Day 11: Minnesota

The Mighty Mississippi.  I have crossed over the Mississippi 8 times in a car and countless times from 30,000 feet.  I was worried that my expectations for seeing it at river level would be too high.  However, just like the first time I saw the Grand Canyon, every expectation was met.  The river is big and it’s beautiful.  I’ll see it again on this trip, but today was a really good day on the river.  

I have read two books on travelling the Mississippi. Travels with Barley by Ken Wells, the author’s search for the perfect beer joint along the Mississippi, and a dive into American Beer Culture.  The other is Old Glory: A Voyage down the Mississippi by Johnathon Rabin. The Author, an Englishman, influenced by Mark Twain’s stories ventures down the river in a 16-foot boat.  Both of these books have influenced my fascination with this river.

From Madison I went west to Prairie du Chen. I found a river side park and took a walk along the river.  From there I headed north on highway 35, after an hour detour inland because of road construction, I arrived in Trempealeau, a cute little town, where I had lunch.  From there I kept heading North, still on the Wisconsin side.  I pulled over at one point to see the lock and damn system up close and was rewarded with a huge coal train heading to a power plant along the river, I wonder how long that will be economically viable?  Just as the train passed, a pleasure boat was coming into the locks and I witnessed the lock in action as the boat was quickly put in the lock and raised to the next level.

I kept heading north, crossing over the river at Red Wing Minnesota and then going south on highway 61. I think the views were even better from this side, getting huge views of the wide river.  One town I passed Lake Pepin, is apparently where water skiing was invented.  I arrived in Winona for the night, which is a nice little town founded by a riverboat captain.

Song of the Day: Proud Mary, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Podcast:  Smartless: Today Robert Downey Jr., a lot about addiction

Book on Tape: Nothing today, need to find a new one

Beer of the Day:  Saga IPA, Summit Brewing Company

Total Miles 360

 Day 10: Wisconsin

Hello Wisconsin. First stop was Lake Geneva.  After the Chicago Fire in 1871, many of the wealthy escaped the city and built mansions surrounding this pretty lake in Southern Wisconsin. It earned the nickname “Newport of the West” for the stately mansions that now surround the shore. Fortunately, they thought to keep the 26 mile walking path around the lake open to the public.  I only did 2 miles but it was beautiful, no hint of the smoke that is coming from the Western fires all the way to New England.

Next stop was Kenosha, only 30 miles to the east of Lake Geneva.  I wanted to see the place in the news recently for the police shooting and subsequent unrest.  At first as I was driving in, I thought this looks like any other suburb, restaurants, a Planet Fitness and shops.  It was only after I stopped at a park and set by GPS for Milwaukee did I come across the downtown area that showed the scars of the recent unrest., While there were many new boarded up windows, there was also a lot of evidence of urban decay, not far from the pleasant suburbs.

When I arrived in Milwaukee I headed to the Museum of Art which is located right on Lake Michigan and has a really nice collection ranging from 17^th century Flemish Art to Andy Warhol.  I also drove by the home of Miller Beer (no tasting or tours open) and the Brewers baseball stadium.  Milwaukee is really nice.  I can’t believe I lived for 1 ½ years, an hour away from here, and never thought to check out Milwaukee.  Guess I was too busy memorizing the starting 9 of the Cubs.

Last stop was Madison, where I walked around the capital, nice looking city but all around the capital is evidence of recent civil unrest.  Today kids were playing in the grass and it was very peaceful.

Podcast:  I continued with Smartless   today Maya Rudolph.  I actually really laughed hard at today’s episode.  The other host is Sean Hayes from Will & Grace.  A good way to spend the first 45 minutes of the drive.

Book on Tape: finished the Pioneers today

Song of the day:  Ain't Nothing Beer Can't Fix, Thomas Rhett

Beer of the Day: Spotted Cow, New Glarus Brewing (Thank You Suzanne Fiske)

Total Miles 230

Day 9: Illinois

Who knew Indiana had a beach and sand dunes?  From South Bend I headed to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  There is a 15 mile stretch on the Southern Shore of Lake Michigan with beaches and dunes that rival any costal beach. 

In contrast to the beach, I next headed 20 miles west to Gary Indiana. It has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the US.  The only site the Trip Advisor had for me was the birthplace of Michael Jackson.  I found his house, but as you can see from the picture, you wouldn’t know it, except for the signs hanging outside on the fence on the side of the house. I drove around Gary and all the houses were similar to the Jackson house, all look well maintained and the yards were well cared for.  I saw a lot of closed businesses and there was not much of a downtown, but it’s not like the residential parts of Detroit I have seen in the past where many homes look abandoned.

