Jackson, Starkville and Montgomery – 10/29/14 – 11/4/14

Mississippi State University, Starkville – home of the Bulldogs!

We left Little Rock and made our way towards Jackson, MS, about a 250-mile trip. I routed us through some back roads, and it was probably not the best way to go, but we did eventually arrive in Jackson, at the Springridge Mobile Estates and RV Park. In doing my research for places to stay here, we did not have a lot to choose from, so settled on this place. The park is a functioning mobile home park, with the center section renovated for RV’s. The sites were tight and not level, the park just needed a serious cash infusion. We felt safe here for two nights, but glad that was all we were planning on staying.

We spent a good part of one day driving around in Jackson. This is the capital of Mississippi, and we have spent time in many state capitals along our journey. Both of us agreed this is probably the most depressed capital city we have visited yet. The streets here are horrible, reminding us of NY/NJ streets, with potholes and ruts that make your fillings come loose. The city itself was very quiet, nobody out wandering the streets, very little activity. We tried for a couple of hours to find a cool/hip district, but it just was not there to be found. I guess we might have understood this when we checked into our place. We asked the staff at the park if they had a map of the area, or any tourism info, and they looked at Traci like she was crazy. Jackson is a capital city, not a tourist destination.

We left Jackson, and headed to Starkville, MS; yes another college football town. We had made a reservation at another mobile home park that rented to RV’ers, but I was not excited about where we were going to stay after our last experience. About 90 minutes out of town, I asked Traci to look up the Miss. St. Univ. parking for home football games to see if we might be able to find a place at the stadium to park. We were only going for the football game, arriving mid-day on a Friday, and leaving on Sunday AM, so why not find a site at the stadium if they had one? After about 30 minute of research, we pulled over and were actually able to book a site online (so awesome they had this service!) at the Mississippi Horse Park. Traci was a bit nervous, making a complete change on the fly, but when we arrived, we were so thankful for adjusting our plans. The park was perfect; a huge gravel parking lot with water and power at each site (dump station on the grounds) and plenty of space for every RV to set up their outdoor tailgate party. The park allowed people that are not huge donors to the University to stay there starting on Thursday evening, and out by Sunday AM. Many of the sites were rented for the entire season, and a few like ours were open for anyone to come for just one weekend.

Mississippi Horse Park, where we stayed for the game.

Mississippi Horse Park, our home for 2 nights

Mississippi State is famous for the cowbells

After getting set up, we headed into campus, about 3 miles as the crow flies, but a 7-mile drive. We turned in towards the stadium (we could actually see the stadium from our MoHo park) and as we got closer there were a lot of people out and about, on a Friday at 3:00PM in the afternoon, strange? We started to look a bit closer, and the grassy areas around the stadium were lined with white paint, and everywhere there were pop-up tents just lying on the ground (see pictures). They allow people to come in and set up for the game and tailgating at 5:00PM on Friday prior to the game. But, people come in early and leave much of their gear, and return to erect their tents and tables after the specified time. There was also an area set up across from a couple of the fraternities that was more elaborate. One or two companies set up all the tents and tables, and people could rent these spaces, with a TV attached to the tent for use! This is how a tailgating party is set up, truly impressive to see, and this was only Friday afternoon.

Friday afternoon on campus. They aren’t allowed to set up the tents until 5pm, but they can stake their claim.

Saturday I awoke and it brought me back to home. I was amped up for the day, just like I would be at home for a Husky home game. Even though we did not know anyone, or have a designated tailgate to go to, it just felt like a typical Fall Saturday morning for me, I had a little extra spring in my step. We started our day off with Mimosas, and about 11:00AM we drove into the stadium area we were at the day before, wanting to get a feel for how things were gearing up for the game. The tents were all now fully set up, and people were bringing in their food and getting their BBQ’s started. We hung out for about 30 minutes driving all over and taking a bunch of pictures. We returned to the Horse Park, and just after noon headed outside to watch games on the TV. We mingled with the neighbors, had our Brats, and made our way to the shuttle about 4:00PM; game time was set for 6:15PM. (The Univ. provided a shuttle to and from the game using a back road directly to the stadium – awesome service!) We stepped off the shuttle, and the party was now in full overdrive, everyone having a great time, and no police to clamp down on the fun. We finished off our travelers, and bummed a couple of cold BL’s off some folks, and eventually made it in to the game. Our seats were up high, but fortunately the wind had died down, it was only about 50 degrees at game time and any more wind would have made it super cold. (Both Traci and I had a hard time finding warm clothes in the MoHo to wear; we really did not pack for those types of conditions.) The #1 team in the land pulled off a very hard fought victory vs. Arkansas, we headed back to the shuttle and returned to a very nice peaceful campground for some much needed sleep, a very fun day for sure! SEC in-conference game, bucket list item checked!

Campus was buzzing before the game. This was one of our favor tailgating experiences so far!

A bit chilly for the game, but worth it!

Traci getting in the spirit with the cowbell! It was loud in there.

Sunday we headed out for Montgomery, AL, about a 5-hour drive. The roads were better along this journey, and we arrived at the Capital City RV Park on the NE side of town. We checked in about 2:00PM and the manager escorted us to our site. This was a very nice surprise, the park was very well laid out with huge pull through sites on level gravel, with a lot of space between sites, just the way we like it. We got set up, and by 3:00PM headed out to find a place to watch the Seahawks game at 3:30PM. We found a sports bar, full of guys smoking with no food on the menu, and then headed to another place, Baumhower’s much like a Red Robin or Buffalo Wild Wings with tons of TV’s and a great atmosphere. We settled back and watch the Hawks pull out a victory, and then made it back to the MoHo.

Riverfront, Montgomery

The next day we headed into downtown Montgomery, another capital city. The vibe here was much better, many people out around the capital buildings, and a very nicely done riverfront park area with outdoor concert venue over looking the river. This area also had a strong Civil Rights history, so we drove the historic trail and saw a few interesting spots like the Confederate White House and the bus station where the Freedom Riders staged their protest. Afterwards, we stopped into the local brewery for a snack, and then the grocery store for dinner makings.

First White House of the Confederacy

Capitol Building, Montgomery

The one thing we have really noticed, especially here in the south, is that the economy has not yet returned. Many of the towns, both large and small, have a significant number of abandoned homes and empty buildings with windows broken out, not easy to get used to seeing. At home in Seattle, there is a thriving economy with land and space at a premium near the downtown area. But, just a few blocks out of these larger cities we have seen lately, it has really hit us how many depressed areas in the country there still are, and how many structures are just left deserted. Hopefully somehow these areas will find a way to return to using these neighborhoods, but I think it is going to take a long time to see that happen.

Our last day in Montgomery we spent doing chores. I spent the morning finalizing our itinerary and then cleaning the windshield and front of the MoHo – we sure do hit a lot of bugs. Traci spent the day deep cleaning the inside, washing windows, etc. Just like at home, we need some of these days to get stuff done, and this was a great day to do so, not too hot out, and we felt like we were not missing much in town, as we already did a full day of exploration. Next stop is Gulf Shores, AL, and then the start of our almost four-month stay in Florida!

Final State! 10/20/14 – 10/28/14

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Memphis, TN was our next destination and the long drive down from St. Louis went smoothly, we arrived at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park by mid afternoon. The park was actually across the Mississippi River from Memphis in West Memphis, Arkansas so officially we were in our final state! (Alaska & Hawaii don’t count). We have successfully driven and stayed in every state in the lower 48! Something we weren’t sure that we would actually accomplish, but pretty excited that we have done it! This park was pretty unique in that it was located across a levee right on the banks of the river with nonstop barge traffic going up and down the river in front of us. These barges were huge some of them 4 across and 7 long and that river was flowing! We really enjoyed the park and they were so friendly and laid back. I guess they have to be because the campground actually floods every year, but in the springtime, so we had nothing to worry about. We ended up staying for a full week with a nice mix of relaxation, sightseeing and getting chores done.

Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on the Mississippi River

First on the agenda was taking care of some MoHo maintenance. On the morning we left St. Louis, we noticed one of the “basement” compartments was wet. So upon arrival in Memphis, we took everything out from underneath and Mike was able to diagnose that our water pump was broken. Luckily, there was a nearby Camping World and we were able to get an appointment for Wed. morning. This gave us a chance to clean and reorganize the storage area, which I loved. The bad part was that we had to pack up/unhook the house in the middle of our stay and drive to the appointment about an hour away in northern Mississippi. Everything went smoothly and we were back to the campground and re-setup by mid afternoon. Just one of the hurdles of being on the road and honestly we have been pretty fortunate with these types of issues, nothing major (knock on wood!).

Graceland, Memphis

Now, onto sightseeing. We are not huge Elvis fans, but we just had to go to Graceland. There were multiple packages to choose from, but we opted for a basic one and it was still $34 each, a bit pricey in my opinion. We were given ipads to use, loaded with a narrated tour and additional photos and factoids and of course Elvis music. The mansion was actually much smaller than I would have thought, but back in the day I’m sure it was pretty extravagant. It was a bit crowded but we were able to see everything we needed. The rest of the tour (archives, shops, costumes, cars) were nothing special and we could have done without, but I guess if you are a huge Elvis fan, you would really want to do everything you could. As it was, we were there about 2 ½ hrs. I enjoyed touring the house and listening and learning about Elvis and his life and glad we did go. I may have to download some Elvis tunes!

The Mansion

Formal Living Room

Game Room

Some of his costumes

All of his Gold Records

He is buried there along with family members

Another stop we made was at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I have nothing but respect for St. Jude and what they stand for. I was here years ago to support good friends who were here under difficult circumstances and I wanted Mike to see it. We didn’t go inside the hospital, but did some shopping at the gift store and I really wanted to show Mike the Danny Thomas Pavilion, which commemorates the history and mission of St. Jude. Sadly, it was closed for a private event though.

Courtyard at St. Jude

Another day, we hit one of the many famous BBQ joints for lunch. Mike had done some research and landed on Leonard’s Pit BBQ, open since 1922. He had ribs and I had a pulled pork sandwich. This place was different than other BBQ places we have been to, as it was a sit-down vs. order at the counter. Mike said his was a solid 8. He is still looking for a place that lives up to Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City. Afterwards, we ended up in Midtown, a hip area with fun shops, restaurants and bars. We bellied up at Bosco’s for a local craft beer. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Wiseacre Brewing, the only brewery we could find in town. It was a sunny, Friday afternoon and it was pretty crowded with people hanging out on the patio and getting a start on their weekend. This has become pretty standard for us, looking for local breweries to try out.

On our last Saturday morning, we hit the local Farmer’s Market. It was a perfect sunny morning with a lot of people out and about. Then, we headed into town and the iconic Peabody Hotel. We got our spot on the Mezzanine level to watch the famous “Duck March,” a tradition since 1933. Read more about it here. The ducks are housed in a “palace” on the roof and at 11am every morning they are brought down and led along the red carpet into the fountain in the middle of the lobby. They are trained to stay there all day, then the ceremony is reversed at 5pm. The place was absolutely packed which just blew me away. It was a bit cheesy, but also a pretty ingenious marketing ploy, bringing people in from all over to drink and eat. It worked on us! After the ceremony we took the elevator up to the rooftop to see the duck palace and take in some great views, then to the bar for a Bloody Mary and beer. Afterwards, we walked around town and Beale Street, which is kind of like a mini Bourbon Street. It is a 3 to 4 block pedestrian-only area lined with bars featuring live music that spills out into the street. We were only there during the day a few times, so never really experienced the full nighttime vibe, but it seemed like a really fun area.
Sidebar: I had my Coug shirt on and a man who was working the door at one of the bars stopped me and jokingly said, “What do you know about the Cougs?” I told him I was from Seattle and went to school there and he said that Michael Bumpus was his nephew and that he was in Pullman for an Apple Cup long ago. Gotta love Coug fans!

The Duck March at the Peabody. The guy in red is the “Duck Master”

Rooftop at the Peabody where the Ducks are kept in a “palace”

Much of our time in Memphis (or West Memphis) was spent at the RV Park, just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful sunny weather. We rode our bikes along the paths, BBQ’d a lot and had campfires. Mike really enjoyed all of the barge traffic and just being right on the river. It was a great setting and one of our top five parks so far. And, they had free laundry – bonus!

Campfire at the park with view of the Mississippi River

Some of the barge traffic going up and down the river

Some of the barge traffic on the river (huge one going down; smaller one going up in foreground)

Riding Bikes at the Park

We left the park on a Monday morning (after the Seahawks squeaked by a win the day before!) and drove due west to Little Rock, AR. We decided to stay at a true campground (rather than commercialized RV Park) where it was first come, first serve on spots. Since it was a Monday and off-season, we didn’t think there would be an issue. We pulled into Willow Beach Park and had our pick of spots. This was a very nice campground right on the Arkansas River with spacious sites and plenty of trees. For us, this translates as “no satellite” which we typically shy away from. But, for just two nights, we figured we could survive! It was a beautiful day, but a big storm was due to roll in the next morning, so we decided we better get out and explore. A drive through Little Rock didn’t peak much interest for us, but we did stop at the capitol building for a few pics. Although it is the largest city in the state, it seemed quite small and pretty quiet, maybe chalk it up to a Monday afternoon. We opted to hit the grocery store and come back to the pretty setting of the campground and cook dinner and enjoy the evening at home. By 5am the next morning, the predicted rain had arrived and it was a nice day to watch movies and catch up on some computer stuff. Next stop is Jackson, Mississippi.

Capitol Building in Little Rock, AR

Willow Beach Campground, Arkansas River in the background. Fall has arrived!

This is the point in our journey that we were planning to turn right and start making our way back home to the Pacific Northwest. But, after much discussion and some friends asking us why we would want to come home to the wet and gray winter, we decided to turn left. We’ll be making our way to Florida and plan to spend the last half of November through the end of February in the sunshine to cap off this amazing experience. At that point we’ll start to make our way back home, hoping to be there in April/May. It will be 2 years on the road at that point and time to figure out our next chapter.

A Detour – 10/15/14 – 10/19/14

Weather Woes in Kansas and Oklahoma – 10 7/14 – 10/14/14

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Site of the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing. The reflection pool is where the road was and to the left (where the chairs are) is where the building stood. The 5th tree in is where the truck with the bomb was parked.

The past week has been a bit uneventful and definitely hindered by the horrible weather. We didn’t have a lot of must-see’s planned and we had a hard time finding decent RV campgrounds in the area. I am looking at this time as a transition period, trying to hit the last of our states and watching a lot of football and baseball! Our first stop was Wichita, Kansas. The Air Capital RV Park was mostly full of long-term residents but it was a newer park and in a good location. We only booked 2 nights here and that was all that we needed. We drove by the Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems area and wow, there were some huge buildings and complexes that just seemed to go on and on — a huge aviation presence here. In town, we stopped along the river walk where the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers merge into one. The Keeper of the Plains statue watches over this area in tribute to the Native American tribes who consider this a sacred site. A pretty neat spot to walk around. We also visited Old Town and stopped at a brewery for lunch. This seemed like a fun part of town, but fairly deserted on a Wed. afternoon.

Confluence of the Little and Big Arkansas Rivers, Keeper of the Plains statue in the background

Keeper of the Plains statue, Wichita

Next up was Stillwater, Oklahoma, a very short drive south. Stillwater is home to the OSU Cowboys and we thought it would be fun to stay in a college town. The problem was that there weren’t a lot of RV Parks to choose from and we ended up at Cedar Crest RV Park, which was a bit sketchy. When we called, they only had one spot open, as the rest were full time residents who work in the oil production industry or fans who leave their rigs parked full time for football games (no home game while we were there). The park was probably the worst we have stayed at in my opinion. We got set up in 90-degree hot/humid weather then headed into town. It reminded me a bit of Pullman, a true college town (population 45,000; enrollment 22,000) and it just popped up out of nowhere. Everything in town was orange/black with an OSU tie-in, which was fun to see. We went to Eskimo Joes for lunch. Back in the day when I worked at Holland America, I got a care package from someone in OK who I helped with a cruise and it was full of Eskimo Joe’s stuff, which I thought was so random at the time. Now I get it, because this place is such an iconic spot. That night the heat and humidity turned into one of the worst storms we have been in. The lightning flashed and lit up the inside of the MoHo every 10 seconds complemented by crashing thunder and rain as hard as we have ever felt. This went on most of the night, which made for a pretty sleepless night as we can feel everything in the MoHo!

