Day 8. Tues. Aug 19

Woke up in Palm Springs again. It was a beautiful sunshiney morning, so we stayed out by the pool just as long as we possibly could before heading out on the road again.

We saw all kinds of orchards but didn't know what they were. There came a spot where we could turn off to inspect them. They were oranges, limes (or lemons that are still green) and sonething that looks like a pomegranate to me. And, of course, grapes. We saw several fruit stands and they also advertised blueberries.

Lemon, or lime?

 

This orange below was on the ground under the tree above.

We arrived in Three rivers and checked in to the motel and still had time to get to Sequoia National Park in time to see Hospital Rock. Since we bought an Annual Pass, it didn't matter that we would just be going for an hour. If we had to pay $20, we would not have done it.

 

Dinner in Three rivers as quite yummy. The cook was grilling out in front of the restaurant, and it smelled sooooo good. John had a steak and I had chicken.

The motel was very 60's. We were on the very end and you had to go around a building and up 4 stairs to get to ours and 2 other rooms.

 

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Day 5

Okay, I'm still quite frustrated over slow internet and NOW I find that if I add pictures, the iPad will not let me scroll but so far down the page.
Maybe I'll try creating in a document and then posting to the page. An added benefit would be that I could type and add during driving time and then just transfer and post at night.
Yesterday,
Aw, heck!  I give up for now!

Day 7. Aug18

 

Woke up in Palm Springs. John took car to Honda dealer and got shuttle to Mission Hills for golf. Terry Wilcox had arranged for him to be able to play. Terry's grandchildren call him "Poppy." There is a pond named after him (Poppy's Pond)where the winner of the LPGA Nabisco Champion takes her dive.

 

This is John Cook's condo. We stayed here the first time we ever came to Palm Springs.

He called the shuttle to get him afterward and car was ready. Yay!!!

Genie slept in and lazed by pool.

Weather was quite strange and unexpected. 70+ percent humidity and temps under 100! Strange haze, so no,bright sun. It was all the news! (Except for a young woman' s body had bbe found in 140' mine shaft and killer arrested in Anchorage, AK! She'd been missing since late June. The last couple of days they were looking for his car with ...Alaska tags! Glad we didn't get here earlier!)

John returned with Subway for lunch and we stayed by pool, relaxing until time for dinner, and about that time it cleared up. Tried to find an Italian place he'd been before with Hendren. We couldn't find it, or it was closed. Next we tried to go to Johnny Costa's after reading about their chef who had cooked for Frank Sinatra in his home, but it was closed. So we went to Kalura Trattoria instead and it was a great find. Just across from The Blue Coyote from the might before, on Palm Canyon.

After dinner we rode down to Paseo Drive in Palm Desert and other old favorite spots..

Here we sit at pool again, trying to figure out how to post with lousy internet service! 91 degrees, light wind, most comfortable!

1:09 am now, and I think we've got it!

 

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Day 4. August 15

I am so frustrated!
Most of our hotels have had lousy internet service, so I spend way too long getting nothing accomplished. Then I switch to 3G and eat up data usage like crazy.
I typed up today's post and then lost connection, so I lost the post . Grrr!!!
I learned tonight that I need to get my pics into Picasa in order to get them into the blog. Great. Now I can't get into my Picasa account to add them.  Double Grrrrr!!!!
But, I got to see 2 of my 3 cousins today and got to meet Madison for the first time.
Good night for now. Maybe tomorrow I can get something in here.
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Okay, so now it's Monday, Aug 19. I'm going to try backtracking, but still in keeping with the correct travel day.

We woke up in Keystone, SD, very close to Mt. Rushmore. Pooty ol' breakfast ... Leggo My Eggo! 
Dove past Mt Rushmore again getting to Custer, SD where we stopped in on the cutest campground/theme park straight out of the 50's!  
The car was a converted 1960 Bug. There was no line, so the driver took us on two laps around the track that encircled the playground. Then he got out and let me "drive" and took our pictures. The car is used in parades in the area. Fun, huh?