From Gary I headed to Chicago, driving up along the lake to Evanston, and then back down to Wrigley Field. Rather than stay in Chicago I am staying out in the suburbs of Schaumburg.  In 1983 I moved here from Denver, for a job.  One of the regrets I have about that time is why did I live in the suburbs at age 24, why wasn’t I living in downtown Chicago?  At the time, I’m sure my decision was based on being close to work and having an affordable apartment.  Whenever I go back to Chicago, I think, “man would I have had fun living in Chicago”.  Instead I would go home from work and watch the Cubs on TV.  I watched so much baseball that I can still name ½ of the starting 9 from the 1984 Cubs.  Leon Durham, Ryan Sandberg, Ron Cey…. You get the picture.  As the saying goes “Youth is wasted on the young”. My other memory is one day having just moved here from Denver, I was at the grocery store in November or December, a guy walks by and see my Colorado license plates and said something like “What’s wrong with you, why would you move here from Colorado?” I think I just shook my head and said I’m not sure. I did find my old apartment and old office location.

Song of the Day:  Sweet Home Chicago – the Blues Brother edition

Podcast: Today I started Smartless with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett – they had Jimmy Kimmel on today. I’m not sure if I will keep listening.

Book on Tape: The Pioneers – The push to keep Slavery out of the Ohio territory and the Underground railroad.

Beer of the Day: Anti Hero Revolution Brewing

Total Miles 175

 

 Day 8: Indiana

Short day today, started down the East Coast of Lake Michigan, 1^st stop was the town of Holland.  Founded in the 1840’s by Dutch religious separatists and it stayed over 90% Dutch for 100 years. Pretty little town with the last authentic windmill the Dutch government allowed to leave the Netherlands.

From there, the next stop was the town of Saugatuck.  An artsy community along the shores of Lake Michigan where I grabbed a cup of coffee looking out at the boats.

Next stop was South Bend Indiana, I drove by the town of Benton Harbor.  It reminded me of my second trip from Vermont to Colorado in 1979.  On this trip it was myself, Ted, and my cousin Kim.  We each had our own cars and somehow, we managed to follow each other, without cell phones or GPS the 2000 miles.  We stopped in Benton Harbor to pick up Ted’s roommate and from there 4 of us in 3 cars made it to Colorado.  We would agree on where the next stop would be and sometimes, we would see each other on the highway, other times we would go hours without seeing each other, but we never lost each other.  That reminds me of another benefit to doing this drive now, the speed limit then was 55, now it’s at least 65 but in many places it’s 70 or 75.

When I got to South Bend, I walked around the campus of Norte Dame, really beautiful campus, I was glad to see almost all of the students walking around with masks, even outside and even when they were socially distanced.

Song of the Day: Indiana Wants me, Eddie Taylor – I think I remember this from a 70’s KTell record.

Podcast: Over the Road – nothing today

Book on Tape: The Pioneers – how the Steam Engine Paddle Wheeler changed life on the Ohio and Mississippi.

Beer of the Day: Asked for a local IPA, Waitress gave me an Elysian – I looked it up, it’s a Seattle Beer, but was bought by Anheuser-Busch a few years ago – so who knows, maybe is made locally?

Total Miles 160

 Day 7: Michigan

How I pick my stops and visits along the way is a combination of things.  I mapped out my over night stops based on my looking at a map, picking places I always wanted to and suggestions from well-travelled friends (thank you Megan O’Leary) and two guidebooks I have. 50 States 5000 Ideas, and 1,000 Places To See in the United States and Canada Before You Die.

 

Today was a good example of using all these resources.  From Youngstown I headed to Michigan.  My first stop was Flint.  I added Flint after reading the book Rivet Head  Ben Hamper.  It’s the story of a guy working on the GM assembly line in Flint back in the 80’s.  After reading that book, plus watching the movie Roger & Me, by Michael Moore and the current Flint Water Crisis, I had to stop in the city.  I am pretty sure I drove right by the place Ben Hamper wrote about, GM Flint Assembly. I put in my GPS a location where Google said they were doing water distribution, there were a few cars and a huge exhibition center, but whatever was going on, was inside, it wasn’t like there was a huge line for water.  My daughter is taking a class in college where they are talking about economic racism, they use the Flint Water crisis as an example.  The lack of clean water in Flint, now 5 years in, hurts minorities and the poor harder.  I can’t imagine 5 years without clean water.  We had to boil our water for 2 days last fall, and I struggled.

From Flint I headed West to Grand Rapids, I selected Grand Rapids because a bartender in Asheville North Carolina told me that Asheville was second only to Grand Rapids in the number of craft breweries. I know this will come as a surprise to my friends, family and former colleagues, but sometimes I want to see other things beside breweries.  Today I consulted my guidebooks and found the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.  I really enjoyed the park and especially the sculptures, because most were of something I recognized and not just abstract art.  Finally, I went downtown to the breweries, most I found were closed, but I had a beer at a bar, with a sign, that sums up my philosophy, see the picture below.

