Franklin, Wisconsin to Rockford, Illinois

Dennis and Cindy have bird and squirrel feeders outside their back door.  In the morning there was a squirrel there!  They are so cute.

We left just before Cindy was going to work (Dennis had gone to work early, before we got up).  This was after Richard hit the ball for the dog to retrieve for about half an hour.  Poor Mykos was really worn out.
We went in to Millers Brewery and did the tour. It lasted about an hour and we got three glasses of beer each at the end, and it was free!!  I even drank a glass of beer, it was a low carb beer that wasn't too bitter.  It was a huge plant, and the tour was quite interesting.

This is in the caves under the brewery that (pre-refridgeration) they used to pack with ice to keep the beer chilled year round.  The "Girl in the Moon" is one of their logos.
We headed down to the shore of Lake Michigan (which looks like the ocean because you can't see the other side), and had a custard sundae which was just like a really thick snowfreeze. Very tasty.
We left Milwaukee mid afternoon.

Here is Richard driving past Miller Park, with his newly acquired Miller hat.  It was about 27 degrees C and we drove the hour and a half to Rockford with the top down, and got a little sunburnt again.
Dennis said that when it gets too hot with the top down we should crank up the air con.  That seems a little crazy, but we might give it a go when we get further south.

Eau Claire to Franklin (Milwaukee) Wisconsin

Today is Monday 28th May, which is the last Monday in May, and is Memorial Day in the USA.  It is like our ANZAC day, and is a really big day here.
We travelled to Frankin which is a southern suburb of Milwaukee to visit with Dennis and Cindy, who are parents of Katie who works with Richard.  We knew we had the right house when we saw this flag outside.

It was a great familiar welcoming site.
We went with Cindy and Dennis to have a Memorial Day grill (BBQ) at Cindy's brothers place.  It was a lovely relaxing afternoon.  We got to meet a few of Katie's relatives, and got at few stories!
Late in the afternoon we left Tim and Nancy's and Dennis and Cindy took us on a bit of a tour of downtown Milwaukee.  First stop was Miller Park where baseball team the Brewers are based.  It was absolutely huge, and had a roof that could close over if the weather was bad during a game.

Here is a photo us with Dennis and Cindy.  They were just the best hosts!
While we were at Miller Park we had a couple of drinks.  One was a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet, which Katie said we should try.  Very nice!
On our drive around downtown we stopped at a statue of Fonzie, and got a great tourist photo.

We stayed the night at Cindy and Dennis's place, which was just great of them.  Their hospitality was so great!

Grand Forks, North Dakota to Eau Claire, Wisconsin

We got to Minneapolis just before midday, in time for a river cruise at 12 on the Minneapolis Queen which is a renovated paddle wheel boat, on the Mississippi River.  Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of the boat, but here is one of the views we got.

The city skyline is in the background.  On the left is a power station that burns natural gas.  On the right is a metal recycling plant.  It gets in the metal and turns it in to chips the size of cornflakes, then it gets taken by barge to where ever they melt it down.
On the boat there was a guy wearing a Hurricanes shirt.  Richard got talking to him, and he was from Wales looking at stock feed in the USA.  So of course they had indepth farming conversations!
Then we went to the Mall of America (MOA) which is the largest mall in America.  520 shops, and a theme park in the middle!!

It was absolutely crazy!  There were four floors of shops around these rides. 
On the way to Eau Claire we stopped at a Fireworks shop.  You can buy fireworks all year round here.  Richard is keen to get some, but I'm not so sure we should.  He asked the shop assistant where we could let them off and she said mostly anywhere in Wisconsin.  But when he asked if it would be alright if we let one off in the car park she said (in her lovely Wisconsin accent), that it would probably be frowned upon.  We just laughed and laughed.  She probably thought we were quite mad.  We didn't buy any fireworks.

