but we did somehow manage to find strong coffee and pasties on the way.

We would never have picked the Super 8 at exit 1B on I-280 for its curb appeal.
We found it in the AAA tour book and the price was right.
Our room is pretty darn good so we sleep well tonight.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187493420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187493420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187493420/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:01:51 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, United States

Day20 Saturday, August 18 - Marquette, MI to Sault Ste Marie, MI
Miles: 239


SUMMARY
-Lake Superior - Clear Water and Chilly!
--Where'd Everyone Go?

-Michigan - Lakes and Waterfalls
-Are Those Trees Really Turning Color?
-The Shores of Lake Michigan

-The Loooong Mackinac Bridge
-St. Ignace Busy with Ferry Boaters and Tourists


DETAILS
Lake Superior - Clear Water and Chilly!
The day started out bright, cool and breezy.
We were on the road bright and early by 11:15 AM. (ha!)

MI-28 was plenty scenic but was not giving us the views of Lake Superior that we'd anticipated.
We were mostly seeing forests and fields.
A sharp turn to the north and we were driving along the lake shore with a seemingly endless blue lake.

We pulled off at one of the many roadside stops and took a short walk down to the beach.
A summer weekend, one of the last before school starts, and a deserted beach; this seemed odd to us.

Chere reported that the water was plenty cold when she waded in.

We've seen other cold water beaches with plenty of wet suit clad board sailors or surfers or kayakers so this was not really a reason.




Besides being cold, the waters were wonderfully clear.
The sandy beaches were clean with small dunes and grasses growing down to the surf line.
Low forested cliffs set off the coves.


Where'd Everyone Go?

We began to notice that the lakeside towns and villages did not seem very active either.
Many had empty stores; closed up with for sale signs.








We made it to Munising by 1pm and found a nice café with a view of the water and the tour boats heading to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The café was busy enough but there were not all that many people walking on the streets.












We collected some maps of the National Seashore from the tourist office and went to find a couple of their easy walk waterfalls and overlooks.


Michigan - Tons of Lakes and Waterfalls
There were some folks on these trails and the triple parkings at one of the beachside overlooks was big enough to make us think that it must get pretty busy once in a while.

The forest we walked through was made up of American Beech, Yellow Birch and Sugar Maple with an understory of yew.

There was a pleasant spicy scent to the place that we could not identify.
The hilly ridge we walked along had been deposited by a glacial river.








We spent only an hour or two in the park checking out the waterfalls and overlooks.



The National Lakeshores of Superior seem like they would be most fun to explore by boat in summer or cross country skiing in winter.








We are under the impression that Superior freezes solid in winter. If so, this would be something to see.

Would kayakers and canoers would be bothered by too many motor boats and would the XC skiers have to look out for snow mobiles?


Back in Munising we fortified ourselves with double cappuccinos togo and headed south for Hwy2 along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Plenty of open country with facilities for the outdoors enthusiasts but not too much going on.
More closed signs in the restaurant/gift shop windows than open signs.


Are Those Trees Really Turning Color?
We began to notice that some of the trees were showing a hint and sometimes more than a hint of fall color.

Is it really so late?
Some of this early (if it is early up here) color could be coming from other stresses such as a lack of rainfall.


The Shores of Lake Michigan
The views of Lake Michigan from US-2 were even better than those of Lake Superior.

The water was even a little warmer.

We spoke to a fellow from Ohio who has been coming up here for years as a child and now was coming with his children.
He said the beach was comfortably warm until a couple days ago when a cool front moved in.


It was fun to look at the lake shore vegetation and near shore vegetation and compare it to what we've seen back in Florida and on our Pacific Coast trip.
The vegetation looks mostly the same but lacks the salt shear of the marine environment.


The Loooong Mackinac Bridge
One of our objectives was to get a photo of the Mackinac Bridge, one of the world's longest.




The state provided overlook allowed a photo of only half the bridge.
Trees had grown up and in the way of a picture.



Fortunately we had found a spot on a side road with a view of the whole bridge.









This bridge connects the lower peninsula with the upper and carries I-75 to its terminus in Sault Ste Marie.

We'd been watching the sky all day. Started out clear.
By 1pm we had high cirrus clouds turning the sky gray with larger cumulus floating under them.
This was over us.
Over Superior the sky had been noticeably clearer.

As we moved south across the peninsula, so did the edge of the cloud cover.
One reason Michigan looked better was that the skies were clearing.

Now they were decorated with high wispy horsetails.
The temperature had never risen above the mid sixties and now it was growing noticeably cooler.
Chere was glad to pull on her trusty wool shirt.

No hint of Fall color on the Lake Michigan (south) side of the UP (Upper Peninsula) but Fall is definitely in the air.


St. Ignace Busy with Ferry Boaters and Tourists
The town of St. Ignace sits at the UP (upper peninsula) end of the bridge and is the ferry landing for the very touristy Mackinac Island
.
We had continued to see closed restaurants and other businesses on US-2 as we approached St. Ignace.
It was getting on to 7pm and we wondered if we'd find a place to dine before heading to our hotel.


