Journey’s end :(

It is actually 2 days since the great Van Adventure ended but of course once back into the busy home life of the 21st century one gets distracted. In my original planning I had definitely felt that Chicago to Buffalo was too long for a single day of driving, especially at the tired end of my travels. When looking at maps initially I had thought this would be a good opportunity for me to finally get to see Long Point in Ontario (it is the phallic looking projection on the north shore of Lake Erie about 100 miles west of Buffalo.

Home

Hmmm. I added the URL for it and hopefully that is a “clickable” link for those of you reading this. I am typing this blog entry at the WordPress website rather than on the iPhone app and it definitely has advantages beyond just the comfort of a keyboard versus thumb typing. I was able to do a bulk upload to WordPress of all the photos I wanted to use for this entry rather than one at a time on the phone app which was very time consuming depending on cell phone signal strength. Even after the Covid restrictions on going into and out of Canada had been lifted (although still need to register with their customs app) I discovered that the campgrounds up there didn’t open until June 1st and I was somewhat hesitant also to take my van back and forth across borders as it was registered but did not yet have a NYS inspection sticker.

Instead I planned on stopping at Presque Isle State Park near Erie, PA which is also a peninsula into Lake Erie. I had heard great things about Presque Isle for years from triathletes who had done the short course race there and camped with families. But … there is no camping in the park itself and instead on the mainland nearby there are a few commercial campsites, the ones open this early in season did not seem especially nice at first glance on websites and the gray drizzly weather as I drove East made me think that unless it was going to be nicer weather I would just nap for a few hours at park and then do final 2 hours to home.

I wore my official PeaceVans shirt for the first and now the last day of adventure.

I was on the road by 7am after a hot breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Tinley Park suburb. Only 600 miles of driving left.

I was driving against the direction of commuters heading into Chicago so it was not too bad but the roads felt so huge and crowded after all those miles of emptiness.

Indiana was basically one long farm.
Even solar farms
Notre dame not on MY bucket list, I have seen the one in Paris
As I headed east the speed limit incrementally decreased from 80 to 75 to 70 and would then be only 65 in PA and NY.
Ohio won the prize for the shiniest, cleanest highway rest area of the trip, and a Starbucks!

What state is high in the middle and round at both ends ? …. oHio ! I can never hear Ohio and NOT hear Neil Young singing “Four dead in Ohio” his great protest song about Kent State/Vietnam/Nixon. Being in Ohio made me realize that I should listen to some Pretenders music. Chrissie Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio (“I went back to Ohio..”) but was living in London in her early 20s when she was one of the founders of the Pretenders. I realize that I want to read her life story (I googled it and her book “Reckless” came out 7 years ago) especially since I am also a big Kinks fan and she was married to Ray Davies at some point. I listened to all of The Pretenders “essentials” on Apple Music as traversed the state.

As close as I can say I have been to Toledo (if my friend Jorge still lived there I would have stopped by)
Cleveland! When we lived there for a year 1994/1995 (I did my cardio-thoracic anesthesiology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic) we went to a few Indians games (until the yankees were playing them this year I had NOT heard about them changing name to Guardians, I guess I have been too focused on Chelsea football, Ukraine, collapse of our democracy, etc.). We lived in Beachwood, an eastern suburb, which was very nice and we loved going into Shaker Heights which was a closer in “suburb” that had hip shops and a great “art house” movie theatre.
December 3, 1994

Mary and I were married in Ohio after 6 years of living together, not sure a winter Ohio wedding was our “dream” but I remember that one big factor of timing was pre-affordable care act health insurance issues (all health insurance then tied to employment and had “pre-existing” exclusions for things like heart disease, cancer, pregnancy, DIABETES). Thanks to our relatives who traveled there to be with us.

A flock of red winged blackbirds outside the visitor center
It is hard read this old wooden sign but it explains how over the decades the large northern section of peninsula has been slowly moving east and would have separated into an island if not for continued engineering efforts to maintain the thin neck of peninsula (breakwalls, jettys, etc.).
I found these floating houses intriguing, made me think of Seattle where there are many and also of all the residential canal boats I saw in London last year and Amsterdam in past. Googled them and found this article.
https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/local/2020/08/08/presque-isle-houseboats-good-life-lots-of-work/42194299/ I have NO idea why this link just remains as text while the previous one converted automatically to an image/Link.

https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/local/2020/08/08/presque-isle-houseboats-good-life-lots-of-work/42194299/

The article is titled: “good life-lots of work”.