Cedar Crest RV Park, hookups underwater

The next morning, the rain stopped but the park was flooded and muddy and our hookups were fully submerged underwater. We drove an hour south to Oklahoma City for the day. First stop was at the ASA Softball Hall of Fame/Stadium where they hold the World Series of Softball every year. It was under a bit of construction so we weren’t really supposed to be there, but a very nice worker took us up to the stadium and let us take some pics. Next, we drove about 15 minutes south of downtown to Norman where the Univ. of Oklahoma is. I am still bitter at that darn Sooner Buggy from the 2003 Rose Bowl. But, I must say the campus was very cool and looked to be a great place to go to college. Next, we headed to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, site of the bombing at the Murrah Federal Building in 1995. We thought it was very well done and I found the empty chairs for all of the 168 victims to be very impactful. They were placed in 9 rows, signifying which floor the victim was on when they were killed. Large chairs for adults; small chairs for children. As we walked back to the car, the skies opened up and the rain just unloaded. We just don’t get rain like this in Seattle. We headed down to the Bricktown area, which seemed like the fun entertainment district with stadiums and bars/restaurants. We ended up at Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and bellied up for a delicious Linner as the rain continued outside. We headed back to the MoHo and watched the Cougs lose to Stanford. Saturday morning, it was college game day, so we thought it would be fun to head back into Stillwater and find a place to watch a few games. We ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings and were shocked to find that they allowed smoking in the bar. We opted for a seat in the restaurant and enjoyed the action on a gazillion big screens and joined the hometown crowd rooting for OSU.

Site of the World Series of Softball

Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial Site

Looking back at the site of the Murrah Building. The chairs represent the 168 victims.

Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman

The next morning we were ready to get on the road and move on to a better spot. Our drive to Tulsa was only about 75 miles, which is always nice. We opted to stay at the Tulsa Fairgrounds/Expo Park. We have done this in other cities and the tradeoff is that you are basically in an asphalt parking lot, but the location always seems to be perfect. Our stay was only 2 nights, so not a problem. As we got set up, we had a few issues come up. The jacks were acting up again, one of the rear slides was having trouble and our water hose broke; the joys of a traveling home. We hit the grocery store and decided to stay in to watch the Hawks. The bad weather was following us, so an afternoon in sounded good. Unfortunately, the Hawks didn’t play well and lost to Dallas. We watched a few movies and listened to the wind and rain all night.

The Golden Driller statue, Tulsa, OK

We had a full day to explore Tulsa, but the weather just wasn’t cooperating. And, the MDX battery was dead. We knew this was coming because lately when starting the car, it just didn’t sound very good. We had a neighbor jump us, then Mike was off to Sears to replace it. We got a late start, but with the monsooning rain, there wasn’t really much to see. I learned that one of my favorite movies, The Outsiders, was filmed in Tulsa, so we drove out to the Admiral Twin Drive-In where some of the scenes were shot. Then, we drove through the downtown area, which looked like it could be interesting with all of the different districts, but with the rain, just didn’t seem inviting to be out walking around. We decided to just take care of some errands and head back to the campground. The wind was rocking the MoHo most of the evening. Good news is that it looks like the weather is past us, and the sun will hopefully be shining in the morning for our trip to Branson, Missouri!

Admiral Twin Drive-In, scenes from the Outsiders filmed here (stay gold Johnny!)

Admiral Twin Drive-In, scenes from the Outsiders filmed here (stay gold Ponyboy!)

p.s. As I reread this post, I realized I sounded a bit like a negative Nelly. I guess this just shows that this adventure isn’t always perfect. There are good stops and bad stops and we try to make the most of each one, but not always ideal, especially when the weather is as bad as it has been.

Back in a Big City – 9/30/14 – 10/6/14

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Kansas City Skyline from the WW1 Monument

Kansas City Skyline from the top of the hill at the WW1 Monument

I had been craving a visit to a bigger city and Kansas City provided just that! We checked in at the Worlds of Fun RV Village, which is actually part of an amusement park/water park. When we learned how much was going on in the area for the upcoming weekend, we decided to book a full week here. The park was in a great location with nice, long concrete pads and modern amenities. The water park was closed for the year and the amusement park was only open on weekends, so it wasn’t too crazy while we were there. Kind of a fun setting. As we set up, we met both of our neighbors, one had a MoHo just like ours and was here for the NASCAR race (more on that later) and the others were here filming the American Royal BBQ contest (more on that too). We stayed busy here and got to experience a lot of the city. Here are some highlights:

World of Fun RV Village, roller coaster in the background

Our spot at the Worlds of Fun RV Village, roller coaster in the background

Downtown
Kansas City has a great skyline and sits on the western side of Missouri, bordering Kansas. There is also a Kansas City in Kansas, but the one in MO is where we spent most of our time. The mighty Missouri River runs along the border of the two states, making for a great setting. We explored the downtown area on a few occasions with highlights being the historic Union Station (celebrating its 100 year anniversary), the Power & Light Building (featured in a Batman movie as a Gotham City skyscraper) and the four Sky Station sculptures atop the convention center. Downtown is separated by neighborhoods and we found the Power & Light District to be the most fun with tons of restaurants and KC Live, an outdoor entertainment venue. We also visited the City Market, a huge outdoor market (kind of like Pike Place) and loaded up on fresh fruits & veggies!

Power & Light Building and President Hotel

Sculptures above the Convention Center at sunset

Sculptures, Convention Center at sunset

Union Station

KC Live in downtown, event venue

BBQ
Who knew that KC was the BBQ Capital of the World? I didn’t and honestly thought it was probably Texas. I am not a huge BBQ lover, but it ranks up there with wings for Mike. We tried a few different places; Oklahoma Joe’s being the best by far. It was located inside of a gas station, random. Mike’s quote after finishing his beef brisket/pork rib combo plate: “If I were on death row, this would be my final meal.” He said it was that good! Arthur Bryant’s was also a good one and located in the Jazz district. As I mentioned above, our neighbors in the RV park film BBQ competitions around the country and apparently the one in KC, American Royal, is one of the biggies. Turns out they were short on judges (they needed over 500), so he asked Mike if he would be interested. The timing was horrible, as we had already bought our NASCAR tickets (see below), so he wasn’t able to partake. It would have been a pretty cool experience.

Happy with his Oklahoma Joes BBQ!

Grinders, a DDD joint (not BBQ, but really good food!)

Sports
We loved that this was such a huge sports city. We really miss that part of being at home. Although we get behind our teams from the road and fly our flags proudly, it just isn’t the same. We visited all stadiums, but unfortunately not for any games. Arrowhead, home of the Chiefs shares a parking lot with Kauffman Field for the Royals, kind of like Safeco Field and Century Link in Seattle. It was fun to be in town for all of the excitement of the Royals making the playoffs and sweeping the Angels. Sporting Kansas City, the soccer club, has a dedicated venue just for them, which we haven’t seen before. It definitely makes for a more intimate setting, but not as many seats available. Our timing just didn’t work for any live events other than the Royals, but the tickets were just too expensive.

The “K” (Kauffman Field), home of the Royals

Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs

Breweries
There were some great breweries here, the largest being Boulevard Brewing. It is a staple in every bar/restaurant in town. We also found some smaller ones that were fantastic, Big Rip and Cinder Block. This has been a really fun thing for us, sampling local beer along the way. Mike is an IPA lover and I usually opt for the wheats or lagers.

Sampling at Boulevard Brewing

Riverboat Casinos
The Missouri and Kansas rivers run throughout the area and with that bring a variety of riverboat casinos, which of course we could not pass up. A funny moment one night was when I was at a 3-card table with 5 other people (Mike was gambling at another table). All of our phones went off at the same time with an emergency alert of possible flash flooding in the area. Crazy weather around here! The dealer proceeded to tell us, “not to worry, we are on a boat.” Classic.