Downtown St Ignace was busy enough and we found another friendly café.

Dessert was something new, oatmeal pie.
Flavored with coconut and maple syrup, one piece warmed up and a la mode was plenty of surgary goodness to split for the two of us.





We were on I-75 by a little after 8pm and in our hotel at Sault Ste Marie by 9:30pm.
We'd traveled 239 miles zig sagging across the eastern end of the UP.

Now we have to figure out our plans for Canada.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187359920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187359920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187359920/tpod.html Sat, 18 Aug 2007 10:17:42 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Marquette, Michigan, United States

Day19 Friday, August 17 - Superior, WI to Marquette, MI
Miles: 335


SUMMARY
-Sometimes "Cranky" is Just in the Air
-A Beautiful Morning Gets Even Better
-Duluth Vortex Wins...For Good ...This Time

-The Temperature High is 75.
-A Glimpse of Apostle Islands Activities makes us Put it on the "Gotta Come Back" List.
-Pasty Virgins

-Puttering Down the Road to Our Lodging
-Tomorrow's Plan


DETAILS
Sometimes "Cranky" is Just in the Air
The Superior Inn had a heated pool and whirlpool.

Parents were taking their children down there as late as ten PM so there was a certain amount of tired, whiney activity in the halls as we got ready for bed.

The promised WiFi was s.l.o.o.o.w.w but did work sort of OK so there was a certain amount of tired, whiney activity in the room before we went to bed.


A Beautiful Morning Gets Even Better
We woke to a beautiful morning
Chere worked on her journal from the hotel breakfast lobby.

Rory went in search of eyeglass repair.
One of the nose pads on his spectacles had gone missing so everything looked just a little more cockeyed than usual.

The eyeglass place had just opened and was unencumbered by customers so the woman behind the counter was able to fix the specs right away.

"No charge."


Duluth Vortex Wins...For Good ...This Time











We would be heading through Wisconsin and into Michigan on our way to Canada.
Time to bring up the eastern Tour Books and get rid of the western versions.

The eastern books have somehow disappeared so a trip back to Duluth and the AAA office is called for.

On the way to the office we cross under a bridge prominently marked as being on the Skyline Parkway.
Can you hear the Skyline chuckling at our effort to find Duluth's scenic highway last night?

We decide to give driving the parkway one more try.
This proves to be more frustrating than it is worth.

This scenic route is not one continuous road.
Signage from the end of one segment to the beginning of the next is not that great.
After being dropped into Duluth for the third time we gave up.
It was noon by now and we headed into Wisconsin.


The Temperature High is 75.
We went off US-2 onto WI-13 to visit the scenic 'Northernmost' Wisconsin area.
It was very pretty.
The temperature never got over 75.

The sky was clear, deep blue; attended by small flocks of puffy white clouds like a child would draw over a happy valley.

We enjoyed looking at the picturesque hay barns, clapboard houses and churches, fields and woodlots.

Somehow we never managed to take any pictures. Sorry!


A Glimpse of Apostle Islands Activities makes us Put it on the "Gotta Come Back" List.
It was late afternoon by the time we came to Bayfield.
What a pretty little tourist town.
Right on Lake Superior.

The hub for all activities in the Apostle Islands National Seashore.
They even have a Chautauqua coming soon.

People were beginning to arrive for the weekend.
The folks at the park's welcome station were talking about dealing with crowded ferries to the islands.

We figured we'd move on rather than frustrate ourselves looking for accommodations at a popular destination so late in the day.

It was four o'clock and the cars were streaming in as we drove out of town.
This is an area we will have to come back to.


Pasty Virgins
We called ahead to Marquette, Michigan and made a hotel reservation.
We then settled in to about 200 miles of scenic highways.

RoadTripUSA advised us to notice and try the local food called "pasty" (rhymes with "nasty" and try to hang on the vowel a bit).

From the book we learned the cornish pasty, quintessential miner food, was introduced to Copper country 100+ years ago by immigrant Cornish miners.


These dense, baked crust-pockets stuffed with minced meat and veggies, are ubiquitous in UP cafes and restaurants.

He suggested pasties from Joe's Pasty Shop in Ironwood serving since 1946.
We arrived at Joe's new location drive-thru window just ten minutes before closing.

Telling our window server that we didn't know anything about pastys, she was sorry to say the only version left was the "Traditional" (meat& veggies -either with or without onions).
Lucky us!

These packed crusts took two hands to hold.
The crust was thinner than the typical pocket bread or pizza/calzones bread. It was soft but not flaky.
The bulging bits of meat and mini-cubed potatoes were seasoned lightly and cooked through without being mush.
Very nice meal and easy to handle in the car.


Puttering Down the Road to Our Lodging
We turned off US-2 and onto MI-28.
Somewhere along there we crossed into the eastern time zone.
So the sun was still high in the sky at eight thirty as we passed through the quiet little cross road towns of the upper peninsula.

