May 21, 2010: The Long Drive Home

Today was the end of my 2010 cross country trip. At the end of the day, I would be home. The car was not due until the next day (May 22nd), but I wanted to have time to unpack the car. It was due at 3:30pm, so I did not want to stay an extra day and take the chance of any kind of delay and then face a penalty by returning the car late.

I started out with the breakfast buffet at the Erie, PA motel. Since this was a truck stop motel, their free breakfast consisted of access to the restaurant's breakfast buffet, rather than the standard institutional cereal, waffles, near-rotten fruit, and unhealthy pastries whose taste did not justify the calories. The breakfast buffet was great. My plan was to have more than I normally would and try to avoid having to stop for lunch. Not only did I not want to waste the time, but I wanted to save money.

After having a great breakfast, I fueled up and began the long trip. The fastest method to get home would be to take I-90 for most of the way. But that also included about $14 in tolls. I instead took I-86. In Pennsylvania, I-86 is great. You know you've crossed into New York not by the welcome sign, but by the fact that the nice smooth road surface has ended and been replaced by numerous bumps and other problems.

The views along what is referred to as New York's "Southern Tier" are very nice. There are mountains and lush forests. It seemed odd being back in New York again after 46 days, and having been as far as the Pacific Coast about a month before.

I know this route well enough that I no longer needed the GPS to give me directions. This is my third time taking this route. I did this exact route going home from the 2009 Fall trip. I needed to follow I-86 until it dropped interstate status and went strictly by its other name of NY Route 17. Then in the Binghamton area I would briefly take I-81 (for less than a mile) to I-88. I-88 would take me northeast from the Southern Tier to New York's Capital District area. From I-88 I would briefly travel I-90 to get to I-87 (the Northway) to get home. However, I kept the GPS on for most of the way to get an accurate prediction of when I would get home.


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NY Route 17/I-86 briefly straddles the New York/Pennsylvania state lines. I got off there to buy gas. Even though PA has a higher gas tax, gas was cheaper than in NY based on what I had seen along the way. I was also getting a little hungry. The gas station had a Subway. I decided to have lunch even though I planned not to. This was my last Subway sandwich for the trip (and the last one I've had so far). Being that I was back in the Northeast, I was again able to obtain points on my Subway points card. It seems this generally works in the coastal states plus Nevada and Utah. It does not work in the Midwest at all.

I had gotten a much earlier start, plus this was spring rather than fall. When I got to I-88 in the Fall 2009 trip, things had begun to get dark. Today, I was in the daylight all the way through I-88.

As I left I-88 and got onto I-90, I was officially back in my home area, NY's Capital District. Once I got onto the Northway (I-87), it just felt strange to see all the familiar interstate signs. Thankfully, I came at just the right time to avoid the rush hour traffic for the most part.

When I got home, I noted the mileage on the car. I had put 5,033 miles on the previous car to get to San Francisco. On this car, from San Francisco to home, I had put 7,120 miles on the car. The total number of miles driven on this trip was 12,153 miles. I was amazed. Originally, I did not think I'd cross the 10,000 mile mark.

After getting home and having dinner, I had to begin the process of unloading the car. While I had packed the original car neatly, things were really out of order after so much travel. Also, I had not packed slowly and neatly when transferring from the car with the tire problem to the next car in San Francisco. It took quite a while to unpack.

Since I still had the rental car, I wanted to take it to Walmart to do a grocery order. I wanted to put the miles on that car while I still had it rather than using them on my own car. Of course, after seven hours of driving, I was absolutely exhausted. Still, I did it. I got back after 10:30pm. I definitely needed some sleep.

May 20, 2010: Cincinnati, Ohio area

This was my last day of actual travel events. The next day would simply be traveling home. I had a lot to do today, including seeing the birth place of Ulysses Grant, visiting a relative, and seeing a friend who I have corresponded with for years online. All of this was going to be very hectic. Then I had a six hour drive to get up to Erie, Pennsylvania for a stopover.

The first stop would be the birthplace of Ulysses Grant, the 18th president. This would totally close the gap in presidential sites. After visiting this site, I would have seen a site related to every president for whom a site was available, up to Dwight Eisenhower. I would consider Eisenhower a modern president. (Presidents before Eisenhower who do not have any public site available include Zachary Taylor (#12), and Grover Cleveland (#22 and #24).) Even among modern presidents, this trip allowed me to see a site related to Kennedy and one related to Reagan. So, the number of leftover presidents whose sites I have not seen is very limited at this point.

Grant's birthplace was located on US 232 in Moscow, Ohio. It is in a small area called Point Pleasant. The GPS did not have US 232 in Moscow listed. I decided to head out to Moscow, OH and see if I could find signs. As I was driving, I remembered I had written down the phone number for the birthplace and they provided directions to me.


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Grant's birth home was very small. The bedroom and kitchen were in one room. The family stayed in this house until Grant was 11 months old. There were items of clothing from the Grant family. The oldest item was a boot made by Grant's father that is now over 200 years old. Photographs with flash were allowed.

After the very brief tour, I spent some time chatting with the staff of the house. We swapped historical stories about the presidents of the era, settlers in New York, and about the weather. This was not exactly a very popular spot for visitors, and I think the tour guides were enjoying getting a chance to talk to someone from outside the area. But, I was crunched for time and I had an hour to get to my next stop.

My next item on the agenda was visiting my cousin's wife and her son, my first cousin once removed. I had last seen them three years ago in Maryland. They since moved to the Cincinnati area in the city of Mason. I typically see at least one relative on these trips (the 2009 trip is the only exclusion), so it was good to be able to keep that tradition.


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My cousin and his wife's home was only about two years old. The whole neighborhood was around the same age. Surprisingly enough, the GPS got me there without a problem. I spent about an hour with my cousin's wife and her son, watching him put together train tracks for his model trains. We tried to get pictures of him, but he was not interested. He would put his head down and laughed about it. I was not fast enough. I stayed for about an hour, but then I had to get to a late lunch with a friend I've known for years.

Getting into downtown Cincinnati was an adventure. I had to go to Elm Street, of all places. In some commercials for the GPS device, they always talk about going to Elm Street. Cincinnati has two streets by this name. One is in a residential area and the other is in the downtown business district. I wanted the latter but picked the former from the menu. Getting to the residential area, I then added an extra twenty minutes to my travels, delaying my friend who was at work.


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I finally got to the business district and thankfully, there was a parking space right on the edge of the road. We found a restaurant nearby to allow maximum time to talk. We had crepes with artichokes and various cheeses.

After the visit with my friend was over, I was officially on the way back. All travel events were done. I simply needed to get to Erie, Pennsylvania, for the night.

However, along the way, I did stop in the Amish area of Ohio (near Mansfield) for dinner. There was a great Amish restaurant just off I-71. I didn't have a lot of time so I got the buffet. This was not as good, but the dessert was absolutely delicious. I had German Chocolate pie. That was well worth the calories and extra cost. I purchased some items to bring home.



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I got into the hotel in Erie, PA around 10:30pm. This is a hotel that still charges for Internet access, so I didn't use that. I got some rest and was ready for the long journey home.


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New Route Map

I posted a new route map on the right side, covering the final part of my trip from May 17 - 21, 2010.

May 19, 2010: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

While I had been to Iowa once before (in 2007), that was nothing more than a token visit. Back then I drove up I-29 in western Iowa, mostly through torrential rain and I was afraid I was going to have a severe accident. The only activities I did were to eat dinner at a truck stop and buy gas and postcards. That's not much of a visit.

This time, I was in eastern Iowa and had an actual destination in the state. I even stayed overnight. Iowa seems to have quite a number of insects. It was hot and they would not leave me alone. It's very flat with some occasional hills.