Concert
We happened to be in town when Phillip Phillips was playing at the historic Midland Theatre. This was a smaller venue (3,000ish) and an iconic site, reminded me a bit of the Paramount in Seattle. It was a fun night out for us and we actually dug into the closet for something other than shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. We started out at Johnny’s Tavern in the Power & Light District for dinner, then a drink at the Indie, then into the show. It wasn’t sold out, so we were able to sit in some decent seats and take in the concert. There was an opening act, singer, songwriter from Portland, OR who played for about 45 mins. Then Phillip took the stage for about 90 mins. He reminds us so much of Dave Matthews, who we love, so it was a great show. For the encore he came out in a KC Royals cap and the crowd went crazy!

Bucket of Wings at Johnny’s Tavern pre-concert

Our seats at the concert

NASCAR
This has been on our bucket list for awhile and we had planned on Daytona last year, but it just didn’t work out. When we heard that there was a big race at the Kansas Speedway while we were here, we were all over it. Neither one of us is really into car racing, but we just had to experience firsthand the nation’s most popular sport. It was Sunday and the weather was perfect and here we were with 80,000+ racing fans. These people are serious about who they support and decked out in all the gear. We did our best and donned beer shirts and hats. This is the only sporting event we have ever been to where we could bring in our own cooler of beer. We literally walked through the gates with icy cold ones in hand. Crazy! We also learned why this is the most fan-friendly sport. We were allowed down onto the track and infield prior to the race, there was a concert playing and we could see the pit crews and parade of drivers up close. After the festivities, the fans orderly made their way back to the seats and it was time to “start your engines.” All of the big drivers were in the hunt and I actually recognized quite a few names. We had great seats for all of the action and it wasn’t as boring as I thought. It was LOUD so we did buy earplugs, but there was a lot of action to watch. Also, the cars go by much faster in real life than they do on TV. Literally, they were a blur going by. After some of the bigger names were out due to crashes, #22 Joey Logano brought home the victory and before we knew it 267 laps and 3 hours had gone by. Not sure that we will go again, but really glad we had the experience.

Outside of Kansas Speedway

On the infield before the race

Approaching the start line

The big winner doing burnouts on the infield

Weather
I am adding this highlight in for Mike. It continues to amaze us how volatile the weather is, something we just don’t get at home. While we were there, we had temps ranging from mid 80’s to low 50’s. We had beautiful sunny days, then out of nowhere rain showers like we have never seen. And most evenings, a spectacular thunder and lightning display showed up. Weather boy is infatuated by all of this crazy weather and I have to admit, it is magnificent to see Mother Nature giving us her show!

On our last night, we had our flag flying for Monday Night Football. It wasn’t pretty, but we were relieved for a Seahawks victory! We are now looking at detouring up to St. Louis for the game on the 19th. Any takers to join us?

Nebraska – Go Big Red! 9/24/14 – 9/29/14

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Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska – Go Big Red!

We left South Dakota, after extending our stay a few times, and headed to the nation’s heartland, Nebraska. We looked at the map and talked to a few folks, and the west side did not have a lot for us to see from our research, so we made our way towards the eastern side of the state. The western side did have some nice rolling hills and geological outcroppings that made the first couple of hours drive very pleasant. We eventually made our way to the small town of North Platte. We had made this a one-night stop over, just to break up the long drive across the state. Not a lot to look at here, except for the world’s largest rail yard, certified by Guinness Book of World Records. We were both a little drained, and once we got set up in the Holiday RV Park, we decided to just stay in and make dinner and relax. (As we have mentioned before, sometimes it is difficult to see everything there is along the way, and we have come to accept that there are times we are just not going to see every little, or big, attraction.)

The next morning we were up early and on the road to Greenwood, NE. We arrived at the Pine Grove RV park, right off I-80, and were given a site near the back away from the freeway, and right up close to the corn fields. I did mention they grow some corn here, right? As it was nearing the end of Sept., it still was surprising to see all the corn still standing in the fields, but it makes for some very nice scenery for us for sure. The park was well maintained, with long and open sites, although the roadways through the park could use some TLC. This was to be our home base for the next 4 days, a nice in-between spot for us to visit Lincoln 20 miles to the west, and Omaha 30 miles to the east.

Our site with view of the cornfields

We spent the first couple days exploring the two cities, getting a lay of the land for both. My big reason for coming here was the Univ. of Nebraska, and hoping to catch a home football game. As luck would have it, the Huskers were hosting Illinois that Saturday. The game was scheduled for 8:00PM local time, so we decided to take the local shuttle service down and not hassle with parking. Lincoln is a college town of about 75,000 people. But on game day, the place explodes with fans all clad in red. The stadium holds over 87,000, and I am sure another 20,000 people just come for the party. Lots of tailgating, bars, and parties all over the area, very impressive compared to many of the other venues we have been to. With the game a sell out, I anticipated it might be tough to find tickets for the Homecoming game, so decided to step up and buy them on Stub Hub, and found some on what looked like the 15-yard line on the visitor’s sideline. We entered the stadium and found our way to the concourse to our seats, a super narrow, basically one-way cat walk under the west side luxury boxes. Both of us were shocked at how this could be safe, especially if there was a weather evacuation or some other type of emergency. We got to the seats, and were again surprised, the overhang above us created the smallest of views of the field, we were looking around a post, and there was no view of the scoreboard whatsoever. I was really upset, and to top it off, the heat that resided up in that area was unbearable. We returned to the concourse and decided to try to find somewhere else to watch from, and ended up in the south end zone, in the student’s section. The late arriving students (the rest of the entire stadium was completely filled 20 minutes before kickoff) made their way to this section, and as was tradition, they all stood on the bleachers to watch and cheer for their team. Traci and I struggled through the first quarter, both of us tired from walking all around the area for several hours, and with no seats to be found, decided to head home and watch the rest on the TV. It was great to have finally made it to a game there, one of those places that had always been a goal of mine, just wish we could have had some place to sit and enjoy the game. (I do have to thank Stub Hub, we contacted them the next day and they gave us a refund and credit, as it should have indicated that the seats we purchased were obstructed view, great customer service on their part.)

The scene at the Railyard pre-game

Memorial Stadium

The horrible view from our seats

Sunday brought the final day of the baseball season, and we chose to stay in and see if the Mariners could pull off the miracle and make the playoffs. Unfortunately the A’s did not get the memo, winning their game and knocking the M’s out of the wild card spot. But, it was great to be rooting for them on game 162; it has been a long time since they were in contention beyond May or June. We stayed in that evening, watched the amazing sunset over the cornfields and made pizza’s, a quiet and relaxing day in the MoHo.

Lunch in the Old Market area, Omaha

Monday we returned to Omaha, and did some more exploring. A much larger town than we had seen in awhile, with a good mix of industry and medium sized high-rise buildings. The Missouri River runs down the eastern side of town, separating Omaha from Iowa. We found our way to the Old Market area, several blocks of restaurants and shops, with cobble stone streets, and huge flower baskets everywhere. We stopped into a little brewery for lunch and enjoyed our meal at the open air, street side patio. We have really noticed how many of the towns we have visited have similar areas to this, open sidewalks with outdoor seating and a nice vibe for locals and visitors; I guess it is easier to create this type of atmosphere in a smaller town, unlike it would be in a major city. We returned to the MoHo, and started to get ready for our departure the next day, on to Kansas City!

