On the Road: 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99
Film Day: 59 - 65
Starting Point: Knoxville, TN
Ending Point: Louisville, KY
Via: Beckley, WV, New River Gorge, Charleston, WV, Cincinnati, OH, Lexington, KY
Miles: 263, 393, 82, 414, 276, 8, 116, 336, 246
(Sorry. This one was more for the records.)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Ketchup
There is really one of two reasons why we don't blog. Katie and I are either too bored or we are too busy. That is to say that we either have nothing to say or we have to much to say. And do. Minneapolis was a case of the former. Since leaving Minneapolis, two weeks ago, we have been in the whirlwind of the latter.
So, to play catch up (does the title make sense now?), here is the list of activities and our impressions over the past few weeks:
1. Went to Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
A. Beautiful.
2. Experienced Sturgis, the annual motorcycle rally
A. It looked like a middle-aged, middle-class, middled-bodied male refugee camp.
3. Saw the Crazy Horse Monument.
A. Ultimately, impressive though incomplete.
B. Really impressed by the story of the sculptor. Unlike Rushmore, this man worked alone for the first five years; he twice turned down $10 Million from the US Government. It took them fifty years just to finish the face. Actually, it was impressive that they finished the face, since the sculptor actually died twenty years before that.
4. Saw the "City of Presidents". The life size statues of presidents on the blocks around Rapid City
A. Personally slapped James Buchanan across the back of the head. He's had that coming for the past 150 years.
6. Moved in the herd of Buffalo.
A. Then ate a bison burger.
B. We were so close, we could have touched them. But we didn't. That would have been stupid.
7. Saw Rushmore.
A. First time we saw it was during their night presentation. We were expecting an overly patriotic rally. What we got was NPR ranger's twenty minute speech about Lewis and Clark expedition. My problem with that is that Lewis and Clark died without knowing the Black Hills existed.
B. Ultimately, Rushmore seemed unfinished. See our facebook pictures to see what Rushmore was supposed to look like.
8. Went to Wall Drugs
A. Wall Drugs gained it's fame when a pharmacists started to post signs next to the highway advertising free ice water. These signs went out for miles, even ending up throughout Europe during WWII, all advertising a drug store in Wall, SD. There are soldiers in Iraq posting those signs today. The sign next to the Taj Mahal says it’s “only 10,728 miles to Wall Drug.” This simple advertising turned this drug store into a gift shop that took over an entire town of 800, and still offers 5 cent coffee to it's two million annual visitors (Badlands National Park, which is literally next door, gets less than a million visitors a year). Katie's favorite part: when she found out that it was the wife's idea to put up the signs.
9. Went to the Badlands National Park.
A. Mike: Absolutely Amazing.
B. Katie: They're bad, Mike. Just Bad.
10. Drove through Nebraska/Kansas.
A. Saw the world famous Nebraska sand-dunes (before we found out that we drove through the world famous Nebraska sand dunes).
B. It's not that we live in a very large country; it's that we live in a very empty country. I figured that out when we almost ran out of gas.
11. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum:
A. First of all: Sorry Grandma S.
B. The museum was horrible. An insult to what that man accomplished for the world.
C. West Point was Ike's safety school. His first choice was the Naval Academy in Annapolis
12. Will Roger's Museum
A. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. "
B. "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."
C. "I am an American. I'm not the kind that landed here on the Mayflower, but my people were there to wave hello as they came a-shore."
D. "I never met a man I didn't like."
13. Family in Tulsa.
A. Maya Angelou once said that the stage she was speaking on felt crowded; crowded with the family and ancestors that lived and helped blazed the trail that brought her to that stage. I learned that no matter how far out you hide, no matter how long you hide, no matter how thick your hide, when you come back to see your family, you'll find that a good chunk of them had been with you on that journey the entire time.
14. Clinton Museum
A. We sent him a video message wishing him a happy birthday. He may have fast-forwarded over our part.
15. Memphis
A. BBQ Tofu Nachos are AMAZING
16. Jensen's in Alabama
A. The farther a family member lives away from home, the quicker the family dirt comes out.
B. Katie also returned to Space Camp. Michael almost threw up.
17. Nashville
A. Nashville sucks. As a Red Wings fan, I don't get why you're hockey team is called the Predators. I've seen NBC's Dateline and I don't think those kind of predators would make a good mascot. Not with kids around.
B. And you're the home of the Country Music Hall of Fame. As a fan of Rock, that's like opening a museum honoring the individual Cardinals of the the Spanish Inquisition.
C. I'm glad the Grand Ole Opry got flooded. (Actually I'm not. A lot of people are out of work now because of that. That kind of sucks).
D. GO COLTS!
18. Chattanooga.
A. It has a choo-choo
B. Katie is becoming less tolerant of Michael's passion for tourists traps.
19. Atlanta
A. Wonderful time with a dear friend.
B. In his birth certificate, Jimmy Carter's father made a note that he would be call Jimmy "which would obviously be changed to Jim."