Presque Isle creates a huge protected bay that seems amazing for swimming, kayaking, SUP or sailing. The boat for sale is a Catalina 22, the first boat with a keel that Mary and I sailed in Long Beach, CA in the 90s. The van does have a large tow hook……Mary???
I parked Scrat at the farthest reach of the peninsula, there were several people fishing off the wall of the boat channel between the bay and Lake Erie, and had a late lunch and rested for 45 minutes on the bed and listened to music. That was just perfect and I felt all refreshed as I headed out for the final 2 hours of driving.
ah, the surest sign of spring/summer in NY, the orange barrels 🙁 with only a 6 month construction season all the work is inconveniently done during the busy warm weather vacation months
Scrat happily settled into his parking spot. The main reason I picked a Metris conversion pop-top rather than a bigger camper-van (the larger Mercedes one or a Dodge Ram 250, etc) is that the Metris even with the pop top and added ground clearance fits IN my garage. I did not want to leave it parked outside during Buffalo winters or build an unsightly carport for it or store it in a storage space somewhere). After 2 weeks living in the van I am totally happy with it and GLAD I bought it after being inspired by Alex and my van adventure around Iceland in July 2021.
It had 14 miles when I pulled away from the Seattle dealership. Would have been 3000 miles if drove STRAIGHT from Seattle to Buffalo on I-90 but I did a lot of driving in and around the national parks. After one day in Seattle it was 12 days of traveling. Definitely could have spent an extra day at Yellowstone and in the Black Hills of SD and a complete rest day somewhere with NO driving and just relaxing would have been good but I did have stuff to do as I am only partially retired and had a dog missing me and a child to collect from college and …….. etc.
Home, sweet home. Every dog should have a home and every home should have a dog. Many of the people I saw in campsites had their dogs with them but Fifa is so big and sheddy that I am reluctant to have her in the pristine van, maybe once it is broken in a little. Mary will be the first overnight guest.

Chicago

These cute Turkeys were wandering the campground as I started my 3 hour drive from nature to the big city.

As the rain (and cold wind) made Chicago an indoor day it will be yet another missed chance to finally do the architectural boat tour.

The traffic on the highways during morning rush was quite a change from empty 80mph roads out west.
Soldier Field. Da Bears …
The Field Museum
Low ceiling of clouds.
Lake Michigan was angry.
Alex, Maple, Jerry

I went to Medical School in Albany with Jerry from 1986-1990. While I have wandered the nation he did his residency in Chicago and has been there ever since. His boyfriend Alex is from Russia originally (of Polish/Ukrainian parents) and hoping his international tech firm can get him transferred to official US location.

Nemo! One of Jerry’s many fish (friends, not food).

We had a great late lunch at a Mexican place and actually saw people walking towards Wrigley afterwards. 40 degrees, drizzle and 20mph winds made watching game on Jerry’s giant TV seem like a smart choice. After start of game was delayed for an hour I bailed and by the time I Uber’d back to hotel on Suburb (Scrat did not want to venture into strange big city) the game had started but …. Not on hotel TV. Just as well since needed to get to sleep early since had looooong driving day ahead.

Midwest Monday

It is very relaxing snuggled in my warm bed and listening to the rain on the Van’s roof. It will rain all day but I will be in Chicago visiting my friends Jerry and Alex so plenty of indoor activities although if weather nice was going to FINALLY do the architecture boat tour that i have managed to miss on my many Chicago visits. The Cubs hosting the White Sox but didn’t get tix when i saw it was supposed to rain all day and even if ends by 5pm I think field will be too wet. I am going to add a few photos from the Sioux Falls to Madison day. I stayed for first time at a KOA campsite in Sioux Falls. It was nice to have a hot shower and access to laundry if needed but glad it was quiet season because otherwise I prefer wilderness camping to having a pool, playground, etc. I took Scrat (the Van) for his first bath (self service wash, don’t think a good idea to subject awning and pop top to a commercial car wash ). I wanted to see the FALLS of Sioux Falls at least and found a nice coffee shop (with South American bakery items) across from the big park in center of city around the falls and historic hydro electric plant (1908) and big textile mill remains. While walking from car I smelled ? Something unpleasant (and I have a POOR sense of smell, my hearing is great though). As I walked to the park with my coffee and corn muffin the smell was definitely real and it was also cold and windy; and I realized it might have been more pleasant to have had my breakfast in the warm cafe that had jazz music playing. I googled “why does Sioux Falls smell bad” and … pork processing plant… so pig poop. I hate to preach but I DONT EAT MAMMALS and the planet would have cleaner air and water if no one did. The waterfalls were very impressive though. 400 mile drive was uneventful but boring under gray skies.

Office was closed when I arrived at 8pm but there was a nice map left for me at entrance.
First time I have an electric outlet. The vans auxiliary battery that powers lights, fan for heater, fridge and outlets, etc. will last 48 hours with normal use but I can also run off a plug or solar panels if not going to drive for that long.
Very nice KOA showers.
Bath time Scrat!
As soon as passed from SD into Minnesota the land changed from only cattle grazing to a mix of cattle and farming.
Scrat!
In Wisconsin I took a smaller highway and it passed through some very Scandanavian named towns. All with Lutheran churches. I was also on the Frank Lloyd Wright “trail” which surprised me. I have been to Taliesin West in Scottsdale so sad I didn’t budget time to see the Original Taliesin where he lived and worked near here.
Lots of dairy cows now, passed many dairy co-ops, a Cottage Cheese plant (does ANYBODY still eat that now that my grandmother is dead?) and a few Breweries, the Huge LaCrosse one still there but makes other brands now.
Very nice state park with varied terrains created by colliding glaciers.
Another perfect private campsite
And good cell service here so I knew to make my bathroom and sink/sponge bath run before the rain got worse. Only a 3 hour drive to Chicago, no rush on rainy roads. Please post a comment or at least a “like” if u read these blogs so I know I am not just a tree falling in a forest with no one to listen 😉

Sunday Saint Elmo Hike

I had told the woman I rode horses with that I wanted to do a short hike before leaving Black Hills and she suggested this one. She said it was steep but not too long. 1200 feet of elevation over a 1.25 mile ascent.

