Report from the road (9/25/2024)

Although I am home, I want to report a little more about my recent road trip. I was gone for 11 days. I had fun. I did not record the miles I drove, but I think it was over 3000 miles. Flying back was ok. Thank goodness there was a direct flight from Los Angeles to Norfolk and I was able to relax once the airplane tool off. In this blog I want to discuss some of the non-drive experiences, mostly as they relate to people.

My objective of Day 1 was to get away from Virginia as soon as possible. The major thing I experienced that roads were still under construction, very much like what I described here a year ago. I also had trouble with my phone keeping its charge, despite the fact that I plugged it in. Somehow the USB port was not doing its job. I decided to buy a plug-in charger in the town I stopped. Luckily, there was a car parts store near the motel I stayed in. The attendant was very helpful, we had a nice talk about all the complicated plug-in gadgets and different telephone charge ports there were. He was young, but even for him it was somewhat difficult to hunt for the correct gadget on the rack.

I somehow had a hankering for Mexican food and stopped at the restaurant nearby. It had good ratings on Google, and I dare say, the food was good. But don't order the rib-eye fajita. My chin dropped when it was served; it was an actual rib-eye stake with all the fajita makings. I ate all the vegies and half the meat and that was it. The stake was great but I was full and regretted all those chips I ate and washed down with a jumbo margarita. When I mentioned to my server that it was way too much, he just nodded.

As I mentioned in my previous post the next stop included St. Louis and the famous Gateway Arch. You go up in what they call a train; however, to me it feels more like a ferris-wheel. I shared my gondola with two couples. When making small talk they mentioned that they were both from Milwaukie, did not know each other, but lived a mile apart. As a result they started to discuss the latest murder a few blocks down from where they lived. The mother of one of the couples lived a few homes down whre the murder took place. One of the ladies told me that she wanted to take her (now) husband to all the water parks in the country and they had just spent a day at one in St. Louis.

I want to keep this post about some of the people I encountered on the road. I did not get a chance to interact with many, except some servers in restaurants, most of them were very nice and personable, including the server in Warrenton (MO), Pratt (KS), the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Mesquite (NV). The bar lady at the brewery in Alamosa was nice too. The most memorable were the teenage server in Pratt. She was too young to serve beer and the bartender had to bring it over. I should have asked if she was still in school and what she thought her future was in such a small rural Kansas town. Actually, the staff at the Pratt Holiday Inn Express were the friendliest. The wait staff at the North Rim appeared to be mostly Turkish engineering students who were there for the second season. I had fun talking with them. Their season was almost over, after which they played tourist for a few weeks before going back to Ankara. Their plans included a tour of the National Parks in the west. The owner of the Peruvian restaurant was from Nicaragua, but he assured me the cook was Peruvian. The food was outstanding.

The ranger or receptionist at the Prairie Preserve, she was mildly interesting, well trained and thus politically correct. Between the lines, she briefly mentioned something like “the mess” this country was in, but when I tried to draw her out, she refrained. We had a nice talk; she as a wildlife grad and me as a range management dude. However, she had no idea about the less common plants that I observed during my hike on the preserve.

The most interesting discussion I had was with a Navajo sales person at the Four Corners Landmark.  He was manning a booth and we spoke about my previous life and work on and near the Navajo Nation.  He told me that I missed the powwow in Windowrock which was held that weekend.  Again just small talk but very pleasant to be back in the culture I once lived in.

My last real encounter with someone I did not know was at the Hollywood Bowl. I wanted to buy a commemorative sweatshirt. “No, no that one is too small for you,” an African American lady all the sudden started to give me advice, “you need to go a size up.” We ended up in a nice 5-minute small talk, while my daughter and her spouse looked on. Having had a few women trying to take advantage of me on-line, I was a little weary or suspicious but then my family was nearby and we parted on very friendly terms. I may write about these more nefarious encounters some other time.

As you can see, I have nothing serious to report, and never had an in-depth discussion during any of my encounters. In a way I regret that, but is never was my objective during this trip. Hopefully, it provides a very small vignette of the people I saw and met during my trip.

This is a photograph of the small gondola of the train going up the Arch.  It's a four minute ride and as you can see, very intimate.

The Four Corners Landmark

Advice anyone? (10/12/2023)

How would I have reacted as a 55-year-old if I, as my current 70-year-old self, was able to return and tell that 55-year-old self what to do, how to live his life, or what not to do? Or how would I react right now when my 85-year-old self returned with all that advice, if I even make it to 85? An interesting question, isn’t it? I based this question on a YouTube video I saw, in other words, I am not that original, but it got me thinking.