Herbert Hoover was the 31st president. He is most associated with the Great Depression. Unfortunately, he was president at the wrong time. After a bubble in the 1920s, it was bound to burst. A few months after taking office, the stock market crash of 1929 happened. The boom times of the 20s simply could not last. To make matters worse, Hoover was not able to connect with the people. He was an engineer, but lacked the charisma needed in a president. This is similar to what destroyed the presidency of Martin Van Buren, the 8th president. (I know a lot about Van Buren since he was Kinderhook, NY.) After the wildly popular Andrew Jackson, Van Buren lacked Jackson's charisma. The economy crashed in 1837 shortly after Van Buren's presidency began, and he was unable to fix it.

Hoover had an illustrious career before the presidency. Under the Wilson administration, he helped feed starving people in Europe. He wanted to be in public service. He was popular and well known then, and served as Commerce Secretary under Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. When Coolidge declined to run for a second full term, Hoover ran for president in 1928 and won by a landslide. Hoover was sworn into office by Chief Justice William Taft, who had served as the 27th president (Taft was the only former president to swear in a successor).
In the case of Hoover after he lost the election for his second term, there was a coordinated effort by FDR's people to write history to blame him for the crash. FDR would then get the credit for fixing it. In the final days of his presidency, Hoover tried to implement programs and wanted assurances that FDR would continue these programs. Hoover's interest was in helping the American people, while FDR's interest was in his own legacy. FDR's own people admitted they hesitated because they wanted the blame to go to Hoover.

During the FDR years, Hoover was shut out of the public eye. His reputation was ruined. The museum referred to this as his wildnerness years. After FDR's death, Harry Truman brought Hoover out of obscurity, asking him to head up relief efforts in the aftermath of WWII. Truman and Hoover became good friends, even if they disagreed politically. Truman also asked Hoover to reorganize the Executive Branch. Hoover was delighted and felt this new work added years to his life.

Hoover was also a strong intellectual. He was very much against Communism and against mediocrity. He believed in individuals doing extraordinary things. He promoted individualism while still having people look out for each other. But he felt it was important for people to strive to be "uncommon people" rather than just "common people." Even at age 88, he had great optimism for the country. He wrote around forty books, including a book about Woodrow Wilson. It is said that this is the first time a former president wrote a book about a predecessor. However, John Quincy Adams wrote a book (published after his death) about James Madison and James Monroe, his predecessors.

I visited Hoover's grave site, which is a simple slab containing his name. As Hoover grew up as a Quaker, he was taught humility. The grave site does not mention that he served as president. In that sense it's similar to James Madison's grave which simply says "Madison" and his birth and death dates.

I saw the birth home, which is extremely small. Hoover came from humble beginnings. His family lived in that home for a short time before moving on. He made a decision to purchase and preserve his birth home and often visited West Branch, Iowa, to remember his roots.

The National Park Service has recreated the entire neighborhood where Hoover was born. (They have done the same with the neighborhood where Abraham Lincoln lived as an adult in Springfield, Illinois.) There is even a working blacksmith shop which does everything as it would have been done in the 1870s. Products are sold and demonstrations are done at the shop.

After leaving the Hoover home, I went to get lunch. West Branch is a quaint little city and had a couple of small restaurants, but I didn't have time to wait. I needed fast food because I had an eight hour drive ahead of me. I also needed to go to a place with an Internet connection since I could not get online at the hotel the previous night.

My next hotel was in Erlanger, Kentucky. This was just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. While it was nice to include Kentucky as a state visited in this trip, the real reason I selected this city was that it has a hotel that required the minimum amount of points. It was also an airport hotel and airport hotels are typically very clean.


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The drive to Erlanger, Kentucky went through eastern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and finally into Kentucky. I would be in five states today. It was a daunting drive and took over eight hours. There was a change in my planned drive as I-80 eastbound was closed in Iowa going towards the Illinois line. I had to take another interstate (I-280?) to I-74.

I thought I might end up passing through one of these states without getting out of the car. But, I bought gas and dinner in Illinois, and more gas in Indiana. Prices were around the $2.60s in Indiana.

In Indiana, my heart sank as I noticed that I-465, which is a "beltway" around Indianapolis, was under massive construction. Signs warned that drivers should seek alternate routes. Thankfully, during the time I got to that area, there was not a lot of traffic. Things were slow, but tolerable.

The hotel in Kentucky was an adventure all in itself. It was around 11:15 or so when I arrived. I was exhausted. I had crossed from Central Time to Eastern Time (in Indiana) so I lost an hour. I wanted to get into my hotel room and rest. The clerk told me that I had "already checked in." I explained that I did not check in already and nobody was with me. She thought perhaps it was just a data entry error and gave me a key card. She hoped nobody else was in the room. She could have called to find out.

When I got up to the second floor, I knocked on the door just in case. There was no response. The key card would not work. The clerk gave me another key card. That one did not work. She asked another staffer to go up with me. That third card did not work. A fourth card was given. All the while, time was wasted and I was really looking forward to getting some sleep. The fourth card worked....and the door was partially locked. A man yelled asking what was going on. The hotel had messed up and gave me a key card to a room occupied by someone else!! Thankfully it was the hotel staffer that opened the door. He apologized profusely.

When we got down to the front desk, the man was on the phone with the clerk, expressing his outrage (and rightfully so). The clerk gave him lip service and then said to me "Nasty, nasty." I just looked at her. He had a right to be nasty when he was interrupted in his sleep.

Finally, I was given a new room and a key card that worked. I was worried that I'd again open the door on someone already in the room. Since they had plenty of rooms available, if they were not sure whether the first room was occupied, they could have given me the second room to start with. At least an hour was wasted with this inept nonsense.

I had at least another two hours worth of email to do, plus I had to determine the final hotel I wanted to stay at, near Erie, Pennsylvania. I didn't get to sleep until around 2am.

May 18, 2010: The Long Drive to Iowa

I started off redeeming my free breakfast ticket at the Grand Country Music Hall. The breakfast choices were amazing. If I wasn't trying to lose weight I would have really enjoyed it. Still, I did sample some of the food. They had Ozark Omelets, biscuits, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, apple and cherry turnovers, plus a number of other things.

Aside from music, Branson is big on odd comedy. On the wall, I noticed what looked like a picture in a frame with an elderly couple. But then the characters began to talk, complaining that their children never came to see them and never phoned them. The husband pointed out that they don't have a phone where they are. There was a lot of back and forth discussion and then suddenly the conversation ended and the picture "froze" for a while. But still, it was cute and surprising in an entertaining way.

After breakfast was done, I began the long journey northeast. I left Branson and drove about an hour on US 65, headed towards Interstate 44. After about an hour on I-44, I went on a series of US routes, working my way up to West Liberty, Iowa. The Missouri countryside is beautiful. There were lots of small shops along the way and lots of farms. I passed through the state capital, Jefferson. I saw the actual capitol building from the road.


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The drive took over eight hours (counting stops for meals) and there were lots of turns onto different roads. There wasn't a simple interstate that would take me up to the area I intended to visit.

One interesting (to me) point in the drive was when I got close to the Illinois state line while still in Missouri. There were signs pointing to Monroe, Missouri and Quincy, Illinois. The fifth president was James Monroe and his Secretary of State was John Quincy Adams, who was the sixth president.

By the time I crossed the state line into Iowa, the sun was setting. But, I was able to at least see a little bit of the farm land as I continued to drive north. Iowa is very flat. From what little I've seen, I would say it's flatter than Kansas. Minnesota (which is directly north of Iowa) is also quite flat. Missouri is mostly flat too, but it does have the Ozarks in the south.

The last ten miles of the trip was along I-80. The Herbert Hoover national historic site was well marked along the interstate. I had to drive five miles east of that for the hotel. When I got off the exit for West Liberty, the GPS had me take a left turn when I needed to take a right. Thankfully I didn't go far before I realized the GPS messed up again.