It was almost spooky.
Clusters of cars and trucks around the taverns - but no one was visible outside.

It was dark when we got into the Birchmont Motel.
Our room overlooks Lake Superior - the world's largest fresh water lake - and even has a little deck.

Tomorrow's Plan
Michigan's Upper Peninsula (we will call it UP and its populace 'youpers') is about 400 miles long.
Our Road Trip book recommends we pick one of two paths of beauty through it, US-2 or MI-28.
We are going to try to do both.

From our current location at Marquette we can drive MI-28 along the south shore of Lake Superior.
MI-28 leaves the shore to head more or less directly to Sault Ste Marie at Munising.

We will go south from there join US-2 where it meets the northern shore line of Lake Michigan.
We'll follow that to its end at St. Ignace and then bomb up I-75 to our hotel in Sault Ste Marie.
We will only added about 50 miles to the trip by doing this.

US-2 takes a break in St. Ignace.
We will cross through Canada and pick up US-2 when it starts up again in New England.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187321100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187321100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187321100/tpod.html Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:30:55 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Superior, Wisconsin, United States

Day18: Thursday, August 16 - Grand Rapids, MN to Superior, WI
Miles:143


SUMMARY
-Let's Tour a Paper Plant - but first? Pie!
-And Now - Blandin Paper Mill Tour /cue trumpets

-Time to Come Back to 1900 and be a Lumberjack, eh?
-Frank Lloyd Wright's Only Gas Station Design

-Duluth Vortex Wins....This Time


DETAILS
Let's Tour a Paper Plant - but first? Pie!
Well rested and continental breakfasted with bananas, we were out in time for a morning tour of local Blandin Paper mill.

The friendly folks at the mill said that they were delaying the tours for a planned evacuation drill.

"Can you come back at 11:30?"
"Sure - could you recommend a local place to get good pie while we wait?"

With a discreet look at their waistlines, the fellows appeared to be the right people to ask for good pie directions - and they were.

Off to Air Espresso Café on US-2 just east of the court house, we had some healthful chicken salad stuffed in tomatoes and split a piece of blueberry pie.
The blueberries were huge and very flavorful.

Without the tip from the Blandin folks, we would never have noticed this cafe.
Since it was a tiny café sharing the half the space of a small building with a no-brand gas station, we might not have gone to it even if we had seen it.


And Now - Blandin Paper Mill Tour /cue trumpets
The tour was a real 'walk em out on the production floor to see the paper run and have em talking to real workers' kind of factory tour.

The guides were retired, career plant workers.
One was a millright. We do not recall what the others did but they'd seen a lot of changes.
One fellow started in 1958.
He saw the mill go from a single local proprietor ownership by Mr. Blandin to the current Finland based ownership by International Conglomerate.

He watched as automation reduced the work force from about 1500 to less than 500 while plant production increased from 1200 feet per minute to 6000 feet per minute.

And those 6000 feet was of a higher quality paper with much much less loss due to error.

The fellas readily admitted they were pretty sure no one would even want to buy the quality of paper they used to produce.



The machinery was all appropriately huge with many moving parts just screaming along.

Everyone on the tour was required to wear eye protection and sound reduction/intercom headphones. That way we could screen out some of the machine noise and still hear our tour guide.

The overhead cranes and huge rolls of paper reminded Rory of the Bethlehem Steel Mills but cleaner and cooler.

Seeing the big production line made Chere a bit wistful for the newspaper plant and the mail production plant - especially as she watched them stop the line to put out and clean up a fire.


Time to Come Back to 1900 and be a Lumberjack, eh?















We left the mill and headed over to the Forest History Center.
Lots of hands on stuff in the museum and the logging camp re-creation is terrific.

There are actually three re-creations from three different time periods all staffed by period interpreters ready to explain all about the North Woods lives of these laborers.

Besides a 1900 winter logging camp, we saw a 1901 wanigan (floating cook shack) used during log log dirves as well as a 1933 forest service lookout.

The interpreters were in character for the time without being creepy about it.


We left the museum when it closed at five PM and went back into Grand Rapids for a nice little meal in a lakeside restaurant.


It was a good day spent in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Do we love Minnesota? 'You bet!"
Everyone we met was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what they were doing.

We headed east for another late afternoon drive, this time to the Duluth area.
Using the cell phone, Chere found us a place to stay just past Duluth in Superior, WI.

We planned two side trips on the way.


Frank Lloyd Wright's Only Gas Station Design











The first took us down to Cloquet to view the only Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station ever built.
Suffice to say that it has seen better days.

The cantilevered design of the roof over the pumps is very stylish.
There is a glass enclosed second story that reminds one of a control tower.
It would make a nifty little café.

The more modern but equally run down modern gas pumps with their overhead lights and modern tower signs do nothing to improve the original design.