We recently came home from our trip across the country. As I wrote <here>, we followed part of the Lewis and Clark Trail going west, but had to cut the voyage short, and dropped south to the Los Angeles area after we got to the continental divide <here>. At the divide we came upon (one of) the source(s) of the Missouri river. When they reached the divide, the Lewis and Clark expedition spent some time in this general area, meeting the Shoshone Indians, figuring out the trail further west, and negotiating for horses. Lewis celebrated his birthday during that stay, and he wrote the following “self-assessment” in his diary:

"This day I completed my thirty first year, I reflect that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now sorely feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended. (Spelling corrected by me)

I dash from me the gloomy thought and resolved in future, to redouble my exertion and at least endeavor to promote those two primary objects of human existence, by them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestowed on me …"

The man who led the expedition to open the west had self-doubt and did not think he had achieved anything to further the happiness of humanity. Lewis discovered and described a large number of new plant and animal species. He described the medicinal use of these plants by the Indian population he came across. He studied the various tribes they encountered. In fact, he greatly advanced the information for succeeding generations.

A few years after their return, Lewis reportedly committed suicide. Some say he was murdered, but the interpretation of events has been questioned. Regardless of Lewis’ untimely death, if his older self or we were able to go back now and tell him what a hero he would be considered, or how revered he now is by humanity, what would have happened? Would his depression have lifted, or would he have quit and gone home, would he have lived to a rip old age? We will never know, will we? But I had that thought on top of the divide: if he only knew.

Wow, this is a post with a lot of question marks, I feel like I haven’t found that key in a lot of my posts. But this question got me thinking. What would I like to tell my 55-year-old self that I know now but did not know then? Or conversely what would I like to know about me in the future 15 years from now? (when I told my wife what I was pondering her immediate answer was: “eat more vegetables.”)

My posts go back only 10 years, so I have no reference here. This blog started out as a photo diary anyway, and I have never kept a diary to find out where my head was at the time. I was most likely unemployed sometime in 2008. They had closed the office where I was working; thank goodness I had a few consulting jobs and the conditions of my lay-off were good. In addition, I was drawing social security during the weeks I had no consulting income. It was tight, but we weren’t hurting.

It was around this time fifteen years ago that I was getting excited about a job with the state that I applied for and was about to be interviewed for. We all know now that this was the job that I was going to get for the next 14 years until my retirement. Is there anything that I would have told myself to dissuade me from taking the job? Hell no, there have been very few moments that I hated the job or regretted taking it. I love to teach and that’s what the job turned in to. Eat more vegetables? I lost around 20 lbs. since then and I have been able to keep them off. Yes, I would love to lose an additional 20. The only thing I can come up with is: “follow your bliss.”

What would I want to learn from my 85-year-old self? I am not sure, I currently love life and I just hope that I can hold on to it for another 20 years or so, of course in good health. On a positive note, my financial advisor estimated the other day that I will live to the ripe old age of 92! Guess, I need to eat more vegetables and salads. This post isn’t a “rest of my life resolutions.” As I mentioned in that post, I hate resolutions. But this was something I was pondering after that YouTube video where the maker asked exactly that question: “what advice would I give my 10-year younger self about van life?”

Lemhi pass, the continental divide and the border between Montana and Idaho.

The supposed source of the Missouri River in Lemhi pass

The valley where Lewis camped and celebrated his birthday

Nomads, the conclusion (10/8/2023)

We are home arriving a few days ago. On arrival we felt both happy and sad at the same time. Happy to be home, sad that it was over, thirty-four days of travel of which most of them on the road. Yes, we spent a week sleeping on a guest bed at our daughter's and four nights in a motel bed, but we did spend the majority of those days that we slept in a motel in the van.

Here is a summary of our itinerary, listing the places we spent the night: (Home –) Twin Knobs Campground, Cave Run Lake (near Morehead, KY) – Babler State Park (near St. Louis, MO) – Big Lake State Park (near St. Joseph, MO) – North Sioux City (SD) – Gettysburg (SD) – East Totten Trail Campground (near Coleharbor, ND) – Miles City (MT) – Lewistown (MT) – Great Falls (MT, two nights) – Dillon (MT) – Logan (UT) – Cedar City (UT) – Henderson (NV) – Long Beach (CA, a week) – Kingman (AZ) – Flagstaff (AZ) – Albuquerque (NM) – Alamosa (CO) – Dodge City (KS) – Lee’s Summit (MO) – Rend Lake (near Mt. Vernon, IL) – Ashland (KY) – Natural Tunnel State Park (VA, three nights) (– home)

 

We drove 4695 miles going and 3277 miles returning. This makes sense considering on the way there we ended up north in North Dakota. I don’t know the exact amount of fuel we bought, but at 18 miles per gallon I can estimate that we burned 440 gallons of gasoline. This could have been less if we did not have to idle the van to keep our doggies cool.