The hotel I chose was an Econo Lodge. It took the minimal amount of points. Going there in the dark sort of frightened me a bit just based on looks. I was expecting something filthy based on the outside. However, it did have good ratings on Trip Advisor.

When I checked in, I was given a security code for the Internet. This was different from the usual ID/password used at most hotels. This was a security code used at the time you connected to the wireless network. I got a little nervous about that.

When I got into the hotel room, I was pleasantly surprised. It was clean and the facilities were nice. It's hit or miss with Econo Lodges. Sometimes they're really bad and other times they can be very reasonable even if not as fancy as a Comfort Inn. (The fanciness of a Comfort Inn translates into higher costs and higher numbers of points required for free nights.)

Unfortunately, my fears about the Internet were realized. Despite typing the code correctly several different times and trying a number of ways to connect, my computer refused to connect. Thankfully, I had already reserved the hotel for the next night (just inside Kentucky along the Ohio state line). Still, it's nice to be able to check up on email and such in case of emergencies. On the positive side, lack of Internet access meant I could get to sleep a little earlier that evening. I would need that sleep because the next day would be another brutally long drive. Iowa to Kentucky is a lot of driving, with three states (Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio) in between.

May 17, 2010: Arkansas and Branson's Grand Country Jubilee Show

When I got up this morning, the plan was to see the Down Home Country breakfast show starring Splinter Middleton (yes, that's his name) and then begin the long journey to eastern Iowa. Iowa is directly north of Missouri, but I was in southwest Missouri. Getting up to eastern Iowa was going to take at least eight hours.

The Down Home Country show is at 10am central time. It comes with a free breakfast buffet. However, by the time I arrived (about ten minutes before the show started), they did not even bother to give me a breakfast ticket because I wouldn't have been able to get into the show in time.

The show was very nice. "Harley Worthit" was there, doing the comedy. I didn't realize some of the comedians were shared between shows. There were a number of country songs sung both by Splinter Middleton and other singers. One woman had an incredible voice, though I don't remember her name.

During intermission, my plans changed. I overheard a man talking about Harrison, Arkansas. I talked to him and he said it's a great place to live. This is the closest decent sized city (bigger than Branson in terms of population) in Arkansas. In this trip I had planned to make time to see Harrison as a potential place to live so I could be close to Branson without living in Branson. But, as time went on I decided to skip it. There was no way I could squeeze a visit to Harrison, AR going south and then head northeast to West Liberty, Iowa (where the next hotel was located). But, I calculated the days I had left and realized that I could reasonably stay an extra day and still get home in time to turn in the rental car by May 22nd.

At the end of the Down Home Country show, they announced that if we showed our ticket stub, we could get $10 off the Grand Jubilee show which takes place at 8pm. I wanted to see the Grand Jubilee but originally figured I'd have to save it for a future visit to Branson. But, since I decided to stay another evening in Branson, now I could see it.

In purchasing the ticket for Grand Jubilee, I asked about my breakfast ticket. I was given a ticket for a free breakfast buffet the next day at the theater. This was definitely going to be much better than the free breakfast at the hotel which consisted of nearly rotten bananas and lots of high calorie donuts, biscuits, gravy, etc.

After leaving the theater, I headed to Harrison, Arkansas. I thought it would take an hour, but it really only took only about forty minutes. The GPS had its usual problems going through the Ozarks again, showing me floating through space off the road, etc. But, road signs were clear so the GPS was not necessary until I got into the city.


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The city of Harrison is like most other cities with lots of shopping and the usual services you find in a suburb. There are around 12,000 people living in the city. But what I liked was the "downtown." It was a square and looked like one was stepping into the past by a few decades. The courthouse was in the middle and small shops surrounded it. It was a quaint spot and I felt totally safe. The people in Harrison seemed very friendly.

The Arkansas primary was taking place on Tuesday, May 18th, but there was a sign at the courthouse saying "Vote Here." Perhaps they allow early voting in Arkansas.

After spending a little bit of time just taking things in, I decided to quickly visit one of the smaller towns (population below 500). I chose Bellefonte because it was the closest. It has a population of around 400. There were a few businesses along the main road but not much. I turned around and headed north back to Branson to spend some time at the hotel before the next show.

When I got back to the hotel, I was assigned room 202. This was the same exact room I stayed in when I visited Branson in November, 2009. I've stayed at this particular hotel on three different visits in 2008, 2009, and now 2010. It's the only hotel anywhere in the country where I've stayed in three different trips.

The Grand Jubilee was definitely worth it. I would consider that one and the Baldknobbers as the two best shows out of the five I saw. The Grand Jubilee is an elaborate show complete with comedy, lots of songs, imitations of famous groups from the 1960s and 1970s, etc. One of the violinists from the Down Home Country Breakfast show was performing in this show. The show primarily included New South, which is a quartet of young men who sing both Gospel and contemporary music. There were also two other singers who appeared at various times. There were constant costume changes. All the performers sat down and talked with audience members during intermission and after the show.

Overall, the Grand Jubilee was a great ending to my visit to Branson. I can't wait to return for more. There are several other shows I want to see.

May 16, 2010: Two Branson Shows

I planned to just stay two nights in Branson and get home by Thursday. As Sunday would be my last evening there, I would see an afternoon and evening show, then one on Monday morning. Then I would head north. My plan for Monday was to go to West Branch, Iowa, to see the birthplace and museum for Herbert Hoover, the 31st President. This would be a lengthy drive of almost eight hours.

I started out on Sunday with Mass. The church was packed. Evidently it must be a Midwest thing to do to celebrate the Ascension during the regular Sunday Mass instead of a special Thursday Mass. Just as they planned to celebrate the Ascension on Sunday in Wichita, they did the same in Branson, Missouri. The priest was visiting from Kansas City (about four or five hours away) and came to speak about the Redemptorists' magazine.

After Mass, I planned to get my tickets for the afternoon and evening shows. I could get them at the door, or at the hotel where I was staying. But, neither option would give a discount. Throughout Branson, there are "welcome centers" where you can buy discounted tickets for shows. Some will really save money; others will just eliminate the sales tax. Even Walmart in Branson sells discounted tickets.

I stopped at a welcome center which promised discounts. The clerk said he is not the one who regularly does tickets. He tried to do the tickets for the afternoon show I wanted, but ultimately ended up wasting a lot of time. When he called the theater (they have to call the theater to find out seating availability), he was informed that his office no longer had a contract with the theater. So, he ultimately sent me on my way without a ticket.

I needed lunch so I went to the Branson Mall which included a Walmart with a Subway. The mall had a kiosk where you could allegedly get 70% off tickets, but there was nobody at the booth. Walmart itself had discount tickets, but I was told to come back later when the ticket staff were present. By that time, I risked being late for the show. So, I ultimately went back to my hotel and paid full price for the tickets. Next time, if I can better predict what I'm going to do, I'll pay for them online and print them out (of course in this trip I did not have the ability to print anything).

There aren't a lot of Sunday shows, but I was here and wanted to take advantage of the time. I settled for a show by Moe Bandy, which included comedy and country music. This is a professional country singer from previous decades who now spends much of his time in Branson. I had never heard of him before. The show was okay, but definitely not as good as the Baldknobbers from the night before. There was a sidekick named "Harley Worthit" who dressed up like an old man. He would periodically come out on the stage dressed up in ridiculous costumes (at one point wearing a Walmart bag over his shirt), talking about how weird other people are. Someone asked where he got his clothes and he indicated that he goes to the landfill early in the mornings. At the end of the show it was revealed that the actor was at most in his forties. It's amazing what a hat and certain clothes will do to make someone look older.

