Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Upper Peninsula, Michigan

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I spent two weeks in the upper peninsula. My first week I was in the Keweenaw Peninsula, the upper upper peninsula, on Lake Superior. I drove further east to Goetzville on Lake Huron for the second week. I didn’t research either place much, just found some affordable, nice looking AirBNBs after leaving Door County. I was wasting a couple weeks before visiting my daughter on the lower peninsula of Michigan for Thanksgiving. Mid-November is definitely ‘off-season’ in the upper peninsula….

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Door County

Door County

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I stayed in the studio cottage at the Beach Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay. It was a very nice and comfortable stay, except the couch. That was quite uncomfortable! I was right on the water and a short walk from the southern entrance to Potawatomi State Park. It was just down the street from my hotel/AirBNB and I could walk the trails along Sturgeon Bay, out to Green Bay, without driving around to the main entrance. Boo and I enjoyed this…

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Rapid City and the Black Hills

Rapid City and the Black Hills

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I had a long drive, over 600 miles and 9 hours, to Rapid City from Vernal, Utah. We made several stops along the way, once for gas but 3 or 4 times to stretch my legs and take Boo for walks. One of our stops was Independence Rock Historic Site in Wyoming. A short but interesting visit; we learned that this area saw 550,000 settlers who stopped here. Boo and I followed the trail around the rock. Many of the…

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Kansas City

Kansas City

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I had read about the American Royal World Series of BBQ and thought it would be interesting to go sometime. So “on the way” back to Illinois to get my car title and some other papers, I took a bit of a detour and stopped in Kansas City for three nights. The World Series is too big for the American Royal Center downtown so it is now held at the Kansas Speedway. I had purchased the “Royal Tour” tickets with a guided…

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A Year in The Life …

A Year in The Life …

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Today is the anniversary of closing on my house sale and a full year that I’ve been on the road. 28,344 miles. Stays in 17 states: New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, Kansas. I’ve visited 13 National Parks; over a dozen National Monuments and Historic Parks; 2 National Military Parks; 2 National Seashores; many National Forests; seven National Scenic Byways from the Blue Ridge Parkway…

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Nomadland or the Unexpected Difficulty of Being Houseless

Nomadland or the Unexpected Difficulty of Being Houseless

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It is hard, very hard, to be “houseless” in this country. I had planned for a mail service, but that was the easy part. Little did I know. Okay, so I didn’t lose my spouse, job, and house like Frances McDormand’s character. But, regardless of not literally living in my car and better resources (AKA “money”), it was still difficult in a number of ways. Your papers, please Last September when setting out for my adventure, my driver’s license was…

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Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park

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Like several parks I’ve visited recently, I’ve been to Badlands National Park before, both with my parents decades ago and with my daughter in the late 90’s. I didn’t remember the beautiful colors, thinking the park was just various shades of tan, but there are yellow, pale greens, purple/pinks, gray colors all over the park. So beautiful. I drove all the way down I-90 to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. I should have entered at the Pinnacles entrance, exit 110,…

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Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park

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I’ve never been to this park and definitely wanted to visit while in the area. I like visiting caves. My daughter has mentioned to me she thinks all caves are alike but even she thought Wind Cave is unique. Wind Cave, the 3rd largest cave system in the US and the the 8th largest in the world, contains 95% of the world’s box works formations. Box work is a rare cave formation; it is formed when dissolved calcium carbonate crystallized…

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Vernal, Utah: “An Adventure 65 Million Years in the Making”

Vernal, Utah: “An Adventure 65 Million Years in the Making”

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The Jurassic Park movie tagline isn’t quite accurate, since many of the fossils in the area are more like 150 million years old, but it’s a fun movie to think about while here. My daughter and I stopped at Dinosaur National Monument over twenty years ago, when driving from Yellowstone to Arches, but it was just a quick stop on the way. I did remember visiting the Quarry Exhibit Hall and that fantastic “wall” of fossils. I’m trying to keep my…

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Southern Idaho

Southern Idaho

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Coeur d’Alene After Bend I went to Coeur d’Alene. I had booked a lake cruise. I should have checked active fires around here, too, before booking, like I did with the Lassen Volcanic park area and Bend. The skies were filled with smoke from Canadian fires. I really didn’t see anything on the cruise. I did visit the Museum of Northern Idaho ($5 entry/$2.50 for veterans), walked the floating boardwalk and around the lake front park. I saw a few of…

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