Jamestown to Grand Forks, North Dakota via Canada

Today we had just one mission.  To get to Canada so Richard could play some golf.  He had booked in at the Winkler Golf Club that was just a few miles over the boarder.
We planned to leave Jamestown at 7am, but we forgot to put Richards phone forward an hour after crossing in to central time, so we were an hour late leaving.  Fortunately it didn't matter that we were late, and he had a reasonable round of golf.

Here he is on the 3rd green. 
It was quite cold.   We had our beanies on.  A girl was driving around in a cart selling drinks and food, so we got a few drinks to keep us warm along the way.
We had a late lunch at the club house.  Was very nice. 
The boarder crossings were interesting.  On the way into Canada we had to get out of the car and go in to the office with our passports while they checked us out.  It was pretty low key.  But going back into the USA was a different story.  We had to drive into a big shed type building and then they mustn't have liked the look of us because they shut us in.  We had to get out of the car and step aside while they went through the whole car and our bags, even my handbag.  It really upset me, I really disliked getting the third degree and being made feel like I had done something wrong.  Richard said they are just doing their job but I'm sure they don't have to be such a*holes about it.  I've been through a few airport security checkpoints and they are nothing like that.  What the hell business of theirs is it how long I've taken off work for my holiday, or why we chose to rent a Mustang convertable.
It took me nearly the whole 2 hour drive to Grand Forks to calm down.  Richard slept off his late lunch beers.  He did wake up to take this picture of a crop spayer driving along the road.  It was so big I nearly felt I could drive under it.

Keystone, South Dakota to Jamestown, North Dakota

We left Keystone early and drove through the Badlands National Park.  It is called Badlands because of the landscape. 

It does look really weird, with random sharp peaked hills.  But it's interesting how they are layered with the colours of different deposits.  Water erosion washes some away, leaving this landscape.  There are lots of fossils found here.
We were heading to Pollock to meet the Jack, who is the cheese factory manager at the Dairy Concepts cheese plant there.  On the way Richard decided to take a dirt road.  It was quite bumpy, and luckily only about 12 miles long.  Along the way we came across some cowboys!

When we got to Pollock we got our fishing licences, $16.52 for the day.  Jack and his son Ben took us fishing on the reserviour in their skeeter with a 225hp motor on the back.  Boy could that move along.  The weather wasn't great, bit of a cold wind and starting to rain near the end.  But it was fun to be fishing.  We were fishing for Walleye.  It was different fishing to what I'd ever done before, but I still caught the biggest fish!!  Richard and Jack caught one keeper each too.  Ben was the deck hand, and didn't get much fishing done in between passing bait, re-tying lines, and using the net to get the fish in the boat (they get off the hook easy).  Richard probably caught the most, but they had to be longer than 15 inches, so alot got thrown back.
Back on shore, Jack filletted the fish with an electric knife hooked up to the car battery (Richard wants one!).  The fish heads and skins went in a garbage disposal at the fish filleting table.  Very handy.  We went to a local pub where they cooked it up for us, legend!  It was beautiful, and went down very well with a couple of drinks.  Unfortunately Jack and Ben had a dinner date to get to, so couldn't stay too long with us there.
Ben took a photo of us with our fish, with Jack's phone.  So when he e-mails it too us I'll add it to the blog.

Billings, Montana to Keystone, South Dakota 24.05.12

A big day of sight seeing today!
First of all we stopped at site of the Battle at Little Bighorn (or Custers last stand).  It was very interesting.  What we got out of it was that although the Native Americans won that battle, it really sealled their fate, as the "white man" came down on them really hard after that and moved them all to reservations or chased them up in to Canada.

This was at the Native American memorial.
Then we stopped at the Jewel Cave, but we were too late for a tour.  It is the second longest cave in the world (the map of it was amazing).  I don't know if it was a bad thing we didn't go on a tour as it was 100m down in an elevator!
Then we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is the start of an enormous sculpture out of the side of a rocky hill.  It was started 64 years ago, and has no end date. 

This statue at the front is what it will eventually look like, and in the background is what it is now.  They have blasted away a whole heap of rock, completed Crazy Horse's face, and started the hole under his arm.  It represents him answering the question where is your home.  He answers, home is where my people are buried.  I can not begin to think when it will be finished.  Apparently they will not accept any Government funding, and it's all paid for by the tourists and donations.

