(Sarah)
After our visit to Hays, both drivers were feeling pretty good (and Prairie Dog Town had closed already) so we decided to push on. We “yelped” our options and post-Oakley, there weren’t a lot of options. We did find one KOA about an hour outside of Denver with some pretty scathing reviews so that’s where we stayed last night. Bonus: We have water, electric and internet –worth the pretty penny before we head out into the wilderness.
***Side note – To all my former students (especially fieldcampers) that may be reading this blog: I’m aware I’m using a lot of passive voice, and academically, that would be marked wrong on a paper. But I’m typing most of these in the car, and quite frankly I don’t care. I just don’t want to be pegged as a hypocrite.
This morning we woke up to a Siamese cat meowing INSIDE of our vestibule. After my initial panic attack that it was rabid and would kill us both, we found it’s pretty friendly – but I’m still not touching it. Now he/she is hanging around the car, watching the blog updates.
Travis woke up feeling pretty sick this morning, Car Pharmacy to the rescue! Between Dayquil, Sudafed and lots of dinosaur bones today maybe we can lift him back up!
The plan for the morning is to drive out to the Morrison Formation (Jurassic dinosaurs) and check out a few bones and footprints. Then we’ll head over Loveland Pass and enjoy some of the front range peaks. The finale of the morning, will of course be breakfast in Idaho Springs, CO (where else!).
Then it’s time for one last check of the car fluids before we head out into the Utah nothingness. We hope to stay at Arches tonight and see Bryce and Zion tomorrow. Internet might be hard to come by, but expect to here from us on Tuesday!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Kansas - Flatter than You Think
(Sarah)
Last night we stayed at MGM Lake campground on the east side of St. Louis. We thought the lake would be appealing and pleasant. We did not think about the bug that would come with said lake. Luckily for us, we we’re there very long and there was a substantial duck population keeping things under control.
We got an early start this morning (which is surprising if you know both Travis and my sleeping habits). We also finally realized that we crossed into central time yesterday, which also helped with the getting out early. We took full advantage of Missouri gas prices – when was the last time you paid only $2.39/gal?
My *safe* driving got us to Kansas City before noon and we swing by the famous Arthur Bryant’s for some good old fashion KC bbq. It was delicious!!! Travis and I both got the pulled pork sandwiches and he had a side of coleslaw, while I opted for the baked beans. As a non-regular meat-eater it is a must stop if you’re traveling through I-70. The tastiest bbq I have ever had (and probably ever will have).
Now that we’re on state number 7 (22 for me this summer), there’s a solid entertainment procedure. We listen to an hour of Guns, Germs, and Steal by Jared Diamond, that I’m sure Travis has blogged about. Why only an hour? That appears to be our attention span. Then an hour of music, -driver’s choice. I happy to report that “Road Kill Bingo” is progressing very well. Now if only we could see a dead bison…but seriously, we only need a snake and rabbit for our first bingo!
We made a fast pit stop Hold on – a real life tumbleweed just rolled across the interstate in front of us – only in Kansas. Okay, pit stop in Junction City for Travis’s first Sonic Happy Hour. We got a myriad of drinks to keep everyone happy:
1 Medium Ocean Water
1 Medium Strawberry Limeade
1 Route 44 Lemonberry Slush (extra strawberry)
Needless to say, we’ll be stopping for a bathroom soon.
We’ve pushed on through the land of Dorothy heading for Hays, Kansas to pay a visit to Great Grandma Davis; we hope to be there between 4-5 pm. After that, we had plans to stay in Oakley, KS (home of Prairie Dog Town) but now we are considering pushing through a little further maybe into Colorado to free up some touristing time in that state. We’ll see how tired we are when we get to Oakley; maybe we’ll take an early night and leave early.
Last night we stayed at MGM Lake campground on the east side of St. Louis. We thought the lake would be appealing and pleasant. We did not think about the bug that would come with said lake. Luckily for us, we we’re there very long and there was a substantial duck population keeping things under control.
We got an early start this morning (which is surprising if you know both Travis and my sleeping habits). We also finally realized that we crossed into central time yesterday, which also helped with the getting out early. We took full advantage of Missouri gas prices – when was the last time you paid only $2.39/gal?
