Harper's Index to John and Lo's Summer Adventure

Miles driven: 12,831

Average miles per day: 203

Cost of gas: $2642

Oil changes: 2

Tires purchased: 4

Tires repaired: 2

Windshield replaced: 1

Bearing seals replaced: 2

Car washes: 2

Speeding tickets: 0

Most commonly seen roadkill: Deer

States visited: 23

Northernmost stop: Grand Marais, Minnesota

Southernmost stop: Miami

Circus sites visited: 2

Drag strips visited: 1

Jet skis ridden: 2

Family members visited: 18

Bodies of water waded in: 17

Fish caught: 5

Crocodiles spotted: 1

Campsite with the most mosquitos: Yellowstone River, Forsythe, Montana

Old men who wanted to talk about the teardrop: 11

Beers consumed: We have no idea.

Backtracking

Although we had to backtrack (a no-no on a road trip) to return to CA, we did everything we could to enjoy our last few days on the road. Sleeping in the teardrop has been the bomb, and we stopped in a few beautiful places in Colorado and Utah before hitting the hellacious Interstate 15.

Creekside in Vail

Blue Colorado skies

I don't know this fly fisherman. I just included his photo because I wish it were me.

 A final view of summer in the Rockies.

Tire Trouble (Again)

I thought: We're on our way back home, there's nothing to blog about anymore. I now know: A lot can happen when you're on the road, no matter which direction you're headed.

While southern Minnesota proved to be relatively uneventful, Nebraska did not. It started out fine. In fact, this sounds strange, but we stayed overnight at a really great rest stop just east of Adair, Nebraska. Not only was it large and immaculately clean, it doubled as a monument to local wind farming, with a wind blade more than 100-feet high welcoming visitors, and picnic areas covered with metal canopies sporting windmill-like arms much like you'd see on an old Danish windmill.

Scattered throughout the picnic area were large rectangle light boxes that glowed in ever-changing colors, from white to green to purple to red and so on. It made me happy that someone had taken such pride in designing and building a roadside rest area that would entertain and inspire, rather than exist solely as a place to take a shit or a nap.

We left in the morning on Interstate 80, and traveled for about 300 miles when we ran over this:

It's the hook end of a bungee cord that impaled our tire, which led to this:

Fortunately, we found a nearby tire dealership in Gothenburg, Nebraska, where we got the tire patched.  While I was waiting, I took in the local scenery.

Check out the size of the tractor tire leaning against the wall.

Grain silos are everywhere.

The tire store is in an abandoned gas station.

It turns out that Gothenburg not only sports a tire repair place, it also has one of only four of Nebraska's original Pony Express stations, where a rider would change to a fresh horse in order to keep up his speed. The Pony Express carried mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from 1860 to 1861. It was essentially put out of business by the advent of the telegraph, but it is remembered for giving a start to Buffalo Bill and it lives on in our collective imagination of the great American frontier.

We followed the Pony Express trail as far as Julesburg, Colorado, before turning south, having a great dinner in Sterling, Colorado, and spending a beautiful night under the full moon at the North Sterling State Park. A good ending to an eventful day. And a lot to write about after all.

Family Reunion

One of the most rewarding parts of this grand summer adventure has been the opportunity to see friends and relatives. Our final stop before heading home was a family reunion of sorts, with baby Grayson Arthur Emmanuel Becknell taking center stage with the extended Becknell clan. Everyone had a chance to hold him, and he loved every minute of it.

Justin takes a turn as the proud Papa looks on.

Charlotte is a baby expert now.

Grayson had a lot to say when he hung out with Hannah

Chris shows off one of Justin's paintings, part of Grayson's baby gift.

Josh and Justin together again

Josh gave us an insider's culinary tour of Surdyk's delicious cheeses and cakes, and we had several picnics while we were here.

By the Mississippi

And in the Walker sculpture garden

Sadly, it's time to point the truck and trailer westward for the long drive back to California. We've had a fantastic summer, and really appreciate everyone's hospitality, literally from coast to coast. We are grateful for all our friends and family whom we saw along the way, and for such sweet memories.

Installations

The final weeks of this summer's adventure center around friends and family. After visiting the Brookshaws in northern Wisconsin, our next stop was Chicago, where we met up with Charlotte.

Our visit included dinner with Jess and Jerry.

After helping Charlotte get her new apartment in order, all three of us piled in the truck to drive back to Wisconsin to meet Hannah. Along the way, we stopped for a photo in Delavan, Wisconsin, which is the home of the original P.T. Barnum Circus as well as several other circuses that toured the country in the 19th century. More than 100 circus performers of that era are buried in local cemeteries. Charlotte posed at the foot of a commemorative statue of Romeo, the elephant who toured with the Mabie Brothers U.S. Olympic Circus in the 1850s.

Hannah flew from Vermont to Madison, where we met her at the airport with an official cheesehead gift, a welcome to her post-graduation home. Then we ran around for two days contributing to the local economy and helping her set up her apartment.

Vivian, Hannah and Charlotte in the new 'hood.

Becca, Hannah and Vivian celebrate their jobs with Epic.

Capitol Dome in evening.

Vivian and Hannah pose on the porch of their new place.

This trip may be costly, but the rewards of seeing our "kids" happy and healthy and launching full force into their adult lives truly is priceless. We're couldn't be more happy and proud.

