Oct. 13- Oct, 16 The Wine Country

Racing a train westward across Utah

       Greetings fellow oenophiles.  Its Saturday afternoon (Oct. 16th) and we've just returned from a day of winetasting around Sonoma so this is being written through a bit of a red wine haze. Many miles have been crossed since we last talked in Salt Lake City.  Connie and I hit the road fairly early (8am) last Wed. and drove approximately 560 miles west across Utah, Nevada and into California. The longest segment yet for me but having company and another driver made it pass quickly. So did driving 80mph. Our favorite road song was "God is good, beer is great, people are crazy." Really, on the local station.

      We circled our wagons in Truckee, California which is a rustic sort of resort town just north of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. We had driven across hundreds of miles of "alkaline" flats, occasional low mountain ranges, and as soon as we crossed into California the terrain was pine covered and beautiful. Truckee is a funny little place where the train literally goes smack thru town ( or maybe smack thru our hotel by the number of very loud toots during the night.) We decided to go native and chose the "historic" Truckee Hotel. The town is located just before the infamous Donner Pass where the the pioneer group known as the Donner Party were trapped one winter, many died, and well, you know the rest of the story. I was a little nervous at dinner when Connie eyed me with a knife and fork in hand. If you don't know what I'm talking about, skip ahead!

     It was just a quick 3 hour drive to the wine country on Thursday morning. We've spent the last three days eating, shopping and drinking wine throughout Napa and Sonoma. This is not the hardest part of my trip. I do all these things well.  Let me play Fodors Guide for a minute. For you gourmands, we had lovely lunches at Bouchon and Tra Vigne in Napa.  We're staying in a little apt. over the best bakery in town, Costeaux (voted best bakery in country in 2009, really). connected with the Camellia Inn in Healdsburg in Sonoma.   Great town with shops, restaurants, etc. Dinner Thurs. at the very hip "Cyrus" next door.

lunch at Tra Vigne

 Top wineries we visited: Hess Vineyards in Napa with fabulous art collection of Mr. Donald Hess upstairs. Francis Ford Coppola's place is a little theatrical not surprisingly but we had another great terrace lunch. My favorite was the "J" vineyard nearby, mostly because I like the initial, my kids and I discovered it a few years ago while on a girls trip out here, and they were nice people ! That said, they had me wrapped around there little finger with generous "tastings" and I joined their wine club! Hmm. Maybe they'll adopt  me.
         So, upon leaving there, Connie to my surprise suggested we needed a few more stops. I acquiesced willingly and then we came back for a little "toes up" time as my friend Lucy likes to describe rest period.  Now we're ready for our last evening in town and off to San Francisco tomorrow.

Oct 10 -12 Yellowstone and My Day With the "Bearman"

     I'm at that point in the trip where I can't quite remember what I've written or where I am. Well, I just checked and I'm in Salt Lake City tonight with my friend Connie Cowen. We had a great dinner at a little Italian restaurant after touring the Mormon "temple'"area (which we don't quite get, am I allowed to say that?) and I will fill in what I've been up to since we last talked. Last Sunday I drove up from Cody, WY to the east entrance to Yellowstone. Being the city slicker that I am  I thought once I was in the park I'd be almost there. But no, Old Faithful Snow Lodge was another 2 hour drive. I found my way there in time to see Old Faithful erupt on time at 5:09.

     Monday was my day with Kevin "the bearman" Sanders. I am trying to upload as many pictures as I can because they say it all. We saw a grizzly bear and her cubs, a wolf, lots of elk and buffalo. Kevin is a fascinating guy and if one can see Yellowstone in a day, he is the guy to do it with. He said I'd seen "90%" of what was worth seeing. He was just being nice. You could spend weeks there. Here are the fun facts about him. After visiting the falls area it finally came to me who he looked like..."you look just like..." and he responded...."Larry Bird." Right. They are distant relatives. And, when probing about where he lived and why he had a 2 hr. drive everyday to the park and didn't move closer, he mentioned "did you ever see the movie  A River Runs Through It?" Sure. "Well, that's my front yard. That rock where Brad Pitt is fly fishing, I can see that from my living room. " He lives between Big Sky and Bozeman, Montana. I guess he should stay where he is.

     He is known throughout the park as the "bearman." He's written a couple books about bear safety, and that sort of thing. Lots of great stories. So, we were out on a trail, he said " so, you can hike 1.8 mi. down this path, I'll get the van, move it to the other end, and hike back and meet you. Okay? What I wanted to do was throw my arms around his waist and beg him not to desert me, but I pretended to weigh the idea for a moment and said perhaps it best if I didn't do that. I asked if I might encounter any bears along route and he said sure, but you'll be okay. We'll never know what might have happened because I trotted right along behind him back to the van.