C. Before carving Abe Lincoln on Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum was carving a monument to Robert E. Lee on Stone Mountain. But the patrons of Stone Mountain became so pissed at him that not only did they fire him, but they blasted his completed carving off the mountain and started carving the monument all over again.
20. Knoxville
A. Home of the 1982 World's Fair. It made a profit of $57.
So, to play catch up (does the title make sense now?), here is the list of activities and our impressions over the past few weeks:
1. Went to Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
A. Beautiful.
2. Experienced Sturgis, the annual motorcycle rally
A. It looked like a middle-aged, middle-class, middled-bodied male refugee camp.
3. Saw the Crazy Horse Monument.
A. Ultimately, impressive though incomplete.
B. Really impressed by the story of the sculptor. Unlike Rushmore, this man worked alone for the first five years; he twice turned down $10 Million from the US Government. It took them fifty years just to finish the face. Actually, it was impressive that they finished the face, since the sculptor actually died twenty years before that.
4. Saw the "City of Presidents". The life size statues of presidents on the blocks around Rapid City
A. Personally slapped James Buchanan across the back of the head. He's had that coming for the past 150 years.
6. Moved in the herd of Buffalo.
A. Then ate a bison burger.
B. We were so close, we could have touched them. But we didn't. That would have been stupid.
7. Saw Rushmore.
A. First time we saw it was during their night presentation. We were expecting an overly patriotic rally. What we got was NPR ranger's twenty minute speech about Lewis and Clark expedition. My problem with that is that Lewis and Clark died without knowing the Black Hills existed.
B. Ultimately, Rushmore seemed unfinished. See our facebook pictures to see what Rushmore was supposed to look like.
8. Went to Wall Drugs
A. Wall Drugs gained it's fame when a pharmacists started to post signs next to the highway advertising free ice water. These signs went out for miles, even ending up throughout Europe during WWII, all advertising a drug store in Wall, SD. There are soldiers in Iraq posting those signs today. The sign next to the Taj Mahal says it’s “only 10,728 miles to Wall Drug.” This simple advertising turned this drug store into a gift shop that took over an entire town of 800, and still offers 5 cent coffee to it's two million annual visitors (Badlands National Park, which is literally next door, gets less than a million visitors a year). Katie's favorite part: when she found out that it was the wife's idea to put up the signs.
9. Went to the Badlands National Park.
A. Mike: Absolutely Amazing.
B. Katie: They're bad, Mike. Just Bad.
10. Drove through Nebraska/Kansas.
A. Saw the world famous Nebraska sand-dunes (before we found out that we drove through the world famous Nebraska sand dunes).
B. It's not that we live in a very large country; it's that we live in a very empty country. I figured that out when we almost ran out of gas.
11. Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum:
A. First of all: Sorry Grandma S.
B. The museum was horrible. An insult to what that man accomplished for the world.
C. West Point was Ike's safety school. His first choice was the Naval Academy in Annapolis
12. Will Roger's Museum
A. "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. "
B. "I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."
C. "I am an American. I'm not the kind that landed here on the Mayflower, but my people were there to wave hello as they came a-shore."
D. "I never met a man I didn't like."
13. Family in Tulsa.
A. Maya Angelou once said that the stage she was speaking on felt crowded; crowded with the family and ancestors that lived and helped blazed the trail that brought her to that stage. I learned that no matter how far out you hide, no matter how long you hide, no matter how thick your hide, when you come back to see your family, you'll find that a good chunk of them had been with you on that journey the entire time.
14. Clinton Museum
A. We sent him a video message wishing him a happy birthday. He may have fast-forwarded over our part.
15. Memphis
A. BBQ Tofu Nachos are AMAZING
16. Jensen's in Alabama
A. The farther a family member lives away from home, the quicker the family dirt comes out.
B. Katie also returned to Space Camp. Michael almost threw up.
17. Nashville
A. Nashville sucks. As a Red Wings fan, I don't get why you're hockey team is called the Predators. I've seen NBC's Dateline and I don't think those kind of predators would make a good mascot. Not with kids around.
B. And you're the home of the Country Music Hall of Fame. As a fan of Rock, that's like opening a museum honoring the individual Cardinals of the the Spanish Inquisition.
C. I'm glad the Grand Ole Opry got flooded. (Actually I'm not. A lot of people are out of work now because of that. That kind of sucks).
D. GO COLTS!
18. Chattanooga.
A. It has a choo-choo
B. Katie is becoming less tolerant of Michael's passion for tourists traps.
19. Atlanta
A. Wonderful time with a dear friend.
B. In his birth certificate, Jimmy Carter's father made a note that he would be call Jimmy "which would obviously be changed to Jim."
C. Before carving Abe Lincoln on Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum was carving a monument to Robert E. Lee on Stone Mountain. But the patrons of Stone Mountain became so pissed at him that not only did they fire him, but they blasted his completed carving off the mountain and started carving the monument all over again.