Wisconsin, Part II

One thing I hate to do on road trips is to backtrack or drive a route we've already driven. Sometimes, it has to be done though. On June 22, we drove from Minneapolis to the Milwaukee area on Interstate 94/90, a route that took us through Madison, Wisconsin. Here we are again -- this time, en route to Chicago. It's a complicated back-and-forth itinerary: Minneapolis to Madison to Chicago, back to Madison and back to Minneapolis, picking up various kids along the way for a unique treat next weekend: having Hannah, Charlotte, Josh, Maurissa, Justin and Katie, plus Thomas, Chris, Elissah and Grayson, all together for the first time. Definitely worth all the driving…. but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We left Lutsen yesterday, drove to Duluth for lunch (at our fave Duluth hangout, Amazing Grace bakery), then continued on to Webster, Wisconsin, for an evening with friends, Chuck and Judy Brookshaw. It seems like every time we visit them, it's $1 burger night at the Yellow River Saloon, a deal too good to pass up. We all had a great time.

Judy, John and Chuck dining al fresco in Webster.

Early this morning, we drove to Madison, where we got the oil changed (again), tires rotated, and then, surprise, had this scavenger removed from one of the (new) tires:

Keep your fingers crossed that the patch holds as we approach the 10,000-mile mark on the summer's great adventure. 

In Search of Walleye

First, we go to the outfitters to rent a canoe.

Next, we buy fishing licenses, some gear, Gatorade and jerky and head for Four Mile Lake.

Then, we unload the canoe from the truck and put in with all our gear.

We paddle out. We pass an eagle's nest.

We cast, we reel in. We cast again. We exercise patience.

 A walleye swims by. He bites!

 We take his picture. We let him go. Thanks, Walleye, you made my day.

Cascade River Falls and Grand Marais

Great day of hiking up here on Lake Superior!

We followed the Superior Hiking Trail along the Cascade River, with its impressive water falls and lush forests. Not too much wildlife, but lots of lichen, moss, ferns and wildflowers. And water, of course.

These are only a few of the many varieties of mushrooms that grow wild here. 

The Angry Trout is always a fine place to stop for lunch. On today's menu: salad with grilled lake trout. And local microbrews, of course.

Someone build this cool rock castle by the Coast Guard station in Grand Marais.

The seawall (lake wall?) off Grand Marais with a view of the lighthouse.

North Shore

After a quick stop in Minneapolis, a movie with Thomas, and a peek at baby Grayson, we drove north toward Duluth. On the way: a typical Minnesota dining experience at Bradford Roadhouse Bar & Grill. I couldn't resist sharing the appetizer menu, even though we passed on all these fried Minnesota delicacies.

We're spending a few days at Lutsen Lodge on the north shore of Lake Superior, about an hour south of the Minnesota-Canadian border. It's an grand, old-fashioned timber lodge with stunning lake views, exquisite dining and lots of local hiking, canoeing, fishing and lighthouse viewing. It's raining here today, but frankly, it's great to have a few down days in the midst of such a busy summer -- and a perfect excuse to stay in by the fireplace, work on some post-Missoula rewrites, read the Sunday New York Times (sadly, online) and soak in the two-person jacuzzi bathtub in the bedroom. Here are a few pix.

The view from our window, last night about 9 pm, right before the storm hit.

Poplar River falls runs right by the lodge and empties into Lake Superior. The water is rusty because it is full of iron from the local rocks and soil.

Between downpours, we went on a short hike on the resort property.

We found a miniature frog.

Gypsy Life

No day has really been typical on this trip, but just for fun, I thought I'd recount what we did yesterday, as a way of shedding some light into this gypsy lifestyle we're living. We woke up Wednesday morning in Killdeer, North Dakota, where John had facilitated a meeting of the local ambulance service the evening before. The folks there are really nice. They fed us grilled brats for dinner.

We spent the night in a motel that serves as a temporary home for migrant men who work in the oil fields. Lots of men. Lots of dirt. People living out of their trucks, grilling on their tailgates or eating microwaved dinners. Lots of beer. We left at 7 AM.

Drove a couple of hours. Stopped briefly at the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center -- yes, we're back on their route along the Missouri. We'd hoped to tour the exhibits there and see the old forts, but we only had time to peak inside and snap a photo.

We continued on to Bismarck, the state capitol, where we had lunch with the state EMS director, Tom Nehring. He's a very pleasant man, and we spoke in depth about the state of ambulance services in rural North Dakota. After lunch we drove on to Fargo, where we stopped to do laundry and email. It was about 7 PM by the time we left Fargo. It wasn't at all like the movie.

About 8 PM, we pulled into Molly Murphy's pub in Fergus Falls. I picked it because it was near the interstate and had good reviews on my phone, plus I like the name Fergus Falls. We drank beer, ate, watched sports on TV and talked about where we might go next.

After dinner, we drove about another hour into Minnesota, where we camped for the night at a rest stop. The bathrooms were clean, but there were a lot of big rigs there. Unfortunately, the one parked next to us was a refrigerator truck that left its loud engines running all night. But we cozied into the teardrop and read for a while and slept most of the night until about 6 AM, when we took off again. Some days are more exciting than others, but even the in-between days are better than working an office job or being at home, where things all too often stay the same. Out here, you never know what might happen. But it might just be laundry.