Surprised by South Dakota – 9/13/14 – 9/23/14

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Mount Rushmore, Keystone, SD

Really Surprised! I was looking forward to this stop because Mt. Rushmore was the last big landmark on my list to see, but I had no idea how much more this area had to offer. It all started with the perfect place to stay to explore the Black Hills and surrounding area, Hart Ranch in Rapid City (thanks Bob for the great recommendation!). There are dozens of RV parks in this area making it hard to know what is best, so we really lucked out having this great spot. This place was a member park, but since it was the offseason, they had space for us and at a great rate of $32/night. Sites were roomy, onsite restaurant, cheap laundry, very clean, secure, friendly staff and above all centrally located to everything we wanted to see. We originally booked 5 nights here and wondered if there would be enough to fill our time, but we extended not once, but twice, for a total of 11 nights. The weather couldn’t have been better, sunny and in the 70’s/80’s most of the time; it had snowed here just a week prior. I think this area was our biggest surprise of the whole trip, a combination of Utah for unique landscape, Grand Canyon for the awe factor and Yellowstone for wildlife. And, I must hand it to their Visitor’s Association! The guides and marketing materials were very well laid out and easy to use. They had several scenic drives outlined that connected all of the sites and made planning our days more manageable. We saw quite a bit here, but also had some very relaxing days. I loved being in one spot for this long, so we could just settle in and have our ‘home’ setup. The nature of this trip is such that we are on the move a lot and when we have the chance to put down some roots, it really does make a difference.

Beautiful scenery everywhere!

Here are the highlights of our time here:

Deadwood
This was a cool town that the HBO show was based on, reminiscent of the gold rush of 1876 and Wild Bill Hickok. It was basically a one-street town set in a valley with steep hills on either side, full of saloons and gambling halls. It was Sunday when we were there, so we both had our Seahawks gear on. We watched the Hawks lose to San Diego over appies and a few beers, then decided to try our luck at the tables. Most of the casinos were strictly slots, but we did find a few with tables. 3-card was very popular here, so we sat down at a $2 table with a crew of locals. It’s amazing how much longer you can play when the minimums aren’t $10. Mike actually hit a few good hands to balance out my losing ones and we walked out even for the night. Always a victory when gambling. This town was really fun, a bit touristy, but made for a great day. We missed their annual brew fest by one day, darn.

Downtown Deadwood

Sturgis
The annual Sturgis Rally had taken place about a month ago, and apparently the weather was pretty bad for them. Next year they are expecting close to a million bikers for the 75^th Anniversary. While we were there, it was just another town, actually quite small, but obvious that they cater to bikers. We didn’t go to the Motorcycle Museum/Hall of Fame, as that really isn’t our thing. Instead we just walked around, there was an outdoor moto-cross event going on through the streets, which was kind of interesting. We stopped in at Knuckle Brewing Company for a local beer, then got on our way. I can only imagine how crazy this place would be for the rally.

One of the MANY biker bars in Sturgis

Custer State Park
This was one of our favorites and we visited multiple times. The entrance fee was good for a week, which was nice and the location of the park was such that we drove through it many times on our way to other places. There were three spectacular scenic roads throughout the park that were equally amazing, but all unique. The diversity of this park was what made it special, from rolling prairie lands to dense forest to steep granite “needles” towering toward the sky. Iron Mountain Road had many pigtail bridges and narrow one-way tunnels framing Mount Rushmore. The roads were switchbacks at times and showcased lush scenery all around with the fall colors starting to turn. On the Wildlife Loop Road, the animals were the highlight, hello Buffalo! There are over 1,200 buffalo that roam freely in the park, one of the largest herds anywhere. We saw many throughout the park in one’s or two’s, but on this road, there were hundreds of them. We also saw Burros; they had no shame and came right up to the car window. I think people feed them, so they were looking for some treats. We didn’t think the drive could get any better, until we hit the narrow and curvy section call the Needles Highway. We went from lowland prairie to steep twisty roads that took us to the top of the tree line. We weren’t sure what the ‘needles’ referred to until we came around a corner and there were these tall rock sphere/pinnacles just popping up out of nowhere. We were amazed at how much the landscape and elevation changed in this park

One of the many bridges along Iron Mountain Road

One of the one-way narrow bridges along Iron Mountain Road, nice view huh?

Wildlife Loop Road, my Tatanka impression. Dances with Wolves was filmed here.

The Needles!

The drive through the Needles was gorgeous

We loved this one of the rock balances between two needles

We loved this one of the rock balancing

The Fall Colors were starting to come out

Crazy Horse Memorial
This attraction is known as the world’s largest mountain carving in progress and is a memorial to honor the culture of the North American Indian people. The sculptor started in 1948 and I bet it is only about 5% complete. I’m not sure they will ever finish, but it was very impressive and I think the allure is that it is an ongoing project that is constantly changing. Family members and supporters are continuing the project to ultimately create a statue that will be 641 ft long and 563 ft high. The face of Crazy Horse was completed in 1998 at 88 ft tall and they are now focusing on the 219 ft horse’s head. They operate solely on private donations and visitor entrance fees (no public funding), so I’m sure that it why it is a slow go. The surrounding visitor center was impressive and full of native art and history.

Crazy Horse Memorial, the head is finished and you can see the outline of the horse that they will start on soon

This is a scale of what the finished product will look like

This is a model of what the finished product will look like. Cool to compare it to the actual sculpture in the background (they have a long ways to go!)

Badlands National Park
We had to drive about 90 minutes east to get to the park, but worth it! We entered through the NE entrance and were able to use our annual pass to save us the entrance cost. Immediately there was a pullout that showcased this amazing scenery. It just dropped down into a hole, kind of like the Grand Canyon, with sheer cliffs all around. The colors of the walls were striped due to the minerals in the stone, making for jaw dropping views. A perfect description from the park brochure was “a striking landscape featuring a maze of buttes, canyons, pinnacles and spires.” We continued to another spot and did a hike out along what looked liked sharp pinnacles rising up from the canyon floor. From afar it looked like people were standing on narrow ledges, but once you got out there, the landscape had shallower little valleys to get around on. It felt a bit like walking on the moon. The heat really started to intensify and we were both cooking. After the hike, we continued by car along the scenic drive through the park and pulled out at many scenic points, my favorite being the Yellow Mounds. The colors were awesome. As we headed out of the park, we took another side road and bam, we saw Bighorn Sheep and Buffalo. We stopped at Wall Drug on the way out and it was kind of a dud. Basically a lot of trinkets and trash, but had to stop at this iconic place that I had always heard about. We really liked this National Park, it seems a bit underrated for the spectacular scenery that it has!

Badlands National Park. Our first glimpse reminded us of the Grand Canyon

Mike on top of the world!

The contrast of a deep canyon and grasslands was

The contrast of deep canyons and grasslands was very unique

Hiking on top of the canyon pinnacles

My favorite was the “Yellow Mounds”

Mount Rushmore
We saw this iconic attraction multiple times on our stay here, but the best was my first glimpse. We were driving up the hill out of Keystone and there it was off in the distance as we rounded a corner. I think I said to Mike, “that is so cool!” Something I had seen so many times in print or on screen and now to see in person was pretty spectacular. We saw it many more times from different viewpoints while in the car, but the day we actually went into the monument was pretty awesome. We got there around 8am and so glad we made the effort to get there early before the masses/tour buses, plus the light was better so that the faces weren’t shadowed. We had the viewing area pretty much to ourselves. We did the walk around the Presidential Trail for the most up-close view available and Mike was a photo-taking fool. He got some great shots! What struck me the most I think is how realistic the carvings were, pretty impressive considering the tools and resources the artists had back in the 1920/30’s to sculpt at such a massive scale in granite. I am baffled how they kept their perspective while carving so up close for something so huge.

Avenue of the Flags at Mount Rushmore

Photobombed by George, Tom, Teddy and Abe!

Close up of Honest Abe

A cool side view of George from the backside of the monument

Wind Cave National Park
The day we drove to this park, we weren’t sure what to expect. We got to the park and the only way to see the caves was to pay for the $12 tour. We typically prefer to explore on our own, but we figured since we drove all the way to see it, we should go for it. And, so glad we did. It was like nothing I have ever seen before or experienced. It is one of the nation’s oldest parks (7^th), becoming part of the park system in 1903. The cave system is approximately one square mile with over 140 miles of explored passages and growing as they continue to explore and map. The Park Ranger told us to imagine it as a cube with multiple levels of passages within it. The tour was about 75 minutes and well worth it. There was a concrete path with handrails and lit areas showcasing the walls. Our tour took us through narrow, low walkways, then into larger “rooms.” The walls and ceilings were full of boxwork and popcorn formations which are very rare and only found here and in some cave system in Europe. We were both so impressed with the tour and blown away by this unique park.