We visited or drove through: VA, KY, IN, IL, MO, NE, IO, SD, ND, MT, ID, UT, NV, CA, AZ, NM, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN KY, TN, VA, a total of 19 different states. Personally, I added North Dakota and Nevada to the list of the states I have set foot in. Before this trip I had been to all the other states on this list. How long did we spend in these states? In total we spent 8 nights in CA, MT 5 nights, MO 3 nights, VA 3 nights, SD 2 nights, UT 2 nights, KY 2 nights, AZ 2 nights. We did not sleep in IN, IO, ID and TN and in the others only one night. Does this reflect our love, enjoyment or dislike of a certain state? To some extent, we really liked Montana and Missouri; in addition, we drove from one side of the state to the other (east to west, and in Missouri again from west to east on our return trip). Both states are big, but yes, we enjoyed both and fell in love with Montana. Kansas was liked least <here>. While I loved the countryside in certain areas of Kansas, we were bothered by all the feedlots, the looks, the smell that they produce and as a result the huge number of flies we had at our camp site. It was almost too much and it made us wonder if vegetarianism was the answer. Getting the hell out of Dodge seemed appropriate.

What did I or we learn from this trip? This country is damn big! No wonder it took Lewis and Clark so long to get across <here>. I realized that I still miss the desert, or maybe being an arid-land ecologist, observing all the changes in the plant life. I am and will stay a biologist or ecologist at heart. You read that folks complain about the monotony of the Great Plains; however, to me this area is fascinating. This includes the land use, differences in vegetation and most likely soils, the prairie potholes, the limitless sky, you name it. Moreover, I realized during the trip that the desert still remains my second love (after my wife/family/dogs of course). I have often written about forest bathing and my love dor wandering in the wood; I even presented a sermon on the subject. Yes, we drove through forests in Montana, New Mexico, Colorado and even in Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia, and loved it. However, I wonder if traveling through and spending time in the prairie and desert gives you the same benefits as experiencing the forest.

What did we learn about camping? You run out of time! Our van is small, and with two dogs we tend to cover the bed, a place where they spend most of their time while driving. The cover is used to keep the allergens (read dog hair) off our pillows and bedding. It generally took us 30 to 45 minutes to set the van up for sleeping once we decided it was time. Getting ready to get on the road in the morning is a different story. We never got on the road before 9:30. Stowing everything and cleaning up takes a long time. Thank goodness we both have our tasks and overall, it went very smooth. Usually, Donna would walk the dogs while I got the van ready for sleeping and driving the next day. I would make coffee in the morning while the dogs got their walk and breakfast, and at night I would make our evening coffee while Donna did the dishes. But still, it is a process to arrive at a site and depart the next day.

A little about camp sites. We stayed at commercial RV sites, KOAs, US government and County sites, and a town park. While KOAs started out as the last resort, they are the most expensive, later in the trip they became a great fall-back option and actually a preferred option at times. We found that commercial sites packed as many campers or RVs into their places as humanly possible. The sites were on gravel, which is a pain for the dogs, and two of the sites were next to livestock holding areas, smelly and teaming with flies. With the possible exception of the camping in Lewistown, MT, we left none of the commercial sites with the thought that it was so nice that we should return soon. Commercial sites charge around $50 per night.

KOAs are generally cleaner, have larger plots per camper, often have trees, clean restrooms and shower facilities, recreation facilities, a store, and sometimes a restaurant of sorts attached to it. Now, if you are passing through this may not be important, but it is nice, albeit more expensive. The cost for a night is close to $80 or even higher in desirable locations.

We fell in love with the State and County parks in Missouri and Virginia. They are relatively inexpensive ($20 to $35) and as good or better than the KOAs in my opinion. They miss the miniature golf, camp store and swimming pools, but they are clean, have nicely spaced sites and are well managed. With the special government pass, the US government sites are $10 per night. We stayed at one in Kentucky and in North Dakota. They were the two favorite sites on our trip. Finally, the city park site in Gettysburg, SD <here>. It seems that some of the small towns in the mid-west have opened their city parks to camping. They even provide electricity, water, bathroom and shower facilities to the weary campers. This is all for free, but a donation is welcomed. Moreover, you are expected to spend some money in town. We had breakfast at a local coffee shop the next morning. We loved the place and will return.

