It’s a more broad ranging museum than you might think.
There are exhibitions on Thomas Edison, Julia Childs, American innovation, mathematics and glassworks.
It covered that period, even the 1932 Hunger March and Massacre. But there’s a fair bit of ground involved.
21:00 Central Chicago Day30 path.beast.teams
Yesterday there were threats of severe storms. Now you guys escalate the
A poor, cute, harmless little Aussie. and you guys chuck a tornado warning at me?
After winding out of Dearborn Rog and I line up the interstate and Kate tells me “Go straight on I-94 for 3 hours”. Portends of a uncomplicated day’s travel … maybe.
For the first time I notice that the trees along the wayside are predominantly conifers
I-94 is an effective road corridor and there was minimal work being done on it. Good time was made but scenic is isn’t. There don’t seem to be many attractions to stop for along it. The Indiana Visitors Centre didn’t even have a map I could souvenir. Road signs like “Lions Den; Adult Superstore” located beside “Kinship Cannabis Co” add some levity to the journey.
It’s quite common in the Australian regional areas for roads and crossings to be given mile designations. It’s the last vestiges of the imperial system. “Drive 8kms then turn right on 5 mile road.” But you lot have us beat cold here too. Along I-94 there is the 22 1/2 Mile Road. Then just to emphasise the precision involved there is an 18 1/2 Mile Road and then the 17 1/2 Mile Road. Unsure where that is measured from.
I refueled at Albion just off the Interstate but sufficient to throw Katie into a tizz “Turn right in 5m”, then “Turn left in 15m” then “Make a U turn when possible”. Told her to shut up, an intemperance for which I later paid in spades.
Get into southern end of the City and make my stop-off destination of Wrigley Field without incident. But along the 2nd leg to accommodation in Brookfield Katie gives me the silence treatment. Now OK, I’m coming off I-90, am on IU-90 and looking to preceding on I-90 but there are exits running off in all directions. Can I have some reassurance, dammit? Not being forthcoming, this necessitated finding an exit, finding a park and doing a reset on the iPhone. Serves me right for tempting fate.
The next event of the tour is meeting @kenobi_65 at the Irish Times for a couple of Guinness, a helping of Shepards Pie and some exceptional company. Recommended on all levels.
Tomorrow is on to La Crosse before a couple of the longer stretches.
Have just ticked over 6,000 miles.
Am running about 15% over the min planned route distance.
It was great to get a chance to meet you, and share a couple of beers and some excellent conversation. May the rest of your travels be safe!
A drive up Bliss Road to Grandad bluff is worth it IMHO. There was a Viking (and possibly another) riverboat docked at Riverside Park but I’m not sure if any will be there while you are in town.
Brian
@JKellyMap also lives in the area
Yes, I’ll second Granddad Bluff! Gives you a synoptic view of the Mississippi River cutting through the woodsy hills and valleys of the Driftless Area (a.k.a. Coulee Region).
21:00 Central La Crosse Day31 stylish.quits.ploys
As I already have spent a fair bit of time on I-90, and will spend more I took the opportunity to go via some B roads from Chicago, IL to La Crosse, WI via Dubuque, IA. You gotta love a town whose founders forgot how many vowels exist.
Just on the outskirt of Chicago we got under the first downpour of rain I’ve experienced on the tour. It was a bit disconcerting and dangerous because I was caught in the left lane going way too fast for the conditions between and beside semis chucking out sheets of water so forward vision was lousy as I struggled to get the wipers working adequately.
Once that cloudburst cleared, or at least was driven through the diversion meant I was able to pass through and refuel at Galea, IL and toured US Grant’s House. A beautifully preserved building, they claim that 90% of the furniture is original as owned by Grant. The house and furnishings were a gift to the family from a couple of local businessmen. It sits well in a town which looks like it’s 1880s vista is still preserved.
The rolling hills of green with interlaced fields of corn and soyabeans kept my agrarian mind well occupied.
Along the way there was also a brief stop at the Dickeyville Grotto, a sort of one story version of the Watts Towers and zipped through Kickapoo, WI without incident.
Took up the suggestions above and called in on Grandad Bluff and it’s panoramic views of the city and environs.
For those ignorqmuses who don’t know what I learned yesterday, most of the country in the upper mid-west USA has been severely glaciated, which is why the topography is flat or gently undulating hills. For whatever reason the Driftless region was not planed off by glaciers and retains its ridges and valleys.
Motel in La Crosse does the job but it’s the first time I have struggled to get my internet working adequately. Might be an account issue. With all the pictures and dashcam I’m fairly heavy on the bandwidth. Also is by far the noisiest establishment I’ve stayed with cars, bikes and ambulances hooning past at regular intervals.
