Jack Batty - Traveling Doper

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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A spin off of Meet Bob.

Some of you may have noticed my Meet Bob thread in which I introduced my dog two years ago and our ensuing adventures. Scroll to the end of that thread and you’ll see we are now on the road with no hard and fast plans for settling down anywhere. The soft and slow plans are to see some sights, do some things, meet some people and wind up on the west coast somewhere.

Quick sum up: I sold my house at a decent profit which is funding my travel/relocation.

Since I sold the house, I’ve had to put my cat Mort down (literally on the day I signed the final papers), I drove down to Florida in a Dodge Dart, stayed three weeks and drove back to Maine in a Dodge Challenger, stayed about two weeks and hit the road. We drove out to Lake George for an overnight and now we are in Niagara Falls staying with my uncle and his dog Murray.

Bob and I have had fun so far. Just in Niagara, we’ve been down to the falls on an overcast day, I’ve been to the casino with my aunt (where she won $500 on slots and I lost $150 on some stupid Ultimate Texas Hold Em table game), Bob and I have gone for tons of walks and to a dog park. Tomorrow I’m going to Cleveland to take in a ballgame. Still a few plans with relatives before I leave, but before next weekend, I’ll be on the road again. I’m winging it, but I do have a few things I’d like to do, like visit an old high school friend in Indianapolis, sight-see at Devil’s Tower, Grand Canyon (where I may be able to hook up with my cousin), Moab, Arches, maybe stop in Vegas for a night.

Eventually, I may end up in Oregon, where my cousin has guaranteed me a job - or southern California, where I’ve always wanted to live. I don’t have Facebook and this isn’t full-on Twitter material, so this and my Meet Bob thread are to be my travel journal.

My last entry at Meet Bob with fuller explanation for the Cleveland ballgame thing:

Reference:

Bob at Lake George
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Bob at the Falls
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Bob and Murray
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I hope you enjoy your North American tour. Hey, maybe you can have t-shirts made up when you are done!

I had an old college roommate do something similar about ten years ago. He took early retirement at his job then spent about four months just driving around the country, visiting friends and family and going to places and events he’d always wanted to see. He didn’t have a dog as a traveling companion though - his was a stuffed monkey named “Wilson” (a reference to Tom Hanks’ volleyball buddy in “Castaway”). He posted daily updates on FB.

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Yeah, “Travels With Charley” was the first adult book I read when I was 12 years old back in '63. I thought it was so cool roaming the country in a camper with a faithful dog at your side. You’re living my dream. Happy trails.

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Took a mini-hike at Whirlpool State Park today. It’s right near the dog park I’ve taken Bob to twice now, so we made an afternoon of it.

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Beautiful video, including an adorable dog. Thanks for sharing - I read often, but don’t post so much.

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Great day at the ol’ ball park. Gorgeous weather. I parked and walked up to the stadium just as the gates were opening. My seat was primo. Turns out the front row of those sections are the only padded seats - and front row, so leg room for days. I had two guys sitting right next to me on one side and one guy on the other, but there was enough open seats around us so we could spread out a little. All three of them were Blue Jay fans and I had my freshly bought Guardian’s hat on, but they were cool and we all had a good time. The park itself is pretty nice - small and not confusing compared to the only other ballparks I’ve been to (Fenway and Oakland). The outfield patio section is a cool place to hang though the only food to be had is made of either beef or pork, neither of which I eat. I did manage to snag a hot pretzel and a milk shake.

As for the game – awesome! It was dicey, going down 2 in the first inning, with Cleveland tying it up in the third. It was a bit of a pitcher’s duel for a few innings with some great diving plays coming from each team in the outfield. In the seventh, Toronto went ahead on a sacrifice fly and the mood was dim. Then in the bottom the eighth, Cleveland second baseman Owen Miller cracked a big time tater to center field - 410 feet - to tie it up. Later in the inning, Guardians went up on a run scoring single from right fielder Oscar Mercado. A runner got tagged out in a run-down at second, but the run scored and the Guardians were up. Closer Emmanuel Clase came in a blew smoke - 100 mile an hour heat striking out two and popping up the final batter to win the game.