The we went to Mount Rushmore.  It's one of those things that I've always seen pictures of, but never thought I would see in real life.

This was created in only 14 years, but with Government funding.  Although they now rely on donations to maintain it.  You can come back at night and see it all lit up, but we're to touristed-out to travel the 2 miles back up the hill to see it.
So a big day of sight seeing.  Now relaxing with a well earned JD's and diet (which is what they call diet coke). It didn't snow today, but it wasn't very warm.  There was snow on the ground at the Crazy Horse memorial.  It probably won't get warm until we start heading south after next week.

Yellowstone Park 23.05.12

We left Pocatello bright and early for a big drive to Yellowstone Park.  The forecast was for snow, and it sure did.
We drove through Teton Park on the way to Yellowstone, and it started snowing then.

Of course we only had the top down for the photo, but we did wonder if our insurance would cover the car being filled up with snow. Then we drove up in to Yellowstone Park, and the further we drove, the harder it snowed.  We went to look at the Old Faithful Geyser that goes off about every 90 minutes.  We did see it, but only just.  It was snowing so hard we could hardly see the water.  It was pretty impressive still. Even though the weather was so cold there was still a lot of people there, even some on motorbikes! (It got down to 0 degrees C!)

This is the car after about 90 minutes.  Lucky we hadn't left the top down.
The highest point of Yellowstone is almost as high as Mt Ruapehu, so no wonder it was snowing.  It was much lower at the northern end and was almost sunny there.
Along the way we saw bison, elk, and even a grizzley bear (for about 10 seconds)!

We only caught the backend of the bear, buy the time we got our camera out, he was heading off.

The Dalles, Oregan to Pocatello, Idaho

Another big day of driving.  We saw lots of big stuff on the roads, trucks on trucks, wind turnbines on trucks, huge tires on trucks, three trailered trucks, and even double decker container trains.
The weather wasn't too hot, and it rained for a bit.  Another day to let the sunburn cool.

We stopped at the World Centre for Birds of Prey at Boise, Idaho.  It was really interesting.

They had about a dozen different types of birds in captivity, and they were fascinating to see.  The photo doesn't really do this bald eagle justice, his claws were huge!  I could really imagine him ripping a small mammal to pieces.
Tomorrow we are off to Tetson and  Yellowstone National Parks.  The forecast is for snow!!  Hopefully not.

Dinner at The Dalles

Just have to put a quick blog in here about dinner last night at Cousins Restaurant and Saloon.  We had our dinner in the Saloon.  We we walked in I got a fright because it was all crunchy underfoot.

But this is what they do, shell the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor!!  We didn't eat all these peanuts, alot was on the floor when we got there.

Some of the bar stools were horse saddles, (and more peanut shells on the floor).  It wasn't even a gimicky place.  It's just how it is!

Medford to The Dalles, Oregon (Monday 21.05.12)

We left the motel at 7.30am, and after a couple of stops for breakfast and lunch, we reached the farm where Richard was going to look at effluent processess at 12.45pm (quarter of an hour early).  I stayed in the car and happily looked at the maps and read my book while he was happy working.  While I'm talking about maps, we must thank Larry (who works for California Dairy), who gave us tour books and maps for all the regions we are going in! Even though we have the GPS in the car, I still like looking at the map as well.
Richard really enjoyed looking at (and touching) the cow poo, and he got a chance too look around the cow barn too which just made his day.

So here is a picture of some composted cow poo that is used for cow bedding.  It's organic, so it has to be good!

 

And here is a picture of an automatic milker that is grade A certified, (apparently being grade A is what you strive for here in the USA.)

So after the farm visit we drove to Multnomah Falls, which is the most visited attraction in all of Oregon (so we were the perfect tourists).

Two things about today, firstly the weather was rubbish.  It didn't get above 20 degrees C, and it rained!!! and rained. So we didn't have the top down today, but on the up side the sun burn got a chance to cool down a bit.

