Red States Driving

Deadwood, South Dakota Today started in the snow with a drive to see Mt. Rushmore. Only the snow and fog were so thick you could not see anything. So Mt. Rushmore does not exist for us. And when we got there, the odometer for the entire trip just hit 7,000 miles. Sigh! Well, just because one stop didn't "materialize" doesn't mean we had a bad day at all. We drove up through the Black Hills to Deadwood South Dakota . Where Dodge City Kansas was a colossal disappointment, Deadwood redeemed the saga of the Old West. Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. The real deal. The Saloon where Wild Bill  was shot in the back playing poker holding "Aces and Eights" which became known as the Dead Man's hand. Growth and modernization have had their hand as anywhere else, but there remains plenty of the old bones of the bygone era. And by old bones, I'm not referring to the HBO Series Deadwood and the pigs used by the Chinese guy to dispos...

After our interlude in Norfolk Nebraska we headed north to Mission South Dakota where Vickie's mom grew up. But first a side note about this monument we ran into in Nebraska. We were on part of the Lewis & Clark Trail when we spotted a monument that we assumed was about Lewis & Clark. We were wrong, but we were also very moved by this more recent memorial. It was about two law officers who died in the line of duty during a flood, Trooper Fred Guthrie and K-9 Trooper Reed. This is very close for our family. You see Trooper Travis Matheson (now Captain) and K-9 Trooper Jack spent many years working to protect the people of Washington. Vickie and I were blessed that Jack got to spend his last year of retirement with us before he passed on. Moving on to the trip at hand we made it to Mission South Dakota where we went in search of the grave of Vickie's Grandmother Bessie who died back in the 1930's. A stop at the City Offices lead to a phone call to a woman...

I have not much to say about these days, and a few pictures, but here goes. We spent the night in Charleston, WV getting in late. Biggest think I can relate is being approached by a young woman in the hotel parking, looking for some money because she saw we were from out of town. It would have been one thing, but she had been in a car following us through town as I made a couple of wrong turns. Too much of a set-up. It has been lots of freeway driving. All states have been consistently pretty including West Virginia, and Kentucky, where we stopped for lunch in Lexington. The place was called Bourbon+Toulouse, and it was a New Orleans style beans and rice and Etouffee place we found on Yelp. Basically like a hippie throwback joint, and it was great. Paper plates, two half orders, beer and soda with tip $15 bucks. I'd go back. We went to St. Louis, and set the navi to take us to the Arch. The Arch was cool, but the drive into town at 5:30 was empty and creepy. The park where...

Gettysburg It's vast. The battlefield at Gettysburg stretches for miles. From high points, you can see the woods and ridges used to hide troop movements, and the broad open field that held immense slaughter. No matter what you feel about wars and nationalism, we must have respect for the courage and dedication of those willing to walk forward into murderous cannon fire, rifles, and cold steel to protect their families, their friends and their nation. To walk beyond your fears. To see Death felling fellow humans, horses, trees and birds with enormous scythes of destruction and to still put one foot in front of the other and move forward. I have recommended previously, and do again, the book The Killer Angels   about the Battle at Gettysburg. It is heartbreaking and one of the finest books ever written. It focuses on three men, all of great honor, who performed to their best. General Robert E Lee of Virginia is one of the most famous of American generals. By every ac...

Bill Nye speaking at the March for Science. Friday was the easy day. We left Shenandoah National Park for an easy 92 mile drive to Bethesda, MD our home for our D.C. excursion. We stopped at a Taproom for lunch in Port Royal, VA for some pretty good BBQ Brisket and a nice porter. Traffic getting to the area late on a Friday was a mess, as to be expected. But we made it fine. Saturday was the big day. The March for Science. It rained all day long but that did not stop me, Vickie and Paul Gehler who we hooked up with in D.C., also from Salem. We spent about 6 hours in mist, drizzle and some real rain but we stuck it out to the end. Marching all the way to Capitol Hill. There were quite a few people watching from the south portico of the White House. I wonder what  they were thinking about what was going on. A very nice, and exceptionally persuasive young volunteer named Beth Hong took us through the mass of thousands using security aisles manned by the Park Police to get u...

Shenandoah Valley There was virtually no traffic. When you drive the Blue Ridge Parkway it's slow. So slow it took us 7 hours to cover the 222.4 miles today. It was worth every second. The Appalachian Mountains run from northern Alabama to Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. Between the Blue Ridge Mountains, closest to the Atlantic, and the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia and Virginia lies the Shenandoah Valley. The spring green of Virginia is breathtaking. Rolling hills and farms that look manicured. The drive on the Parkway has turnouts every quarter mile or so. On one side the coastal plain running to the Atlantic. The other side has the Allegheny's ans the Shenandoah Valley. Chalk my interest up to Walt Disney. Back in 1965 I saw the movie Shenandoah, and it stuck with me. A tale of the Civil War which so haunts this country still. Dogwoods in bloom. If anything that symbolizes what this trip through the South has been.  Beautiful blossoms to rem...

Time for Some Travel'in Music. RAY and the Raylettes !!!!! Atlanta is behind us now. Four days in one spot is quite a pleasure after being in the road for so long. Yesterday was quite a day. We were sent out to canvass precincts to Get Out The Vote. I drove and Vickie did the door knocking. Working a neighborhood much like ours wasn't too bad. Except the house numbering. The system clearly wasn't designed by Engineers. It seemed so un-intuitive and in defiance of any logic that I figure is was a committee of an Economist, Sociologist, Short-order Cook and Ron Popeil, of RONCO Pocket Fisherman fame. The worst was when Vickie had to do a large apartment complex. Four stories per building, no  elevator. Stairs up. Stairs down. Stairs up. Stairs down. A couple of more days like that and she would have calves that looked like watermelons. Perfect for the Camino de Santiago next fall. As many of you know, Jon Ossoff clearly won top spot in the special election for the...