from Columbia MO to Sioux Falls SD

This was supposed to be a day of driving, driving, driving with nothing special. Iowa and South Dakota mostly made it so. But Missouri had revealed even more treasures ...

Just north of Kansas City, we spied a sign for a distillery that promised awesome Irish Cream. Of course we had to go! Turns out the distillery is in Weston, Missouri, which I recognized for its Irish festival. At the distillery we sampled the Irish Cream -- oh, my, SOOO good! -- and some "moonshine" called "White Dog." Actually, White Dog is not corn liquor at all, but rather un-aged bourbon which only looks like moonshine. It had a bite, hence the name.

We looked around for a bit, made some purchases, then headed into Weston to have lunch at Green Dirt Farm. Hoo-Boy, what great food! I had a grilled cheese with pickled green tomato and ham -- all ingredients locally-sourced -- and finished it off with locally-made Vanilla Bourbon ice cream.

Then began the mostly monotonous drive through Iowa where we saw farm ...

after farm ...

and discovered that South Dakota has more of the same, except you can pass them by much more quickly:

I did have one really notable experience in South Dakota. While in the rest room, I overheard a mother and her child conversing in a language the likes of which I had never heard before. I may not understand, but would at least recognize, any of the Romance Languages, or Germanic, Slavic, or Scandinavian tongues. I'd have known if they were speaking an Asian language like Mandarin or Japanese, or any of the Semitic languages. This speech was completely different.

I'm guessing that what I heard was a Native American language, and friends have suggested that it was most likely Lakota. I'm so thrilled to overhear parents -- of any culture -- who are committed to passing along their native tongue!



More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.
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from Paducah KY to Columbia MO

Today turned out to be a day of serendipity, although it had rather a rough start.

First off, rain, rain, rain from the remnants of the tropical storm that plagued us on and off during yesterday's drive. Poor Henry didn't get much of a walkie. Sue went to breakfast and I stayed in to watch news -- and saw alarming reports of a mudslide along I-40 in North Carolina ... and threat of a dam break that would devastate Marion and Old Fort. Knowing that Sue has friends in Marion, I ran, still dressed in my PJs, to find her at breakfast.

Then, after we returned to the room, we got a call from the front desk warning us of the rapidly rising creek behind the hotel and the threat of a flash flood.

Don't have to tell me twice! "It's raining all over the world."

So we set out for Columbia, where truly I expected practically nothing except a nice place to lay my head. After a couple of hours we passed through St. Louis and glimpsed its famous Gateway Arch.

Sue poked around a bit on the Internet while I drove, and she found an "attraction" near Columbia called BoatHenge. Who could resist? It was way off the beaten path on an old railroad bed now called the Katy Trail, a hiking/biking path maybe 200 miles in length.

BoatHenge is a little bit of a mystery. Not like Stonehenge! But apparently after a flood, some unknown artist found a washed-up boat and decided to bury part of it so that it stuck up like one of the standing stones of an ancient henge. Next flood he -- or she -- buried another boat in similar fashion. There are now a half-dozen boats in all.

After studying BoatHenge for a bit, we continued walking along the Katy Trail for some bird-watching. Next we set out for Rock Bridge Memorial Park. The whole thing was apparently once a large cave system, much of which has collapsed to leave a small "cavern" that's open at both ends. A little stream runs through this cavern -- aka the Rock Bridge -- and Henry really enjoyed picking his way over the rocks to eventually lie down in the cold water.

We then took a boardwalk to look down on Devil's Icebox and Connor's Cave. Beautifully cool draughts of air came up from the caves below. There weren't a lot of visitors this day, so we had the quiet walk mostly to ourselves. It was so peaceful back in there!

Eventually we found our way to our hotel in Columbia and then to a wonderful meal at a pub named 44 Stone. Dined outside, so that Henry could be with us.

Nice meal at the end of an exhausting, but rewarding, day! Now for sleep, in preparation for a killer driving day tomorrow.

More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.

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from Marietta GA to Paducah KY

Today, and Nashville, were never originally supposed to be part of the trip.

Although our route was always supposed to take us through Nashville, we weren't scheduled to actually make a stop there, until a personal matter made it necessary.  But "best laid plans" and all that ... things got changed last-minute and I wouldn't be able to take care of the personal business after all. Sue and I debated as to whether we should just revert to our original plan and leave tomorrow instead. Around 2pm, we made the somewhat impulsive decision to take off anyway. After all, we've been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS, have taken WEEKS assembling all of the necessary gear, and have been packed for DAYS.

We were ready to get the wheels rollin'.

Arriving in Nashville close to dinner-time, we began thinking about an interesting road-trip-worthy place to eat, and ended up at the famous Hattie B's. It's a favorite of my brother's, featuring hot chicken -- that's spicy hot, not heat hot, which probably explains why it's his favorite. There are six levels of spice, from No Heat to a level called Shut The Cluck Up!!! I chose the spice level a couple of rungs down the ladder, called simply Hot! Call me cowardly if you like, and you may notice that the Hot! has only one exclamation point, as opposed to three ... it's still H-O-T. It was tasty and moist, very delicious, and my side dishes of black-eyed pea salad and pimento mac 'n cheese were awesome.

Before leaving Hattie B's, I snapped the first picture of the trip

which one of Sue's friends suggested should be edited thus:

After getting a massive case of the giggles over Hinkleville Road (if you're actually from Hinkleville, please don't be offended; we can get the giggles over practically anything), we're finally stopped for the night in Paducah, Kentucky. Our Days Inn is kind of a weird place, but the guy at the desk is just so nice, I'm not thinking on the weirdness aspect too much. Big driving day tomorrow!


More photos from the Forces of Nature Tour at Flickr.
Click here.  

Prologue: The Grand Adventure, Part Two

The Forces of Nature Tour began as a sequel to last summer's Grand Adventure, a continuation of our quest to visit as many of America's National Parks as we can.

Originally the trip was to include Badlands and Yellowstone. But a friend encouraged us to include Glacier because, as he pointed out, the glaciers for which the park is named will likely all be gone (melted) by 2030 or so.

Then, mere weeks prior to our departure, we realized that at Glacier we'd be so close to the Canadian border -- why not include parts of Canada on our trip?

So with a firm itinerary finally in place, we mapped out our 5000 mile round trip. The picture compares last year's Grand Adventure to this year's adventure.

Wait ... Did I say "firm itinerary?" "Final?" When two curious, intrepid travelers and a loyal, fearless dog have a sturdy and roadworthy SUV at their disposal, nothing's final. The itinerary became fluid, flexible. There were changes. Read on ...