My *safe* driving got us to Kansas City before noon and we swing by the famous Arthur Bryant’s for some good old fashion KC bbq. It was delicious!!! Travis and I both got the pulled pork sandwiches and he had a side of coleslaw, while I opted for the baked beans. As a non-regular meat-eater it is a must stop if you’re traveling through I-70. The tastiest bbq I have ever had (and probably ever will have).
Now that we’re on state number 7 (22 for me this summer), there’s a solid entertainment procedure. We listen to an hour of Guns, Germs, and Steal by Jared Diamond, that I’m sure Travis has blogged about. Why only an hour? That appears to be our attention span. Then an hour of music, -driver’s choice. I happy to report that “Road Kill Bingo” is progressing very well. Now if only we could see a dead bison…but seriously, we only need a snake and rabbit for our first bingo!
We made a fast pit stop Hold on – a real life tumbleweed just rolled across the interstate in front of us – only in Kansas. Okay, pit stop in Junction City for Travis’s first Sonic Happy Hour. We got a myriad of drinks to keep everyone happy:
1 Medium Ocean Water
1 Medium Strawberry Limeade
1 Route 44 Lemonberry Slush (extra strawberry)
Needless to say, we’ll be stopping for a bathroom soon.
We’ve pushed on through the land of Dorothy heading for Hays, Kansas to pay a visit to Great Grandma Davis; we hope to be there between 4-5 pm. After that, we had plans to stay in Oakley, KS (home of Prairie Dog Town) but now we are considering pushing through a little further maybe into Colorado to free up some touristing time in that state. We’ll see how tired we are when we get to Oakley; maybe we’ll take an early night and leave early.
The Gateway Arch and the City Museum at St. Louis
(Travis)
After some really interesting traffic events…
…we finally made it to St. Louis, MO! You could see the Gateway Arch from I-70 W as we approached the city. The Gateway Arch was constructed as a monument to commemorate westward expansion and the arch shape was chosen to represent the “Gateway to the West”. We rode up to the top of the Gateway Arch in these little pod-like cars, which were still the original ones from the Arch’s construction in 1965. The pods seemed a bit rickety, and we heard rumors from our pod partners that the tracks and pods may actually be corroding…
Either way, we made it to the top of the Arch and were able to look out over the city of St. Louis as the sun was setting behind it. The view was absolutely incredible. After we came back down from the Arch, we both took the time to go directly under the center of the arch and lay under it looking up. It was really breathtaking.
After our time at the Gateway Arch, we went further downtown into St. Louis to visit the City Museum, which is basically like a museum/playground for kids and adults. We had an absolute blast here! Everywhere you looked, the walls/floors/railings were all creatively designed to look like animals or people. There was no real direction to take to see everything in the museum, as there were passageways through rock, passageways through wire you could climb up, and even slides to go down a few floors! Our first stop in the City Museum was a the 10-story slide! Climbing up to the top was a chore, but a fun one at that….and actually took us a bit longer because they had several smaller slides on the way up that we went down ;-) The 10-story slide itself was awesome.
After the slide, we went outside to play around. They had airplanes you could crawl through, castle-like towers you could climb, four or five slides to go down, a huge ball pit, and many different walkways or wire passageways to crawl through overlooking the city. It’s hard to get a feel for it all without pictures, and Sarah and I have been running into issues finding suitable internet to upload pictures, but I’m sure you will appreciate it much more when you see images.
We ended the night around midnight, and found a campsite near St. Louis for the evening. It was a great day, and we’re sure there’ll be many more to come!
After some really interesting traffic events…
…we finally made it to St. Louis, MO! You could see the Gateway Arch from I-70 W as we approached the city. The Gateway Arch was constructed as a monument to commemorate westward expansion and the arch shape was chosen to represent the “Gateway to the West”. We rode up to the top of the Gateway Arch in these little pod-like cars, which were still the original ones from the Arch’s construction in 1965. The pods seemed a bit rickety, and we heard rumors from our pod partners that the tracks and pods may actually be corroding…
Either way, we made it to the top of the Arch and were able to look out over the city of St. Louis as the sun was setting behind it. The view was absolutely incredible. After we came back down from the Arch, we both took the time to go directly under the center of the arch and lay under it looking up. It was really breathtaking.
