day 4

This morning we left Andrew's and Sam's place and we had an amazing time with them last night. (Yes Liz you are right...he's a bit lame but we gave him a pass bc his wife is so sweet and the dogs were so much fun) It was a nice break from driving. I fell in love with one of their foster dogs...which I might come back for. :) I think I still might have to convince Ian we absolutely need a second dog...

The drive today was beautiful. We finished up our drive in OK and through Texas. The pictures we posted are of a storm we drove through. We do not get storms like that in VA. The lightning was amazing. I wish we were fast enough to catch a picture of the lightning.

We're camping out now in Albuquerque (yes the campground does have WiFi...) and I'm in heaven without all the humidity. We'll finally be in AZ tomorrow afternoon. I cannot wait to see all my family :) I miss them!

The last picture you see is our nephew, Gustavo. He is the cutest baby ever. Gustavo and my sister in law, Meghan, are staying at our house while we are away. From the looks of it, him and his ducks having a great time in our bathtub. I just stuck that in there bc that picture made my day :) (Just kidding Andrew, we had a great time with you too).

P.S. Ian almost made me become a vegetarian today. We passed a truckload of cows and I said "Oh look at all the cows, so cute," to which he responded, "Yea, they're on their way to the slaughter house." And then they lingered with us for several miles as the truck moved before us, beside us, behind us, and then back beside us again.

Picher and Rest

Don't have much time, but yesterday was kind of intense.  Wendy and I drove through Picher, Ok.  I want to say more but I suggest you look it up.  The town disbanded over a year ago due to pollution, and what's left is a vacant ghost town and pretty intense.  Here are some photos I took on the cell phone, sorry for the quality:

Afterward we met up with my friend Andrew and his wife Sam at their home in Tulsa. They were awesome hosts, Andrew cooked some chicken and vegetables from his garden, and we got to play with their dogs. So it was a lot fun and very different than the morning we spent in Picher. Again see you further on down the road, long days and pleasant nights,
-Ian

DAY 2

It was another long day. We drove about 10 hours today ending at Springfield, Missouri. We're at a little hotel that we found in a coupon book at a rest stop. Ian really wanted to camp but as we were pulling off the interstate to look for a campsite in Mark Twain national park it started to pour. He tried to convince me that it was "passing through," but when the lightning hit in the direction we were going he changed his mind.

The people here in Springfield are...interesting? We just went to Wal-Mart and no one walked. Everyone was in those shopping scooters. Ian said it reminded him of Wall-E.

We drove on I-41 and it was quite entertaining. We saw about 20 different adult pleasure stores, a dozen "Jesus loves you/you're going to hell if you don't repent" signs and lots of corn. Oh and a vacuum museum.

Im really looking forward to our next few days coming up. Tomorrow we head to Tulsa to visit Ian's buddy from school. We're taking it easy tomorrow...we only have a 3 hour ride. Yey!

Day One: The Long Haul

Well we tried to make it to Indiana from Massachusetts, and after 12 1/2 hours we are now in a lovely roadside motel amongst the bright lights of Mansfield, Ohio.  The town boasts a lovely restaurant--at least in the outdoor decorum--called Salsalita, my guess is that it's offers a wide selection of quesadillas, tacos, burritos, salsas, and perhaps a side of guac.  Other than our motel, there are three others, each with a two hundred foot tall sign, flashing free breakfast and vacancies, sadly no HBO.  I was surprised and a little impressed with the free wifi, which is incredibly fast.  Other than two gas stations, the only other attraction to this small town is a large white rectangular building with no windows and a purple flashing sign that says "Adults."  Fascinating, but I think Wendy and I will pass.  
Many long stretches of highway today through Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Both have a lot of road construction, so kudos to those states for keeping alive in this economic down turn.  However, I'm not sure who is doing better.  Pennsylvania had miles and miles with lanes cordoned off for work to be done with no workers what-so-ever.  Ohio on the other hand had long stretches of one lane road with crews working well into the night, perhaps working overtime.  Only time will tell I suppose.
This of course is the slow part of the journey as we try to reach our deadline for the wedding in Arizona this weekend.  Then we can meander around.  We are trying to make it to Tulsa tomorrow to see our friend Andrew and his wife, but we didn't make it as far as I had hoped to day, so we might have to break up the journey with a quick camping expedition in Missouri, any ideas?  And Andrew if you're reading this before I talk to you, call me.  In other news I'm working on a thesis for regional fm radio and what a traveler can expect of the people there, for instance Massachusetts runs a lot of 90s grundge stations, and the people seem a bit up tight and a little moody--lots of middle fingers, lots of horn honking--like I said a work in progress.  My apologies to the people of greater Mass, for now happy trails and see you along the way.  

Rock Run

This is a small bedrock stream in Pennsylvania, maybe 15 miles north of Williamsport. A few years back I began to wonder if there might not be other similar streams. I asked some hikers who said, "Some place like this?"  They laughed. "Good luck finding it."

If you do go, plan on hiking up from the first falls all the way through to the third. Wear sandals and stay in the stream bed.

It's called Rock Run and it's near Ralston, Pennsylvania...

So many ideas...