I was tired of Subway, so I ate at Fuddruckers, which is a chain restaurant (we may have one on Wolf Road). It's between fast food and a real restaurant. But it has a nice presentation and the food is delicious. They have a huge array of items you can add to burgers including salsa, chopped onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and a few other things. The fries are much better than standard fast food type fries. It was good for a change of pace. I didn't have the time to sit around for a longer full service restaurant.

Later in the evening I saw Clay Cooper and the Country Express. This was a bit of country music plus a number of other songs from previous decades. He began the show by indicating that he had to announce the 84th birthday of one of the audience members. He asked the person what he used to do, and the "old man" said he used to be a professional dancer. The drummer suggested he come up on stage to demonstrate. As he came up, it was obvious that his face was made up with rubber masks to look "old." He had a cane and hobbled a bit but then he suddenly was able to jump and do all kinds of stunts, finally tossing his cane away. At the end of his act he suddenly started hobbling again and "fell." Then he jumped up and ran backstage.

At another point, an audience member's cell phone rang. Clay Cooper asked if he could take the call. He pretended to be the person's assistant. Then he revealed that the audience member's cow was loose. He asked the person on the phone to see if he could get him back into the pasture. This whole thing was probably arranged too.

Clay Cooper's six year old son was one of the performers on stage. His son would dress up as Elvis, and even a young Michael Jackson with a huge afro wig. During the act, the afro fell off and he hastily tried to get it back on right. At one point there was presidential jeopardy featuring Abraham Lincoln, Bush 43, and Obama. Ultimately, the show was nice but I still liked the Baldknobbers better.

May 15, 2010: "Trade Days" Near Tulsa, and the First Evening in Branson, Missouri

The next day, things were overcast. I visited a couple of "trade days" or "swap meets." These are common occurrences in Oklahoma on the weekends. For the most part there was nothing that I was interested in buying. But it was nice to have the opportunity to meet and talk with people from the area. Many of the people selling items pointed out that while they do want to sell some of their things, the really enjoyable part is to meet people and talk with them.

In some of the booths, people were selling items they had made. The craftsmanship was excellent. I talked with a Cherokee Indian who was selling saddles, knives (he made the handles), and leather knife holders. As they all knew I was from NY, the Cherokee told me I had probably never seen a full blooded Indian before. I explained that I definitely have and that I myself am descended from Native Americans from the Iroquois tribes.

The people were very friendly and so down to earth. They were very welcoming. I felt like I had stepped back into the past by several decades based on the way the people were so friendly. It was really a nice experience. But, then it started to rain so the people began closing up shop.

I had initially planned to visit the Clear Creek Monastery which is in eastern Oklahoma. However, I had not done my research ahead of time for that. This place is outside of town (Hulbert, OK) and the GPS did not like the address. I really didn't want to drive all that way and possibly have a problem with a GPS signal. So, I decided to cancel that destination.

I decided to go to Branson, Missouri, for the evening. I called up Choice Hotels and reserved a room at the same hotel I've used on previous trips to Branson. Getting there from the Tulsa area involved a replay of the route I took in my 2007 trip to visit Fayetteville, Arkansas. Back in 2007, I was not yet ready to drive from home to these places. I flew into Wichita, KS in July, 2007, and planned to be in Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville) that evening. Since I was still a neophyte at traveling back then, I seemed to stop many times and what should have been a four hour drive somehow became a six or seven hour drive. I did not have a GPS at that point. I remember getting so frustrated and not being sure if I had passed the hotel or not. I finally had to call the hotel and the clerk guided me there. I arrived around 2am.

This time, I traveled much of that route (with a GPS) and was able to see the places in daylight that I passed through in the dark back in 2007. I kept moving and got into Missouri. The roads twisted and turned through the Ozarks. This is not something I'd like to try driving in the dark. At one point, the GPS froze. When driving through the Ozarks in Missouri, the GPS always has a problem. It shows me driving off road and recalculates constantly. It's generally okay in the Arkansas Ozarks, however.


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After getting to the hotel, I decided to see a Branson show that evening. I chose the Baldnobbers, which has been going continuously since 1959. It's one of the oldest if not the oldest show in Branson. It's primarily a lot of music, with some comedy acts from three characters dressed in funny clothes who had fake teeth, fake elongated chins, etc. It was definitely a fun time. At one point the show asked veterans to stand, honoring those from each branch of the military separately. There was a song performed for each branch. Then there was a tribute to our beautiful country. At the end of the performance, they sang a song titled "The Cross is our Statue of Liberty." I really enjoyed the performance. This one and the last show (covered in a subsequent blog entry) were my two favorites. The shows in between were okay, but the first and last were the best.

May 14, 2010: Tulsa, Oklahoma

May 14 - 15, 2010: Tulsa, Oklahoma to Branson, Missouri

On Friday (May 14th), I left Kansas for the last time. I headed south again, though this time my destination was Owasso, Oklahoma. Owasso is a suburb of Tulsa. I was going to meet with someone about some web content development.

It was about three hours getting there, but I needed to take US 412. This is a toll road. A number of major east west roads between I-35 and the Missouri/Arkansas state lines are toll roads in Oklahoma. You drive a little bit and have to pay a set amount ($1 or $2) at tollbooths. There are no cards given like the NYS Thruway, or even the Kansas Turnpike, to determine how far you traveled.


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After my meeting, I went to the hotel. For a relatively inexpensive hotel, the room was huge. The hotel style was dated but the room was clean. Unfortunately, the shower had leaked all over the bathroom floor as I found water everywhere. The staff were extremely apologetic and immediately got me into another room. Thankfully that one did not have a leak.

New Map Link

I've added a new map link on the right showing my time in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, including all the back and forth between the three states. After leaving them, I went to Branson, Missouri.

May 12 - 14, 2010: Kansas Again

I spent Wednesday through early Friday visiting my friend in Wichita again and helping out with some volunteer projects.

As May 13 was the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, this is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church. At least it is in Europe and the eastern part of the United States. My friend (who is Catholic) was not aware it is a holy day of obligation. On Wednesday I called the parish where he attends to find out the Mass schedule. They said the Ascension was being celebrated on Sunday. They would not even be having a daily Mass on Thursday. That was really surprising.

I have read in missalettes that the Ascension could be celebrated on a Sunday as part of the regular Sunday Mass. But I never knew of any diocese that actually did that. (On the other hand, I don't think I've ever traveled around that time before.)

Anyway, I knew the Wichita Cathedral would have a daily Mass on Thursday. Whether or not the Ascension was celebrated, I would still at least attend Mass that day.

It turned out the Wichita Cathedral's Mass was dedicated to our Lady of Fatima, for her May 13th appearance. No mention was made of the Ascension though the Gospel reading at least hinted at it.

On Thursday evening I attended a meeting which is related to some new web projects I will be developing.

Friday morning would truly be my last time in Kansas for this trip. I got my stuff ready and headed south to Oklahoma again.

May 10-11, 2010: Dallas and the JFK Assassination Site

On May 10th, I worked my way back to Texas. I was going to meet with someone about a web site project. Since I was going to Dallas anyway, I also planned to see the museum and site of the JFK assassination.

As I worked my way south, I basically retraced my first visit to Texas. I-35 splits when it gets to Dallas and Fort Worth. I-35W services Fort Worth and I-35E services Dallas. Prior to the split, there really is not a lot to see at least along the interstate.

