Days 4 and 5--La Crosse, WI to Greybull, WY, with a stop in the Badlands!

Since I was unable to post yesterday and because my time in the Badlands was split between yesterday and today, I'm combining the two days in one super-post!


I left La Crosse, WI around 8:30am Central Time yesterday and quickly began my long drive (the longest in terms of mileage of my entire trip) to Badlands National Park. The drive was pretty easy, almost all of it was on I-90.  After crossing the Mississippi River (less than 3 miles into the drive), the scenery became quite bland, although not ugly, through the farmland of southern Minnesota and eastern South Dakota. Roadwork slowed the pace a bit through Minnesota but the 80 MPH speed limit in South Dakota made up for that.

I stopped for lunch and a break in Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace, which seems to be a well recognized attraction (picture below).

After lunch and my very quick visit to the Corn Palace (my parking spot had a 15 minute limit so I could not see it at a leisurely pace), I got back on I-90. I regret not stopping at a Scenic Overlook that overlooks the Missouri River (I mistakenly guessed it wouldn't be particularly scenic given the preceding ~200 miles of South Dakota).

Around 4:15pm Mountain Time, I arrived at Badlands National Park.

Above are pictures from some of the first outlooks in the Badlands that I stopped at before arriving at the Cedar Pass Campground, where I spent the night. The Cedar Pass Campground is located in close proximity to the main Visitor Center and Lodge/Restaurant. 

After finding my campsite, I set up my tent for its first night of use.

Despite being billed as a two-person tent, a twin air mattress was a very tight fit. After setting up the tent, I went up to the main visitor center and lodge. Unlike many national parks, the lodge doesn't have much historical value or charm (after all, Badlands only became a national park in 1978). I had dinner in the lodge restaurant, which was somewhat overpriced (prices weren't great--$12.75 for a Buffalo Burger and $5.95 for a Brownie a la Mode--but weren't terrible either) and not very good, both in service (some of that can be excused because one of the chefs didn't show up) and in quality (the Buffalo Burger was not very good and they almost messed up a Brownie a la Mode with the combination of very little ice cream and a not very good brownie).

After dinner, I returned to the campground and attempted to do some reading on my iPad, but it was too buggy to sit outside (I made a run back to the lodge for insect repellent, and while it helped, it was still too buggy). I made it an early night, going to bed before 10pm.

Due to my early bed time last night, I woke up by 6:30am (I slept quite well in the tent) and was seeing sites by 7am. I did the Badlands Scenic Loop Road, which had some very nice overlooks as well as some bison sightings! Below are some of the highlights:

After visiting the Badlands, it was on to Mount Rushmore. Despite having the National Park Service Annual Pass, I had to pay $11 to enter Mount Rushmore since the parking lot is operated the private concession company Xanterra (they appear in lots of the parks).

As many before have said, Mount Rushmore is not as big in person as it seems in many pictures. Regardless, it is a landmark. As well, the Black Hills region of South Dakota, where Mt. Rushmore is located, is very beautiful.

After Mount Rushmore, I went to Wind Gap National Park, home to the densest cave system in the world. However, due to time constraints, I was unable to take a cave tour. After seeing some of the scenery in that area (which is still nice, especially the town of Hot Springs), I started to make my way towards Greybull, WY, where I'm spending the night right now.

The drive to Greybull got increasingly scenic along I-90, and once I got off of  I-90 and on to the Big Horn National Scenic Byway, it was especially spectacular.

I arrived in Greybull to the Historic Hotel Greybull (picture below) around 7pm Mountain Time. Greybull is a very small, sleepy town but the hotel is nice. I had dinner at the diner down the street, which served a perfectly good cheeseburger for the price of $6.50.

I have a much shorter day of travel tomorrow. Next Stop: Yellowstone National Park

Day 3: Escanaba, MI to La Crosse, WI

I continued my journey across the country this morning, leaving my motel in Escanaba, MI around 8:30am Eastern Time. However, before I got far, I made a quick stop at the lakefront in Escanaba, which I missed yesterday.