Bear people?

The Old Faithful Snow Lodge was rustic and full of character and characters. This morning it was 18 out and frost covered my car. Such a surprise. Beautiful sunny day as I drove out of West Yellowstone, thru Idaho and down to Salt Lake City.

geothermic whatever

old faithful

mama grizzly

bear butts..mama and babies

lower fall on Yellowstone river

elk

crossing the river

and more buffalo

mule tailed deer

Oct.8- Oct. 9 Bison or Bust

     After much hugging and kissing, exchanging of emails and promises to keep in touch with our new friends,  Dale and I left Pine Ridge about 8am Friday morning and set off to explore them thar' hills...those are the Black Hills of SD called so because they look "black" from a distance due to  the thick covering of pine trees. I proclaimed I wasn't going to be happy until I'd seen a real buffalo up close and personal. Suddenly Dale hooted and I looked to the right and there were 3 bull buffalo trotting along heading right for us and the road. Perfect!
     We drove around Custer State Park on the "wildlife loop"  and didn't see much to shout about for most of the drive but when we did, it was like Animal Planet. We saw more and more buffalo..in fact a herd was wandering up the road and passed all around us. Dale was hanging out of the sun roof snapping away while I sat and laughed. We also got caught up in a herd of mules and we were definitely not the first people they'd ever seen. They ambled up and stuck their heads right in our open windows. Lots more laughing.

     Next was a visit to the Wind Cave National Park and a tour of the wind cave  naturally. It was dark, it was a cave. The only scary part was the elevator broke down and we were stuck 200 feet underground for an extra 45 minutes. It was scary because I wanted to strangle our
cute little pixie of a tour guide in her darling Smoky the Bear hat.
     We drove by the Crazy Horse monument and waved from the road.  At Mt. Rushmore we sat in the car, looked at each other as we both thought....allright, I see it, lets keep going. But, having driven 2400 miles to see it, we paid our fee, parked, and went to see the famous sight. My daughter Meg asked if it was a little "underwhelming" and that about says it all. Maybe we were just tired but you sort of have to ask....whats the point?
     Friday night found us at the Hotel Bullock in Deadwood. Dale unfortunately had to change plans due to an emergency and flew home Saturday morning. Yesterday was the first day that wasn't so much fun. I drove 400 miles in a light drizzle from Deadwood to Cody, WY. The weather was gray and I was lonesome without my pal next to me. I drove over the Bighorn Mtns. and as I got higher and higher, the temp. got lower and lower until it was 34 and there was snow on the ground. I was either driving thru a cloud or fog but I didn't like it one bit. I don't like heights, I don't like driving thru mountains on a good day and I hated this. And yes, there were a few "oh shits" muttered. By the time I got to Cody I'd had it even though I was supposed to drive another 50 miles to the Pahaska Tepee Lodge. It was a good decision to stop..one must be flexible. Today is sunny, 70 and I'll wave at theTepee Lodge as I go by!

PS. I appreciate all the emails I've received. It really helps to know you're all "out there" as I'm rolling along.  Also, not many entries in the "how many miles will I drive" contest. Email your guesses to me and I'll post a list.

     

  

Oct. 2 - Oct. 8 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

     What a week.  This morning I'm sitting on a velvet Victorian sofa in the gaming/living room of the Hotel Bullock in Deadwood, SD. While only a few hours drive from Pine Ridge, the whirring of slot machines and the neon lights flashing couldn't be farther from the sights and sounds I experienced these past 7 days while volunteering with Re-Member. I have a lot of processing to do and will probably rewrite this at some point but I wanted to share some thoughts and experiences.
     The Re-Member organization was started about 14 years ago and has about 1300 volunteers each year. Its purpose is to provide a "service-learning" experience in that its as important to learn about the Lakota people we work with and meet, understand about their lives and their culture, as it is to do the physical work.  The organization works hard to address the housing crisis on Pine Ridge. It is a non-profit and many of the volunteers are from religious organizations around the country but there is no religious agenda and absolutely no evangelizing. "Mitakuye Oyasin" is posted everywhere meaning "we are all one people".  Many volunteers are college kids (UCONN Huskies were there this year).  Repeatedly we were reminded to "listen" with our ears and eyes so we could learn and understand these people.
     To that end we started our days at 6am. After breakfast our head honcho, Ted, would share some thoughts called "wisdom of the elders" passed down from past wise, life experienced Indians.  While this seemed a bit hokey the first couple days, I did "listen" and came to appreciate what the elders had to say.
     There were about 35 of us volunteers and we were divided into groups of 6 for the work projects and for "kitchen duty". Dale and I had two work projects. The first two days we drove 45 minutes in the work van to the middle of the rez to a place called Yellow Bear Canyon. It is a LONG way from anything but a beautiful spot with views of the rolling hills.  Larry Swallow and his wife Yolanda and 2 kids have just moved their two trailers there and our job was to help connect them with

