On the Road Across America -- Day Four

New Year 2015 dawned slightly cloudy and decidedly crisp!  This was our coldest day thus far - somewhere around 14 degrees when the sun came up.  (In an aside, I must say I was impressed with my daughter.  She not only paid for all meals, hotels and coffees, but she also took the luggage in and out of the hotel and warmed the car and had gas in it ready to go when it was time to leave.  Woo-Hoo -- I loved it!  AND her car had heated seats - I've got to get some of those!!)

 On the road by Pickerel Lake, MN. 

Perhaps someone can explain why when we were going through Blue Earth that the phone camera decided on its own (apparently) to give us blue tones?  Very clever, but not planned.

More beautiful Minnesota (still Blue Earth but natural color)

My daughter, who would prefer the Navy to the Army, provided this "Minnesota at Sea" view of another beautiful farmland!

I love farms!

Wind farms here and there.  This near Rushmore - Dewald

 These four photos are surprising in that they were not "meant" to be black and white. Perhaps the contrast just convinced the phone camera that that was what it was.  Love the "artsy" effect.  I think black and white looks colder than color.

We crossed into South Dakota and all was again in color!

I always have fond memories of Rapid City.  We moved there first when I was three.  My mother went into labor almost as soon as we got into town.  I think, altho I could be remembering my father's story wrong, we took mom to the hospital and then went looking for a hotel  After we found room at the inn (not quite like the Bethlehem story) but definitely stressful for the adults involved, we then went back to await Venca's birth.  Fortunately it all turned out well! (Miss you Sis!) We  moved away for awhile, but then returned to Rapid City when I was 6 and starting first grade. I attended Zion Lutheran School for first and second grade.  Miss Klepel was my first teacher! 

Above and below; Chamberlain SD

Kennebec

Now we see "South Dakota at Sea!"  Not likely that this state will otherwise see the ocean!

Murdo-Central Jones - the kind of weather we had most of the way; some clouds but mostly clear and cold.

We got to Rapid City at dusk.  Wanted to go a little further so kept on going.

Is it only fitting that as we went past Black Hawk that  the photo again turned "black and white."  No accounting! Perhaps someone could enlighten me about this phenomenon.

Piedmont area as it gets darker -above and below

Also Piedmont

The sun was long gone as we drove into Wyoming and on to Gillette where we spent the night.  This was our longest day and the most night driving.  652 miles that day since leaving Albert Lea.   Another warm and wonderful Comfort Inn and a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant across the way. 

 

 

 

 

On the Road Across America - Day Three

First morning stop on New Year's Eve was STARBUCKS!!!  You can travel a long ways from Seattle without having to give up  life's necessities!   With coffee in hand we hit the road toward Chicago.   

Look at all that blue sky!  Sunny does not mean warm.

 

Our plan  was to drive to Oconomowoc and stay overnight with family.  My husband's parents and most of his siblings all live near Oconomowoc, WI so we had thought we would like to get there early in the day and spend New Year's Eve and maybe all of New Year's day with the family.  When we called them so say we were heading their way, they all sounded AWFUL!  It was sad to not get to see them but we certainly did NOT want to spend the rest of our trip with chills and fever followed by that obnoxious cough that hangs on for weeks. 

So in spite of traveling on I-90 near their homes, we took a special photo just for them and waved and wished them well as we kept right on moving!  Bye Mom and Dad!  Hope to see you soon.

But of our original plans, there was still my aunt to visit where I-94 and I-90 meet (or split, depending on which way you are traveling!), and so we still were still heading North and West.  It still looked like I-90 might be our best route.  Weather channel had all kinds of predictions of snow, sleet and freezing rain in Arizona and Texas and this made the southern route look less appealing! 

I always love the rock formations at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin near where my aunt lives.  Brings back wonderful memories of fire-fly lit evenings on Grandma's old farm where we kids would run and play for hours during summer visits.. And wouldn't you know, when I called my aunt from Madison, SHE was sick too.  And as I drove by I knew I had other Vandervort relatives in the area that I would love to spend time with, gabbing family history (hello VDV gang!) -- but I would have had to track down their phone numbers.  So again we took a photo of the exit we were NOT taking in honor of my aunt waved and drove on.

But the die was cast -- I-90  and pedal to the metal.  Our TomTom friend informed us that a mere 1,909 miles  and 28 hours were left before we left I-90 and turned north on I-5 for the last stretch home.   