Something we never realized is that the public camp sites, like those owned or operated by the federal, state, or county governments have camp hosts. We encountered a camp host for the first time during our camping outing in July <here>; I wrote about them thinking they were unique; however, I now realize how ubiquitous they are. Hosts are folks that are volunteers who stay in the campground for free and manage things. At the campground in Lee’s Summit, Missouri and Rend Lake, Illinois <here> they even handled the registration and money. Camp hosts will bring firewood and ice to your camping site, and they all seem to drive around in golf carts to check on you and occasionally to chat. Now the town park site in Gettysburg <here> had no host and we were all alone, but the sheriff lived across the street.

As I mentioned above, we stayed in motels four times during our trip. Three of them were weather forced, in North Sioux city we read 108 on the thermometer <here>. In Cedar City we were hit with thunderstorms, and just outside Las Vegas we hit the heat again <here>. We had agreed to meet up with our friends who were moving from Yorktown wherever our paths crossed and stay in a motel <here>. The dogs behaved in the motel rooms, so it was actually not bad. Motel rooms are more expensive than camp sites and therefore are something to avoid.

Concluding this long post, we had fun. Will we do something like this again? Yes, probably but we need to plan the season better to avoid extreme heat, cold or inclement weather. Thirty-four days? Who knows, but first some shorter trips exploring our immediate area and the East Coast.

Google gave me a location map for September, and this shows the route we took.

Our dog Jasper is happy to be home, not to wear a harness and cuddle with mommy.  

Nomads, Day 7 and 8 (9/9/2023)

We continue our trek up the great Missouri River, and it is time to report on days 7 and 8.

Day 7: East Totten Trail Campground – New Town (SD) – Belfield – Medora – Theodore Roosevelt National Park – Miles City (MT)

Day 8: Miles City – Pompeys Pillar National Monument – Billings – Lewistown

It was a cold morning when we woke up. It was about 43 degrees (6 C), at least that is what the Weather Channel told us. One thing that had been pretty surprising to me was that all through Nebraska and South Dakota we had great cell phone coverage. This was somewhat amazing to me but every little hamlet and even along all the roads we had traveled, my phone told me it was mostly a 5G service. Even in North Dakota where we were on day 7 and for a large part during day 8, we were never without cell phone coverage. Some of the posts up to now were written when my wife, Donna, was driving and I used the hotspot on my phone.

To continue, that night at the East Totten Trail Campground we used our small space heater, the night sky was amazing, and we even heard a group of coyotes howl, which greatly amused our dogs. It was interesting to watch the folks next to us trying to level their huge camper; it took the guy at least a half hour or longer. We have Camco leveling blocks, which look like giant Lego blocks, and I just had to drive one side of our van on to them to sleep somewhat level that night.

The next day it was through the North Dakota prairie, we go! This part of the world was a mix of corn, sun flowers and native short grass prairie rangelands. We did drive a number of fields that appear to be alfalfa. Amazing were the oil rigs or pump that were littered throughout the landscape. We had heard of the North Dakota oil boom and here it was! Most towns on the road were small, except the town of New Town, which appeared to be a tourist resort and oil town. Being from our area, New Town is a development in Williamsburg where we used to work.

After lunch in Belfield at a very interesting restaurant, we toured the southern section of the Theodor Roosevelt National Park. It was a pity that the sky was so smoky; however, the park is definitely worth visiting. We were off to Miles City (MT), after a brief visit to the park. In Miles City we experienced a true camping site, a gravel lot with plenty of RVs, including folks that live there long-term. It was located next to a feed lot and here we came up with notion that SD, ND and MT were dominated by flies. The owner of the RV site was a riot and we enjoyed interacting with her. Bathrooms were clean and it felt great to take a shower.

The trip next day was fairly uneventful. The visit to Pompeys Pillar was fun and warmish. Pompeys pillar is the site where you can find the only real evidence of the trip that Lewis and Clark made. Clark carved his signature into the rock. It was a shame that they were doing some heavy work there and had a huge crane set up. But after inquiry, I found out that the pillar was slowly coming apart, courtesy the weather. As I used to teach, water is the strongest force in breaking rocks apart. Combine that with frost, and Clark’s signature was in danger. It was interesting to see how the entire pillar was being monitored. The crane was there to assist with a stabilization effort.

After lunch and groceries in Billings it was on the road again to Lewistown. This town is the central point in Montana and a cute town. We quickly found out that microbreweries in Montana do not allow dogs, something that we are accustomed to in Virginia. In other words, my dream of doing a microbrewery tour of Lewis and Clark was dashed. We again stayed at an ordinary camp site, this time without feedlot and great owner who talked our ears off, but still with a lot of flies and folks that do not clean up after their dogs next to your camp site. Oh well. That night we were hit by more rain, which sounds great on the van. Overall, a fun two days. I cannot get over the fact how much I missed this type of landscape we have been driving through. The prairie is amazing. A second observation was that it seems that the country in this area is littered with casinos. Every small (and large town) in SC, ND and MT seem to have a casino in it. These are combined with local bars or liquor stores.