Duluth Vortex Wins....This Time
We were going to try to drive a scenic 'Skyline Loop' looking over Duluth and Lake Superior but we got sucked into another vortex on I-35.

We survived and re-materialized just north of Duluth on the lake shore near the far end of the scenic route.

A little hunting and we found some signs showing the start of the drive.
It was growing dark and the little signs were getting hard to see.

We hoped that once we got up on the hills with the views that the lake and the lights of the city would still be pretty, even in the dark.
One more set back and we were done.

Road closed to through traffic signs paired with those yellow diamond squiggly arrow 20 MPH signs that tell you progress may be picturesque but it sure will be slow.

It was eight thirty at night, the crescent moon was up, and we headed in to our hotel in Superior, WI.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187365500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187365500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187365500/tpod.html Fri, 17 Aug 2007 23:04:15 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Grand Rapids, Minnesota, United States

Day17 Wednesday, August 15 - Grand Forks, SD to Grand Rapids, MN

Miles: 262


SUMMARY
-Lodging Worked Out Fine
-Another Walk along Red River of the North

-Fertile Ground & Flying Fun
-Famous Maid-Right Sandwich and Pie

-Bemidji Vortex
-Manifesting the Path We Should Take


DETAILS
Lodging Worked Out Fine
America's Best Value Inn turned out to be OK.

Seemed a little noisy at bed time.
Mysterious mechanical whirring noises permeated the place.

An 11:00 PM pizza delivery with running up and down the hall and a loud beater car with its loud beater engine and louder stereo blasting over the loud beater engine left running outside our window.

We fell asleep right after that and slept soundly.


Another Walk along Red River of the North













We left the hotel at noon and went back down to East Grand Forks in Minnesota for lunch.

We visited the Cabellas with thoughts of buying a tent but none of the tents grabbed us.
They did have some discount clothes so we got a couple of small deals there.
A plug-in cooler that might fit between our front seats also caught our eye for further consideration.


Walking around the riverfront area we noticed that the decorative walls were integrated with the levee system.

Every roadway and pathway showed an accommodation for installing a barrier in the gap to complete the flood barriers.

Just upstream and on the wet side of the levee they have established a state recreation area able to absorb future flooding.

Hope their plan works during the next big melt.


Fertile Ground & Flying Fun
All this commercial development is on old Route 2 so we just headed east when we were done.

Both sides of the road were devoted to agriculture except for a few areas of the Glacier Ridge National Wildlife Refuge which were being restored as natural prairie.

The terrain was flat and remained so until we reached the 10,000 lakes region around Bemidji. Besides corn, hay and sunflowers we were now seeing acres of a low, leafy vegetable.

Dixie crystal silos were replacing grain elevators as the notable road side buildings so we guess these were all sugar beets.

Wherever we say exposed soil, it was black and rich looking, not the parched brown of further west.


We saw some amazing flying.
A crop duster coming and going low right over US-2 in front of us.
"Do we open the windows and let him through?"

Right over us and everyone on the road
then down low above the crops, hit the spray,
THEN under the high tension wires and around the trees;
up and around and back the other way.
Amazing, no?


Famous Maid-Right Sandwich and Pie

We got to Bemidji at nearly five in the afternoon. Barely time enough to get a famous local Maid-Right Sandwich and their equally famous rhubarb pie.

The sandwich is steamed hamburger meat with mustard (never ketchup, never, never, NEVER!) on a white hamburger roll.

It was just as tasty good as it sounds.



The rhubarb pie was excellent. Good crust.
Tart, not too sweet filling.
No frightening artificial colors.
Well priced if a little puny.

We've had enough pie on this trip that we can afford to split a small piece and avoid further splitting our trousers.


Bemidji Vortex













The Road Trip USA book recommended that on the way to Grand Rapids, MN, we should use the more scenic Great River Road instead of plain old US-2.

We got a map from the tourist information folks and set out to follow the complicated new route.

The Great River Road is a federal scenic by-way that uses any and all roads in order to trace the route of the Mississippi.

A half an hour after we started we were passing the tourist office we had just left.


We were caught in the Bemidji Vortex and had circled Lake Bemidji.
























We swapped driver and navigator.

Made another attempt to escape Bemidji and after some false starts seemed to be on our way.


Manifesting the Path We Should Take
We were still unsure of the route but determined that if we were on the right path, county road 33 would be coming up.

We decided that we would 'manifest' route 33.

We commenced to manifesting just as hard as we could with grunts and groans and sweating brows and much laughing.

Up ahead...
A road.

'What is it?'
'Route 25?! '
'You are not manifesting hard enough. We need a 33 not a 25. Manifest harder!'

Sure enough, 33 came along just where it was supposed to be.

This manifesting stuff is working great. :)


Scenic Roads Add Time but Add Enjoyment





















The scenic route from Bemidji into Grand Rapids adds about 25 miles to the 70 miles between the two cities.

The roads were only a little slower and had the benefit of being almost traffic free.
In the golden glow of late afternoon, early evening, the scenery was very restful.