Song of the Day: When I think of Michigan, I think of Bob Seger, Roll Me Away is the song of the day.

Podcast: Over the Road – today, Trucking and the music truckers listen to – it’s not all country.

Book on Tape: The Pioneers, today how Aaron Burr tried to use Ohio as a jumping off point for splitting the US West of the Mississippi into its own territory with him as emperor.

Beer of the Day: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale

Total Miles 425

 Day 6: Ohio

One more add on from Bethlehem, after I published my blog yesterdat, I went downtown for Dinner.  I ate on Main street, same street where the oldest bookstore in the country is located. The Moravian Book Shop has been there since 1745.  In contrast to the old mill area, downtown Bethlehem had a vibrant restaurant scene on a Saturday night.  A lot of outdoor dining with many options.

Today was all about timing. I left Bethlehem early and arrived at the Flight 93 memorial in Stoystown just before 10:00 am.  I learned the flight crashed at 10:03 19 years and 2 days ago.  The memorial is well done.  From the visitor’s center, there is a mile walk down to a wall of names of the 40 passengers and crew who died in the crash and then beyond you can see the point of impact.

From Stoystown I drove north to Johnstown.  As soon as I parked, appropriately it began to rain.  The museum had not yet opened so I went for a walk and found a place for lunch. Again, no surprise to my family, friends and former colleagues but it was a brew pub.  The workers at the restaurant were very nice and explained where the sites related to the flood were, very helpful. The museum had a good short film and pictures from that day in 1889 and I later drove to see where the damn that failed was located. The National Park Service operates a small museum at this site.  The picture of the bridge below is the Stone Bridge  that held during the flood,  but  collected all the debris in the Flood and the debris caught fire and many people were trapped and survived drowning, only to die in the fire.

Dinner in downtown Youngstown Ohio.  I couldn’t really find too many remnants of its industrial past downtown.  The big Auto plants, like GM’s Lordstown plant, now closed, were located outside of Youngstown.

A couple of things hit me today when I was driving across Pennsylvania.  I have driven across the country between Vermont and Colorado 7 times.  The first time was 1978, my friend Ted and I were both 17, heading for our freshman year in Colorado. For some reason our parents allowed us to hit the road in my little Mazda GLC, 5 speeds, no A/C and an AM/FM radio.  Ted had a AAA Trip Ticket and we had a few maps and we made it 2000 miles.  We drove 500 miles a day, switching drivers every 100 miles. Neither of us had driven further West than Burlington VT before then and there we were. I guess that’s where I developed my love for the road.  Reflecting back on that trip today, how much better is it today with GPS, A/C, cruise control, EZ pass, Satellite Radio and a little device that holds all the music, all the audio books, podcasts and is a locator device that my family can see where I am, anytime and even call me from time to time.  When Ted and I drove, I think we called our parents once on the way, and once when we got there.

Another observation is that this trip, with its side trips, gets me off the highway and lets me see more of the country.  So far, so good.

Song of the Day: Today was all Bruce Springsteen, I sure not the last day of the Boss.  I listened to The Rising Album before and after the Flight 93 memorial and then his song, Youngstown pulling into town.

Podcast: Over the Road – today, how the family run truck stop is fading away and with it the good restaurants, all the big chain truck stops just have fast food now.

Book on Tape: The Pioneers continued, today problem with the Native Americans in the Ohio territory

Beer of the Day: Penguin City Golden Ale (University of Youngstown mascot is a Penguin)

Total Miles 450

 

 Day 5: Pennsylvania

From Poughkeepsie I headed to Hyde Park see the birthplace of Franklin Roosevelt.  The museum was closed, and it was early, but I walked the grounds a bit before heading over the Hudson river and south to West Point.  A good friend of mine, from high school, son goes to West Point and I wanted to see the grounds, unfortunately no visitors are allowed on Saturday, so I took a picture and got back on the road. From West Point I went west to Bethlehem Pennsylvania.  This is the start of my Rust Belt tour.  In Bethlehem I viewed the site of Bethlehem Steel.  The mill closed in the 1980’s and much looks like it hasn’t been touched since then.  They have developed a few buildings, made a museum out of one and made an event space, but you can still get a sense of the massive mill. Small miles today so I got to rest and do laundry at the hotel, next few days are a lot of miles.

 

Song of the Day: Allentown, Billy Joel

Podcast: Over the Road – today, what being a Truck Driver does to your family

Book on Tape: Started The Pioneers, David McCullough.  Today episode was appropriately the story of people from Massachusetts moving the Ohio Valley to start a settlement.

Beer of the Day: Brew Pub tonight, hoping not to end up a Yuengling, but always a back up

Total Miles 180