Field of Dreams

We started the day at 8am heading back acros the Mississippi River to quickly head up into Wisconsin for a photo with the state sign. Then back over the Mississippi to stop at the Motel 6 where Greg had forgotten his pillow. After retrieving this it was off to Fiueld of Dreams. This was where the landscape really changed to the Corn Culture. It was everywhere. We also were surprised to see a home with KKK prominently printed on a banner in its front yard.

Field of Dreams:
Awesome! It's just like in the movie except they had to relocate the powerlines back over the field. They moved them during the movie. The owners said that after 21 years of daily visitors they were ready to move to a beach somewhere to relax. We played catch, hit balls to each other in the infield and outfield, and met an 80 year old who had never watched the movie but had played on a similar field in high school. He said that if the ball rolled into the corn it was a ground ruled double but if it went through in the air it was a home run. Regardless, the outfielder had to retrieve the ball.

It was a blast to walk into the corn from the field and back out onto the field. Greg took some great video of this.

Unfortunately my camera problems as a traveler continue. The new waterproof camera that we got in Hawaii after ours died at Pearl Harbor somehow got moisture in it. Whenever the camera is in the sun, condensation forms on the inside of the viewfinder and lens. It is quite dismaying. So, we stopped at Best Buy in Waterloo to check have the Geek Squad look at it. All they could do was take it in for service. This is not a good option in Iowa so I asked if putting it in rice may help.They thought it was worth a try so off we went to Target to get a bag of rice. The camera is spending the day drying out in the drivers side pocket.

For lunch, Jared grabbed Panera Bread, Greg beef jerkey, and me Combos. We hit the road for our 7 hour drive to Badlands. About an hour in, we hit MN. Photo time! We opened the doors and the blew wide open on the side of the highway. Minnesota takes ist signs seriously. They are HUGE and landscaped. It felt like August at the beach. 90 degrees and strong winds. Delightful. Then back in the car for our 432 mile drive along I-90. The straigt flat endless road is almost numbing. Slowly the speeds creep up from 70 to 74 to 80 etc. You don't realize it as you can see so far ahead that you don't feel as if you're going anywhere fast. Well, you're not.

Finally we passed into South Dakota and noted a prompt transition from faqrmland to grassland. The sight of huge fields of grass blowing in the breeze is incredible. There is peace and energy. Jared and I bickered about when to get gas. I wanted to make it to South Dakota first so we could only stop once. Jared doesn't like going below a third of a tank. I usually go down to the flashing one bar (1/2) gallon. Being in the absolute middle of nowhwere, Jared had a point. We stopped and got gas. Greg bought an 89c 64 oz cup of diet coke. Isn't that what America's all about?

Well... 233 more miles to go... then we'll set up our tents and hopefully make it to the "Dark Skies" program offered by the Rangers in Badlands.

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

This place was an awesome respite. We hiked to Baldy Point - only 153 feet tall - but an impressive dune. Then we ran down it into the shores cool waters of Lake Michigan. This was incredibly refreshing. It also feels a good deal like the Cape or RI. It was nice to emerge from redneckville on 1-90 west to an enclave or civilization. We covered 890 miles yesterday traveling from Syracuse to Notre Dame, Indiana Dunes, Panera Bread for Wifi, Chicago Midway to get Jared and then onto our Hotel Room in Dubuque Iowa. This Motel6 was much better. We didn't really like Notre Dame that much. It seemed too corporate. I can certainly see how people would want to come back to Indiana Dunes. It is kind of like the ocean for Chicago I think.

Here's a video I took while running down the dune

The No Smoking Ashtray

Although we had reserved a non-smoking hotel room in Syracuse, we were perplexed to discover the stench of cigarettes throughout the room. That was until we looked at the night stand and discovered this photo:



Yes that is an ashtray flipped over with a no smoking sign on its base. I think this kind of misses the point of a non-smoking room.

Inception

4:38PM on July 1st. It begins. I headed out of work and popped Kristie’s mix tape (cd) into the CD player. The closing song is Breathe Me by Sia. I’ve wanted to drive away to this since seeing the final scene of 6 Feet Under where Claire departs to pursue her dream of being an artist in NYC.