We were now into the mixed deciduous forests of the north woods.
Moist and green.
Very easy on the eyes.

We rolled into our Grand Rapids motel just as the sun sank below the horizon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187362260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187362260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187362260/tpod.html Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:13:22 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States

Day16 Tuesday, August 14 - Minot, ND to Grand Forks, SD
Miles: 225

SUMMARY
-Excuse Me, is Your Van Wearing a Fur Coat?
-Nordic Pride in Minot, ND

-US Geographic Center is in Rugby, ND .../stifles yawn
-Sunflowers Just Make You Happy

-Lodging Too Good to be True...?
-Grand Forks Flooding and Whitey's



DETAILS
Excuse Me, is your Van Wearing a Fur Coat?
Catch up with blogging kept us late in our hotel but we were eating brunch at Ebenezer's Irish Pub in Minot by 11am.

The front of the Van has begun to actually look fuzzy from the many layers of bug carcasses plastered to it.

Last night coming into Minot, it sounded just like we were driving through a rainstorm for all of the bug/windshield impacts.

Trying to see through the bug smeared windshield this morning made us realize we really needed a car wash.

Rory worried that the loose bits of faring from the East Glacier bear accident might come off in the car wash.

Luckily, everything held together and the van certainly did look the better for the effort.



Nordic Pride in Minot, ND

























Minot is a center of Scandinavian settlement in the U.S.

An upsurge of 'Nordic Pride' and community spirit in just the past 20 years has caused a beautiful little park to be built.
We spent the early afternoon in Minot at the Scandinavian Heritage Park.

Beautiful replicas of Norwegian dwellings and a church as well as other Scandinavian imagery and buildings.

It reminded Rory of things he'd seen in Norway back in 1976; just no snow.


US Geographic Center is in Rugby, ND .../stifles yawn













Back on the road heading east, we had no major stops in mind.

Clean windows gave us a new appreciation for the scenery even though the day was cloudy grey, promising rain somewhere.

The fields were noticeably greener than anything we'd seen since eastern Washington.


The Geographic center of the continent just does not pack the impact that the various geographic extremes do.

We recalled spending hours watching the sun set at the farthest north west corner of the lower 48 states.

Today we drove up, snapped a picture out the window then went for coffee and a cookie near by.

It was a very good cookie.


Sunflowers Just Make You Happy
























Besides hay we've seen big fields of green corn and sunflowers.

The cloudy day must have kept the sunflowers turned to the east waiting to see the sun. Normally they track the sun, but not today.
Still, acres and acres of sunflowers just makes you want to laugh.
An amazing sight.


Lodging Too Good to be True...?
We were in Grand Forks by 5:30 that afternoon and booked into a very inexpensive motel chain called "America's Best Value Inn". Chere's sister had tried one in Orlando and it
worked out pretty well.

WiFi, laundromat, clean, safe, quiet - only $38 bucks.

We've paid more for some of our hostel stays.

Of course we were holding our breath until we had checked our room; we've been let down before.
The people seem friendly and the place looks great.
We had high hopes that this works out and might become a chain to watch for on the road.


Grand Forks Flooding and Whitey's
We went into downtown Grand Forks and crossed the river into East Grand Forks, MN to eat local walleye at Whitey's.

Whitey's is a new building filled with the stainless steel bar and other salvaged furnishings from a landmark of the area, the original Whitey's.

The original Whitey's and a lot of other property was destroyed in the great floods (and subsequent fires) that plagued the Mississippi and its tributaries back in the snow melt of 1997.
The river at fault here is the Red River of the North; the boundary between ND and MN.

The area seems to be recovering though some city blocks were obviously razed and have yet to be rebuilt.
Trendy businesses like sports bars, restaurants and a big Cabella's have also moved in. It is a beautiful reconstruction of river front property - encouraging pedestrian use via riverwalks
and jogging paths.
Looks like the people of Grand Forks are making the most of it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187060700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187060700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187060700/tpod.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:49:11 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Minot, North Dakota, United States

Day15: Monday, August 13 - Malta, MT to Minot, ND
Miles: 371


SUMMARY
-An Anniversary Remembered ....and Missed :(
-/Waves Goodbye to Montana
-Montana Speed Limits are a Personal Choice

-All We All under One God in Montana?
-Montana Gives Road Repair a Macho Image
-Montana Seems to have a Love Affair with Bricks

-Amazing Ft Peck - Dam, Power Plant and Museum
-And Wait! There's Even More in Ft Peck...
-Facing the Rockies after Traveling the Plains.

-Never Ending Montana Landscape.
-How Can you See America if You are Driving at Night?


DETAILS
An Anniversary Remembered ....and Missed :(
If it is our wedding anniversary that means we should start checking the tropical weather updates for storms heading toward central Florida.
And in fact today is the 2nd anniversary of our wedding and Hurricane Charley's march across Florida.