We are so excited for you all! Traveling cross country is an amazing experience!! My first quick thoughts below. Everything is amazing but my answers are based on three months in the car, so I was more excited about getting out of the car and moving hiking walking and on seeing things that were really unique. There are a million random things that we saw that we just happened upon (like the weird weiner mobile in New Mexico) or the Dinosaur Zoo I think also in New Mexico. My suggestion is make a plan but be prepared to ditch it if something looks really interesting or fun!

First and foremost my hands down favorite National Parks in America:
1. Zion National Park in Utah: Angel´s Landing is perhaps the best hiking trail in America.
2. Bad Lands South Dakota. So strange, so surreal, so poetic.
3. Yellowstone: you jsut cant beat it for variety wildlife and majesty. It makes you understand why the American West is still the stuff of dreams
4. Glacier National Park, MT

Random things that you can´t miss because they are so unique:
1. Corn Palace, South Dakota. Weird. Sort of amazing in the ingenuity of corn. Not much else to see but then again you will have jsut driven across th ewhole state of South Dakota so it´s worth it.
2. Also in South Dakota Wall Drugs. Old time pioneer drug store. Also in the middle of South Dakota, so you will be happy to stop.
3. Roadside Giants in North Dakota ... it´s flat it gets cold they get creative. Of note Worlds largest Cow (near New Salem) and Turtle (near Dunseith)
4. Salt flats in Nevada
5. Bryce National Park in Utah: The towers of rock make you wonder what the native Americans and first pioneers must have thought when they found them
6. This could alternately go under the not as cool as you might think heading depending on your interest, but, the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. Take the tour. Fascintating (my review), Weird and creepy (Rafaels review).
7. Garden of Eden Kansas: Folk Art. Very cool. American Gothic.
8. Roswell NM UFO Museumç
9. San Dunes National Monument, CO. Dunes in the middle of the forest.
10. Natural Bridge, VA
11. Grand Canyon: Hike down to the CO river. Amazing.
12. Bear Tooth Highway MT if it is open it is a MUST. Amazing views.
13.Goblin Valley State Park, UT (in keeping with the MadMardigan theme)
14. Tinkertown Museum, NM ... maybe under classic American ... tinker toys!

Classic American:
1. Highway 1 in California. Amazing views. You can camp out.
2. August 9th to 15th Sturgis SD: Bike Rally. I think the largest in the world. There are no words. Google it...
3. The Field of Dreams Dyersville Iowa also has a museum of farm toys
4. Sedalia, MO: Home? of ragtime music. They have a lot of it anyway.
5. Las Vegas. A see it one time kind of thing.
6. Sequoia National Park

Cities:
1. Savannah
2. Charleston, SC
3. St Agustine, FL
4. Canon city, CO (home to many prisons but amazing amazing scenery especially their Skyline Drive)
5. New Orleans
6. Bar Harbor Maine
7. Chicago

Not as impressive as you might think:
1. Mt Rushmore. You walk up see the carvings. Thats pretty much it.
2. Niagra Falls: Very pretty but again you see it and that´s pretyt much it
3. Hoover Dam
4. Capital Reef National Park, UT

Suggestions

Sorry to have taken so long! I hope you're enjoying your trip thus far. Here are a few suggestions. If you decide you want to come through Oklahoma, I can suggest other things too. This was just what immediately came to mind-

Oklahoma:
Roman Nose State Park - you can rent a teepee for only 27.50 a night! The park is beautiful, as well. Just outside of Watonga, Oklahoma.

If you're around Roman Nose you can then head over to the Glass Mountains and Gloss Mountains State Park - a bunch of orange mesas good for hiking. You could camp, or there is a nice winery and inn nearby, Indian Creek Village Winery and Inn. Between Cleo Springs and Ringwood.

Oklahoma City - you are welcome to crash on my pullout couch for a night. There's plenty to do, great bars and food, festivals, art, music, etc. I work during the days but can whip up a map of things for you to do.

The longest portion of Route 66 goes straight through Oklahoma. I've heard it's a really neat road trip to take. Plus, you can stop at POPS 66 in Arcadia which has, bar none, the best ice cream floats and chicken strips you will ever have. http://www.pops66.com/

Tulsa is lovely. Andrew is there. He and his wife had coffee w/ me when I came through town about amonth ago. They have a nice aquarium, great art museum, lovely shopping, OK food (I love OKC more than Tulsa, and there has always been a rivalry between the two).

Also neat, near OKC - the Toy and Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley. http://www.actionfiguremuseum.com/

Missouri:
Hermann - just off of I-70, a really cute little town with an excellent winery (Hermanhoff Vineyards). I visited Germany my junior year of college and went to vineyards on the Mosel river - this winery in Hermann is also on a river, is German in origin, and was the first winery I'd been to in the midwest that seemed authentic. There is a nice bed and breakfast in the town and a fun bar, but it is small. You can also camp in the town - which I did when I went.

Fulton - The Winston Churchill Memorial Museum. If you are a history buff, this museum is awesome. I went to undergrad here, at Westminster College, which is where ol' Winston gave his Iron Curtain Speech. But, many people really aren't into that sort of thing.

St. Louis - TOUR BUDWEISER! Go to a Cards game! Two things I've never done and would be oh-so-jealous if you did. There is also a lot more to do in STL which I can readily suggest, just let me know if you're considering going.