We drove across South Dakota. Loved those 80 mph speed limit signs that were only placed there because the Feds made them!

Day 3. August 14

Spent some time last night looking over possibilities for today and then ZONKED out!  Had another good breakfast (yep, those yummy waffles) and hit the road. Miles and miles of corn. Truly beautiful. God's wonders are sure at work in this grand country of ours. I feel so fortunate to be able to see so much, and share the time with my super-wonderful husband. I'm thankful, too for the technology to be able to document this trip and to share it with you.

Did I mention there's a lot of corn out here?!

Suddenly the long flat road went down, down, down and we crossed the Missouri River, and back up, up, up to flat lands again.  I just love, love, love these long flat highways where you can see just about forever. You can go miles and miles before seeing a meaningless speed limit sign - apparently only put there because the Feds make them! John's favorite kind of driving - "flying!"

There must have been 100 billboards advertising Wall Drug. At first they were for 5 cent coffee and free water bottle refills. But then they added saying like "Cowboy Up" and such. Finally one said we were just 150 miles from Wall Drug! It reminded me of the 100 miles approaching South of the Border.  There were several billboards for 1800 Village.  Remember, we're out in the middle of nowhere for hours. And then we see in the far distance a few buildings. When we finally passed them, it was funny that all that advertising was for such a small attraction in the middle of nowhere.

We checked the time and the map and decided to drive the short scenic drive through the Badlands, the sudden rock formations that just appeared after miles and miles of flat (lots of corn fields).  Just before the entrance to the Badlands there was a little ground hog attraction. We stopped for a bit for me to try to get one to come close. A young girl practically had them eating out of her hand!  No such luck for me.  John stayed in the car with the engine and air running, making calls and checking email.

As we approached the Badlands entrance, we realized the a/c was not cool. Uh-Oh!  We drove the short (nearly an hour) scenic drive with the windows down. Occasionally we'd try the air, but still no cooling. The road came back out to I-90 at, guess where..... Wall! Oh, boy!  Maybe I'd get to see this Wall Drug  while the a/c got fixed!  We drove straight to the only auto repair shop. I'd found it on the internet, and it only had one review, but it was good.  Jerry came out to take a look. He first wondered if it had "frozen up with the heat and unusual humidity. But if it were that, sitting for a while should remedy that, so we tried again. Still no cooling.  He tested the pressure. It was fine.  He checked some square things under rather hood, and they were quite hot.  He suggested we go to the next town (an hour away) to have it looked at. He called the Honda dealer, but they couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything until ....Monday! Then he called a buddy at B&R in Rapid City. Lon said to send us there and he'd take a look. So, no Wall Drug. We had to hurry on down the road to Rapid City. We hopped in the car, and guess what?  Cold Air!  Still, it was important to find out what happened.

We met Ron and his dog. We talked to him about what had happened, and he suggested it had probably frozen up, and had thawed while Jerry was checking things and then making calls on out behalf. He really believes it's fine and we should go on along our merry way.

Next stop, Mount Rushmore!  It was pretty amazing. We took a little half mile hike around it, and a man pointed out to us a special kind of pine tree that smells like vanilla.  Sure enough, you put your nose to it and smell a strong vanilla aroma!  Cool!  We made it just in time for the last talk on the history of the making of the sculpture. A really great presentation.

Back in the car, and down the road to a very curious attraction, The Flintstone's Bedrock Camping and Theme Park!  Really?  Yep, really!  Unfortunately, the theme park stopped letting people in 10 minutes before we got there. But the outside was pretty entertaining.
We met a man who works there and he told us all about what was on the inside and gave us recommendations for dinner.  While we were talking, there was a line of antique tractors coming down the road!  Tomorrow is the last day of the antique tractor convention.

Dinner at Cowboy was good. We were starving, but couldn't even finish our dinners!  We were stuffed.
Then a quick stop in a winery.