Rory surprised Chere with a brand new 'Pie for Strength' coffee cup from the Park Cafe.
This is the perfect anniversary gift for Chere - an avid coffee drinker and newly converted Pie-for-Strength devotee, it even serves as a momento of our first roadtrip.

Chere, unfortunately, was oblivious to our anniversary.
Not because she scoffs at our relationship - Nay! Nay!

The only plausible excuse is the rhythm of this car trip.
Calendar dates and even time of day has been absent from Chere's life.
Her old structured life of living by a calendar and a clock has been tossed out - and with it some of the truly meaningful calendar dates that deserve remembrance.

/Chere hangs her head in shame.
Rory deserves better.


/Waves Goodbye to Montana
Moving from Montana soon...
Never was to be a dental floss tycoon...
...sincerest apologies to Frank Zappa

We figured we'd find ourselves nearly out of Montana today.
We lingered over breakfast and hotel wifi in an effort to catch up our logs.

Montana Speed Limits are a Personal Choice
Up until the mid70s oil crisis, Montana had speed limits that simply said "reasonable and prudent".
Since 1999, the speed limit on the two lane roads is stated as 70 MPH.

Traffic is very, very light and the views down the road tend to be straight and long so 70mph seems to work out OK most of the time.
Based on how many go around us at 70mph, some locals have not embraced the new speed limits.


All We All under One God in Montana?
In Montana, right after you see the first 70 MPH speed limit sign on the two lane roads, you begin to notice that they still use the Christian Cross to mark deaths on the highways.
Lots of them.
We saw one array of six at a single location.

This gives one pause.
We must assume that these crosses are pressed into service for the occasional atheist, Jew, Zoroastrian or Animist.


Montana Gives Road Repair a Macho Image
In Montana, when they want to repair a road they just tear out the old road completely before they begin installing the new road way.
The compacted dirt is good enough for us to drive on.

We ran into a 10 or 15 mile stretch of US-2 like this on the west side of the Rockies.
This was in the twilight.
With no other cars around and no construction workers and only a few traffic barrels to mark the way it was kind of spooky.

We ran into another 2 or 3 mile stretch in the city of Havre.
The local paper even reported on it saying, basically, expect delays driving out of town on US-2.
That's it.
Suck it up.

Back in Florida our soft sands require that a temporary road be built paralleling the road being built.
Montanans must think Floridians are sissies.


Montana Seems to have a Love Affair with Bricks













In Montana, at least eastern Montana, many of the Main Street buildings are made of brick.
The buildings themselves seem to have the same general architectural outlines.

The brickwork is noticeably varied.
Red bricks, tan bricks, black bricks.
Fat bricks.
Long, skinny, flat bricks.
Glazed, polychrome bricks.
Bricks arranged in chevrons and rows of soldiers.
Basket weaves and patterns that would give a wood worker's parquetry good competition.

The motel in Shelby was made up of several one story modules lining a city street on a hillside.
Each module itself was fairly plain and ordinary.
Each module did have a brick wall setting it off from the road and each wall was made of a different brick laid in a different pattern.


Amazing Ft Peck - Dam, Power Plant and Museum
We stopped at the Ft. Peck Dam to see the visitor center.
We were just in time to get onto the guided tour of the power plant.













The dam itself is something like the largest earthen dam going and was built as a public works project during the Depression.
The visitors center has a good history of what this was like.

The visitors center also had a museum with some excellent fossil displays of fossil found during the dam excavation.
Full dinosaurs were dug up while the dam was being excavated.




















And Wait! There's Even More in Ft Peck...
Ft. Peck has a summer theater.
West Side Story closed on August 12 and The Nerd was not due to open until August 17th so we did not stick around to catch any eastern Montana summer stock.


Facing the Rockies after Traveling the Plains.
It is impossible to leave the foothills of the Rockies and move across the flat plains without thinking of the wagon trains heading west.

They'd been crossing the (mostly) flat plains.
Not an easy journey but one the truly appreciated after they took a look at the massive Rockies.

I know they used mountain passes. But still, what heartbreak.

To be so tired, so travel worn, so lonely for home after so many months of dangerous travel and then to look up and have to face a seemingly endless ridge of snow capped mountains.
Such courage they had.
Such strength.


Never Ending Montana Landscape.










One thing about Montana is that there sure is a lot of it.
We hope the acres and acres covered with hay bales mean some kind of prosperity for the folks around here.
Crossing the prairie has been described in the same terms as crossing the sea.

There is a sameness to what you see.
We did not find it boring or tedious.
It is certainly not flat with many steep hills causing the cruise control to drop into lower gears at gas guzzling higher rpms.

The landscape can be thought provoking, especially when one crosses Native American reservation lands.


How Can you See America if You are Driving at Night?
We reached Culbertson, just inside Montana, in good time.
It was early and it did not seem like either of the two motels had WiFi so we thought we'd cross into North Dakota and get a motel in Williston.










According to a local woman at the Culbertson coffee shack (yay! We found a cute coffee shack), Culbertsonians regularly drive the 40 plus miles to Williston to shop.

