Day 06 – Rapid City, SD to Denver, CO – July 30th, 2007 - 398 miles

We are finally got off I-90 today! Leaving early we took off through the blacks hills on secondary roads to Wyoming so we could take I-25 S to Denver. The black hills is probably the first forest we had seen since New York. The dark pines look almost black because of the huge contrast to the burnt golden grass. While driving along the secondary roads we ran into a number of deer on the road. I was surprised to see how easily they move over or through the farmer’s fences covering the land. Past the black hills the land turned back to rolling prairie/cattle ranching land. The rockies might have been the most beautiful thing I have ever scene after all those plains.

After a quick break at my friend Mitch’s house in Denver we hoped back in a car and headed to Mt. Evans. This mountain is highest peak in the US you can drive up with the peak being at 14,240 ft. Once you get to the start of the park entrance the drive up is a windy hair raising 15 mile drive to the top. It is so high at the top that the thin air makes you easily disoriented and uncoordinated. To top it off I was getting dizzy every time I looked over a 1-2K foot cliff. Mountain goats and sheep were every where on the mountain and often hard to spot because of how well they blend into the rocks. I was walking along a path when a goat picked up its head less then a foot from me and scared the bejeezus out of me since I had no idea he was right there.

Anyway enjoy the pictures:

Day 05 – Badlands National Park to Rushmore to Rapid City, SD – July 29th, 2007

Well… so it turns out its really windy in the badlands… go figure. High wind gusts all night made sleeping difficult, so we decided to motel up tonight. In the morning we hiked a few more trails before leaving for Mt. Rushmore.

Saddle Bag Trail – Straight up the Wall

Notch Trail (I think)

So Mt. Rushmore must be the biggest scam in the world. I’m glad we saw it and all, but they are so much smaller then they seem in everything I have seen them. That and its free… but they charge for the only available parking…

Day 04 – Jackson, MN to Badlands National Park – July 28th, 2007 – 392 miles

Starting the morning in corn country we slowly watched the never ending flats transform into grassland prairie.



At one point I clocked the distance I could see the road going straight at 6.5 miles… it just never stops… well kind of.


South Dakota is one of the weirdest states to drive through because they keep you endlessly entertained with the strangest billboards. I think we saw at least 1000 billboards for this town called Wall Drug and the corn palace… “You will wish you were ear” or “You’re almost ear.”


It was a relief to see the start of the badlands, which looks like something straight out of a western. We hiked a number of trails in the badlands through the barren land along the wall. Driving along the tour road there were a lot of sights to take in. At the end of the road we took the Sage Creek Rim road, which takes you further into the prairie where you can see more animals. Along the way there were long horn goats on the road, prairie dog cities, and bison herds in the fields.

On a note I have been taking a lot more pictures then I have been posting it is just hard to upload them all on the road.

What the car looks like fully packed...

Day 03 – Chicago, IL to Jackson, MN – July 27th, 2007 – 483 miles

Up early again to drive through heavy traffic out of the city. Being still full from the pizza we skipped a breakfast. Illinois just might be trying to tie New Jersey for the most annoying road system in the world. Instead of just putting tolls at the start of the roads and the exits they put them ever 15 miles and on the exits and to top it off they don’t tell you how much the toll its until your at the booth… needless to say I was happy to see Wisconsin for a change of pace as the flat corn fields turned into rolling corn fields and forests. Since I haven’t mentioned we are still driving on I-90… it brings a whole new meaning to driving a long ways on I-90 :P Some where after driving past Madison I saw a sign for Cascade Ski resort and I thought to myself… its flat here that’s got to be a joke… needless to say off the side of the interstate was this ski resort that had to have at most 200 feet of vertical drop. It brought a whole new meaning to bunny slope. When we hit Minnesota at the Mississippi valley the land turned very scenic, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. Minnesota quickly turned into the plains and my inner self started to die when you could see nothing but corn in every direction other then an occasional farm and collection of wind turbines. We ended the day in Jackson, which is just a small town of 3000 people in the middle of farm country.

I’m posting all of these posts today because it’s the first time I’ve had free internet, and I will continue to update as I can. I know I won’t have internet again until Saturday since we will be in the Badlands in the South Dakota.

Day 02 – Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL – July 26th, 2007 - 345 miles

Waking up early we went down to the Rock and Roll Hall of fame along the shore. The museum had an impressive collection of artifacts from almost every big name rock band in history. Some of the most interesting artifacts were the first drafts of a few songs I’ve actually heard of… like rambling man and walk this way, most of which were composed on hotel memo paper. There were exhibits walking you through the entire history of rock from its beginning and its influences in the major cities across the US. Cleveland also has an interesting collection of artistic giant guitars all over the city, but I lost all my photos of them when my camera magically deleted my images…. Arg…. And my ski trip photos… After I got my fair share of rock we started the journey to Chicago. For the most part the trip was more of the same until you hit Gary, IN were I soon learned Chicago is pretty much surrounded by a 50 mile ring of filth. In Chicago we hit heavy traffic getting downtown of course. Once we got settled we grabbed some world class deep dish pizza from a place called Girganos (I think) it’s diagonally across from the Sears Tower on Jackson Ave. After dinner we went up to the Sears Observation Sky Deck, 103 stories up. The views were pretty impressive being that we were in the highest building in the US and 2^nd in the world I think. Later we toured the city some and saw some of the cool displays in Grant Park along the water front.

Day 01 – Colchester, VT to Cleveland, OH - July 25th, 2007 - 560 miles

Starting the trip was a little surreal and I don’t think it has really dawned on me that I’m moving yet. We woke up way to early so I could scramble to pack the last few things and found out that I can only shove so many knick knacks in every nook in my car. Needless to say we pull out of my house with almost everything I own and no room to spare. I decided to take a route straight through the Adirondacks which was a lovely drive by half dozen lakes or so. Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures because I was driving. Once we hit 90 though the drive because a huge snooze fest. Arriving in Cleveland was a big relief to put an end to our 11 hour drive. After checking in we relaxed a bit and then walked down to the sports bars around the baseball stadium. We grabbed dinner at the Winking Lizard and watched the home game with some of the locals. After dinner we walked down to the water front by the rock and roll hall of fame to see a bit of the city. Cleveland is a surprising small city that you can easily walk across and is really quiet in the off hours. Well that’s all for today I’m going to turn in and off to Chicago tomorrow!

A Quick Review of the summer so Far

Since I finished classes and exams back in May it has been a very busy summer. We stated senior week off with a hike around Grafton Lake [photos] and some rock climbing. One week after our hurricane of a graduation I drove down to Lancaster, PA to carpool with Taylor to Dan’s Wedding in Tennessee… “Holy Crap Dan is married!” TN showed me the true definition of southern hostility and gave me a few funny stories. I had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and some cool people from Rochester. After that I took a trip down to NYC to visit Brandon and Taylor while wandering around mid town. While in town we caught a really good stand up comedy show at the Comic Strip. Then for a complete change of pace Kevin and Taylor came up to Burlington to hike Mt. Mansfield [photos], the highest point in VT. That evening we grabbed some Thai food and I tried to show the guys why Burlington is one of my favorite places. In between all that traveling I have frantically tried to prepare for my cross country trip and visited with my friends and family. The closer I come to leaving VT the more I realize I’m really going to miss the area and my friends and family there and on the East Coast.