Balls out fun.

This was the view from my seat:
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Gorgeous day for sight seeing (or is it “site seeing”?) yesterday. I’m going back downtown today for the Maid of the Mist, because, why not - though my uncle is bailing on me.

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The seat at the game looks awesome!

I’m glad you’re getting a chance to do all of the Niagara stuff. I will see it vicariously with you and Bob. :grin:

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Thank you for sharing your journey with us! :slight_smile:

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I’ve left Niagara Falls behind me. Yesterday I drove to Indianapolis and stayed with an old high school friend. We had some friggin’ times back in the day. We spent all night laughing at the memories. Met his neighbors and his best friend and Bob was a good boy with everyone. It was well worth the stop.

My friend, Allen, always reached out to me, always called me up when he was back in Maine. It’s not like I was Joe Gregarious when it comes to my old classmates. Allen is pretty much the only one I’ve talked to at all in the last twenty years. We were in plays together, skied together, got laid together (not really, long story, innocent teeny shit) … had a blast. Here we are sitting at his outdoor Tiki Bar, just like Brockmire’s dad - inside he’s got a Star Wars pinball table and one of those table arcade jobbies with 100 old arcade games.

And then there’s his Legos. It’s not just that there is something made of Legos on every flat surface, he’s got a room, for which I’ve provided a picture to prove my words, for all of his creations - a virtual little world with seas, and cities, and roller coasters, and TeeVee show sets, and octopuses and rockets and I just can’t even, … look:

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I’m now in Kansas City, MO. I’m staying for a couple of days. I’m resting tonight and going to a ballgame at Kauffman Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

I’m having a blast so far. Also, here’s a picture of the Arch, which I almost missed because I took the highway around the city toward KC but I doubled back to catch a glimpse. Of course, I almost killed myself and several other motorists to get this picture, but I think it would have been worth it.

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I’m guessing Bob wasn’t allowed to sniff the Lego. :confused: I didn’t think he had any of the same ones that my son has, but I do see a few.

I’m glad you guys had a good time. :grin:

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I love reading about your adventures. Allen sounds like a good guy as well as a Legos genius. And Bob…Bob always lifts my heart.

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If I wasn’t feeling like crap at the moment I’d offer to meet up with you while you’re in KC. I don’t think it’s covid but I’m not taking any chances.

Are you planning on checking out the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum while you’re in KC?

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I didn’t even know it was there. I may if I find the time. I’ve got to leave Bob alone in the motel room while I’m at the game so I don’t want to leave him alone for too too long.

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I think I’ve figured out the next few legs of my itinerary. If it all makes sense, and it seems to, I’m going to leave here tomorrow and head up to Sioux Falls, SD - a short 6 hour drive or so. Then I can head to Devil’s Tower via a trip across SD including Badlands.

After that, down to Denver, where I think I have a few connections. And then I’ll head south to Mesa, AZ where my niece and her boyfriend are, then over to the Grand Canyon to meet up with my cousin.

It shouldn’t even burn through a big ton of my bindle either.

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As you do that I hope you have a chance to enjoy Nebraska as you. Drive through it. Stop, stretch your legs, give us Nebraskan a chance to be “Nebraska Nice” to you and for you to “the good life”. No mountains or grand canyons but sublime natural beauty, not the least of which is the people who’d love to make you lunch or pour you a fresh cup of coffee and give Bob a big bowl of water. Here’s some Burwell info:

You’ll likely also be passing through Oglala and North Platte, both full of good food and nice people. Take a few minutes to enjoy. Lake Calamus is in Burwell, if Bob would like to romp on a beach.

I’m way off south and east, in Lincoln, but wave as you go by anyway.

ETA: re-reading I see you’re planning to traverse SD towards Devils Tower, instead of heading down through Nebraska from Sioux City, so you won’t be near Burwell, but you might hit Scottsbluff heading down from Devils Tower towards Denver. Same Nebraska Nice people and good food and a warm welcome, just a different one. You can still wave at me but I’ll be at the other end of the state. Skritch Bob’s ears for me.

