Day 2: Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands

Panoramic view in the Badlands

We left Austin, Minnesota a little before 8:00 and the highway was virtually empty and with visibility of over 10 miles on the virtually flat lands of the great planes, that is saying something.  We continued to have the road virtually to ourselves for the first couple of hours of driving.  Once we were in South Dakota we stopped at a rest area/information center.  They take their information centers seriously in South Dakota!  Before I even had a chance to ask anything the little old lady behind the counter began spewing more information my way than I could digest.  She did it with such enthusiasm and vigor that I just had to listen to wealth of choices I had in the great state of South Dakota, including something known as The Corn Palace.  The next thing I know we had about 5 days worth of itinerary lined up with about 6 hours to accomplish it.  We decided to whittle the choices to a couple, the first of which was the next rest area/information center we would visit.

Sign over the counter at the Information Center

A little over 150 miles of traveling brings us to the Missouri River and our second well staffed South Dakota rest area/information center.  This one doubles as a mini Lewis and Clark museum as it is evidently built on the site that Lewis and Clark camped for several days both on their way out and 2 years later on their way back.  We ate our lunch, stretched our legs and too in the views of the wide Missouri River.  Pretty neat!
One thing I noticed traveling on from the Lewis and Clark mini museum is that billboards are everywhere along this stretch of I-90 and one is never left with a wanting for something to read.  The problem is that even though a bill board appeared every 300 to 400 feet (very little exaggeration here - at least in one section of road) there were only about 5 unique ones being shown and most of them were for Wall Drug, which we started to think might be a bigger attraction than Mt. Rushmore.

Pooh takes in the views at the Badlands

The second change in itinerary that we decided to make based on the enthusiastic suggestions of our friendly South Dakotan hostess was to leave I-90 and take a 35 mile detour through The Badlands National Park.  This was indeed a very wise choice and we are grateful for the suggestion (I know wonder if the Corn Palace might have been something to see after all).

    The Badlands are a very unique sight to behold.  In part, they remind a little bit of Chimney Bluffs near Rochester NY but of different color and very different scale.  In other places the views remind you of canyons of the states farther south.  One thing that Katie kept mentioning and I had to agree was just how quite it was once you were away from the other tourists.  The air was still and there wasn't a sound to be heard anywhere.  I wondered if it had to do with a lack of animals.  There was some vegetation (they do get 16 inches of rainfall a year) and warnings to be on the lookout for rattle snakes.

Pooh looks so much bigger than those guys

Once we left the badlands we were only a little over an hour away from our destination for the night in Keystone SD and the Mt. Rushmore National Monument.  Not only that, we are also beyond the location of Wall Drug and are no longer bombarded with bill boards advertising this western marvel of merchandising.  Maybe next time I'm out this way I'll have to check it out to see what all the fuss is.  We drive past our hotel which is situated in the heart of the brief tourist trap that is 2 miles outside of
Mt. Rushmore to visit said attraction before checking in and settling down.  I'm sure there is a lot of fascinating information to gather and absorb at all the theaters showing movies and the museum full of exhibits, but the big busts themselves are, well, just shy of that.  One could actually hike up them and I'm sure that would make for interesting views and perspectives but our take away is that we can say we've been there and we were really glad we spent time in the Badlands instead of rushing here.  Better yet, maybe we should have visited Wall Drug.

Day 1 - Leaving Chicago

Kristina picks me up at Union Station

My train arrived around 11:30 and my daughter, Kristina, who also lives in Chicago, decided to meet me at the station.  This was an awesome gesture on her part that was motivated by (a) the goodness of her heart and the love for her father or (b) the complete lack of confidence she has in her old man's ability to find his way from Union Station to her sister' apartment, or (c) she was jealous of the road trip time Katie was going to have with her Dad and she wanted a piece of the action, however small.  Which ever reason it was, I am truly grateful and love her with all my heart.

The car is well packed!