Above are a couple of pictures I took at the Escanaba lakefront, which was a pretty place to start my morning. But, after a few minutes, I had to get on the road. While my final destination today was La Crosse, WI (French Island to be exact), I also made a stop at the Taliesin Estate, the summer home and center of experimentation of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in Spring Green, WI. Much of today's driving was quite pretty but it was overcast driving across Wisconsin. I got to Taliesin at just before 1:00pm Central Time, well before my 1:45pm Highlights Tour, which highlighted the interiors of both Frank Lloyd Wright's studio building/architecture school (which still operates today) and house. While the tour did not allow pictures inside the buildings, I was able to take some pictures of the exteriors and surrounding scenery (I couldn't get a great picture of the Wisconsin River, which the house overlooks).

This is the best pic of the Wisconsin River

Exterior shot of the studio

An outbuilding on the estate where a staff member still lives today

The exterior of the main house

The surrounding countryside (typical of much of Wisconsin)

After finishing my tour at Taliesin around 4:30pm, I drove the remaining two-plus hours to La Crosse, arriving to my AirBnb host at around 6:45pm. This is my first time using AirBnb and so far, I'm pleased. My host seems nice and she has a nice big dog and the accommodations are nice and affordable. Shortly after arriving, I treated myself to a nice steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which really is a level above other restaurants of its type in terms of quality and what you get for the price.

Next Stop: Badlands National Park, SD

Day 2--Midland, ON to Escanaba, MI

Today, I drove from Midland, Ontario to Escanaba, MI, a town situated along the shores of Lake Michigan on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which was a drive of around 550 miles (including a long detour where I-75 was closed on the Upper Peninsula). I departed Midland around 7:30am. The Canadian highways I took until crossing the border at Sault Ste. Marie were far nicer than most American roads. My one regret about the route is that there were few places to pull aside to appreciate the scenery of Georgian Bay. However, I could appreciate much of the general prettiness from behind the wheel. Once I crossed the border, I proceeded to US-2, the Lake Michigan Scenic Highway, which is a very impressive scenic road. I couldn't take advantage of some of the first scenic points as I was concerned about running out of gas (gas stations were few and far between in this area), but once I got gas, I pulled over at the Epoufette Bay Scenic Overlook, where I was able to capture this picture.

I finally arrived at the Hiawatha Inn in Escanaba around 6:00pm. However, I didn't rest long once I arrived as I wanted to go see a 6:40 showing of Ted 2 (luckily, the movie theatre was just around the block). I enjoyed Ted 2 as I am a HUGE Seth MacFarlane fan but I did not think it was as great as the first one. After seeing the movie, I went to Culver's, a Wisconsin-based (very midwestern in my opinion) quick service chain that I have become fond of over the past year in Sarasota, where I had a burger.

I'm back at the motel now and am prepared to continue my travels tomorrow morning. I can take a bit more of a relaxed schedule as my distance is shorter and I have a time change that essentially gives me an extra hour. But I'm also taking a detour to visit Taliesin, the home and estate of Frank Lloyd Wright located in Spring Green, WI (I became a big fan of his after visiting Taliesin West in 2003). I'll post more about it tomorrow!

Next Stop: La Crosse, WI

Day 1: Mendham, NJ to Midland, ON

Today was the first day of my 40-day, 10,000+ mile cross-country road trip. For today, I was planning to travel from Mendham, NJ to Midland, Ontario, a trip of around 525 miles. I left Mendham shortly after 7am this morning and arrived in Midland at 7pm, making a long mid-morning stop around 40 miles west of Binghamton, NY, a lunch/gas stop outside of Buffalo, and a mid-afternoon stop in Burlington, Ontario (as well as two brief other stops). Rush hour traffic in Toronto added a fair amount of travel time. Today (as well as tomorrow and Monday) is one of the days that I was planning to cover an especially large distance, largely due to the fact that there was not much sightseeing that I was planning to do. While much of my distance today was on large highways, I also did a sizable amount on smaller highways, shortening my time on I-81 and avoiding the New York State Thruway. This also proved to be a prettier route, although I did not take many pictures.

After arriving in Midland, I was quite tired. I went to the small downtown area and  got a sandwich at Dino's Fresh Food Deli. Afterwards, I walked around the marina, which is situated on Georgian Bay (which I'd say is more of a lake than a bay). I did manage to take some pictures at the Midland Marina.

I'm resting at the motel (Kings Inn Midland), which is fine for a ~$50 per night motel and preparing for an early start tomorrow.

Next Stop: Escanaba, MI, on the Upper Peninsula

Countdown to Hitting the Road

It's probably about 57 hours or so until I hit the road. Doing a test post to see that the syncing with Facebook and Twitter works but I'm very excited!