After our time at the Gateway Arch, we went further downtown into St. Louis to visit the City Museum, which is basically like a museum/playground for kids and adults. We had an absolute blast here! Everywhere you looked, the walls/floors/railings were all creatively designed to look like animals or people. There was no real direction to take to see everything in the museum, as there were passageways through rock, passageways through wire you could climb up, and even slides to go down a few floors! Our first stop in the City Museum was a the 10-story slide! Climbing up to the top was a chore, but a fun one at that….and actually took us a bit longer because they had several smaller slides on the way up that we went down ;-) The 10-story slide itself was awesome.
After the slide, we went outside to play around. They had airplanes you could crawl through, castle-like towers you could climb, four or five slides to go down, a huge ball pit, and many different walkways or wire passageways to crawl through overlooking the city. It’s hard to get a feel for it all without pictures, and Sarah and I have been running into issues finding suitable internet to upload pictures, but I’m sure you will appreciate it much more when you see images.
We ended the night around midnight, and found a campsite near St. Louis for the evening. It was a great day, and we’re sure there’ll be many more to come!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Columbus, OH to Indianapolis, IN!
(Travis)
Halfway through the day and we've made it to Indianapolis, IN. Not quite sure yet how (or if) I can mobile upload pictures to this blog from my iPhone, so we're going to hold off on pictures until later on tonight.
We stopped at a AAA store before leaving Columbus to grab a bunch of maps (who knew that Indianapolis would be on a map of the Southeastern US?). I got my signature drink from Starbucks, an iced vent green tea soy latte with two extra pumps of vanilla...which basically looks like a cup of liquid grass but tastes delicious!
We listened to Guns, Germs, and Steel on audiobook, but only got through the prologue before our attention span got the better of us. We did learn some cool stuff though, like how Australia is the only continent whose inhabitants did not develop their own indigenous food supply, but rather had their food introduced from other cultures. Also, the first human ancestor to be found outside of Africa was found on the Asian island of Java, hence the famous fossil human named "java man". I guess this goes to show you both how academic and nerdy Sarah and I are in that we drive listening to nonfiction...
Found many more license plates today...we're now up to 18 states, including a clutch finding of Vermont at a rest stop on the Indiana/Ohio border. Not much going on in Indiana besides being flat.
Stopped to get gas outside of Indianapolis. Sarah said the girls bathroom stall looked like a message board with a conversation revolving around Peyton Manning's masculinity and his ability to lead the Colts to victory...apparently there's not much to talk about in the suburbs of Indianapolis...
Pictures will be up later. More to come!
Halfway through the day and we've made it to Indianapolis, IN. Not quite sure yet how (or if) I can mobile upload pictures to this blog from my iPhone, so we're going to hold off on pictures until later on tonight.
We stopped at a AAA store before leaving Columbus to grab a bunch of maps (who knew that Indianapolis would be on a map of the Southeastern US?). I got my signature drink from Starbucks, an iced vent green tea soy latte with two extra pumps of vanilla...which basically looks like a cup of liquid grass but tastes delicious!
We listened to Guns, Germs, and Steel on audiobook, but only got through the prologue before our attention span got the better of us. We did learn some cool stuff though, like how Australia is the only continent whose inhabitants did not develop their own indigenous food supply, but rather had their food introduced from other cultures. Also, the first human ancestor to be found outside of Africa was found on the Asian island of Java, hence the famous fossil human named "java man". I guess this goes to show you both how academic and nerdy Sarah and I are in that we drive listening to nonfiction...
Found many more license plates today...we're now up to 18 states, including a clutch finding of Vermont at a rest stop on the Indiana/Ohio border. Not much going on in Indiana besides being flat.
Stopped to get gas outside of Indianapolis. Sarah said the girls bathroom stall looked like a message board with a conversation revolving around Peyton Manning's masculinity and his ability to lead the Colts to victory...apparently there's not much to talk about in the suburbs of Indianapolis...
Pictures will be up later. More to come!
Good Morning Day 2!!
(Sarah)
Day 1 has already come and gone! It was soooo hard saying goodbye to everyone. We made one last stop at the Lion Shrine - and even though Travis already posted a picture, I wanted to put in one of my favorites.
After a relaxing night of frantic car packing, we're gearing up for another day.