Larry and Yolanda

siding and skirting(for you city slickers that is the covering around the bottom sides of the trailer to help keep it warmer in the freezing winter.) I became a pro at the "chopsaw." See picture! Anyway, they have no running water as yet but just got electricity. There are horses and dogs running around. They are wonderful people and Larry spoke to us one night back at our home site about Lakota history and culture. Actually we had different Oglala Lakota speakers every night, each wonderful and presented different  aspects of their culture and lives both historic and current. Our other project was helping to build a front porch and steps for another woman who had a trailer but had to jump 3 feet to get out. A lot of these trailers came from the US government as rejects from Katrina as they had formaldehyde in them. But good enough for the injuns, right? And they weren't a gift, they sold them. Oops, I'm starting to get political. Not now.We also spent some time on the bus visiting different part of the rez such as the Red Cloud Indian School started by the Jesuits and Red Cloud ( who signed the 1868 Ft. Laramie treaty which put the Indians on the rez in the first place. Didn't work out so well for them). Wounded Knee is a small town with the cemetery where the victims of the 1890 massacre are buried. We hiked near the "stronghold" area where the Lakota would go to hide from the cavalry.

Chopsaw Jane

    This is getting long and I've just scratched the surface. Not so much humor in this posting. I loved the experience. I was very much out of my comfort zone when I arrived and honestly, glad to be on my way at the end of the week.The "dorms" were a little grim but we got over it.  It was exhausting both physically and spiritually. The other volunteers were a wonderful group with shall we say, varied personalities! One fellow I especially enjoyed...well, I won't use his real name, lets just call him "Jim" always had a good quip or two.
     The last piece of "wisdom" Ted read yesterday seemed very apropos to my trip: Charles Knight, a Ute wrote    Pick a road, any road. Follow it for the rest of your life. No expectations. Just possibilities. When ya leavin?  I'm on my way right now to Yellowstone.

The "rez"

  PS I don't know why this posting is looking so odd but as I've already deleted one section by mistake and I've been sitting here for 3 hours I have to let it be. My computer skills are limited!

Days 7 - 10 Badlands or Bust...

     The weather gods have been with me so far.  While the midwest had floods before I arrived and my friends back east have been building arks the last few days, my little Toyota and I have had continual sunshine.  My friend Dale arrived in Minnesota last Wed. and we had one more day to rest the horses before setting out on Thursday (Sept, 30) for points west.  I had a great visit with my brother Al and Toni as always and an entertaining evening with my niece Janie and family.

     We didn't get too far out of town before the law was on our heels. A state trooper pulled us over for excessive speed but was quickly convinced of my innocence and the error of his ways. He gave me a warning to slow down and a warning that the highway ahead was under water due to flooding and we'd have to take a detour. And we did. Slow down and take a detour which added some time but did take us thru rural Minnesota and it was fine. We waved at the Jolly Green Giant in Le Seuer on our way by. Song of the day " I Can't Drive 55 " by the Hit Crew.

Mitchell "corn palace"

     We hit the South Dakota border and I put the pedal to the metal and off we went to Mitchell SD to visit the famous "corn palace." Yes, this is a building famous for being built out of corn cobs. Multicolored and odd, worth the drive from anywhere.  We ended the day on the banks of the Missouri River in Chamberlain, SD.  Lewis and Clark spent three days here while on their expedition. We didn't have as much leisure time as them so Friday morning we were off again. Before leaving we did visit and tour the St. Joseph Indian School in Chamberlain.  Its been in existence about 85 years and has about 200 children in residence and attending school. Dales mother used to donate to it which is why we thought about visiting and I'm so glad we did. Its a wonderful organization and there is a link with more info on the side of this blog.