In Fort Worth, I had an interesting dinner. There is a chain restaurant in the area called Ghengis Grill, the Mongolian Stir Fry. You get a bowl and can fill it up with any combination of meat, vegetables, and spices. You can try to squeeze in as much as you want. You get two sauce choices. Then you hand everything to a cook and they put the items on a designated spot on a cooking area. They combine it with your choice of two starches. I chose noodles and rice. You get a number and once it's finished, a server brings it to you in a larger bowl. It was good. It was EXTREMELY hot (and I don't mean by temperature) because I went a bit overboard with the spices. At times, it seemed like there was no real taste and instead was just "heat" from spices. With the noodles and rice, it was more food than I could really handle, but I didn't want to waste it either. At the end, the server asked if I was "ready for another bowl" as in dessert. I was too stuffed to even consider that (and of course, I'm avoiding desserts in general anyway).

I stayed in Irving, TX, at an airport hotel. This is a small city nestled between Dallas and Fort Worth. The GPS was obnoxious. Although I was on interstate like roads, it showed me off the road in nowheresville. Finally, I took an exit ramp and tried to do a new search for the hotel. Once I was on local roads, it got me there through some hoops.


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The next day, after my meeting, I went into Dallas to see the Sixth Floor Museum. This is the building where Lee Harvey Oswald fired shots. The area where he is alleged to have fired shots at President Kennedy's motorcade is sealed in glass complete with boxes laid out as the scene had been photographed in 1963.

The museum had a few panels and videos from Kennedy's campaign, inauguration, brief presidency, etc. But, much of the museum was obviously devoted to the tragedy that happened on November 22, 1963. Exhibits included still photos from amateur video of the shooting, the press reaction, the investigations, the aftermath, Johnson's inauguration, the worldwide tributes, etc. The experience was very sad and moving.

After finishing up at the museum, I went to visit the actual site of the tragedy. It's a road that is still driven on by hundreds of cars per day. There are two x's to mark the spot where Kennedy's vehicle was located when he was murdered.

As I went to take pictures of the building outside, a man talked me into buying a newspaper about the events. As I went to take more pictures, another man approached me to provide a "tour" of the area. While I'll admit he gave me some interesting facts and showed me the spot where the amateur video had been taken. He had me stand on the spot where the person had filmed it and offered to take my picture. Warning bells went off because somehow I figured he'd run off with my camera. I decided I really didn't need a picture of myself standing there. The man continued by showing me another spot where it is alleged that another gunman fired at Kennedy's motorcade. He then went into various discussions about coverups. I could have done without this as it was already covered by the museum. The guy was an expert swindler and ultimately got a tip out of me, plus talked me into buying a book I didn't need or want. He claimed it was for children with cancer and that he'd win a trip if he sold a certain amount. I was so exhausted that I didn't see through this (despite having avoided letting him steal my camera).

After the man got his money and left me, a homeless woman approached me to tell me I had been cheated. She took me to see another man (who later claimed he was there to see the tragedy happen with his own eyes) who said the books cost $5 instead of $10. They insisted I call 911 and report this. (I truly felt that $5 was a bit too trivial to be bothering 911 about. I had to treat it as a lesson learned.) Apparently, another person from Minnesota had been cheated by this man and was too afraid to call. I was told that it would not stop unless someone stepped up. They claimed the man had no affiliation with any group helping children with cancer and he was not going to get a trip. So, I made the call. A police officer on a bicycle showed up. He went with me to the corner where the man was standing. The man insisted they were $10. He was working with a younger man who looked like a thug gang member. The thug quickly and angrily handed me $10 and took the book out of my hands saying "Here, take your little money back!" The police officer asked if I was satisfied with that. I was getting a little nervous about potentially making some enemies and explained to the officer that I had an out of state car and had a long drive ahead of me. I was envisioning getting in my car and being followed by gang members. The officer told me there was nothing to worry about. Plus, there was security in the parking lot for the museum.

I stayed around the area for a little while, getting pictures and chatting on the cell phone. The homeless woman spoke with me a bit more. The other man (the one connected with the homeless woman) explained that he is the only one hanging out there who actually witnessed the tragedy. He then showed me a fencepost painted red where he claims another gunshot came from. This location is much closer to the scene than the window where Oswald allegedly fired his shots.

As I went back to the parking lot, I noticed my concern about an out of state plate was meaningless. There were other cars with out of state plates. As a tourist attraction, of course there would be.

My next destination was Wichita, KS to see my friends for a couple of extra days. It was over six hours to drive up there. In talking with my mother, it appears that thanks be to God I had just avoided a massive tornado in Norman, Oklahoma a couple of days before.


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Having now seen a site related to JFK and previously seen a site related to Ronald Reagan, I'm cutting down the number of presidential sites that I have yet to see. There are only nine former presidents who have sites available (library, historical home, etc.) that I have not seen at this point. What is really pathetic is that Ulysses Grant is one of them. He died in a cottage which is a NY state park fairly close to where I live. (His actual home is located in western Illinois and is open for tours in the summer.) I can go to places like Missouri to see Truman's home or California to see Reagan's library yet I have not bothered to see something less than thirty minutes from home.

I was leaving just before rush hour traffic. However, at a certain point, I-35E came to a halt. People were actually driving off the interstate onto grass and getting onto a local road. Police cars were winding their way through, driving up the shoulder. After several minutes, as traffic moved along, I noticed a tractor trailer taking up two lanes. I wondered what this was about as there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. Driving past the tractor trailer, I saw the problem. A pickup truck was on its side, with the entire cab smashed. The driver was likely dead.

The drive through the rest of Texas was uneventful. As I got into Oklahoma, parts of I-35 were down to one lane due to construction, bringing things to a halt several times. This was after 7pm, so it wasn't rush hour.

There had been predictions for severe weather in Wichita and further south. At most I hit a few patches of rain, and not much at that. I was exhausted by the time I pulled into my friend's driveway, after driving for over six hours.

May 9, 2010: National Cowboy Museum and Oklahoma City Memorial

I wanted to visit Texas one more time before leaving. It's a six hour drive between Wichita and Dallas. But, as Oklahoma is between Kansas and Texas, I decided it would be easier to cut the trip in half.


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I visited the National Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City. I had been there once before in 2006. This was my first destination in Oklahoma when I started "venturing out" on my own. When I arrived there, the cashier at the admissions desk tried to find anything she could to get me a discount. That was very nice. She asked if I was in the military. Then she asked if I was currently a college student. She finally exhausted her list as I certainly didn't look under 12 or over 65.

While the museum was interesting, unfortunately having already seen it once before put a bit of a damper on it. Also, as I had seen a number of museums further west with a similar focus, that too made it drag a bit. The museum has exhibits with western art, guns, cowboy outfits/equipment, Native American clothing/artifacts, US military (the portion in the forts and active in the nineteenth century western territories), etc. There is also a "western town" in a section of the building which people can walk through. The "town" includes various storefront businesses, a schoolhouse, a church, a stable, a saloon, etc.

After it became dark, I visited the Oklahoma City Memorial. I had seen the memorial last year during the day time. A park ranger encouraged me to visit it at night if I was ever in the area again at night. The memorial has a chair set up for each person killed in the tragedy. At night they are lit up.

Even with the GPS, it was a little difficult to find the memorial at night. The memorial takes up an entire city block, but driving around it, it took a while for me to recognize it. It felt a bit eerie to be going to a place alone at night where so many people were killed. But, I will say the lighting was beautiful. I got a few decent pictures even with the relatively low light. The two large walls marking the times 9:01 and 9:03 (before and after the blast) were also lighted up. While I was only there for a short time, I'm glad I had a chance to see it. It looks very different at night than during the day.

May 6 - 8, 2010: Relaxing in Kansas

Like my 2008 cross country trip, I had some "time off" in Kansas. It was good to stay in one place for a couple of days with people I've known for a while. After a month traveling, it was good to see some routine parts of life again. There is not a lot to report on during this time.