On a sad note, it was around this time that our good friend Vaughn Deel had passed away. The news affected my wife and me greatly. Vaughn was a great person and wonderful musician. He always remembered us and had a kind word for you whenever you met him. It was shortly after we moved to Virgina that he had a stem cell transplant what kept him alive for at least another 22 years. It were these years that he did not take for granted. Rest in peace Vaughn and do some jamming up there with Jerry and the bunch.

Breakfast at the East Totten Trail Campground

North Dakota Prairie with its windmills

National Grasslands

In the Theodor Roosevelt NP, showing of our camping van.

In my classes I used to tell folks about rocks as mulch and the pedestaling you can see in the dessert.  Here you can see where there were rocks there was no erosion.

Pompeys Pillar.

The view from on top of Pompeys pillar: the Yellowstone River (Clark's return route).

We made it to Lewistown and it's time to relax.

Nomads, day 5 and 6 (9/8/2023)

Days 5 and 6 of our Lewis and Clark adventure was really when it felt that the rubber hit the road. Here is a quick summary of our trek these two days:

Day 5: North Sioux City, ND – Vermillion – Spirit Mound – Yankton – Chamberlain (Dignity of Earth and Sky) – Gettysburg

Day 6: Gettysburg – Bismark, ND – Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (in Washburn, ND) – Fort Mandan – East Totton Train Campground (on Lake Audubon near Coleharbor, ND)

What were the significant events on these two legs of our journey? Day 5 was eventful from a Lewis and Clark viewpoint. We initially wanted to stay in Vermillion; however, the heat-dome prevented this. Camping at 105 degrees in a van without air conditioning (when you are parked), with two dogs seemed unwise. The logic result was that we stayed in North Sioux City. We did want to visit Vermillion, a small college town in the middle of nowhere. Vermillion is a charming town, but we had an ulterior motive, our reason was: Spirit Mound.

Lewis and Clark learned of Spirit Mound from the Indians within a large radius of the Vermillion area. They had been warned to avoid it, because of spirits that supposedly lived on or near it. They were shorter, according to the native American legends, with big heads and had sharp spears with which they would hurt or even kill anyone approaching the mound. The hill was 12 miles north of the river from what now is Vermillion; and the explorers decided to go look for themselves. They climbed the hill and never found the angry spirits. Spirit Mound is now an historic landmark, that also includes a native Minnesota prairie. This was enough for us to also explore the mound. Since it was 95 degrees, we did not hike up the Mound, but we did spend a short time there walking through the prairie. To tell you the truth we were enchanted by what we saw; however, it was too hot to spend a lot of time there with our dogs.

Subsequently we drove to Yankton and had a good look at the Missouri. After that we took off for Chamberlain. The welcome center there has a great statue entitled Dignity of Earth and Sky. Altogether a fun trip through central South Dakota. Mostly a land with corn and soybean fields. However, there were patches of grasslands and to our surprise fields of sunflowers. The sunflowers had finished flowering and we were imagining how beautiful this could look when the flowers were in full bloom.

We arrived in Gettysburg around 5 pm. Our plan was to stay at the city park, where the community had established a number of camp sites. They had electricity and even showers. The camping is free, but a donation was appreciated. We were the only campers that night; it was all very acceptable; the showers were clean. In the middle of the night we were hit by a major thunderstorm which heralded the change of weather; from heat to more agreeable temperatures.

After breakfast at the local coffee shop in Gettysburg it was time to move further north. South Dakota (and parts of North Dakota) has numbered two roads along the river Route 1804 and Route 1806. Lewis and Clark moved upriver in 1804 and returned in 1806. You can therefore imagine that the route on the east side of the river is 1804 and on the west side is 1806. We decided to take 1804 and ended up on these dirt country roads during a steady cold drizzle with very strong winds. It was now 55 degrees and with a 40 or so mph wind, it was darn cold. Once in Bismark I was finally able to sample a beer at a local brewery for lunch. Unbeknownst to us, Bismark had its worst and actually, the country’s worst air quality, courtesy of the Canadian wildfires.

After a visit to Fort Mandan, we went to our campsite at Lake Audubon. The fort and visiting center were the first real thing we did since the start of our trip. While impressive, the fort was disappointing to me as well, since it was not re-build at the exact location or at least near the location of the old fort. The original site was 20 miles further north. However, the original site was most likely flooded caused by the damming of the river. Another item was that the walls were constructed by logs that were placed vertically. It seems that this might not be historically correct, and the logs might have been stacked horizontally, although there are no details in the historical accounts.