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Yeah, I kind of did an end-around around Nebraska altogether. The way I figure, the last time I drove across country, I drove across Nebraska, into Wyoming and then to Utah. Never hit Colorado and never hit South Dakota, obviously. I want to check a couple more states off my ledger.

So, the plan was to drive from KC to Sioux Falls, stop for the night. Get up in the morning and drive to Devil’s Tower in the afternoon and see what’s what. Then two things happened. First I found out that I’d basically be driving right past Mount Rushmore to get to Devil’s Tower, so why wouldn’t I stop, if not just for a quick photo op with Bob? Number two, I got wrapped up in an audio book and I drove all the way to Rapid City. What I’ve been able to see of the Badlands from I-90 were pretty cool. There was a scenic loop to be taken about forty-five minutes east of Rapid City that I was tempted to take, but I’d been on the road for going on ten hours by then and I didn’t know how long a loop that was. Maybe I’ll double back tomorrow and give it a shot.

Mount Rushmore is basically less than an hour from where I am right now and it’s only about a two and a half hour drive from Rushmore to the Tower, so I’m going to try to do a national monument express tour tomorrow - weather permitting.

Bob’s been a trooper. The best road dog you will find.

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In the Mt. Rushmore area there is also the Crazy Horse memorial, which is definitely worth checking out.

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What a day! I spent the majority of today in the car, but Bob and I did get out for a stretch every now and then and he’s a little mopey now; he’s been in the car longer than I have today - I’ll explain later.

I got up in the morning later than I hoped, a victim of time zones. I wanted to be on the road by 7:00, but that’s when I woke up. I decided to double back to do the scenic loop through the Badlands and I think I either misjudged how far east the loop started, or I went to a different loop start, because it was more than an hour drive, but it was well worth it. The road winds down and around and up and back all through these crazy rock formations, and striations, and cliffs, and scrub-brush, and just one remarkable view after another around every bend. There are plenty of view-points that are well maintained with railings and info-boards, trash cans, planked trails … nice. Except, no pets allowed. What the F? So every time I decided to stop and take a little mini-hike I had to leave Bob in the car.

Once, I got out of the park, I headed toward Rushmore. It was a real easy drive through beautiful country with only the hint of a snow flake here and there. I didn’t go into the info center or whatever. I didn’t want to park and spend all that time and extra money, however much it cost (but it was like $25 to park) so I just took some pics from outside the park. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of views from all over the place.

Note: not to be reactionary, and not trying to virtue signal, but I swear the first thing I thought when the monument came into view was how fucking crass it looked stuck onto the side of those amazing formations.

Then I took Shoeless’s advice (thank you) and went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. That was pretty cool too. I spent the money to park (just $10) but Bob was allowed in with me, so we got some decent snaps. The weather was a trip. At one point it was sunny as fuck with big fluffy clouds, then ten minutes later it’s white blizzard conditions, followed ten minutes later by blue skies and big fluffy clouds.

Off to Devil’s Tower. Okay, here’s the thing. The Badlands was friggin’ awesome; Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were pretty cool. Devil’s Tower blew my flipping brain apart. Holy shit! I can only image early man, or even early Europeans, coming upon that. There must have been mass-hysteria. It is so goddamned impressive, even from fifteen miles away. I stopped at few spots down toward the tower to take pics and I ended up driving right down to the park entrance, but it was 4:00pm by then. I decided to find a place to rests for the night and start over in the morning, I’m going to get up nice and early and me and Bob are going do everything we can to hike all over and around that friggin’ monolith tomorrow. We are now at rest in Sundance, WY.

If you ever have a chance to visit these spots, do it. I’m so glad I took this jag.

I haven’t uploaded any of my pics / videos yet, but as soon as i do, I shall provide proof of my narrative.

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I’m enjoying your travels. Thanks for posting them, together with great pics and wonderful narration!