On the road yesterday - longest day yet - 582 miles - sore butts!! We came through Sturgis, SD in the morning, site of the big motorcycle rally each August - I added to my bandana napkin collection with some really strange examples! I'm now the proud owner of a Sturgis 2009 motorcycle rally pin - bet none of you can say that! And speaking of motorcycles, we've been seeing thousands of them on the road, particularly in South Dakota. It does make you wonder, the number of riders who ride without helmets - if they don't have brain damage before, they will after. My favorite was the bleach blond wearing a leather vest with a slogan on the back that said "If you can read this, the bitch just passed you." Coal and oil wells ... read more

A real road trip day - straight across I-90 from Wisconsin to Minnesota to South Dakota. I now know why they call them the Great Plains... All you have to do is set the cruise control to 75 and make sure you don't fall asleep. The bugs are terrorist sized and splat all over the windshield - it's almost an hourly chore to wipe it clean so you can see out. Lots more corn, interspersed with cows. Lunch at a rest stop, accompanied by an 18 wheeler that should be reported to PETA - must have had thousands of chickens stuffed in tiny cages...guess I'll look for free range chicken from now on. The highlight of the day was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD - it is created every year from more than 3,000 bushels ... read more

A quick jaunt down to Springfield, IL to the Lincoln Library and Museum, which is quite a production. 2009 is the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and the museum has been spruced up to celebrate. They have done a wonderful job, using the newest technologies, to truly bring to life this monumental man. My guess is that Disney and Lucasfilm had a hand in some of the exhibits and productions. There was a wonderful short film about the library that used 3D holograms fabulously - I was sure the fellow was real in the beginning. In some ways this museum, while very well done, didn't seem to be as fascinating...perhaps because we felt we already knew so much about him. We then took a wonderful tour of Lincoln's home in Springfield, the only home he every owned. ... read more

On the road again! It was hard to leave the lake after such a wonderful summer but road trip fun lies ahead. Lauren joined us on our first leg from Fayette, Me to North Chatham, NY on Tuesday, August 25 to stay with my college sorority sister Jan Langlois and her husband George Vollmuth - two wonderful friends that have been Lauren's east coast parents for many years. Of course Lauren had to get used to her parents road trip behaviors - she may never be the same again. It was great to see Jan and George, enjoy a wonderful dinner with them and laugh as always. Wednesday morning as we left there were some tears shed by all three of us as we said goodbye for the year with Lauren off to Salzburg on Saturday ... read more

We arrived in Maine a week ago and it feels like heaven… Our last three days on the road included stops at Steve’s parents outside Baltimore, where I got to enjoy the short season of soft shell crabs - nothing better! On to Lauren’s in Farmington, CT the next day, with a side trip to the town in which I grew up - River Edge, NJ. Never a truer phrase - You can never go home again - the modest little home I grew up in has been torn down and replaced by a McMansion. It looked so out of place on Concord Drive with all the older homes…but I guess someone loves it. We did all the obligatory stops - St. Peter the Apostle Elementary School, River Dell Junior and Senior high schools, the local ... read more