Then back up to the lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore. Very good video. We all sang America the Beautiful and the National Anthem. Very patriotic. the end all present and former military personnel were asked to come to the stage for recognition.

Day 2. Aug 13

We woke up in Mascoutah and had a nice breakfast at the Best Western. I just love those waffle makers!

Driving through St. Louis was wonderful. It was so green and clean. Flowers, landscaping, bridges, the arches - Gateway to the West, Busch Stadium (home of St. Louis Cardinal baseball), all while driving right through downtown.  Washington University of St. Louis was one of the law schools John III considered. It was beautiful, too. Would have loved to have stopped, but on we go.

Heading toward Kansas City, I realized we were very close to Glasgow, Missouri, where my paternal grandmother grew up.  After some deliberation and quick research, off we went!  The "highway" was so pretty and green and well-kept, and very much like a roller coaster ride! It was fun! No traffic made it more fun because with all the up, down, and curves I'm sure it could be scary meeting other cars. The town of Glasgow is idyllic to me. I had called ahead and we met the cemetery caretaker (also undertaker, grave digger, fireman, EMS) Scott, there. He showed us the Steinmetz plot. There were only a few there with iron fencing around them. He says, "you can tell they had money!"  We told him our next quick stop was to be Hazel Ridge, the old Steinmetz property. We have a picture of it, from "back in the day," and I always dreamed of being able to see it.  It has the plot number on it, and with a bit of quick research, I was pretty sure I could come close to locating it. Then he said, "Evelyn Steinmetz Brucks lives a couple of houses right up there. She's in her 90's. I'll bet she'd be tickled to meet you. Want me to take you up there and introduce you?" Why, YES!
I'm telling you, that was a gem. Evelyn's daughter was there, and we had the best time yacking it up and remembering my grandmother together.
When it was time to go, Jane Ann rode with us to show the old property! Her brother has actually bought back some of it. Isn't that cool?

When we left, we got to drive a whole lot of miles on no-traffic two lane highway that was just beautiful. We wound up hitting the next Interstate north of Kansas City.

The nation should not want for lack of corn. Miles and mile of corn, as far as one could see ahead, out to the side, and behind! They were only interrupted by the many casinos.

Spent the night in the Comfort Inn near the Sioux Falls airport.

Day 1 Aug 12

Started out a very gray day at 8:30 this morning.

 Then heavy fog.  And then heavy rain.

Finally brightened up.

Camera battery has died, so pictures will have to be added tomorrow night.  Phone data is already down to 74%, so I resorted to turning it off late this afternoon.

We waved as we went through towns where old high school friends live, and towns where parents of friends live.  I know they didn't see us, and I'm sorry we had to be in such a hurry, but I hope they felt our presence.  :-)

Lunch at Tudor's in Charleston, WV that I found in our AAA book.
The gold domed Capitol building was ready pretty from the highway. We love to tour Capitols, but we've "got no time,"

The Interstate went right through downtown Louisville KY and it was beautiful. So clean, and tidy. Loved all the bridges over the river.
John noticed the KFC Yum center, the new home of Louisville Cardinal basketball, right in then heart of downtown. It made us realize even more how Raleigh should have done the same.

Dinner at Denny's near Santa Claus, Indiana. And guess what? Santa Clause was there having dinner with some buddies!  When he finished, he stopped at every table and greeted children by name!  Zach at the table next to us  had just started kindergarten. He was special needs and in a wheelchair. It was the cutest thing. His grandfather took pictures of him snuggling up to Santa!  I do hope they have that printed at least 5x7 and share with him often.  Santa had on red pants and a great big belt buckle and a white tuxedo ruffled shirt with red trim.

We tried to stop for the night in The first town after Mount Vernon, but there was no room in the inn. Literally .... the one inn!  We found another about 25 miles down the road in our AAA book in Mascoutah. I called ahead and there were 3 rooms left!  So here we are, settling in, finally.

Tomorrow it's on to Sioux Falls, or maybe a bit farther.