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| Good-bye Chicago (or maybe Cincinnati) - We are heading home to sunshine |
We are back in Sarasota - 44 days on the road and 6,424 miles. During that time we found gasoline prices as low as $3.31 per gallon in Tennessee and as high as $4.48 in the Chicago area. We accomplished our main mission - to travel and sight see in Minnesota and North Dakota. Now we have visited 49 states together. Nancy still has Hawaii to cross off the list BUT BILL IS DONE! Whenever we come home from a foreign or US trip we come with wonderful memories and visions, lessons learned, and an appreciation of life. This trip was no different.
Nancy's Thoughts and Favorites
The beauty of the US is always #1 on my list. On this trip it was sunset in the Badlands, the farm lands in the Midwest, pathways to rivers, lakes, and ponds, the intense colors of wildflowers, the vistas of rollings hills and woods, and the wildlife from pelicans to prairie dogs.
The second is the inspirational stories of the people. First the ones who came to North Dakota and Minnesota in the late 1800's to the early 1900's. In the history museums and centers you read and see the stories of the immigrants who came to homestead - seeing their one room sod houses and families. There are journals of their struggles and survival that give insight into their lives.
Another inspiration is the people who had ideas and with hard work turned the ideas into companies One of my favorite is two friends who started their business in a shack behind a house - the beginning of Harley-Davidson Motor Company.
An inspirational site was the Mandan Indian Village near Bismarck. Visiting an earthlodge showed how they lived off the land - creating all of the items they needed from nature and the buffalo.
#3 is the transformation of small towns and cities. One of the saddest roads took us through Cairo, IL where the stores were vacant, factories empty, and buildings dilapidated. Most of the main streets of the other downtowns were surviving with cafes, small shops, a bank, law and insurance offices. The need for some towns was to have a gimmick to draw in visitors e.g. Superman in Metropolis IL.
#4 is the neighborhoods in cities like Minneapolis that reminded me of Bethlehem where I spent my childhood. But now...the porches are empty.
#5 is the realization that I am a warm weather person who likes to wake up to sunshine on most days.
Bill's Thoughts and Favorites
Some of our plans were changed due to weather and the Midwest flooding of the Missouri and its feeder rivers but when some doors close others open to new road ramblings.
Several of the historical river destinations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition were closed due to high water or soon to be expected flood waters.
We came to the Expedition’s first winter home, Fort Mandan, from a different direction than following the river. The flooding was beginning to take its toll. Several days after leaving Minot, North Dakota the governor instructed over 12,000 residents to leave their homes because of rising river levels.
What have our travels taught us? We experienced asphalt roads are much better for highway construction and travel comfort than concrete. And you get to see much more of the character and interest of this land by staying off the Interstates in your travels.
Some small towns know better than others on how to change their downtown areas into viable business models that will encourage customers rather than not. Small town America now offers services that aren’t competitive with suburban businesses, e.g. local cafes & restaurants, used book stores, antique & collectable shops, art stores or local historical society center, etc…
Some areas where you would not normally stop entice tourists to visit with either presenting the largest, longest, biggest, and smallest or some other rare abnormality to their area. Oh yeah, having a famous person born, raised or even visit a location is enough to create a “historical” tourist magnet for same.
Teddy Roosevelt was right the Badlands, the area is far better than its mis-named label.
In closing we discovered without a small Shoshoni Indian girl, named Sakakawea, the Lewis and Clark Expedition might never have been completed. Sakakawea was an important contribution to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Without her the Expedition could have suffered the same fate as did Col. Custard and his cavalry troops at the Little Big Horn.
We hope you enjoyed sharing our travel experiences for the Early Summer of 2011.