This only natural opening to the caves. This is where the original explorers entered.

The only natural opening to the caves. This is where the original explorers entered (very small!)

Inside the Cave!

Mike and I inside one of the larger “rooms”

The rare and fragile boxwork that covered the ceilings

Hiking
One day, we ventured back to Custer State Park for a hike we had seen on our earlier drive. We did about a 3-mile hike up toward Little Devil Tower with spectacular views of Harney Peak. This is the state’s highest elevation point at 7,242 feet. There was a route to the top, but it was considered strenuous and we weren’t up for it on this hot day. The one we did was a gradual uphill climb, moderate, but felt about right for our current condition level. Since it was the off-season, we saw few other people, which is a refreshing change from other hikes we have done that are packed.

Happy Hikers!

Great scenery on our hike in Custer State Park

Sylvan Lake
This was a hidden gem that we found on our exploration of Custer State Park. It is a man-made lake with a nice loop trail around that we walked and really enjoyed the peaceful setting. There was even a wedding taking place on the shore while we were there. A pretty sweet spot!

Picturesque Sylvan Lake

Taking it all in!

Golf
There was a golf course affiliated with our campground, just about a mile down the road. We drove by it often and it never seemed too busy. We hadn’t golfed for months, so it was a nice break for us from the sightseeing. We were able to go out just the two of us, which I loved and we weren’t rushed at all. Neither one of us golfed that well and by the time we got off the course it was toasty and we were a bit overheated. But, worth it and the setting of the course was beautiful.

Mike matched the Fall Colors!

Wildlife
By far, we saw the most wildlife here than we have seen at any other place we have been. We saw mule and white tailed deer daily, more Buffalo (Tatanka) than you can imagine, Pronghorn, Burro, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, and my personal favorite, the very cute Prairie Dog.

This Bighorn Sheep was not intimidated by us at all

Prairie Dogs on high alert with a coyote on the prowl

This Tatanka was just hanging out in a nearby RV Park

The Burro came right up to the car

We saw countless deer

We had a great Seahwaks Sunday, watching them beat Denver in OT. The game was a bit stressful, but beings that we are in Bronco territory, it was a sweet victory! We were also able to get a much-needed MoHo wash from a great local company, Pro Wash and found a guy to create a personalized sign for the MoHo! One other random tidbit…of all the places we have been so far, we have seen more RV’s here than anywhere else we have been. It is cheap and easy to license here (you only have to stay one night in the state before you can claim residency), so we know that many fellow MoHo’ers take advantage of this and register in SD where there is also no sales tax. This was a great stop for us, and the furthest west we have been in a long time. It definitely felt like we were closer to home, even had a Safeway! Next up is Nebraska and starting to head eastbound and Central Time.

Our tailgating setup for the big game – notice our new flag!

Here’s our new sign!

For many more amazing pics of this area, click HERE

Return to the homeland…North Dakota – 9/9/14 – 9/12/14

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The Miller Family Farm in Knox, ND (notice the mailbox still says M. Miller)

We headed west out of Duluth, our next destination would be Fargo, ND. The drive started out nice, a bit windy, but then a huge rain squall hit right before we arrived in Casselton, about 20 miles west of Fargo. We stayed at the Days Inn and Governors Conference Center and the park was nothing to get excited about, basic dirt and grass parking lot, just off the I-94. Lots of transient workers here, with pickup trucks coming and going all the time. As you may be aware of, North Dakota has a booming economy with the oil drilling going on, mostly in the northern half of the state. The boom trickles down to the rest of the state providing infrastructure and jobs for everyone. As it was a Tuesday, it was Taco night in the MoHo, and we hunkered down inside and tried to relax with the wind howling all night long.

The original Wood Chipper from the movie Fargo

Wednesday the weather was not much better, still very cold, temps in the mid 40’s, and still quite windy. A definite shock to the system, as we just left the mid-70’s in Duluth. We bundled up for a day in Fargo, jeans and heavy vests to ward off the coolness. The first stop was the Visitor Center; Traci was really looking forward to seeing “The Wood Chipper” from the movie Fargo. The movie prop is in the Visitors Center, there for all to see. The staff admitted that about 50% of the people coming in are just looking for the prop. After getting our pictures, we headed into the downtown area, specifically Broadway Street, looking for some lunch. The day was drying out, but the wind was still there and temps had risen to about 50, still darn cold. We stopped at a bike shop for some parts, and they recommended a great place for lunch, Rhombus Guys Pizza. On our way back to the car after eating, we had finally clued in that Fargo was going to host ESPN’s College Football Gameday the upcoming weekend, and we could possibly attend if we stayed a few extra days. (We chose not to stay, we felt like the extra couple days may affect us getting through the rest of the Plains states with the weather quickly changing – The Black Hills just got 20” of snow, a destination just a few days away!) We returned to the MoHo, after stopping for some supplies, and again hunkered down, wind still blowing and the temps back down to the low 40’s. We actually had to turn on the heat for the first time since I don’t know when!

Broadway Street, Downtown Fargo (spot where ESPN Gameday)

Broadway Street, Downtown Fargo (location of ESPN Gameday)

Thursday we left Fargo, and made the 190-mile drive west to Bismarck, staying at the Bismarck KOA on the NE side of town. We got set up and decided to head into town, as this was to be a two day stop so we wanted to take advantage of the short time we had here. After driving around for about an hour, and not really finding a whole lot of excitement, we returned to the MoHo and had leftovers and got an early nights rest.

Geographic Center of North America, Rugby, ND

Typical landscape in ND, long straight roads, farmland and hay rolls

Typical landscape in ND – long, straight roads, farmland and rolls of hay

North Dakota is the leading state for sunflower oil production. There were fields upon fields of yellow.

Friday we were up and out early, leaving the MoHo by about 9:30AM. We filled up the car, and started our drive North. Our big reason for this stop was to make our way to Knox, ND. Knox was the town that my father’s side of the family settled in back in the early 1900’s and the family still has the farm there. I had visited it once, back in the mid 1970’s with my brother and grandparents on one of those epic road trips when you are a kid. I have talked fondly of that trip and it was on the top of my list of destinations on our journey. The drive was about 160 miles up from Bismarck, and it took us through a lot of long straight roads, with lots of little ponds and lakes everywhere with fields and farming mixed in. Very peaceful part of our country and not a lot of people, just a lot of wide-open spaces. We first stopped in Rugby, and found a little greasy spoon for a good old-fashioned roadside lunch. The food was good, and it was clear we were not from around there, everyone seemed to know each other, small town America. We then headed east for the last 13 miles to Knox. I had done some research on the town, and it was now featured on a local website of Ghost Towns of North Dakota, as most everyone had left. At one time there were over 300 people living there, now it is down to 12. I drove straight to the farmhouse I had visited some 35+ years ago, and it looked just as I remembered! My Great Aunt Maggie was the last member of the family to reside here, and she had moved out about 3 years prior. The farmhouse and property have been maintained by some of the distant cousins, there were originally 15 children raised here by my great grandparents, what a feat! I knocked on the door, and soon realized the place was vacant. Peering in through the windows, it still had the same charm I remembered, just no furniture or people living there anymore. Traci and I walked all around the yard, taking pictures and exploring the property I had fond memories of. We then drove the empty streets of Knox, stopping for pictures here and there, but it was very quiet. We were looking for the cemetery, but could not find it. We turned down another street and I noticed a car was now parked that had not been there a few moments prior, and there was a man working in a garden. We stopped and I introduced myself, and he finally realized I was not there to try and buy some cheap housing, I guess everyone is trying to buy up properties hoping the oil boom will make for some quick bucks in the real estate market. He took us into a cabin he had across the street and gave us a lot of interesting opinions on the area and the world, quite a talker. We left after an hour or so, with a full bag of fresh tomatoes, and headed in the correct direction of the cemetery. Buried there are my great grandparents Michael and Katherine Miller, grandparents Michael and Hazel Miler, and Aunt Maggie. A special little town, one that I will never forget, even if it has all but been abandoned. We made our way back to Bismarck, returning on a different set of roads, but still the same peaceful ponds, lakes and fields, a very good day to say the least! Next we head to Rapid City, SD, a long 325-mile drive.