The campsite was great, it was on a lake and just a wonderful site. At night we were able to see the milky way and we witnessed a coyote chorus. The temperature dipped to 42 at night and we finally had to use our small space heater. In all an interesting two days of contrast, extreme heat followed by a chill that heralds the beginning of autumn.

Spirit Mound as viewed through a group on sunflowers on the native prairie in South Dakota.

The Missouri seen from the bridge in Yankton, SD

Dignity of Earth and Sky

Camping in Gettysburg

Need I say more?

Driving the back roads in cold, rainy South Dakota

Fort Mandan.  The party overwintered their first year near the Mandan tribe in what is now near Washburn, North Dakota.  William Clark reported in his journal that in the first few days of January they were invited to what was a huge three-day party, something like a pow-wow, to launch a buffalo hunt.  He described how young warriors would lead their nude wives to the old men of the tribe for their pleasure, in the hope that the knowledge, wisdom and hunting skills of these older men would be transferred the younger husbands.  The older men would lead the young (married) women to the side and have intimate relations with them.  Boy, that is what you can call rubbing off.

According to Clark the enlisted men that were part of the expedition were also in high demand for this type of knowledge transfer.  Clark mentions that one private was particularly lucky and had sex with four different young ladies during the three-day fest.  According to accounts, sexually transmitted diseases were endemic in the native population, in particular syphilis.  In the book by Ambrose there is a discussion on whether syphilis and gonorrhea were endemic to the North American population or not, very unlike small pocks which was definitely spread by the European colonizers to the New World population.  I am not sure if there was a native cure for the ailment; however, treatment of the STDs among Europeans wasn’t pleasant.  It consisted of ingesting mercury as in mercurial chloride, known to cause mad hatter disease.

As all you readers know, I am older. I have white hair and also claim to be somewhat wiser (a little arrogance is good for the soul, I guess). In other words when we visited the Fort Mandan and the Mandan area, I was full of hope that I might be asked for some knowledge infusion. Although the thought of catching STDs did not make the thought very appealing.

Camping on Lake Audubon near Coleharbor, SD.  The temperatures dipped into the low 40s at night and we had to bring out the space heater.

Nomads, day 3 and 4 (9/5/2023)

We made it to the Lewis and Clark trail. A quick summary to start:

Day 3: Dr. Emmit Babbler Memorial Campground – Hermann – Swiss Meat & Sausage Company – Jefferson – Columbia – St. Joseph – Big Lake State Campground.

Day 4: Big Lake State Campground – Loess Hills Wildlife Refuge – Brownville, NE – Nebraska City – Winnebago Indian Reservation – Omaha – North Sioux City, SD.

As you can see, two long days. We arrived at our camp site around 7 p.m. on day 3, and around 6 p.m. at the motel on day 4. Yes, we had nice side trips at Clark’s Hill and the Wildlife Refuge on day 4. The refuge is huge and if you come at the right time, it should be chockablock with ducks, swans and cranes. For us the idea of loss is neat; it is a soil type formed from volcanic ash that was deposited thousands of years ago. It is usually yellow in color and extremely fertile. The loess deposits in these hills are among the deepest in the U.S.A. Both of us being schooled in soil science, this was a place to stop and explore. We saw a little bit but spent most of our time driving the 10-mile loop in the refuge. This had a mixture of wetland habitat and prairie. All very interesting to us, as well.

However, let’s start at the beginning of our trip. I had the initial idea to make our day 2 camping spot in Hermann, they have a city park open to campers. However, we decided to stay at the Babbler campground. In hindsight this appeared to be a good decision. Once in Hermann, we could not locate the city park. Hermann is a great tourist town on the Missouri and surprisingly on our way there, the road was littered with the “you are on the Lewis and Clark trail” signs. However, as of this writing, those signs kept pursuing us, indicating we are on the right trail.

After driving to Hermann and seeing what a tourist trap that was, we decided to aim for Jefferson City, figuring that we could put of our need for lunch and a bathroom break that long. However, just outside Hermann we hit the sausage factory. The decision was made to buy something for breakfast the next morning. We did not realize what we about to step into, a virtual meat market with all kinds of sausage concoctions and bacon. They also had a lunch counter, so that was easy. The problem as usual was the doggies and 95 degree temperatures; they don’t mix. We ate lunch in the van, and on we went. The road was absolutely fun, a small winding country road. One thing about this part of Missouri were all the wineries. I had tasted wines from the region in the mid-1990s and they were not bad then, but this turn we had no time to taste.