Evening meal was taken at Tom Sawyers Bar & Grill on French Island where the seafood platter went down a treat with a couple of local beers in the company of Troy and Sally who are hog farmers from Minnesota on a weekend break.
Next stop is Sioux Falls. If anybody has suggestions for diversions, please let me know.
I’m glad you made it up Grandad Bluff. I’ve never eaten at Tom Sawyers, but have Huck Finn’s a few blocks away (yes, there is a Huck Finns a few blocks south of Tom Sawyers)
I’ve only been to Dickeyville Grotto once, despite going to nearby UW-Platteville.
Yes, the Driftless area is (IIRC) unique.
Sorry about the noise and internet.
Brian
I had a friend from Wisconsin who was very proud of the glacier situation there.
23:30 Central Sioux Falls wizard.talent.latest
Big day on the road. Long day, fun day.
Left La Crosse at 8am, checked into Sioux Fall 12 hours later.
At the start I thought I’d check out some La Crosse attractions so went to see Sunny the Sunfish in Stellners Park, Onalaska overlooking Black River, an anabranch of the Mississippi. I thought he looked more like a bream than the sunfish I was expecting.
Then a diversion to the Mindoro cut, which is still the 2nd largest hand-hewn cut through a ridge for a roadway, and I guess it’s improbable that status will be challenged. Built in 1907, the cut has never been enlarged.
Then, faced with the prospect of 4+ hours on I-90 after I crossed the river again I stopped at the Dresbach visitor centre and formulated a revised plan to take the Great River Road as far as St Cloud, MN. But due to traffic snarls and standstill I bailed out at St Paul. Secondary roads got me to Mankato then S-60, which is the best road surface I travelled here, then finishing with a stint on I-90.
Included in that detour was the Winona County History Centre (good), the National Eagle Centre at Wabasha, MN (excellent) and the Mississippi Visitor Centre at St Paul, MN (very good). All with the river on alternating shoulders.
The secondary roads seemed to let you beetle along on virtually in isolation at 65mph with Stop signs on alternative cross roads or roundabouts with 15mph limits. No wonder you lot aren’t sold on traffic circles.
By this stage we have cleared the Driftless region and the gently undulation hills cover with corn and soya . The endless horizons of the prairie are much less daunting/awe inspiring when blanketed with smoke from the Canadian wildfires and visibility is down to a bare 2 miles.
Tomorrow is on to Custer for two days including Custer SP and Devils Monument, hopefully missing the worse of the bike traffic converging on Mount Rushmore.
Just wondering—do you plan to visit Colorado at all?
I’ve only ever visited, but gosh-darn, it’s gotta be one of the most scenic states in the Union.
You did your homework – not sure how many non-locals know about the Mindoro Cut. It is an interesting road to bicycle. In Winona there also the Marine Art museum (never actually been) and Bloedow bakery (doughnuts)
Brian
You mean that there’s more to see in Colorado apart from Four Corners monument?
Post 37
There’s a helluva lot more than just the Four Corners. Check out the Kissing Camels rock formation in the Garden of the Gods, drive your car up to 12,000 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park, drive I-70 eastbound into Denver (enjoy the signs that say, “Truckers, slow down; we mean it!”), and find yourself a fun place in LoDo in Denver. Pueblo has a nice river walk, Manitou Springs is a gem, and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has a lot of history.
My ex-wife was a Coloradan. She showed me that Colorado is a lot more than just a flyover state.
He hit Telluride and Durango, so a bit more than just the Four Corners. If it had been more planned, or a longer duration, I’d have tried to meet someplace (I’m in Colorado Springs), but considering the numbers of states and places to visit, he did get to see two damn pretty bits. But most states have gems if you have the time, energy and money to visit.
22:30 Central Day32 Custer system.leans.notice
As scheduled, today was one of the longer stints on the trip and so the chosen route was I-90W … not that there are many viable alternatives. What I didn’t factor in was that for almost all the length, I-90W has 80mph speed limit. Rog lapped up cruising at that speed, though he was rather heavier on the juice than usual.