We went to Mass in a small city (not really a city at all) called Medicine Lodge on Saturday (May 8th) evening. Medicine Lodge is about ninety minutes west of Wichita, and not far from the Oklahoma line. From what we saw, it is mostly homes, apartments, and farmland. There were no businesses that we could see. The last gas station was at least twenty miles before the church.


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My friend had to do a presentation at the church at the end of the Mass. The church was quite small. I always think of St. Francis Chapel on Wolf Road in Colonie as small, but it's likely at least twice the size of this church. I'd estimate 50 to 70 people attended Mass and the church was full. The church was built in 2000 and the priest has to go to three parishes that are a bit of a distance apart.

Beyond that, there was not a lot going on. I decided to travel again on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then I would be back in Wichita to help my friend with some other volunteer projects for a couple of days. Then I'd finally start traveling east for the final week of this journey.

May 5, 2010: Back to Kansas

Outside of New York, I have spent more time in Kansas than any of the other states in the country. My first visit was in 2005 and I have visited once per year every year since, except for 2009. I have a friend here and generally do volunteer work for church related causes. Plus it's also nice to be able to get a different perspective of a state rather than through sightseeing and hotels.

I started out in Kearney, Nebraska. I considered looking at Fort Kearney, which was only a few miles from the hotel. However, driving into the park it did not seem all that impressive. It would take time and I was definitely saturated with sightseeing. I just wanted to get to Wichita, Kansas to relax. It would be over five hours to drive there. The first thing I had to do was drive east on I-80 for almost an hour. This was a familiar route since I had gone from Kearney, Nebraska to Wichita, Kansas in my 2008 cross country trip. The route was identical. I even stopped at the same gas station in Nebraska after I got off I-80. After fueling up, I headed south on a US route that went from Nebraska into Kansas. I was on the cell phone with a friend as I approached the state line. Shortly after getting into Kansas, the call was lost and there was no signal. It's funny because I passed through some very empty areas in Nebraska and had a good signal. That US route that I was on became I-135 in Kansas.

Despite Kansas' reputation for being flat (and it is in several places), this particular part had lots of rolling hills and trees. I would say that Nebraska and Oklahoma are even more flat than Kansas.

As I said, this route was identical to the route I took in 2008. So, it was somewhat boring. Still, it was great to be back into the state where I really picked up my travel interest. When I visited Kansas in 2005, the only other states I visited had included all six of the tiny New England states, plus New Jersey, Alabama, and a brief drive through less than a mile of Pennsylvania (without even getting out of the car). My friend in Kansas is a map collector. He has been to all fifty states, and basically challenged me to see as many as I can.


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In 2006, I did my first solo driving trip to a section of the country outside of the Northeast. I flew in to Kansas to visit my friend, and on one day I drove to Oklahoma and then drove just inside of Missouri. The Oklahoma trip had a real attraction (the National Cowboy Museum) but for Missouri, I was just happy to have gotten to a truck stop four miles into the state. Since I didn't know anything about reserving hotels back in 2006, I had to be back in Wichita for the night. That trip allowed me to "dip my toe" in the water and made me hungry for more. Since that time, due to its location, Missouri has become one of the states I have visited most frequently though some of those visits were token visits.

May 4, 2010: Nebraska Panhandle and Major Winds

Today was definitely an education. Despite the high wind warnings in Nevada a week or so ago, that experience was nothing compared to Nebraska. Nebraska is very flat, despite the occasional badland rock formation. With such high winds, it's understandable how the badlands got their distinctive shapes.

When I left the hotel, there was no wind. In a very short time the wind became extreme. My first stop was the North Platte Valley Museum in Gering, Nebraska. This was a decent sized museum going from Native American times to modern times. Photographs with flash were allowed. There were many exhibits related to the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the short-lived Pony Express Trail. In one case, I got too close (even though I did not go over the rail nor was I even close) and set off the alarms when trying to take pictures. The management said it's extremely sensitive and reset it.

Since I am interested in exploration and the westward movement in the United States (sure, strange things for me to be interested in, right?) the four trails interest me quite a bit. The museum gave me a lot of points with which I want to do further research. Of course I took photographs of every kiosk explaining the exhibits. The experience of the pioneers going on these trails intrigues me. To imagine a conestoga wagon in the midst of these high winds is a feat in and of itself. Several times in the museum (which was a large and sturdy building), I felt the wind was going to knock it over.

After leaving the museum to go to my car, I really got to see what the wind was like in Nebraska. It was difficult to even breathe, and also somewhat hard to open the car door. But, once I was in the car, I was safe. The only danger in a situation like this is if the winds knock down a live power line. Thankfully that did not happen any place where I drove that day. Hopefully it didn't happen for anyone else.

The main attraction of the area is the Scott's Bluff National Monument. These are some magnificent rock formations that were seen by pioneers on the Oregon Trail. However, it is actually named after a fur trapper whose last name was Scott. There are numerous rumors about the circumstances of his death, but one of the favorite stories is that he was laid there to die by people in the trapping party who didn't want to take him with them. The main party evidently discovered the body the next year and named the rock formations after him.

By the time I got to Scott's Bluff, the wind was really bad. There were sand storms partially obscuring the view. I parked off the road to take pictures. At first I just wanted to roll down the window rather than try to go outside. Sand blew into the interior of the car. Eventually I did fight the wind and get out of the car. I'm sure there was sand blown into the camera too.

When I finally got to the visitor center, the wind had really picked up. It was an ordeal to open my car door and actually took several minutes. I literally could not breathe outside. While there are many trails that allow people to walk up into the rock formations and walk in the actual wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail, I was not going to even try that. I would just see what is in the visitor center and then go.

This is not one of the most popular parks in the country, and being a weekday, the park ranger was glad to even see anyone. His computer was downloading updates and there was little to do. He told me many times he'd be happy to answer any questions at any point during my tour of the museum. He explained that the wind was up to 66 mph and that I was welcome to take the outside trails, but it would be a brave thing to do. I've done a lot on this trip, but I was not going to brave that particularly when I could not even breathe outside. The ranger further explained that opening a car window during this wind storm would mean all the air would be quickly sucked out of the car.

The museum was quite interesting. There were exhibits on dinosaur bones found in the area, the rumors about how Scott's Bluff got its name, the various trails, and a museum on western art. There was even a contest to pick the best picture. This was not as extensive as the North Platte Valley Museum, but still worth the trip since I couldn't do anything outside. As time went on, other park staff decided to close down the driving road leading back into the rock formations for safety sake. A huge tree branch fell into the parking lot and had to be removed with machines.

As I went to get into the car, I felt like the wind was literally pushing me towards the car. Getting the door open was another ordeal. After leaving the park, I went through some farm areas. There was another sand storm which severely limited visibility.

I stopped at a Subway for lunch. The people in the restaurant were concerned about whether the building was sturdy enough. And of course, they expressed the concern about power lines being knocked out.

My next stop was Chimney Rock. This is another site seen by pioneers. As its name suggests, it looks like a rock with a chimney sticking out of it. Visibility was limited because of the sand storms. To get to the park headquarters, you had to drive down a side road. I thought this was a national park, but apparently it's a state park. That meant that my national parks pass would at most give me a discount but not free entry. The visitor center had a museum. I just parked on the road and took a couple of pictures. I had a long drive ahead of me to the next hotel and didn't really feel like stopping at the visitor center anyway. In fact, I would cross into the Central Time Zone so I would be losing an hour during this drive.


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My next hotel was in Kearney, Nebraska. This is a city I've visited twice before on big trips. I stayed at the same Comfort Inn both times. I almost planned to make a third visit to that hotel since I already knew it was acceptable. However, I learned there was an Econo Lodge that took fewer points. There were no reviews on TripAdvisor, but it did get a Platinum Award from Choice Hotels. Thus it couldn't be all that bad.