Well the car is ALMOST all packed, and it fits ALMOST all of my stuff. Stanford doesn't give you an address until you show up, so I can't ship boxes ahead of time either. Did manage to fit in Almost Famous and Season 3 of Gilmore Girls so I'll have some comfort TV until the rest of my things show up. Enjoy the video of the current state of the car:
The plan for today is to drive to St. Louis, MO and ride the elevator to the top of the Gateway Arch and then check out the City Museum after dark. Should have some amazing pictures of that by the end of today. We're hoping to find a campground outside of St. Louis near Granite City tonight and then push off for Kansas tomorrow. It's 420 miles today - mapquest says we can do it in 7 hours and 7 minutes. Maybe we can get there before it gets too dark!
Day 1 has already come and gone! It was soooo hard saying goodbye to everyone. We made one last stop at the Lion Shrine - and even though Travis already posted a picture, I wanted to put in one of my favorites.
 |
| Rachel, Russ and I at the Lion Shrine at Penn State |
Well the car is ALMOST all packed, and it fits ALMOST all of my stuff. Stanford doesn't give you an address until you show up, so I can't ship boxes ahead of time either. Did manage to fit in Almost Famous and Season 3 of Gilmore Girls so I'll have some comfort TV until the rest of my things show up. Enjoy the video of the current state of the car:
The plan for today is to drive to St. Louis, MO and ride the elevator to the top of the Gateway Arch and then check out the City Museum after dark. Should have some amazing pictures of that by the end of today. We're hoping to find a campground outside of St. Louis near Granite City tonight and then push off for Kansas tomorrow. It's 420 miles today - mapquest says we can do it in 7 hours and 7 minutes. Maybe we can get there before it gets too dark!
And We're Off!
August 26, 2010 (Travis)
After a surprisingly early finish to my day in the field, Sarah and I left State College, PA to begin our journey out west to the sunny state of California!
(this is a really terrible picture because some kid took it and told us to yell "unicorn"(?)...I dunno it was weird)
We shoved off around 2 PM from good ol' 805 Boalsburg Rd and set off on I-99 W towards Ohio, where we would be spending the night with Sarah's family....and do the remainder of her packing.
We decided to come up with a few games to play along the way, which included a search for all 50 license plates along the way, Roadkill Bingo, and Roadside Geology Bingo! Some of the spaces on Roadkill Bingo might be a bit of an ambitious stretch, though...
We ran into a ton of license plates along the way in just the first day, which included Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, Tennessee, Maryland, and HAWAII!!!!! Sarah freaked out a little bit when she saw that license plate.... "HAWAII!!!!!! HAWAII!!!!!!! HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!"
We stopped at Cambridge, OH at the very last Sheetz on our journey. This was a very sad time for both of us. No more pleasant dings upon ordering food at a gas station computer :(
We got to Sarah's house near Columbus, OH around 8 PM, having made great time (although there were several times along the trip when Sarah was like "Ohhh! I'm speeding! Yikes!".....so we probably made better time than we should have. When we got to her place, we finished up packing all of her gear for school (after a big argument over why she should leave her matching clothes hangers behind because they just take up too much space!). Surprisingly, the car packed up really well! Tomorrow we shove off for St. Louis, MO!
See ya later!
After a surprisingly early finish to my day in the field, Sarah and I left State College, PA to begin our journey out west to the sunny state of California!
We shoved off around 2 PM from good ol' 805 Boalsburg Rd and set off on I-99 W towards Ohio, where we would be spending the night with Sarah's family....and do the remainder of her packing.
We decided to come up with a few games to play along the way, which included a search for all 50 license plates along the way, Roadkill Bingo, and Roadside Geology Bingo! Some of the spaces on Roadkill Bingo might be a bit of an ambitious stretch, though...
We ran into a ton of license plates along the way in just the first day, which included Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, Tennessee, Maryland, and HAWAII!!!!! Sarah freaked out a little bit when she saw that license plate.... "HAWAII!!!!!! HAWAII!!!!!!! HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!"
We stopped at Cambridge, OH at the very last Sheetz on our journey. This was a very sad time for both of us. No more pleasant dings upon ordering food at a gas station computer :(
We got to Sarah's house near Columbus, OH around 8 PM, having made great time (although there were several times along the trip when Sarah was like "Ohhh! I'm speeding! Yikes!".....so we probably made better time than we should have. When we got to her place, we finished up packing all of her gear for school (after a big argument over why she should leave her matching clothes hangers behind because they just take up too much space!). Surprisingly, the car packed up really well! Tomorrow we shove off for St. Louis, MO!
See ya later!
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