As an analogy, In Australian we have mandatory voting, but to facilitate this the AEC makes it as easy as practical to vote. The I-90W has a 80mph speed limit but it’s surface is near flawless and level, hills, bends and obstructions are negligible, which makes it as easy as possible to maintain 80mph. About the only issue was the visibility. You could barely see from one side to the other of the Lewis & Clarke bridge over Missouri River at Oacoma
At breakfast in my Sioux Falls hotel the TV was tuned to Agweek. A lot of the talk was about the drought conditions. Now “drought” is a relative term. There are Trevs in New Zealand’s South Island who reckon if it doesn’t rain for a week it’s a drought as they walk about their property in gumboots. But on the run to Rapid Falls there are herds of cattle with green feed up to their knees, except where it’s been bailed for hay. And wasn’t this area cover with 1/2 metre of snow 4 months ago? And will be similarly covered in 4 months time? The family farmers from the Riverina of NSW were wryly amused.
I had thought a good first stop would be the Akta Lakota Museum off exit 263 but roadworks had closed that exit and I couldn’t see an alternative.
So the first stop was at Kadoka and the Badlands Distillery. As with the visit to Jack Daniels earlier, the broad selection of bourbons they had to taste weren’t really to my liking but we left with a bottle of their Badlands Honey which will find a good home in the evenings for the rest of the trip.
Under the original parameters I wasn’t going to see Mount Rushmore for a couple of logistical reasons but having made excellent time, and not appreciating how close both Rushmore and Crazy Horse were to my route I added them to my bucket list. I liked Crazy Horse more than Rushmore. The town of Keystone offers more kitch and crass than Times Square.
Once settled into my motel in Custer I took dinner and refreshments at the bar of the Buglin’ Bull. The pork Ossa Buco off the menu was a good meal but the buffalo as Tatanka Chislic was rather ordinary.
Tomorrow is a drive around Custer State Park. After that it’s via Devils Tower Monument to Little Big Horn.
My wife and I took a long cross-country driving trip for our 10th wedding anniversary, in late July and early August – we had planned to go to Rushmore, but we hadn’t realized, until we were already on the road, that that portion of our trip coincided with the massive Sturgis motorcycle rally.
We found ourselves several miles shy of the park entrance, stuck in an unmoving traffic jam of motorcyclists, all headed to Rushmore, so we gave up on that idea.
Were you dealing with smoke/haze, or something else? Back here in Chicago, we’re once again getting smoke that’s being blown south from wildfires in Canada.
It’s smoke haze. Doesn’t have a discernible burning smell. So it’s a lot of smoke coming from a long way. Plays merry hell with the standard on my photography.
Am sure that is a consideration of those trying to dowse the flames.
I was in Montreal a few weeks ago to see the architecture and the smoke was just starting to visibly appear around the city. Panoramic pictures were definitely impacted, but when you’re trying to focus on one building it was actually a boon to me because it was sort of an automatically-added filter to make the background buildings less prominent. It did seem to make me more tired, but thankfully we only walked a few miles a day and mostly used the Metro (which itself has great architecture.)
22:00 Central Day33 Custer system.leans.notice
Contrasts. Big contrasts.
Yesterday at 11am I was travelling at 80mph down I-90W with just the odd vehicle whizzing past me for company.
Today at 11am I am in Custer State Park on the Wildlife Loop in a bison induced standstill as a prime conditioned and sexually aroused bull moseys beside Rog, gives me a perfunctory look and licks the driver side external mirror.
Or a couple of hours later when exiting The Needles in the north of the park via the Needles Eye tunnels where you can touch the rock wall face while seated on either side of the vehicle.
Custer SP runs a bison herd of about 1,400 at peak this time of the year and cull/sell about 400 in September. Came onto the herd moving in two wings shortly after turning onto the loop and it took 90 minutes to move the couple of miles across the grazing front they presented. To say they were both unhurried and unconcerned about the vehicles would be an understatement. The bison corrals have a very good visitor centre and there are two others on the loop.
The Needles within the northern area of the park along The Needles Highway are just turn after turn revealing spectacular monoliths, bluffs and crags. The views down the valleys and canyons aren’t bad either. The drive is bookended by two single lane tunnels, one squeezy at 8’9", the other squeezier at just 8’0". There is also a hook-back turn zoned at 5mph which is the first I’ve seen outside a built-up area.
Once back to Custer did a stroll along the main street. A couple of interesting shop a couple full of tourist trash. Took a late lunch at a deli in Custer. They didn’t have the baguette for the Milanese I ordered, so the proprietor offered to use a hoagie, which I, for some reason, had thought was some sort of sausage or sauce but it’s just a white bread bun.
I get the impression that we are in MAGA country or maybe the shops are gearing up for Sturgis or both because some of the T-Shirt logos are lacking subtlety. There aren’t many Biden lawn signs hereabouts either.
Next stop is a drive-through of Devils Tower and then on to Hardin, MT. If we make good time will call into Little Bighorn in the afternoon, elsewise the following morning.