After stopping at Clark’s Hill (see below) and later in Jefferson City for our required visit to Starbucks, we pressed on. Mostly interstate highway driving, until we needed to get on the backroads to Big Lake State Park. The last part of the drive was flat. Fascinating was when we got off the highway and dove into the floodplain of the Missouri. It is huge in that part of this world. There were all kinds of reminders of the flood back in the 1800s. Big Lake looks like it was an old oxbow of the Missouri River that had been cut off a long time ago. When booking, little did we realize what a resort area this area was. Except for the state park, the lake was surrounded by vacation homes and the lake was full on pontoon boats and jet skis. This was a party park, all kinds of watercrafts; dogs were running lose, with some dog poop to step into. Getting that in the van required a cleaning effort that put us to sleep late. Rest rooms and showers were scarce at the park, but we knew we had a motel room the next night and showers are overrated anyway.

After visiting the Loess Hills it was off to the Nebraska side of the river. Brownville is a cute, touristy town, but the ice cream shop was closed! Lunch in Nebraska City and I dare say that I now understand why my family likes this state and says it is pretty. We drove along the floodplain, corn and soy, all the way to Omaha. Starbuck stop there. Temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 C). We got to the Hampton Inn in North Sioux City by 6:45. We had driven through Missouri, Nebraska, a sliver of Iowa into South Dakota. A trip that Lewis and Clark took a half year to cover was done in a fairly fast pace by us.

Our only other dedicated stop was Clark’s Hill. This hill is located just east of Jefferson City. Clark walked up for a view of the river. He discovered three Indian mounts on the hill, which remain there until this day. Our overall impression of this leg of the trip was that it fascinated us to see the transition from an area dominated by wooded areas to an area dominated by agriculture land (most of it in corn and soybeans). We were both schooled in the agronomy side of life, with a side of ecology. So, you can imagine our enjoyment of looking at the landscape passing by the van.

The view from Clark's Hill.

Our dog Radar waiting for the sun to set.

A random view of Nebraska

The Nebraska floodplains, as flat a a pancake, stark but somehow nice at least in our eyes.

Nomads, day 1 and 2 (9/3/20213)

We are on our way! Leaving home this past Thursday it felt like the good old days driving to work in Richmond. The notable exception was that almost immediately when we hit the interstate we had to slow down to a crawl and spend 45 minutes on what we usually can cover in 10 minutes. Oh well, a conspicuous start to a trip like this. After that it was relatively smooth sailing to our first-day destination Cave Run Lake, Kentucky. I had booked a camp site at the Twin Knob Campground in the Daniel Boon State Forest. We hit a lot of road construction in West Virginia and Kentucky, probably all thanks to the Biden money.

The first part of our route felt very familiar. Interstate 64 or I-64 is a highway I frequently traveled for work, at least all the way to the town of Lexington. In that area the highway turns rights towards the West Virginia line. Knowing that we were eventually going to be helped captive by the famous (at least to us) toll road section that dives down from Beckly to the capitol of Charleston and its gasoline and restaurant plazas, we decided to fill up before crossing the state line. I love stopping in Covington, in particular since one of my ex-students manages the local stormwater program there. When I retired, she was one of the few who emailed me and told me that I was the best teachers she had ever had. It is always nice to thank them with little sales tax we are able leave behind there.

Twin Knob Campground near Morehead, KY was a pleasant surprise. It was a joy camping there. So much of a pleasure that we decided that we did need to return there one of these days for a more extended stay. It’s a full day’s drive, but doable. The campground is located on a small peninsula in Cave Run Lake (reservoir). The lake is huge and appears to be stocked with fish; we drove by a fish hatchery near the dam that controls the water level in the lake.

We had a nice walk on a trail along the lake. Issues included the abundance of poison ivy and the fact that I tripped and fell. This was scary; I had broken my left wrist a few years ago; however, when I fell on that side this time, I was able to protect my wrist. Thank goodness I just scaped my elbow and my wrist hurt a bit but was ok. The moon was great that night and we went to sleep with is shining on me while laying my self down. The eastern screech owl was calling that evening, making it even more magical. The next day we did a two-and-a-half-mile hike before jumping back on I-64 on our way to St. Louis.

We had the Dr. Edmund A. Babbler Memorial State Park on our radar. This park is some 20 or so miles west of St. Louis and it is truly a more urban state park at the outskirts of a very wealthy neighborhood. Camping was an experience in this park. The site we were on was a concrete pad which was nice; however, our neighbors were very cut loose, and it was intimate. Thank goodness, the folks next to us were nice and invited us to join them at their campfire and after dinner we had a nice time talking with them about their jobs, our past jobs and retirement. They actually served on an Air Force installation near where we live and it was nice to talk with them about that.

