Day 9

Gillette, WY to Cody, WY

mileage: 165

As I handed the receptionist my credit card, she mentioned how they were almost closed for the season, that the snowstorm coming in tonight would surely close Yellowstone for the year. I shook my head, not sure I heard correctly, and asked her to repeat what she said. “Yeah, big snowstorm, 8 to 12 inches comin’ in tonight. Probably will close the roads to Yellowstone for the year. Normally they stay open til November 4, but if it’s heavy ’nuff they’ll go ahead and close it up.” I was crestfallen. We had planned our route, traversing the northern states, because neither of us had visited Yellowstone. It was one of *the* highlights of the trip. I relayed this information to Daniel, who merely said, “The weather channel’s always wrong. It’ll be fine. We’ll see Yellowstone.”

Day 8

The Badlands to Gillette, WY

mileage: 250

Camping

I forgot how cold the desert gets at night. We set up camp by the light of the full moon, with jackets on, but comfortable. I don’t think I slept at all last night. I couldn’t stop shivering. I’d force my teeth to stop chattering, then my legs would begin convulsing. I’d concentrate on warming my legs, then my arms would begin shaking. This continued all night.

The first words out of my mouth this morning were I’m sorry. Normally camping is so much more fun than this. See, this was Daniel’s first camping adventure. When planning our trip, we somehow had this romantic notion that we would camp in the national parks we visited. I love camping. Just not in late October where it gets really cold. Daniel was an amazingly good sport. If I were him, I wouldn’t have spoken to me. I tried to make it up to him by making grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast. Which would have been great. Had I not served them New Orleans style, blackened.

Badlands Wildlife Tally

Heard coyotes howling at the full moon

Observed deer by the side of the road, standing so still we thought they were statues

Saw chipmunks scurrying across the trail path

Watched a jackrabbit bound out of sight

Almost stepped on a rattlesnake

Day 7

Sioux Falls, SD to the Badlands

mileage: 288

Highlight of the day: The Corn Palace

The corn palace, built in the late 1800s, in Mitchell, South Dakota, is the only Byzantine structure in the world decorated with corn murals. Really. The theme of the decorations changes every year. It takes 3 months (mid-June to mid-September) for volunteers to place the colored corn and grain on the outside walls, kind of a giant “paint by numbers” except it’s decorating by corn. Gertrude was the greeter at the Corn Palace, and upon hearing I was from North Carolina, told us about her sister who left South Dakota during the Dust Bowl years to settle in North Carolina as a missionary. Very friendly people here in South Dakota.

Lunch

We had buffalo burgers for lunch. Tasted kind of like chewy hamburgers. A little tough.

Learned:

South Dakota has THE BEST roadside information centers/rest stops in the entire country. Each one is a museum unto itself. At one we learned all about Lewis and Clark’s great adventure, saw a replica of their pirogue, and felt a buffalo hide. At another we learned all about the Sioux tribe and customs. At another we learned about the making of Mount Rushmore and the history of the Black Hills. And at each one, the staff was incredibly pleasant and helpful. I like South Dakota.

The Badlands

We entered the park close to sunset. We stopped at one of the first hiking areas to explore the beautiful, eery formations known as the Badlands. The sun was setting, casting pink, purple, and amber streaks across the sky. We were the only humans visible in the park. We traversed over gullies, up miniature mountains, over crags. We climbed atop a peak to watch the full moon slowly rise in the sky, shining more and more brightly the higher it rose. We sat in silence, listening to coyotes howl in the distance. Without speaking, we exchanged glances. This very moment was worth the 2600 miles we had travelled thus far…

Day 6

Rockford, IL to Sioux Falls, SD

Mileage – I forget. A long way.

SPAM

Our one stop we wanted to make along the way today was the SPAM Museum (I’m not kidding) in Austin, MN. We got there 12 minutes before closing. Even though we arrived right at closing time, we were still warmly welcomed and given a tour. A quick tour, but a tour nonetheless, from smiling guides. I wish we had had more time to spend there. There were interactive exhibits, famous SPAM movie moments, SPAM cooking demonstrations (I did get the recipes), and SPAM nostalgia. No lie, it was one of the best laid out museums I’ve visited in a long time.

South Dakota

Our destination in South Dakota was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, the only Byzantine structure in the world decorated by corn murals. It was already late, we wouldn’t be able to see it until morning. Flipping through our “hotel discount coupon book,” I noticed that the coupons for hotels in Mitchell were good every week of the year, except this one. I called one of the hotels, to see what the rate would be.

Me: Hi, Could you tell me what your rate is for one night, two people?

Clerk: What night, honey?

Me: Tonight.

Clerk: Oh, honey, we don’t have nothing for tonight. The whole town’s sold out.

Me: Is there a conference in town?

Clerk: Honey, it’s the opening day of pheasant hunting season. We got hunters from all over the world here in town. Every place is sold out.

Me: What about Sioux Falls? Do you think they would have rooms available?

Clerk: I don’t know. You may have to go back to Minnesota, or drive out to Rapid City to find a room.

Me: Rapid City? That’s 300 miles away…..

How in the world did we decide to enter South Dakota on the first day of pheasant hunting season?