The other thing was that we nearly ran out of petrol.  We thought there would be a petrol station at the falls, but of course there wasn't!  The dashboard was saying that we had 14 miles of petrol left, and the guy at the information desk at the falls said the nearest petrol station was 13 miles either way.  So we did make it, but with not much to spare!  Not doing that again.  As soon as the petrol light comes on we are filling up!

Richard also said to add that I am not the worlds greatest photographer from a moving car.  That is why the only photos are from standing still. Perhaps you might get some photos from the car when I pluck up courage to drive and Richard can have the camera.

 This is Multnomah Falls.  It is pretty spectacular.  We did walk up to the bridge in the background, which was only 0.2 miles, but we didn't walk to the top which 1.0 miles.  My excuse was that it was raining, and my hair was getting wet.

We did get in to Washington State briefly.  We went across a green steel bridge at Hood River, but it was so narrow and bumpy Richard didn't want to drive back across it, so we drove along the Washington State side of the river until we came to another bridge back to Oregon at the Dulles dam.

So we didn't do much today really.  It was more or less a work day for Richard.

LA to Pismo Beach

I had a good flight to LA.  I was quite amazed I made it.  Travelling by myself I thought I would be sure to forget something, or fill out something wrong.  But everything went really well.
Thanks to Jo my suitcase only weighted 16.5kg, and I'm sure I've got enought clothes.
It took about an hour to get through USA immigration, the queue was huge!  Richard was really late picking me up, and I had been doing really well, but as soon as I saw him the tears welled up.  I'm not too sure why really, just please to see him and relief that I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life outside the LAX.
Then we picked up our rental car - a Mustang convertable! (Pictures tomorrow.) And drove up to Pismo Beach, which took about 4 hours.  The traffic was really heavy in places, but it kept flowing okay. 
The GPS took us straight to our motel, and we headed down to the beach just in time to see the sunset.  There was a boardwalk, but we didn't go down to the sand.  Had a lovely fish and shrimp meals for dinner.

I thought these only existed on the Simpsons!

Beautiful sunset.  Pismo seems like a cross between Waihi, Whangamata and Whitianga.  There were heaps of people around and lots of surf shops and restaurants right by the beach.

Pismo Beach, California to Medford, Oregan

Today was (hopefully) our biggest driving day.  We travelled 1036km, quite a few of these with the top down and the wind blowing through Richards hair (yeah right). This is only 27km less than if you drove from Cape Reinga to Wellington (The Terrace).  

The is the Mustang convertible that we are driving around in.  We had the top down for the most of the day the temperature got up to 35 degrees C with beautiful clear skies and now we're toast.

One of the reason why the kms were so high for this leg of the trip was that there were two points we needed to see, one being the Golden Gate bridge. Apparently we were lucky to have such a good day as the bridge is usually shrouded in sea fog. The last time Richard was here he drove across and couldn't see the top of the towers while driving across it. 

The second reason was the Napa Valley (wine - of course).  We stopped for lunch at an "information centre" place, that had lots of shops and wine tastings (and a really big chair). Then we just drove and drove (with a stop for a mimi and kai).  The driving is quite easy as it is mostly all freeways which are at least two lanes and divided from on-coming traffic by a barrier or a big open space.  We drove through a National Park, with mountains above us that had snow on them, but the temperature was still above 20 degrees C!

We are staying at a Motel 6 in Medford, arrived here at about 9pm.  Just had dinner at a truck stop opposite the motel (we'll probably go there for breakfast tomorrow too).  Early start tomorrow as Richard has a farm to look at tomorrow about 4.5 hours north of here.

Whirlwind US tour

Ok guys we're off on a new adventure, this time we're going to try and drive around most of the US. We have rented mustang convertible and we have a 7363 mile route planned over three weeks with some work stuff in there somewhere.

I fly out today to do some work in California next week and meet Al next Saturday at LAX to begin Crad and Als whirlwind tour of the US. Keep an eye out for our next installment.