The Miller Family Farm

The big Red Barn at the Miller Farm

Miller Farm with downtown Knox in the background

Hard to believe 15 kids were raised in this house

Loved the “M” on the screen door

Click HERE for more pictures of the Miller Family Farm

Twin Cities and Duluth – 8/31/14 – 9/8/14

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Mississippi River, Minneapolis

First I must say, who can believe it is September already? I am starting to feel Fall in the air and of course it is football season!!

Minnesota was a new state for both of us and we were excited for it as we got some great recommendations from Steve as he grew up in the Twin Cities. Our first stop was in Apple Valley, which is just south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Lebanon Hills Campground was our home for five nights and it was our favorite campground in quite some time. It was the perfect mix of feeling like we were camping and all of the amenities we have come to like at nicer RV Parks. Our first couple of days here were full of rain, thunder & lightning so we hunkered down and didn’t do a whole lot. Plus, I had developed a sore throat so it was nice to lay low. Interestingly, neither one of us have been sick for the past 16 mo’s, compared to at home where we would pick up something easily from work. It didn’t last long thankfully.

Our spot at Lebanon Hills Campground

Finally the weather cleared and we were ready to head out to explore. Our first stop was at Matt’s Bar for lunch, home of the original Jucy Lucy (yes, spelled correctly). It is a burger with the cheese on the inside of the patty. Actually I think it is two patties formed together with a slice of cheese in the middle. When they come out the cheese is “like molten lava” so it is important to let it cool. Mike & I split one and I must say it rivaled the burger we had in New Haven, CT at Louis Lunch. We headed into downtown Minneapolis and the riverfront (I didn’t realize the mighty Mississippi originates in MN) and walked out along the many paths and locks system. We had some time to kill before the ballgame, so checked out the Sculpture Garden, then got a bite to eat along the riverfront. We headed over to Target Field and decided to just go in early to check out the stadium, as we weren’t able to find a fun fan area to check out. Disappointing, as this is part of the whole ball field experience for us typically; maybe we just missed it. The Twins were playing the White Sox and it was a pretty boring game and very empty. It was a nice modern stadium though right in the heart of downtown with great cityscape views. We got back to the MoHo in time to watch a more exciting team, the Mariners – it is fun to actually have them be in playoff contention!

Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis

Target Field, home of the Twins

A great sunset at Target Field

The next day brought more rain, so we relaxed in the morning then checked out a Triple D restaurant for lunch, Pizzeria Lola. They make thin crust wood-fired pizza’s with cute names; Mike had the “My Sha-Roni” and I had the “Hawaii Pie-O” complemented by craft beers. A great place, a bit pricey, but we loved it. It was funny, our waitress was from Shoreline. We get a lot of inquiries of where we are from when we hand over our Alaska Airlines credit card to pay. The weather wasn’t great, so we decided to hit the Mall of America. This place was huge, five stories and the middle section was basically an amusement park. We actually walked around for a few hours but didn’t purchase anything; glad we came and saw. It still amazes us how volatile the weather is: rain, lightning, sun, rain, lightning, sun.

Mall of America

We headed into St. Paul for the day, the other half of the Twin Cities, kind of like Seattle to Bellevue. We first drove to the Cathedral of Saint Paul. This thing was massive and beautiful, hard to get a photo to capture the size. The interior was absolutely gorgeous with stained glass everywhere and a very tall dome in the middle. It reminded us of what you would see in Italy. We drove through the capital area and snapped a few pics, then it was time for lunch. We headed to one of Steve’s recommendations, Cossetta’s. It is basically a huge complex featuring a cafeteria-style food line (all freshly prepared), dessert shop, sit down restaurant and an Italian grocery with all kinds of authentic Italian items. After a delicious lunch, we headed into the dessert area to get pistachio gelato for me and then into the store to shop for a few items. We loved this place and would frequent it often if we lived here. Great suggestion Steve! We drove around town a bit more, up Grand and Summit Ave’s to see the huge mansions, then decided to head back to the MoHo. The Seahawks started at 7:30 and we had a party for two watching them pull out the victory vs. Green Bay. I do miss being at home with all of the hype and excitement that I’m sure must be happening in Seattle.
Side note: Shocked and sad to hear the news of Joan Rivers passing. I really enjoyed her wicked sense of humor. One of the best quotes I heard was that “Heaven just got a lot funnier with Joan and Robin Williams.”

Cathedral of Saint Paul, St. Paul

Inside of the Cathedral

The dome was amazing

The capital building in St. Paul (Go Hawks!)

The Capitol Building in St. Paul (Go Hawks!)

Our next destination was Duluth, MN. This was not even on our radar, but Steve suggested it to us, so we decided to check it out. Our campground was in a marina on Park Point, Lakehead Boat Basin and Campground, located across the iconic Aerial Lift Bridge from downtown Duluth. The park was nothing special, basically a blacktop parking lot, but it had full hook-ups and the location was the best part. Kind of like our park in Jersey City, not that I’m comparing Duluth to NYC : ) The weather was absolutely perfect and no humidity! We didn’t expect that we would be back on Lake Superior anytime soon after the U.P. of Michigan, but here we were! We got set-up and when we checked the TV/Satellite, we noticed we didn’t have any sound out of the main TV. This happened one time before and we just had to jiggle a few connections, but this time that didn’t work. The time had come to replace the HDMI cable, we knew this day was coming and we were dreading it. We headed out to explore and picked up a new cable and decided to just tackle our project. After over three hours of battling with working in an extremely small space and limited tools to hook-up this new cable, it still wouldn’t work. The final straw was to call DirecTV and try to schedule a tech to come out. After awhile on the phone (and basically being told that the only place a tech would come would be to Bellevue, WA – they don’t or won’t understand that we are on the road), finally he had us unplug the TV and reset the Genie and voila, it worked! We poured stiff cocktails and sat down at 9:30 to watch the Cougs blow it against Reno (0-2, really Cougs?). Not a great first day in Duluth, but we were optimistic about the days ahead as it seemed like a great town and the weather was looking to be perfect.

Aerial Lift Bridge (up) – ship going under

Aerial Lift Bridge (on the way down)

Aerial Lift Bridge (all the way down) – ready for car traffic

We woke up excited to head out and explore on our bikes. We made the short 3 block ride to the bridge and it was up to allow for boat traffic, so we rode out to the end of the breakwater to take it all in. I was surprised at how many people were out to watch, but it was a gorgeous Saturday morning, and there was a huge freighter coming through. The Aerial Lift Bridge is Duluth’s most famous landmark and raises dozens of times a day to let boat traffic through. Over the course of the next few days, we saw this multiple times and it never seemed to get old. We headed down the path along Lake Superior along with many other joggers, walkers and bikers, a great trail system. Next, we rode over to Bayfront Park where there was a local festival going on. The night before there was actually an outdoor concert that we could hear at the MoHo Park. We made our way to the Farmer’s Market area and loaded up on local goodies including some Amish-made baked goods, which were out of this world! Since the MoHo was so close, we rode back and dropped off our haul, then cruised back to Canal Park Brewery for lunch and some local beer. This placed was packed and full of energy with a great outdoor patio looking out on Lake Superior. Loved it. It was time to head back to the MoHo and set up our chairs outside to enjoy the sunshine and watch some college football. Unfortunately the Huskies won, otherwise it was a glorious day. We BBQ’d steaks and had local sweet corn for dinner.

Mike biking around town

The next day we got on the road up the scenic Hwy 61/North Shore to the Split Rock Lighthouse, about an hour drive. Much of the drive was along the rocky shores of Lake Superior with stunning views. It was Sunday, and the road was busy with MoHoers/Trailers heading back up to Ontario, Canada only about 150 miles away. We got some really great photos and explored the lighthouse area, then drove a bit further up the road before turning around and heading back. We stopped for groceries on the way back to the MoHo for a relaxing Sunday watching football and BBQ’ing.
Lake Superior Factoid
With the entire surface frozen (which has only happened twice), there would be enough space for every person on earth to spread out a 12’ x 12’ picnic blanket. Wow, hard to fathom how huge this lake is. We learned that this last winter with the Polar Vortex, over 90% of the lake froze; a typical year is 30%.