Beautiful forest and silent except for a few birds.
Huge quartz Crystal!
I had seen one other car at the trailhead but saw no humans other than this National Forest crew coming down after using chainsaws to clear out some of the trees that had fallen across trail over the winter. Would have been a tougher climb if I was carrying a chainsaw (but they live at elevation).

A lot of the trail was very rocky which required paying attention to every step.

Final bit before summit required some scrambling.
360 degree views of the Black Hills were amazing.
This guy was way too close to edge 😉 I felt bad I had no snacks for him 🙁
I didn’t pack my cowboy boots or hat for the trip but got this nice hat at the Crazy Horse museum.

This was a short hike in a fairly well populated area but I still took care to use my Garmin InReach satellite tracker so Mary could track me and alert authorities if I disappeared. If just a broken leg I could use the device to text people or if really desperate use the SOS button for evacuation. I also pre downloaded the AllTrails app offline map so even if lose cell service my iPhones GPS can work with the mapping app. In fact on way down (much faster and i also used poles on way down) there was a spot where couldn’t tell where trail was (the snow only recently melted so some areas just had rocks, grass (and there no tree markings or anything for trail). But (see next photos). I just walked until I was back on trail.

Where is trail ?
Veering off ….
Just headed east until …
There it is ! I wish more of the trail was nice dirt like this rather than …
Scrambling over rocks and trees 🙂
Here is my Apple Watch data for the climb, max HR 175 on way up.

I am writing now at a State Park outside of Madison, Wisconsin. Very nice wooded campsite. A few other campers here. Site has just bathrooms so glad I had a hot shave and shower this morning at the KOA in Sioux Falls. It was another 400 mile drive today, about 7 hours. It never rained but was cloudy and cold and windy whole way here. I finished the audiobook of A Gentleman in Moscow. It was good but a little too slow paced for a long boring drive thru Minnesota and Wisconsin. Even I get bored of cows eventually. I need to find a faster paced audiobook. Maybe a spy or sci-fi book.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Monument

It has taken me 10 days of travel blogging but I think it is definitely best to do a separate blog entry for each “activity”. So a short one for this mornings horse ride and now one for my visit to the Crazy Horse Monument. Way back in Montana I had seen the exit for the Little Bighorn battle site but didn’t have a lot of extra time and also thought it would be kind of depressing. It was the classic example of winning a battle but losing the war for the Plains Indian Tribes. In South Dakota there is a memorial at the site of Wounded Knee. I read “I buried my heart at Wounded Knee” a few years ago and highly recommend it despite it being difficult to process the decimation of the native Americans societies.

Model of the planned Statue, without government funding it is taking a long time ……
There is a huge and interesting Museum of Native Americans in the complex.
There were exhibits about Native tribes from Pacific Northwest, East coast, etc.
The movie at visitor center has story of Crazy Horse and of the polish-American sculptor recruited in the 1940s to move west and spend his entire life on the project, some of his kids and grandchildren still involved.

In the movie they mention how Little Big Man was with Crazy Horse when he was stabbed in the back by a bayonet while in US Army custody. I have to re-watch the Dustin Hoffman movie and also Dances with Wolves now that I have been to all these historic areas (and even rode a HORSIE) There were signs to visit an attraction that was the set for Dances with Wolves.

just after crossing the Missouri River (which was much Bigger than I ever imagined it) there is a nice Lewis and Clark historical site but also this newer huge statue named Dignity.

I am more than halfway home. Once again got fooled by time zone, I hate to call a whole state “stupid” but it makes no sense for South Dakotans to not all use same time zone 😉

My buddy Sonny

Went for an amazing sunrise hike on a 150 acre horse ranch in the Black Hills.

I was the only guest. There was a “guide” who insisted I lead and go wherever I wanted and 2 guide trainees learning the ropes before summer season.

The guide knew a ton about geology and she had even made a small cairn of the coolest rocks, quartz, etc they had found on ranch.
They have about 15 horses and they graze only except in deep winter snow they get fed in barn.
I saw rabbits, some very small chipmunks (? Species variant or just the elevation) and a bunch of these super cute yellow bellied marmots. Also called Rock Chucks, they are slimmer and cuter than groundhogs, from a distance they look like Corgies.

Just wanted to do a short entry while I cooled off, replaced fluids and calories used on very steep hike I just did.

Black Hills National Forest

Wonderful campsite, I am only person in my loop 🙂

I edited my photos of the beautiful long drive from Billings to Rushmore last night but I was too tired to write a blog and upload them, maybe later today but I have a lot planned. There were 2 deer in the campground last night and another at dawn this morning. I went outside at 2 am and as I expected the stars were amazing up here at 6000 feet. Campground was totally dark and quiet at night. In morning the birds sound sooo loud.