Places
STW2 Hop 3: Fairmont MN to Mitchell SD
192 miles via I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 574. Truck miles: 207. Cumulative truck miles: 728. It doesn’t get any simpler than this: get on I-90, go almost 200 miles, get off. A straight shot west. Boring, but very efficient. No stops whatsoever, until we got close to the destination and got lost for about a … Continue reading
High school plus 50
When I graduated from high school at 18 the thought of getting back together 50 years later was like looking into a distant mirror: you couldn’t see the image very clearly and, in truth, it seemed illusory. Now, looking back 50 years, the image is very clear and the mirror seems very close. Those 50 … Continue reading
STW2 Hop 2: Oelwein IA to Fairmont MN
202 miles via IA 281, US 218, US 18, I-35 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 382. Truck miles: 341. Cumulative truck miles: 521. Another easy trip through beautiful farmland, with a couple of Amish buggies at the start. Nice day, flat terrain, a good audio book (Every 15 Minutes by Lisa Scottoline) to listen to… … Continue reading
STW2 Hop 1: Stoughton WI to Oelwein IA
180 miles via US 51, US 151, US 20 and IA 150. I have been to Dubuque before, but it has probably been over 60 years. Things have changed. The route – primarily US 151 – is a very nice 4-lane road that winds and dips through some beautiful rural countryside. Despite the intermittent rain, … Continue reading
Indiana Dunes State Park
While in Indiana on Saturday I took the opportunity to check out the Indiana Dunes State Park. I was expecting expansive Sahara-style dunes and some great photo ops. Well, not quite. I did get some photo ops, but the dunes were not expansive and they were mostly covered with vegetation. The park is mostly a … Continue reading
STW1 Hop 7: Michigan City IN to Stoughton WI
220 miles via I-94, US 41, WI 50, US 12, WI 89, US 14 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 1439. Truck miles: 282. Cumulative truck miles: 2296. See that U-shaped dip on the Wisconsin portion of the route? I can thank the GPS for that. I was following the map until we got to WI, … Continue reading
STW1 Hop 6: New Hudson MI to Michigan City IN
216 miles via I-96, I-69, I-94 and US 421. Cumulative tow miles: 1219. Truck miles: 438. Cumulative truck miles: 2014. This was a relatively easy hop in terms of navigation – just a few turns. However, there was heavy traffic for almost the entire route and the roads were very rough, as evidenced by one … Continue reading
Greenfield Village
Some posts are mostly containers for photos and this is one. Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, if you don’t already know, is a place that Henry Ford founded to collect historical buildings and, more generally, to capture the serenity of 19th century America. You will find the actual bike shop of the Wright brothers, the … Continue reading
STW1 Hop 5: Streetsboro OH to New Hudson MI
216 miles via I-480 (south of Cleveland), OH 176, I-90, OH 2, I-280 (east of Toledo), I-75, I-275 (west of Detroit) and I-96. Cumulative tow miles: 1003. Truck miles: 303. Cumulative truck miles: 1576. This was a relatively easy hop, aided by flat, mostly divided highway. Door-to-door travel time was just under 4 hours, which … Continue reading
Niagara Falls
I first saw Niagara Falls in 1957 when I was 8 years old. It was a rare family vacation outside of Wisconsin and I really appreciated seeing them in real life rather than in a book. My father was not the most adventurous guy, so our activities at the falls consisted of walking along the … Continue reading