The long drive to Kearney was mostly along I-80. The entire way was plains. I recall in my 2007 trip seeing some huge rock formations along I-80. One of the rock formations even had a cut out of a wolf howling on the top of it. I recall seeing these rock formations when I headed west and then east a few days later along I-80. I could not have been imagining them. But they were nowhere to be seen. It's possible that I missed them on the very narrow stretch of I-80 that is between Kimball and Sidney, NE. Still, I really thought it was closer to the point where the time zone switches from Mountain Time to Central Time.

The price of gas in Nebraska was interesting. In the west side, there was still the 85 (not E-85), 88, 91. Thus I had to buy the "plus" grade. In the more central part of Nebraska, it was the regular 87/89/91. However, some gas stations charged less for 89, indicating that 89 had ethanol while 87, at ten cents higher per gallon, did not.

When I finally got into my hotel, I found it to be well deserving of the platinum award. It was completely refurbished and basically could pass as a Comfort Inn rather than an Econo Lodge. The staff were extremely friendly. They went out of their way to open doors for me when tried to carry in all my stuff in one trip. The low point requirement must have been due to the brand name and the location. Kearney is not a high crime area, but it's also not exactly the most popular vacation spot in the country either. It's also not in the sticks either; there are lots of shopping areas along the way. But still, I was happy to pay the lowest amount of points required for such a nice hotel.

May 3, 2010: Cheyenne, Wyoming to western Nebraska

I last visited Cheyenne (the capital city of Wyoming) in August, 2007. That was my first visit to Wyoming, and at that point, the farthest point west I had ever been in my life. For the largest city in the state of Wyoming (with a population of around 53,000), it was a very safe and comfortable place to be. Parking is plentiful around the city and I don't recall (then or now) seeing any parking meters. Parking is available directly in front of the state capitol building.

The first thing I had to do was get an oil change. I had driven more than 3,000 miles since the estimate on the last oil change for the vehicle I had gotten in San Francisco. Unlike the Utah oil change, there was not mass confusion on whether they could change the oil on a vehicle that was new in November 2009. The oil change took fifteen minutes (instead of the hour+ in Utah) and I was done.

I did some shopping in Cheyenne, and then had lunch in the historic train station. (Cheyenne got its existence because of the railroad.) My next stop was the state capitol building. You can take a self-guided tour of the capitol. The governor's office door is open. The legislative chambers are in the same building as the governor's office and executive offices. (Agencies of course have their own buildings.) There are numerous historical notes throughout the three floors. I took pictures of all of them so I could read them later. The staff member at the information desk was extremely friendly and made sure I saw room 302. This room has a beautiful mural of the various areas of Wyoming, plus door hinges with intricate detail that date back to the original version of the capitol building.

After visiting the capitol, I visited the Wyoming State Museum. The museum is free, but photographs are not allowed. It was a decent sized museum, though obviously the New York State Museum is much larger. The exhibits were fascinating. Wyoming is rich in minerals. They even have some gold and diamonds. There were unscrupulous individuals in the nineteenth century who tricked people into purchasing shares in non-existent gold and diamond mines. There was an exhibit about the Lincoln highway, which went along much of the area where I-80 runs in modern Wyoming. Of course there were fossils, Native American exhibits, etc.

I had once wanted to move to Wyoming based on my first visit. Having traveled much more since those days, I assumed that thought was merely a first reaction. However, coming back to Cheyenne three years later, I must say that wonderful feeling I got on my first visit is still there. The wind is pretty strong (and this drives some people away) and it can certainly get very cold, but beyond that I can still feel the draw. People are very friendly and very laid back. It just seems like a safe and generally happy place to be.



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My destination for the next evening was the city of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. This is of course near the Scott's Bluff National Park. Google had me going through US routes and state routes which avoided I-80. I was interested in that route so I could see another part of Wyoming I had not seen before. However, try as I might, the GPS would not provide any route other than via I-80. I had already been through that stretch of I-80 back in 2007.

The fact that I had to take I-80 was not so bad, however. I was able to see the large 30 foot tall statue of Our Lady of Peace which is just inside the state of Wyoming in Pine Bluffs. You have to take I-80 exit 1 in Nebraska and then drive onto US 30 where it crosses back into Wyoming. As I visited this outdoor shrine, I thought about the contrast between my last visit and this one. In the last visit, there were at times heavy rains and thunderstorms. The sky was clouded over. Photographs were lousy. I was not sure about the direction of my life and was very sad. I was upset about having an ultra slow-paced job that amounted to a mere paycheck where I was stagnating since the powers that be in my unit consistently ignored my requests to be challenged. In fact, they consistently did not even have enough work for me to do at all. Mediocrity, complacency, and keeping the status quo ruled the day in my opinion. The 2007 trip was basically an escape from an upsetting situation. However, since I felt trapped and had no idea how to escape the situation (the job did not give experience which would have allowed me to just go to another job) I unfortunately brought that sadness along with me on the 2007 trip.

However, returning to this spot in 2010 was different. The sky was blue with some occasional clouds. Photographs were much nicer. My mindset and future are also much nicer. I had learned to trust God on everything. I had not learned to do that back in 2007. Truely trusting in God brings about a profound positive change as well as many new opportunities. Having left the job in 2008 just about a year after my first visit to the statue, the feeling of being trapped is long gone. Far from an escape this time, this trip was an adventure with a number of positive outcomes and a number of business contacts made. Rather than working for a bureaucracy where a supervisor has the ability to limit their employees' skill growth on the job, I run my own business. I make the call on any kinds of limits in terms of growth in skills. There will never be limits in that area.

As I left Wyoming, I entered the Nebraska panhandle. This is a generally flat area. I had to drive around twenty miles on I-80 and then take a local road north. For a while, most of what I saw were either grassy plains or farm areas. However, as I got closer to the city of Scottsbluff, I started to notice various interesting rock formations. They were like the badlands in other states. I was definitely looking forward to tomorrow when I would see the most well known rock formation in these parts: Scott's Bluff.

May 2, 2010: Driving Across Southern Wyoming

Today was going to be a very long trip. I would have to drive across the remaining part of Utah up to the Wyoming line, and most of the way across Wyoming. My stopping off point for the night would be Wyoming's capital and largest city (with a population of about 55,000), Cheyenne. This drive would mostly be on I-80. This would be my third visit to Wyoming. I drove across the northern part of Wyoming from Cody, WY to the South Dakota line in 2008. This time I wanted to drive across the southern part of the state.


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As I started off, the mountains in Utah looked like something from a Christmas card. They were totally covered in snow. Houses in the valleys were covered in snow. This was May 2nd, of course. It began to snow as I was driving and the road was wet. The temperature dropped to 33 degrees. I was getting a little nervous and wondering again why I moved north and insisted on driving across Wyoming...and I had not even left Utah by that point.

Gas prices are terrible in Utah. I expected the prices would be lower in Wyoming (WY has a reputation for lower gas prices) but wasn't really sure if I could take the chance to drive for another hour until I got to the Wyoming line where I could likely find gas in the city of Evanston. So, I stopped off at Park City, UT. I had to make a left turn to get into a gas station and there was a light. Although the light was green, there was a steady flow of traffic going straight in the opposite direction. It seems as though the person behind me expected me to plow into said traffic just so they could save a couple of seconds on their life. I remember this kind of attitude in northern Utah during my 2008 trip. A driver back then became extremely angry because I did not feel like t-boning a few cars that day.

The scenery was spectacular in Utah. The road had some very sharp curves through the mountains. As time went on, the snow died off and there was not much snow on the sides of the interstate. By the time I reached Wyoming, there was very little snow. The road was dry and the temperature went up.