Split Rock Lighthouse, North Shore of Lake Superior

The Rocky Cliff Shores of Lake Superior

Another gorgeous shot of Lake Superior

On our last day, we decided to head across the river to Superior, Wisconsin. Actually, it was a waste of time, not much to see, so we headed back to Duluth for lunch at Fitgers, another brewery. We drove back to the MoHo to park the car and set back out on our bikes for one last cruise around town. Since it was a Monday, it was much quieter and the wind was starting to kick up, with bad weather anticipated for the next day. We headed back to Canal Park Brewery for Mike to get a growler of their Stoned Surf IPA, then a last beer on Grandma’s Deck with great views of the Lake and Bridge. We headed back to the MoHo to pack up the bikes and outdoor stuff in preparation for our departure in the morning. We really enjoyed this stop. It was great to ride our bikes around town and not worry about parking. I know the weather made a huge difference too, but also the fact that we had no expectations and we were pleasantly surprised. Love it when that happens! We are both feeling pretty relaxed. Thank you Duluth!

Next stop is Fargo, ND.

Our final day in Duluth with the Aerial Lift Bridge in the background

If you build it, they will come – and we did! 8/27/14 – 8/30/14

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We left Milwaukee and made our way west to Iowa City. We arrived at Sugar Bottom Campground to find the office closed, only open a few hours in the AM and a few hours in the late afternoon. We did not have a reservation here, and as many of you who know Traci, this can make her a bit uneasy not having a plan. We had spoken with the office weeks back, trying to make a reservation at one of the full hook-up sites, but nothing was available. But, they did have lots of first come, first serve sites that we could choose from when we arrived. So based on that conversation, we decided to just go for it and see what we could find when we arrived. We headed into the park, and it was big, tons of sites to choose from, but most of them already had a reservation tag on the numbering post. (It was Labor Day and a Hawkeye Football weekend so a bit busy). I did know that certain sites were 50 AMP, so I headed to that area of the park, and after circling a bit, found a site that we could fit into and get satellite, along with a little view of the lake. (I had loaded up the water tank prior to leaving Milwaukee, so we could make it for several days without any additional water, or a sewer.) We got set up, including the flagpole, and were really glad we had the 50 AMP service to run both the air conditioners; it was hot and humid. We then headed to downtown and the Taste of Iowa City. We had read that they were having a food festival to introduce all the students to the local restaurants and you could get some great samples of the cuisine for only a few bucks. Again, one of those lucky timing things and we were able to hit several different places and it was very good food. Along with the festival, this was to be our meeting place with one of Traci’s former co-workers, Steve Bird and his wife and family. We found Steve as we were walking around, small city, and met up a bit later for a beverage and some conversation at a market/wine bar in the city center. We eventually headed home to the MoHo, a long days drive and full bellies finally caught up to us.

Our spot at Sugar Bottom Campground. Had to get the flags out for opening college football weekend!

Our second day brought some poor weather, and it turned into an errands day. We had a lazy morning and finally ventured out to the local mall, I needed a new wallet and both needed a few other items. In our driving around, we were very impressed with the community, they had everything you need in a town of 75,000 or so; the mall, a Costco, home improvement stores, etc. We had planned on making a drive to see some local attractions, but with the rain we decided to put it off a day and just made our way back to the MoHo. It was Thursday night and the first real day of the college football season! We did have plans to meet up with Steve at a local bar just northeast of town in Solon at the Big Grove Brewery. We sat in the bar, Traci and Steve caught up and we enjoyed a nice evening. The highlight of the night for me was the food. I ordered my usual wings, which were very good. But I also ordered the Tater-Tot casserole. This is something that my mom used to make all the time, so I was curious to give it a try and it was awesome! Very simple; ground beef, mushroom soup, cheese and Tater-Tots on top, so good! We finished our meals and Traci and I headed to the MoHo, the Cougs were on TV at 9:00PM and she was excited to watch. I made it through the first half and then headed to bed, Traci stayed up and watched to the bitter end.

Steve and Traci at Big Grove Brewery

Friday brought some much better weather, but another late start. We finally headed out about noon, wanting to take in some of the local sites we had heard so much about. We headed northeast, our first destination, The Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Along the way, through the rolling hills of Iowa, we both were amazed with just how much corn is grown here. Again this is one of those things you just have to drive and see, but everywhere we could see were hundreds of acres of cornfields, and a few soybean patches intermixed. Every plat of land that could be farmed was, truly amazing to see it all in person. We made our way to the movie setting, and there it was, The Field of Dreams, just as it was 25 years ago! Everyone has probably seen the movie, but to actually see the exact place was very special. The family that owns the farm that the field was built on has kept it open, not without difficulties, and actually has to pay Universal for the rights to sell merchandise. There were about 15 others there, some having picnics, others tossing a ball around, and a group even taking infield practice on the diamond. We walked to the outfield, headed into the cornfields, just as in the movie, and took it all in. I was a bit hesitant about the 90-minute drive, but it was so worth it, so glad we made the trip! After about 30 minutes and dozens of pictures, we headed out; our next stop was Le Claire, Iowa about 80 miles southeast. Again, corn and soybeans everywhere, but nice weather for a drive. We arrived in Le Claire, and made our way to the original location of Antique Archaeology, and the home of one of my favorite shows, American Pickers. The place was packed; tons of people also had the same idea, even a huge group of bikers, with some 20 motorcycles or so in the driveway. We were hoping to see Mike, Frank or Danni, but they were not around. We took some pictures, bought a hat, and wandered around the store for awhile, seeing some items we had recently seen them find in their travels on the show. (We also visited their other store in Nashville.) Time to head back to Iowa City, we had dinner plans with the Bird family. We made our way to their home, and had a great meal out on the deck and good conversation. We have said it before, but it is so nice to be welcomed into someone’s house for a home cooked meal, we really appreciated it!

Field of Dreams movie set – Dyersville, IA

Traci running the bases

Up to bat

So cool to visit this place

Click here for my Shoeless Joe Jackson imitation: MAH01646

Antique Archaeology Store – Le Claire, Iowa

Saturday had arrived and it was game day in Iowa City, home of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Steve and Nancy had season tickets, but Traci and I decided to just find some off the street. It was not a sellout as they were playing a smaller school, Northern Iowa Univ. We got to town and parked in a huge garage, having to spend the $1 per hour, after the first hour free, bargain! Traci and I walked into the central square area we had been a few nights before, looking for a beverage to start our morning; kickoff was set for 11:00AM local time. We bellied up to a bar for a beer and bloody mary, and just as we were about to leave, Traci ran into Steve and Nancy at the other end of the place, total coincidence. We all walked to the stadium together, and Traci and I found a guy with extra tickets and made our purchase. We said our goodbyes to the Bird’s and made our way to the seats, 50-yard line, halfway up on the visitor’s side of the field, awesome! Kinnick Stadium holds about 70,000, but feels much smaller. It is very tight to the field and it quickly became one of my favorite college football venues I have been fortunate to witness a game. The weather was partly cloudy, but when the sun came out, it was a cooker. The game was a lot closer than the home team expected, but eventually they pulled it out. We made our way back to town for a meal, the center of town was packed with college students, and we stopped in at Quinton’s, thanks for the recommendation Nik Pflu. We found a booth and ordered our beers, looked up and there were Steve and Nancy, again a total coincidence! We had some great food and drinks, said our final goodbye, then it was time to head back to the MoHo. It was a nice night; we enjoyed a campfire before the Huskies game, set to start at 9:30PM, live from Hawaii. Traci watched a little, but not her team, so headed to bed early. I stayed up to watch them hang on for a lackluster win, and went to bed late.

Steve & Nancy ready for the game

Our great seats at the game. Loved this stadium!

Another great stop and we have to thank Steve and Nancy for all of their hospitality. It was great for Traci to spend time with someone she worked with for years. On to the Twin Cities and Minnesota next, only about 7 more states to visit!

With Steve on their back deck

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