     Off we went straight west across South Dakota and miles and miles of prairie (translate to hours and hours.) We exited at Cactus Flats and headed into the Badlands National Park. I can't begin to describe how beautiful this area is.  Suddenly from the rolling prairie you're in the Badlands "buttes" with deep canyons, towering spires and flat -topped tables.  It seemed like movie set. Frank Lloyd Wright wrote " I've been about the world a lot, and pretty much over our own country, but I was totally unprepared for that revelation called the Dakota Bad Lands..what I saw gave me an indescribable sense of mysterious elsewhere - a distant architecture, ethereal...an endless supernatural world more spiritual than earth but created out of it. "  That says it all.
     The scenic highway took us on a 30 mile loop thru the Badlands and spit us out in  famous Wall SD, home of Wall Drug, the biggest "drugstore"  in the world. In reality a hokey tourist trap but one must stop and we did for lunch.  I gambled on a "buffalo" burger and lost.
     We spent last night in Rapid City, SD at the "historic" Alex Johnson hotel. My investigation has revealed that Neil Diamond stayed here, thus the label "historic." We are heading back thru the Badlands this afternoon and are due to meet our contact from the Re-Member Organization at 2PM at a highway  marker one mile west of Rt. 18. This is quite rural. I've mentioned to a few people that we are headed to Pine Ridge and have been met with raised eyebrows. We've been listening to " Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" in the car and  have done lots of reading the last couple months about the Lakota Sioux both past and present. There is no internet, cell phones or red wine on the "rez." So readers, I can't post any updates until next Friday, Oct. 8th when we are off the reservation. Check the link if you want more info on this organization.  Tokhi waniphiki ni.  Wish us luck!

cue the prairie dog! yes, he's real.

Days Four, Five and Six "All Aboard"

      Allright, some of you did know I'd be driving thru West Virginia.  And yes,  I do have a map (or ten) for you skeptics. I just don't always look at them. Weather update...I seem to be little Mary sunshine on this trip, beautiful weather so far.
     I left St. Joseph MI in my dust on Sunday morning after attending local church and drove up the west coast of Lake Michigan. The highlight was a walk around the quaint little town of Saugatuck on the Kalamazoo River. It reminded me of a New England fishing village.  I chatted it up with a fellow fishing from the dock who had already caught three salmon that morning...and big ones!
     Spent an uneventful night in Ludington and then boarded the SS. Badger steamship for the 60 mile trip across Lake Michigan. This car ferry is so different than those to Marthas Vineyard. It has staterooms, movie theater, "boatique", televisions, two restaurants. I'm making it sound grander than it was. Built in 1953 to transport railroad freight cars, it is now the only coal fired steamship in North America. But the best part was the "camp director" who kept us amused with lame jokes and bingo. I think you had to be wearing a velour jogging suit or be from Michigan to win.  No sour grapes for me.  I bought my own souvenir coffee mug.
     The drive across Wisconsin thru major dairy farm country was lovely. Was going to snap a photo of one of the big farms but figured you all know what a cow looks like. I took one small detour and stopped at a local shop where I bought prize winning pepper jack. ...what prize you ask? Blue ribbon at the "international" cheese fair in Madison, WI. of course.
     Its nice to be able to relax and reenergize after all this driving with a few days with Al and Toni in Edina.  Next update probably Thursday from the Badlands.

 

Days Two and Three Sept. 24-25

    Lets begin todays blog with a geography quiz. Who knew that if you drove between Reading PA and Columbus OH you would drive thru West Virginia? Be honest. You didn't know. It was a beautiful drive thru western PA over mountains and thru tunnels...past Johnstown and Chambersburg. These towns jogged memories of stories my Dad would tell. He loved to drive and I think I got my love of driving from him. He took our family on the mother of all roadtrips in Dec. of 1959. Six of us, four kids, two parents from Syracuse to Dallas TX and back to see SU win the Cotton Bowl and become national champions. This was before interstate highways, no electronic devices. Lots of adventures and fun. Most of the time.
     Fortunately there are interstates now and I arrived in Powell OH around 5:30 to visit with my friend Joann Harvey who was my neighbor and buddy in Manlius NY in the early 80's. Her son Danny and his darling and athletic  2 yr. old sons stopped by for a visit. Lots of fun.

     Todays drive was a little dull but I did pull over on my was past  South Bend IN to visit Notre Dame. In my honor they'd scheduled a football game against Stanford. Lots of excitement and it felt good to stretch my legs with a lengthy walk around the campus.
     Tonight I'm in St. Joseph MI which is advertised as the "riviera" of the midwest. No comment.
     Now, to get those competitive juices flowing I'm posting my first contest. John Dudzik, are you listening? You must enter to win, no purchase necessary, one entry per person. Guess how many miles I will drive on this trip and win a prize. My odometer started at 52,200. The itinerary is there so you can try and figure it out. I unofficially thought about 10,000 miles.
     Good night.