We arrived at Katie's and grabbed subs at Potbelly or something to eat before heading out.  Katie was very proud of her packing job as she lifted the hatch of her Prius to show me how well all her belongings fit. I stood there admiring her handiwork and then asked, "Where does my stuff go?". After some awkward silence and a couple "Um"s I begin to worry that my luggage wasn't part of the plan.  I then remembered that JC was flying to LA in a few weeks and Katie was going to meet him there so I suggested he take one of her suitcases with him.  Everyone thought that was an excellent idea and with that bag out there was plenty of room for my stuff.

Pooh says Goodbye to the old place.

Now that everything and everyone had a place in the car its time for goodbye's.  JC takes takes what Katie called the band aid approach and gives her a big hug, jumps in his car and heads back to Indiana.  Kristina,on the other hand, must be in the small camp of long goodbyes are beat.  Once the hugs are done we finally hop in the Prius, program Tommy (what we cleverly name our TomTom brand GPS) and get ourselves situated (Kristina stands on the sidewalk with sad puppy dog eyes while this prolonged departure takes place).  We pull away with a final wave and 7 hours later we find ourselves in Austin Minnesota just 20 miles from Rochester!

Train? What Train?

Approximately one hour after posting my initial blog post I received a call from Amtrak.  The recording informed me that there was a disruption in the service of my train and alternate transportation would be provided. This is already starting off to be an interesting adventure!  

Friday night:

There is no status on the train (bus) so we leave the house @ 10:00 just to make sure we get to the station before the bus gets there and departs. Amy stays with me while I wait. There are plenty of other people waiting too, including a couple Amish families. One had the cutest toddler-aged little girl in a black bonnet that was taking it all in with big dark eyes. It gets to be close to 11:30 and Amy is getting tired and decides to head home.

Well, it's now quarter to 12:00 (midnight) and I'm on the bus heading to Buffalo to get on the train. Depending on whether or not they expect to stop along the way, we should be on the train shortly after 1:00. Time will tell.

It's now past 1:00 in the morning and the driver is seeking directions at a convenience store!  I get out my iPhone and search for the station.  The map app tells me that we're only 2 miles away.  As the driver Approaches the intersection near the train station he turns left instead of right and continues to head further away from the station.  I decide to get out of my seat and inform him of his mistake. He turns around and a couple minutes later we're at the Buffalo train station.  I cannot fathom why buses like that aren't equipped with GPS navigation systems!

We must have been the last bus to arrive at the train because it wasn't in my seat for more than a minute and the train started moving.  I don't know how far behind we are but we're on our way at 1:30 AM.

It's 9:15 Chicago time and we're just leaving South Bend now.  Another hour or two and I should be in Chicago!

The Eve of the Big Trip

I am about to embark on a week+ long journey with my eldest child, Katie.  She recently received her PhD from Northwestern University located in Evanston Il, a northern suburb of Chicago.

Katie's hooding ceremony.

The next leg of her journey brings her to a post-Doc position at the University of Washington (U-Dub) in Seattle.  Getting her to Seattle is the purpose of my new blog.  She has asked me to be her co-pilot as she drives from Chicago to Seattle.  I couldn't be more honored to join her on this exciting adventure as she kicks off the next stage or her already amazing life.

I reside in Rochester, NY and I therefore need to get to Chicago before this journey can officially begin.  I will make this first leg of the journey on the evening of June 28th by stepping on the 449 train leaving Rochester at the lovely time of 11:00 PM (scheduled, seldom on-time).  This will get me into downtown Chicago at 9:45 AM on Saturday June 29th (again, scheduled but seldom on time).  I will then make my way to her apartment where the fun will begin.

I will attempt to post each day of this adventure along with what pictures I can convince myself to take with connected devices (iPhone or iPad) instead of my usual Nikon D300.  I won't spoil the adventure for the few readers that may find this blog with an upfront itinerary.  You'll have to return or read on to the next postings to see where we've been.  Those of you that know Katie well will understand the title of the blog and for those who don't, stay tuned.  Until then, thanks for reading.