My impression of the first two days is a lot of highways, and even more construction being conducted on these roads; a sign to me that Washington money is trickling down. But it makes the drive a bit more cumbersome and slows you down. Secondly, we seemed to drive through Indiana and Illinois without spending any money in these states. Lastly, I personally found that parts of southern Indiana and Illinois reminded me of driving through the Netherlands. It was flat with hedgerows, church steeples and farm buildings in the distance.

Well, a somewhat boring report of our travels, no terrible insights or thoughts. Just us beelining Missouri where the actual Lewis and Clark journey starts.

We are on our way.  Good bey Virginia, see you in a few!

The lake and location where I tripped and lost my dignity and scraped my elbow.

Hello Missouri! (Picture taken by Donna Briede)

Our second evening out.  In the St. Lewis area (Dr. Edmund Babbler SP, I really need to research who this Babbler is, I had never heard of him before).

Nomadic life will continue (8/21/2023)

It has been a few weeks since I checked in here on my blog, but so be it. I can notice that my readership has declined somewhat during these past two months, but maybe I can atribute that to the vacation that many are having, my retirement, and all the things going on in my life. For one we had some major structural work done in our home. This cost gobs of money, but we justified it by the fact that we are healthy, plan to live here for at least another 10 to 15 years, and it would increase the value of our home. It may in the long run even save us money.

But this is not what I want to write about. I am writing to forewarn you, my dear readers, that the nomad will be resuming his nomadic lifestyle during the month of September. We are planning a trip across the country to attend to family festivities in California. Yes, we will be doing this with our camper van, the Ford Transit, that we recently purchased from friends. I already wrote about some dress rehearsal camping trips here and here.

The trip is estimated to take two weeks to travel from the east to the west coast. After the festivities we will need to return home and we have no idea yet how long we will be taking to accomplish that or the route. Naturally, I will try to write about our trip (both going and returning); maybe not a daily report, but I hope to write a regular dispatch from the road. I really hope to give you all an idea of what we are experiencing and how I am feeling. It will include reviews of the places (camping areas) we stay; places we visit; walks and hikes we do; restaurants we eat at; maybe some microbreweries or wineries; or even some knitting shops.

Are we preparing? Yes, we are! On our way out west we are planning to roughly follow the Lewis and Clark trail, at least to the Montana-Idaho border, or the source of the Missouri river before turning south towards the Los Angeles area. I have been reading various books including the book by Stephen E. Ambrose entitled “Undaunted Courage, Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West,” Julie Fanselow’s “Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail,” and Alain de Botton’s “The Art of Travel.” As you can see, I always have a number of books open, but that’s me. I have been booking camp sites and figuring out the best routes to drive. We’ll try to stay away from the interstate highways once we reach St. Louis, the “official” start of the trail.

We have given ourselves 14 days to get across; however, there are a lot of unknowns. Of course there is hurricane season. We really wondered why the festivities were planned at the height of this time of year. Twenty years ago, our area was hit by hurricane Isabel on September 18, and our party is on September 16 in LA. Our area sustained major damage as a result of Isabel’s passing; we lost electricity for 13 days. Hurricanes have been in the back of our mind ever since during the month of September and leaving home that month is somewhat scary. In addition, leaving my bonsai trees for more than a few days worries me somewhat, although I have an automated watering system and my neighbor Bob promised he would keep an eye on them.

A final item is of course not knowing what to expect in the northern states. This includes the weather and animals like bears. Will it be cold in Montana, will we be bugged by grizzlies? Yes, I already loaded a space heater, which will only work when we have shore power, and I bought bear spray. Reading accounts about van-life in Reddit, I learn that van floors are notoriously cold and poor Radar (our dog) who sleeps on the floor was already shivering when the outside temperatures dipped below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. But then today it is 102 degrees in North and South Dakota.

All this thinking and anticipation reminds me a little of what I read in The Art of Travel about that subject. Botton writes about de Esseintes, a character in J.K. Huysman’s 1884 novel A Rebours who was a great armchair traveler full of anticipation but was bitterly disappointed when reaching his destination and almost immediately returned home without completing his planned visits. In other words, we will see how this will all pan out. I am sure that there will be days when we will be disappointed, and days when we will be ecstatic; tired days and days that we want to keep going. After our 6 days of camping in July we felt great and were ready for more. So hopefully this will be fine too. Stay tuned.

The rear of the van has been decorated.  If you are a reader on the trail we are following and you see these decals, come and say hello.