20. Knoxville
A. Home of the 1982 World's Fair. It made a profit of $57.
Trip Data
On the Road: 87, 88, 89, 90
Film Day: 57, 58
Starting Point: Nashville, TN
Ending Point: Knoxville, TN
Via: Chattanooga, TN, Atlanta, GA
Miles: 440, 243, ?, 213
Nobel Peace Prize seen: Jimmy Carter's.
Main theme of World of Coke: "Our marketing tricked you into liking Coke."
Oddity: The mountain carving of Jefferson Davis is 30 feet taller than the mountain carving of Abe Lincoln. What would the extra-terrestrial anthropologists of the future think?
Film Day: 57, 58
Starting Point: Nashville, TN
Ending Point: Knoxville, TN
Via: Chattanooga, TN, Atlanta, GA
Miles: 440, 243, ?, 213
Nobel Peace Prize seen: Jimmy Carter's.
Main theme of World of Coke: "Our marketing tricked you into liking Coke."
Oddity: The mountain carving of Jefferson Davis is 30 feet taller than the mountain carving of Abe Lincoln. What would the extra-terrestrial anthropologists of the future think?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Trip Data
On the Road: 84, 85, 86
Film Day: 55, 56
Starting Point: Memphis, TN
Ending Point: Nashville, TN
Via: Middle of Nowhere, MS; Florence, AL, Decatur, AL; Space and Rocket Center
Miles: 202, 280, 242
Number of stories of Saturn V rocket: 37
Number of times mike wanted to threw up on Saturn V rocket: 2
Number of years the fried chicken was voted best in nashville: 2 consecutive
Number of Confederate Flags: 17
Last one.
Number of pictures uploaded to our respective Facebook accounts: 187.
Thanks to those who enjoy sharing our trip.
Film Day: 55, 56
Starting Point: Memphis, TN
Ending Point: Nashville, TN
Via: Middle of Nowhere, MS; Florence, AL, Decatur, AL; Space and Rocket Center
Miles: 202, 280, 242
Number of stories of Saturn V rocket: 37
Number of times mike wanted to threw up on Saturn V rocket: 2
Number of years the fried chicken was voted best in nashville: 2 consecutive
Number of Confederate Flags: 17
Last one.
Number of pictures uploaded to our respective Facebook accounts: 187.
Thanks to those who enjoy sharing our trip.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Katie-isms
While leaving the Clinton Presidential Museum:
"I want to write a book about him and call it 'Between Two Bushes'"
To our Memphis bartender:
"Can I get my Yeungling to go?"
"I want to write a book about him and call it 'Between Two Bushes'"
To our Memphis bartender:
"Can I get my Yeungling to go?"
Trip Data
On the Road: 80, 81, 82, 83
Film Day: 54
Starting Point: Valentine, NE
Ending Point:Memphis, TN
Via: Salina, KS, Abilene, KS, Bartlesville, OK, Tulsa, OK, Little Rock, AR
Miles: 403, 344, 100, 427
Presidential Libraries Visited: Eisenhower, Clinton
Cost of beer in Arkansas: 50 cents
Beer options in Tulsa bar: 350
Estimated High in Memphis tomorrow: 116
Special thanks to Marilyn Keefer and Margaret Morhart for hosting us on two fantastic evenings in Oklahoma. They helped re-introduced a lost Morhart boy to his cousins and taught a bit more family history. All while having a genuinely fun, western time. Your gracious hospitality was much appreciated.
Film Day: 54
Starting Point: Valentine, NE
Ending Point:Memphis, TN
Via: Salina, KS, Abilene, KS, Bartlesville, OK, Tulsa, OK, Little Rock, AR
Miles: 403, 344, 100, 427
Presidential Libraries Visited: Eisenhower, Clinton
Cost of beer in Arkansas: 50 cents
Beer options in Tulsa bar: 350
Estimated High in Memphis tomorrow: 116
Special thanks to Marilyn Keefer and Margaret Morhart for hosting us on two fantastic evenings in Oklahoma. They helped re-introduced a lost Morhart boy to his cousins and taught a bit more family history. All while having a genuinely fun, western time. Your gracious hospitality was much appreciated.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Katie - isms
In the buffalo heard:
- Am I going to get gored by a buffalo?
- No dear, you're in the car.
- But my window is open!
We were in the middle of the heard. At one point, if I opened my car door, I would have hit a calf with the door. We did get out of the car too. (Please note that buffalo are dangerous. Do not approach). One buffalo did grunt at Katie and then jogged across the road, about three feet away from her.
Wild Donkeys
"I don't want to get licked by an ass!"
Essentially what was about to happen to Katie.
- Am I going to get gored by a buffalo?
- No dear, you're in the car.
- But my window is open!
We were in the middle of the heard. At one point, if I opened my car door, I would have hit a calf with the door. We did get out of the car too. (Please note that buffalo are dangerous. Do not approach). One buffalo did grunt at Katie and then jogged across the road, about three feet away from her.
Wild Donkeys
"I don't want to get licked by an ass!"
Essentially what was about to happen to Katie.
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