Day 5

Chicago, IL to Rockford, IL

Mileage – 102

Lessons learned: Chicago is cold in October. Don’t wear hoop earrings in Chicago.The metal, though freezing, feels like it’s burning as it makes contact with skin.

Good food moment: Chicago style hot dogs for lunch. Very, very good. Loaded with pickles, tomatoes, relish, peppercinis, mustard and celery salt. I’ve never had a dog I loved so much.

Day 4

Kalamazoo, MI to Chicago, IL

Mileage – 153

Pondering: Why do bridges over highways have the height posted on them?

Learned: Chicago has more drawbridges than any other city in the US.

Fun moment of the day: Patrick, a friend who lives in Chicago, was meeting us for dinner. Our meeting point was the Borders bookstore on the corner of Randolph and State. Daniel and I arrived first and began browsing. In the humor section we greatly amused ourselves by reading “The Worst Case Scenario Handbook – Dating and Sex.”

Day 3

Niagara Falls, Canada through Canada, to Kalamazoo, MI

Mileage – 400

Learned:

You can’t enter the parking lot of a duty free store unless you’re really leaving the country.

If you ride the Maid of the Mist boat at Niagara Falls, you will get wet. Really, really, soaking, through and through wet. Even with a raincoat on.

Oh, Canada!

On our way to the highway, leaving Niagara Falls, we saw a duty free store. We pulled in, shopped around, then learned we couldn’t actually buy anything, because we weren’t crossing the Rainbow Bridge there at Niagara Falls, re-entering NY; we were driving through Canada, then entering the US in Detroit. Only problem was, once we were back in the parking lot, we *had* to cross the bridge and return to New York. There was only one exit from the parking lot.

The US immigration official asked us our citizenship, where we were coming from, where we were heading. We explained we wanted to go back across the bridge, we had simply made a wrong turn. He ushered us through the checkpoint, then instructed us to make a u-turn. We paid the toll (again) to cross the bridge, then approached the Canadian immigration official.

Official: What’s your citizenship?

Daniel: US.

Official: What about her?

Me (looking up from my book): US.

Official: Where is your destination?

Daniel: Detroit. We’re driving through Canada.

Official: How long will you be in Canada?

Daniel: Just today.

Official: What’s in the car?

Daniel: My belongings. I’m moving to San Francisco.

Official: Do you have any drugs, alcohol, or firearms in the car?

Daniel (trying not to snicker): No.

Official: Will you stop at our stop signs?

Daniel: (perplexed) Of course.

Official: You just missed two. Continue on.

We looked at each other in astonishment. We looked behind us. We didn’t see any stop signs. We had just come through the parking lot. We shrugged and continued on our way.

Day 2

Breezewood, PA to Buffalo, NY to Niagara Falls, Canada

Mileage – 334

I felt as though we were continuously driving through a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. There definitely was a larger picture, but so many components contributing to the whole. Each blazing red tree, each flaming orange leaf, each red barn, each white farm house…

Salamanca! I love this name. For miles we saw signs for this town. Eat here. Get gas here. Stay here. And each time we passed a sign, I called out, “Salamanca!” trying to convince Daniel I was casting a spell on him. He finally turned to me and said, “It’s an Indian name, Lori.” It still sounds magical.

Zippo Lighter Welcome Center and Museum – We walked in to a giant American flag created from thousands of various designs of Zippo lighters. The sign beside the flag challenged the visitor to find the one Zippo lighter that was inserted backwards. I looked for a couple of minutes, then gave up.

Zippo has a satisfaction guarantee – if it breaks, send it back and they repair or replace it free of charge. We saw lots of examples of lighters sent in – chewed by a Cocker Spaniel, run over by an airplane, put through the wringer (literally) in an automatic industrial strength dishwasher.

Altoona, PA – What a great name!

On a marquis – “Redemption has consequences.”

The Falls By Night

We drove along the esplanade, towards the brightly colored rainbow lights – blurs of yellow, red, blue, green. We parked the car then started through the cold, wet, darkness. The umbrella I had was really of no help; I used all my strength to pull it close to me, trying to prevent it from snapping inside out. We ran across the deserted street – right up to the railing. That’s when I started squealing. Before I could make out the Falls in the darkness I could hear them. The dull roar of millions of gallons of water tumbling, crashing onto rocks below. I squinted. Through the bright rainbows, I could see the faint outline of the mist of the falls, the wind hurling shards of water at our faces. I skipped along the walk, trying to savor this moment. This moment I’ve anticipated for so long now. This moment when I first saw, heard, felt, the Falls…

Pondering:

Why doesn’t anyone use butter anymore? It’s nearly impossible to find butter in restaurants on the road.

Why are barns red?

Day 1

Winston-Salem, NC to Washington, DC (or MD) to Breezewood, PA

Learned:

Bojangle’s chicken isn’t as good as it used to be. If you drink a JumBO size of Bojangles sweet ice tea, you will have to stop at every rest area on your journey.

Sitting in a car for a long time makes me tired (not a good harbinger for the days to come….)

West Virginia is to the west, not the north, of Maryland.

Anticipation….

Today is the day. The day we start our big trip. I woke up before the alarm went off. I’ve been cleaning, packing, re-packing, waiting for our appointed departure time. Excitement….