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Welcome. You have stumbled upon a combination blog and travelogue. This home page lists the last seven articles posted from my travels. On the left the articles are gathered by region. If you want to bustle through the articles as I travelled and wrote them the "Where Have I Been" page itemizes all of the states and towns I have driven through in the order driven and links them to the articles written for and the pictures taken that day. You can also use the previous/next links on every page.

Jump in and come along for the ride!

Most Recent Note

Miss Evelyn died today.
February 7th 2007 at 3:20 PM Central time
Frank and our dear friend Cindy were with her until the end. Evilyn's place tells the beginning of my engagement with her.

There will be a memorial service Saturday, February 10th, at Evelyns Place starting at 4:00 PM. All are welcome.


Show up if you can
Send rememrances if you can
These expressions are for the living.
be there
Evelyn's Place
139 Chartres St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

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South Dakota Badlands

Posted: 2007-01-23     Driven: Fri, September 22, 2006

It is difficult to find words for the badlands. Yes, I could go into geological history or write of "majestic beauty." They are bad for crops, bad for cattle, but extremely good for the soul. Go there. See for yourself. it is a place not to be missed.

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

To Wall SD

Posted: 2006-12-07     Driven: Thu, September 21, 2006

How much fun you can have on the drive from Pierre to Wall! I drove the "Bad River Road" out of Pierre and saw some really beautiful hills. The Bad River Road is a good digression. It is well graveled and clearly marked. There are a few alternative routes you can take away from it and after driving through barren hills for what seems like forever you will pass into gigantic fields of Sunflowers and after a few miles be right back into the wide-open hills.

Wall, South Dakota has roadside signs forever leading up to it. The Wall Drug store is the main culprit. Apparently they have been up to this for many-a-year and turned the town into a sucessful tourist trap.
But Wall is the best place to stay before a drive into the South Dakota Badlands. Yes, I went into Wall Drug and had an unimpressive piece of pie--some things ya just gotta do. There is a life size Brontosaurus out by the interstate. if you are going into the Badlands, you will pass right by it!

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

To Pierre SD

Posted: 2006-12-06     Driven: Wed, September 20, 2006

The last night I stayed in Aberdeen, I didn't stay there. I got back to town later than I had intended, about 8:30. It turned out there was a Super-sized Walmart opening the next day and every hotel room in town was booked. This is not a 1-or-2 hotel town. Clearly, these folk are big on shopping and a new Walmart opening up is something not to be missed.

The closest town with a hotel was 45 miles away. I set off. The town had two hotels... all booked up. The next closest town was Huron, 45 miles further. That adds up to 90 miles extra to drive for a hotel just because Walmart was opening a new store. Huron boasts the largest pheasant in the world. I think it was staring into my window the whole night.

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

To Aberdeen SD

Posted: 2006-10-07     Driven: Mon, September 18, 2006

So much time, so little to do. I'll start with a gallery of images taken on the day's drive. It was an overcast day, but the drive through North Dakota's Sheyenne Valley was lovely. The trees were just beginning to turn and the misty haze made things interesting.

The following day I spent with relations in South Dakota. I have posted a few of those images here

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

To Valley City, ND

Posted: 2006-10-07     Driven: Sat, September 16, 2006

When I reached Grand Forks, North Dakota the previous day I was impressed with the number of creative, old signs they had about. I was also impressed with the price of gas. It was a new low for my trip, $2.18 per gallon. I determined I would fill up my tank while I was in town, but I was distracted the previous night by a stock car race. I was sitting in Grandma Butterwicks restaurant contemplating my pancakes when an old boy's cell phone rang. I think he was hard of hearing because he talked really loud.

"Oh hi, Joe.
Yah. Yah.
Oh I'm sittin' having my coffee at the restaurant here.
Oh yah, I'm done with my eggs, yah.
Scrambled.
Fillin' your tank are ya now? What're you payin there?
Oh, is that so?
Yah, well it's two-twelve here.
Oh yah, well it went down over night, you know. I'm lookin' right at the station across the street.
Yah, yesterday it was two-eighteen.
Oh yah? You're goin' to the lake now? Fishing, huh?
Oh yah, well, no not today. I have other things I have to do.
Yah, yah, well you go then. Hope you catch your limit.
All right then, bye now."

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

To Grand Forks, ND

Posted: 2006-09-27     Driven: Fri, September 15, 2006

Grand Forks, North Dakota is an interesting town. It has some nice, old signage. I am discovering many Midwestern towns have nice signage. Good signage makes it easier to pick out where to sleep and where to eat. Who has the coolest sign? Sure, it might be a superficial way to choose, much better I google the town and study reviews and find out what other people have to say or scour my AAA guide and choose based on price and ratings and other junk that allows us to quantify the unknown in advance. But where is the fun in that? After all it is only one bed, it is only one meal. I value esthetics so I might as well support them in my own way. Besides places with cool signs are rarely, if ever, franchises. All of the money I spend there stays in the community nothing goes out in franchise fees. I am also guessing that a locally owned food place is less likely to have disgruntled youthful employees who hate feeling they are part of some impersonal machine and might try to express their unique individuality while preparing my food.

In Grand Forks there is a restaurant called the Bronze Boot. It has a great sign in the shape of a giant boot. When lit up at night the lights on the spurs look like they are spinning. The Bronze Boot is a traditional, Midwestern "fancy" restaurant. Inside it is nicely appointed with booths and tables and a few high-backed, private booths. It is nice enough to make anyone think they are in a nice restaurant, but not so overdone that a farmer from 50 miles out is going to feel uncomfortable when he brings his girl into the city to impress her. They serve meat, mostly, and will be happy to burn your filet mignon to a crisp if you so desire. If you ask for medium rare, they describe the result to verify this is what you really want. Some of the meat they offer is fish and poultry, but I suspect they didn't sell too much poultry until the last decade or so. From the cholesterol-laden plates I saw, this is still a red meat restaurant in a red meat town. They served the basics: red meat, potatoes baked or fried, and a token salad... if you ask. Inga, my heavily accented German waitress approved my choice of the ribeye commenting that it was her favorite.

      Read more & see all of the pictures!

Border Crossing

Posted: 2006-09-26     Driven: Fri, September 15, 2006

Kenora, Ontario is situated against Lake Of The Woods and the drive out along the lake is a nice morning drive. Continue West on Highway 17 and you will pass into Manitoba where Highway 17 changes into Canada 1, a freeway of sorts, it has fancier exits and signage. It was when I passed from the 2-lane highways of Ontario to the freeways of Manitoba I realized what an incredible asset the interstate system is to the U.S.. Well, for moving goods and things from point A to point B, for meandering around it is not so great. The interstate systems allows us to transport materials by any number of routes to a destination. Similar to how packets of data bounce across the internet, but not quite so efficient. In Ontario, there are really only two highways and only two rail lines that cross it. Any goods that Cross Ontario have to go by one of these four routes. It is a blessing in a way, it keeps the greater part of Ontario beautiful, frontier-like and unspoiled.

I had originally thought I would mosey into Winnipeg and maybe a bit further West before heading back into the States, but the previous evening I had taken some time, done some math and realized I was paying about $4.60 per gallon for gas up there! Yikes. I also spend some time in google maps. Google maps implied that there were roads, little roads, that crossed the border with no border guard! No way! This I had to investigate. A few miles into Manitoba I headed South on highway 308. Ten miles in, the pavement turned to dirt for about 50 miles until I reached Moose Lake. Google implied that if I kept going straight when 308 ended at Sprague, Manitoba, the little tiny road would cross right over the border. I found this hard to believe, so I had to check it out.

      Read more & see all of the pictures!