This was such an odd day. At work we had a retreat to plan our upcoming fiscal year. Then we held a farewell reception in honor our Director, Eric. It was a surreal feeling, planning the future, saying goodbye to a tremendous mentor and person, and then finally heading out on the trip of my lifetime. In some ways leaving from work numbed a bit of the excitement that I’d have felt had I instead departed from home.

Regardless, we made great time! My parents dropped delivered Greg to me at Wendy’s in Westfield, MA. We somehow crammed everything into the car – including a ton of fruit which we’ll have to consume prior to picking up Jared in Chicago since it is currently occupying his seat in the car.

We pulled into the Motel 6 in Syracuse, NY at midnight. These are weird places. First, they charge by the person so I had Greg hide in the car while I went to check in. When I went to enter the lobby, I found it to be locked down like a parking garage. Between midnight and 6am, you check in through a small window and a slot to slide your credit card back and forth through “for the safety of the attendant.” Are the hotel guests that dangerous? I mean seriously? Well the room looked like it was a prison. Very Spartan accommodations, but good enough to catch 5 hours of sleep…. The only concerning feature was inch and a half long centipede living on the wall of the room. I killed it with my sandal before heading to bed.

The Psychology of Vacation

I came across an interesting story in the Boston Globe about the psychology of vacations. It's an interesting read:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/06/20/the_best_vacation_ever/?page=1

Seems like all the driving on road trips helps to accentuate the experience and positive memories of each stop. Good to hear! In about 6 days, I'll be married to my steering wheel.

Tenting Success

Good news. I now have a place to sleep. On Saturday, with a bit of help from Kristie, I was able to get the thing assembled. Amazingly, all she had to point out was that the pole colors should probably match the flap colors. Tent companies must use sweatshop laborers to determine how many people a tent sleeps. When I went to lay down in this thing, I had to lay diagonally to have a comfortable distance from the walls. Seeing how Greg is coming now, I think that I might try to get my hands on an additional tent so that we all have space to breathe. I've also realized that a Prius is not that large of a vehicle and we need to make an efficient packing list in order to ensure that we can sit comfortably without walls of stuff around us. Today was a day of important minutia. The oil change, tire rotation, balance, alignment, and 41 point inspection have all been scheduled. It almost feels like it is coming up too fast. I still only have reservations at two places, Banff National Park and Truth and Consequences, NM. I am kind of ok with this, but I am pretty sure that Kristie, Jared, and Greg are less-so. Oh well I guess I also have Oklahoma City and Nashville too! Thanks Jamin and Jon and Richard - via Kristie.

Tenting Failure #1

Well tonight I took the tent out of the Prius trunk to try to put it together in the dark. Since the weather is hot and muggy, it seemed the perfect opportunity to run a test drive of camping in the comfortable safety of my backyard. Step one was to assemble the tent.

It was a complete failure. The process of putting together a tent is incredibly simple - especially when someone who works professionally for the Bowdoin Outing Club shows you how to do it inside on a large well-lit room. In the month since I picked this tent up I forgot EVERYTHING. So, there the tent rests - outside on the tarp in the backyard.

Tomorrow is another day. I'll try to find a youtube video to watch on how to put the thing together, do it a few times in the daylight. Then tomorrow night we'll give it a go in the dark and hopefully even try sleeping out in the tent overnight!

The trip is sneaking up fast. My brother Greg is now joining me for the same leg as Jared and I'll be picking him up on the first to help with the crazy 18 hour drive to Chicago. They are now both flying out of Calgary which kind of changes up my original idea of heading from Spokane down to Crater Lake, Redwoods, Lassen, and the Sierra's down to Vegas. It is looking increasingly more likely that I'll take a more direct route towards Vegas - where I'll be picking up Kristie - in order to not exhaust myself and also to see more of the inner mountain west since the Pacific Coast is more accessible via plane and rental car for future explorations. Regardless of the result, the week between my brothers and Kristie will be without an itinerary and should have a completely different flavor than the run and gun weeks planned with both.

I will begin to post more frequently from here on out!