Crossing into North Dakota from Montana we also crossed into the Central Time Zone so it we lost another hour.
It turned out that there were no rooms available in Williston. 'Rats!'
We called ahead to Minot and got a confirmed booking.

Secure in knowing we had a room in the next city, we picked up a light supper in Williston and then hit the road about 8:30 PM.
The sun did not set until 9:00 or so and a gloomy twilight lasted until well after 9:30.
Smoke from the eighteen or more fires in Montana made the setting sun a dim, glowing red ball well above the horizon.

We ended up driving at night which sort of defeats our purpose of seeing America.
What we did see made us wonder if North Dakota is better off than Montana.
US-2 was now a four lane highway though seemingly just as lightly traveled.
More oil wells.
The fields looked a little greener though still plenty dry.

Minot is our biggest city since Spokane.
Tomorrow we will see what it has to offer.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1186931100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1186931100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1186931100/tpod.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:08:25 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Malta, Montana, United States

Day14: Sunday, August 12 - Shelby, MT to Malta, MT
Miles: 226


SUMMARY
-Good Morning Start...We Thought
-Just Missed the Buffalo Jump Tour
-Train Watching from US2

-The Last Stand of the Nez Perce
-Sacred Ground
-Malta for the Night


DETAILS
Good Morning Start...We Thought
It was a short two or three blocks down to the main street of Shelby where we found The Griddle serving a fine breakfast.
Chere declared the biscuit maker a master at their craft.

Rory stomach and early morning eggs have not been a good thing. He ordered Huevos Rancheros without the huevos.
Hash browns rancheros?
Anyway it was pretty good and didn't mess with his stomach.

With over a week's worth of e-mails and phone stuff to catch up on we took advantage of the hotels wi-fi until the 11am check out time.


Just Missed the Buffalo Jump Tour
We planned our first stop to be in Havre at the Wahkpa Chu Buffalo Jump.
It seemed early to us at 1:30pm, but the last tour had been led out a half an hour before we arrived.

From the entry overlook we could see the lay of the land and how the Indians would have stampeded the bison over the cliff.
Probably got them started over by the WalMart and then pushed them across US-2 between the old shopping center and the gas stations.
We will have to leave a closer inspection to whenever we next visit Havre.


Train Watching from US2
US-2 is pretty much right beside the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (nee Great Northern) railroad tracks.
We'd be driving 60 or 70 miles an hour and it would take us several minutes to go by the oncoming freight trains.
We never did measure how many miles long any of them were. They seemed to go on forever.

At one point, the AmTrack that we'd left at the station in Shelby caught up to us and passed us.
We were doing 65 or 70.
The train must have been doing 90.
About a a quarter mile away on the prairie and exactly parallel to us, it looked like a great way to cover the country.


The Last Stand of the Nez Perce
We went sixteen miles south US-2 at Chinook to visit the Chief Joseph Bear Paw Battlefield National Historic Park.
The remote country road gave us very good views of unspoiled country side and made the busier US-2 look absolutely metropolitan.

It was well into the afternoon. Plenty dry and plenty hot.
Hot enough to make us walk slow and help keep our spirits low at this somber location.

Manifest destiny manifested itself with the help of the US Army, artillery and automatic weapons.
About 700 Nez Perce, led by Joseph and other chiefs, had stayed ahead of the army for 1700 miles.

They were only about 40 miles from refuge in Canada when they made their camp in a protected and fertile area.
Exhausted, starving and freezing, they thought they'd rest and resupply before their final crossing over to safety.

They were confident they were ahead of the army chasing them. They were totally unaware that a second column had been dispatched to head them off.

About 600 of them were women, children and the elderly.


Sacred Ground
Today the battlefield is kept as sacred ground.
The brochure included the known history as well as recollections from children who had been in the battle.

Steel survey pins mark significant locations such as where a particular lodge was or where a warrior was killed.
Many of these spots are adorned with offerings: coins, feathers, bundles, animal bones, beads.
We did not take any photos here.


Malta for the Night
Back on the road we drove until we reached Malta and stayed at the Maltana Motel.
The GN Hotel a block away provided an OK dinner.
We slept well enough once the folks in the other rooms got their ponies bedded down.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187270760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187270760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/chere/us_rt2_wa_to_me/1187270760/tpod.html Thu, 16 Aug 2007 09:35:59 -0400 Traveling from Washington State to Maine via US Route2 without a schedule.

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Shelby, Montana, United States

Day13: Saturday, August 11 - Many Glacier, MT to Shelby, MT - Farewell to the Rockies
Miles: 138


SUMMARY
-Oh no... Not Again ...?
-Just One More Turn Around the Lake...
-Just One More Pie...

-Just One More Climb up a Mountain...
-Just One More Waterfall...
-We Fortify in East Glacier before Heading East.