I stopped in Evanston to fuel up again since I wasn't sure how far I'd be driving before I'd see the next gas station. I also went to a rest stop for a few minutes. An old man noticed my east coast license plate and was surprised. I explained that it was a rental car but that I was from New York. (My plate is from a New England state.) He told me he and his wife were traveling from New Hampshire to see their granddaughter get married in California. We had a nice talk for a while and then went our separate ways. It was an interesting coincidence.

The beautiful scenery of Utah gave way to flat areas with mostly rolling hills. I crossed the Continental Divide at over 6,300 feet above sea level. There was no evidence of snow on the ground and the interstate was dry.

One thing that should be noted about I-80 in Wyoming (and Nebraska) is that the entrances have cattle gates. Just after exits at various points in the road are railroad traffic crossing bars. Conditions can get so bad that the authorities can close the interstate down. All traffic must exit and there are severe penalties for crossing the bars.

Scenery suddenly changed again. I came into an area with beautiful badlands for miles starting in Rock Springs, WY. The badlands were orange-yellow, compared to the red rocks of Utah. This went on for a very long time. Some areas were lighter than others. Some spots looked like piles of small rocks while others looked more like the badlands found in Death Valley National Park or in Montana's Makoshika (badlands) State Park.

As time went on, the badlands transitioned into flatter areas with rolling hills. I crossed the Continental Divide yet again, this time at 7,000 feet above sea level. I started to experience hail. This was only for a short time, thankfully. There were also occasionally some snow flakes here and there.

At a certain point, the sky was dark and ominous looking. I was getting a little nervous as I still had three more hours to go. I wasn't sure what kinds of storms to expect. There was also occasional fog.

Wyoming electronic signs have (at least in the past) warned to watch for wildlife crossing the interstate. This is not too difficult to watch for since much of Wyoming is treeless. Any kind of large animal would stand right out from the plains and could be seen a long way before crossing the road. As I have been told about herds of antelope sometimes crossing the interstate (typically I-25, not I-80) in Wyoming, I was on the lookout for antelope. I did see a few here and there, but I counted less than ten on the entire drive.

For the rest of the drive, I was on flat land with occasionally very slight rolling hills. As I reached Laramie, there was a sharp incline and I was at over 8,000 feet above sea level. The rock formations were beautiful. I passed by the highest point on all of I-80 just east of Laramie. In 1960, a monument to Abraham Lincoln was erected at the highest point along the road. I didn't have time to stop for it but did see it quickly from the interstate.

I passed by Buford, WY. This is the town with the smallest population in the United States. It has a population of 1 person. The only businesses in Buford are a gas station and a fireworks store. I visited this "town" (or rather, tourist trap) in 2007 during my first ever visit to Wyoming. At that point, gas was very expensive because Buford has a monopoly on gas. There isn't another gas station for twenty miles. However, as I passed by it on the interstate, I noticed the prices were very reasonable. It was about $2.79/gallon for regular. Utah was well over $3/gallon.

After another forty minutes or so, I finally got into Cheyenne. The wind was really strong and the hotel had warning signs on the doors saying they close quickly due to the wind. In any event, it was great to get dinner and be able to relax at the hotel after such a long drive.

May 1, 2010: Oversaturated with Sightseeing; 80 mph Speed Limit; Drive to Salt Lake City

At this point, shortly less than a month after starting this trip, I really was getting a little exhausted with sightseeing. If I had someone with me, it might be different. It was fun for the brief time Dan was with me. This feeling of exhaustion and being oversaturated with sightseeing happened about one month into my 2008 cross country trip, and it happened in Utah that time as well.

I needed to keep moving one way or another. This hotel was expensive, and the big Choice Hotels promotion was over. I could no longer earn huge amounts of points by paying for stays. It was now time to start using all those points I had earned. I had two choices. I could head east along I-70 and backtrack the way I had come through Utah when heading west. I could see Capitol Reef National Park today, and then see Canyonlands National Park the next day. Capitol Reef was four hours from Hurricane, UT (where I was currently located) and then another three hours to Green River, UT for the next hotel. The Green River hotel required a high number of points but I was willing to pay it. The other consideration was church. Green River, UT had a mission church with no web site of its own and a claim (on another web site) that it had a Mass on Saturday evening at 6pm. Would I realistically get to it on time after exploring a park that was a ways off the interstate? Probably not. The other option was for a church in Moab, UT, which had one Sunday Mass at 9am. Moab was an hour from Green River. I'd have to be out of the hotel by 7:45 at the latest to make sure I got to church on time. If I missed the 9am Mass, there were no other options.

In addition to the church concern, there was another concern. After driving all the way through Utah on I-70, the next state on that road is Colorado. The hotels along I-70 in Colorado were not only expensive, but required a lot of points for a free night. That did not sit well; I wanted to be able to reasonably dole out points, not squander a significant number for a single night merely because of the location.

Considering all of this, I decided to head north instead of east. I chose to go to Salt Lake City. There was a decent hotel there which I had stayed at two years ago and which required a minimal amount of points. Catholic churches were readily available in Salt Lake City. Furthermore, it allowed me to visit Wyoming, which is one of my absolute favorite states in the country. I had been all the way across northern Wyoming in my 2008 trip, so I wanted to drive across southern Wyoming on this one.


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This would be like a zig zag trip. I was just off I-80 when I stayed in Elko, Nevada. Then I went further south to see the state parks. I then went north into Utah to see Zion National Park. Now I was going further north back to the I-80 corridor. In a few days, I would be zig zagging again by going to Wichita, Kansas. Wichita is further south of the I-70 corridor. Here is a map of the zig zag...


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Most of the drive involved I-15. The scenery in the south was beautiful. I enjoyed just watching it as I continued north. I-15 connects to I-70. As I got near I-70, I noticed everything had clouded over. It is possible that this is how it was at Capitol Reef National Park, in which case pictures would have been lousy anyway.

As I continued further north, the red rock formations gave way to darker colors. Mountains had more and more snow covering. In one case, there was a scene of snow capped mountains that looked like it came right out of the movies. It almost looked like a fake background. But it was beautiful. It looked like something you might see in the opening of a Paramount movie.

As I continued further north, I saw a sign which I had to read multiple times to make sure I got it right. The speed limit read 80. I had read that the only place that allowed 80mph speeds was Texas, and even then only in limited places and only during the day. (Although Montana is rumored to have no speed limit, their speed limit of 75mph is well posted on all interstates. Non-interstate roads in Montana are up to 70mph.) Utah having an 80 mph speed limit was something new to me. A smaller sign below the speed sign indicated this was a test for the next 17 miles. I continued to keep my cruise control at 70. This car goes through gas like crazy at 75mph so I was definitely not going to do 80. I didn't see too many other cars suddenly picking up speed either.

As I moved further north, the speed went back to 75. But once or twice again, I entered another 80mph test area.

As I got closer to Salt Lake City, the sky was completely overcast. Occasionally there was light snow. The mountains had more and more snow covering them. When I got into the vicinity of Salt Lake City, there was a traffic jam. I wasn't used to this as the last traffic jam I had experienced was in San Francisco. The Salt Lake City traffic jam seemed to go on forever. I really expected I was not going to make the 5pm Mass on Saturday evening. I really wanted to go Saturday because I had a seven hour drive planned for Wyoming on Sunday. I began to assume I would not make it and think negatively. I needed more faith in God. Ultimately, the traffic moved. I managed to get to the church about two minutes before Mass started. Even then, the parking lot was full. I had to park in a neighborhood street and run to the church as fast as I could. I still managed to get in just before the procession.

After Mass ended, I had dinner (Subway as usual) and then went to the hotel. Salt Lake City is not as obnoxious with red light cameras on literally every intersection like Las Vegas. Also, it seemed they were far more generous with their yellow light timing. Getting to the hotel, it was finally nice to be able to have a rest before getting ready for my big seven hour drive in Wyoming.