 Now that ALL our visiting plans had all fallen through and seeing as we were looking at clear roads and skies while the  high pressure was pushing all the bad weather east and south out of our way, we began  making serious tracks toward home. It looked like a window of opportunity that we might not want to miss!   

So on to La Crosse and across the Crossing!  We discovered that the Mississippi River was already frozen for this year with lots of cold days still ahead. 

 Brrrr!!

 If you don't keep moving quickly around here, you'll end up frozen!

 

Minnesota beauty! 

 

 Very windy with blowing snow.  Not many people left on the road now.  Likely all off  for New Year's eve gatherings and with friends and family. 

As the sun gets lower it's time for us to think about finding a place to spend the night.  And in Albert Lea we find all the usual amenities Comfort Inn, Starbucks, and a good restaurant).  We decide to stop there. 

 Entertaining our selves while waiting for our food! 

 The restaurant which was part of an elaborate truck stop with grocery, restaurant, bar, gift shop, automotive supplies and clothing.

 Dinner!  It was all  great - vegetables were perfectly done! Hot and lightly crispy!

 Both of us were happy with our meal.

 Unexpectedly ran into a few of my old Norwegian ancestors there too -- what a surprise! And actually I do have distant Tangen relatives that lived in the Albert Lea area.  As you can see, they really are hearty stock!

Another fun day on the road, the end of a year and the beginning of another -- which we will sleep through so we can stay awake tomorrow!  Another 523 miles under our belts today!

On the Road Across America - Day Two

On Dec 30th, after twelve hours of fabulous sleep - maybe a personal record - we had breakfast and got ready to hit the road again. While checking out we asked about the history of Cumberland as the buildings all looked very old and close together.  The hotel concierge didn't know it's history, but noted that the large church had once been a fortress.  He didn't know what war it had played a part in, but we later learned that it had been under the control of George Washington years before the Revolutionary War. We decided to take another drive through the town just to see the buildings again in daylight.  The fortress is gone but an  Episcopal church was built on the same site long ago in 1803. There are large tunnels underneath it that had been used for food and ammunition storage while the British fortress was there, and later during the Civil War these same tunnels, now under the church, were part of the Underground Railroad for fleeing slaves. In the photo above, the church is the gray one with the tall thin steeple, I believe. The church has great historical information but they are very stingy on photographs.   If you have time to visit the link you'll find all kinds of interesting historical info! 

 Our only stop in Pennsylvania was at a rest area that not only had vending, bathrooms and a gift shop, but also had a memorial for miners! this was a large mural with a display of equipment below.

As we were leaving that rest stop, I noticed two seriously "oversize load" vehicles parked at the rest area.  This was just one of two.  Glad we were getting a head start on them.

Now came another decision!  Since we hadn't heard from Dave and Ruth Ann, we decided to see what route TomTom might suggest as we changed our course to visit relatives in Wisconsin.  When we put in the new destination, our route shifted due West across southern Ohio rather than northwest toward Cleveland.  As we drove along, we discussed past trips to visit my brother and sister-in-law  in Huber Heights, just outside Dayton.  At that time my brother had been in the Air Force and stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB.  Dayton has good memories for all of us because that is where he met his wife and the rest is history!

My daughter is seriously a two-fisted cell phone handler!  Not only does her car have USB ports, but she has all kinds of apps on her phone and mine -- so she had both phones constantly providing traffic, mileage, weather, music, games,  and information on nearby amenities all day long! 

Not for us the pioneer life of fending for ourselves and facing the unknown!  We could choose our stop for the night knowing where the local Starbucks drive-thru might be and having decided already which restaurant we wanted to visit for dinner.

It was getting later in the day when we crossed into Indiana.

This was an amazing sunset. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the center light was like a long red flame which shows up slightly better below. 

As the daylight faded away, we pulled into Lafayette, Indiana and checked into our second Comfort Inn of the trip and headed to the Cracker Barrel Restaurant across the way. The walls, as usual, were covered with all kinds of vintage photos, signs and memorabilia.  We had an old Carhartt tin advertisement on the wall above us,  and a man sitting across from us with Carhartt across his T-shirt!  We also got a call from Dave and Ruth Ann who told us that they had been out of town for several days and had gotten home to our message.  Like us, they had been in Columbus early in the day - so we had been nearly in the same place at the same time!

The Cracker Barrel fireplace was warm and inviting. And the gift shop had all sort of fun things.  Daughter got a new flannel shirt which proved to be a very wise investment for the days ahead!  And thus ended day two of our adventure.  According to Mapquest, a day of 519 miles blessed with blue skies.