-On the Road and Connected Again
-Smokey but Clear Skies, Clear Highway - Civilization Returns
-Foot Pains to be Tended

-Life is Back to Normal


DETAILS
Oh no... Not Again ...?
Pitter

Pitter

Patter...
Pitter Patter
"Uh oooh!"

Stimulated to take another late night old guy walk, Rory sees only wisps of clouds and many stars in the sky.
The brilliant Milky Way in a truly dark sky is a rare treat.
If we were able to keep our eyes open at night we could have done some star gazing.
Whatever caused the sprinkle on the tent is gone or perhaps it was just dew shaking off of a tree.
Rory crawls back into the warm sleeping bag to snooze until sunup.

It was chilly and bright when we broke camp.
We'd save breakfast for later but did buy some hot coffee at the camp store.


Just One More Turn Around the Lake...
We lingered in Many Glacier for the duration of a quick two mile level stroll around Swift Current Lake.


We were treated to good views of the surrounding mountains and the Many Glacier Hotel, especially from the wooden foot bridges while looking down the rocky streambeds.


Every time we see one of these rocky, empty streambeds, we talk about coming back to see them rip and snort during the springtime snow melt.










Maybe next trip we can follow the Spring as it melts the snow in the Rockies from South to North.
















Just One More Pie...
With sad regrets, we stop one last time at the Park Café for brunch.












The last pie is the fresh strawberry cold pie.
Sweet strawberries bigger than golf balls.
Just enough sugar to sweeten the berry.
Crust so flaky and light it can be blown off the pie with a puff of breath.
Farewell sweet, sweet Park Café.












Farewell heavenly homemade pies.
Please be here when we return.


Just One More Climb up a Mountain...
It was another beautiful day in the park.
Skys were very clear.
Chere suggested yesterday and Rory concurred that we should take the opportunity for one more hike.
We would drive down 'Danger Road', MT-49, down to Two Medicine Lake for a walk before rejoining US-2 at East Glacier Park.

We started about just after lunch walking thru spruce forests and mountain meadows.
We stopped at the Two Medicine lakeshore for just a minute.

Too bad we are walking at the wrong time to see much wildlife.
Will have to come back here some time and just sit still at twilight.

Aster falls is a smaller than those we've seen but a very sincere waterfall.













We had it to ourselves for a while.
It was attended by its own personal Water Ouzel or Dipper.
Each falls has one of these amusing birds claiming it.

Aster Park overlook is 600 feet above the falls.







The trail is only half a mile long.
This makes it much steeper if shorter than yesterday's hike to the glacier.
Rory marches on up while Chere needs to take her time on the ascent.

The climb is rewarded with a good view of the surrounding mountains and valley.
Back down the mountain and through the meadows .
We've walked another four or five miles.


Just One More Waterfall...
One last stop on the way out to see Running Eagle falls.
This is also called Surprise Falls.
The surprise is that the falls drops out of the cliff not over it.
Looks like something a fancy hotel would try to fake but without looking fake.

Easily accessible, this is another perfect spot to linger with small ones and play in the rocks and the water.
But it really is now time to go.


We Fortify in East Glacier before Heading East.
Our first choice of restaurant does not have a very appealing menu so we give our apologies and leave.
The Road Book recommends a Mexican place called Serranno's.

We drive up to see a huge line outside. It is five o'clock and they have not yet opened.
Locals assure us they will open soon and there will be plenty of room; they are right.

The patio is pleasant and food and service are very good.
We eat way too much but leave room to split a Huckleberry Carrot Cake - woot!


On the Road and Connected Again
Leaving East Glacier, passing through Browning, we begin to hit cell phone service. It is spotty but it is there.
T-mobile simply does not work anywhere within or near Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Rory asked a biker near the Park who was using a cell phone which carrier was working.
'Verizon, man! I've made calls all over.'


Smokey but Clear Skies, Clear Highway - Civilization Returns
The prairies are dry.
The skies are getting steely colored.

Many prairie fires have been reported and we can see a few smoke clouds.
Nothing very thick and not in our path.

The fields are fenced and we see many ponies and cows.
Some have managed to escape the fences so we drive with caution.
The road is now open and straight.

We pass through Cut Bank before calling ahead to Shelby for a room at the O'Haire Manor.














Pains to be Tended
Chere has been having heel pains during and after hiking. She looks and feels like an old lady.
Now that we have access, a quick search on the internet describes what she is experiencing as the result of common plantar fasciitis.
Stretches and strengthening exercises are recommended; some are attempted that evening with good success.

Chere also twisted her back reaching too far for some huckleberries on the on the morning trail around Swiftcurrent River.
It wasn't constant, but would give her a twinge at odd moments just to remind her of her folly.

Pains should not be ignored. We aren't 20 year olds any more - we don't just bounce back.
With many more hikes planned for the future, Chere will be working on getting and keeping in shape.


Life is Back to Normal
Cellphone.
WiFi.
A good, clean, hot shower.
A private toilet.
We enjoy our first night between clean sheets with a private bath in well over a week.
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