Day 19 St. Louis to Charleston, WV It was hard to say good-bye but after lots of visiting, yummy french toast, and re-packing of the van we headed out. 8 hours of straight driving....no side trips or strange sightings...wow...we must be getting tired! Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and finally West Virginia - a five state day. Turns out, we were in for a bit of fun in wild and wonderful West Virginia. Our hotel was the host hotel for the annual Oakland Pontiac car club conference. We had live music right outside the hotel’s front door, and about a mile of Pontiac cars from circa 1930’s thru 2010. We strolled along the river looking at cars watching the sun go down. We wandered off the river road and found a nice place to get dinner and ... read more

Day 17 Colorado Springs to Kansas City, MO Another sunny day! Wow! The high today in Colorado Springs is going to be 75 degrees with no humidity and in Baltimore 103 degrees with high humidity....hmmm...way are we heading east? Ah, but East we must go....right through Kansas! Whoot...don’t everyone get excited all at once! Ok...so we had to look a few things up....but did you know that the world’s largest remaining tract of tallgrass prarie is in Kansas....yeh...whew....surprised me too! No, but really, stuff happened in Kansas..... The world’s largest ball of twine is in Cawker City, W.C. Coleman of lantern fame was born in KS as were Amelia Earhart, Walter P. Chrysler, Dwight D Eisenhower, and Bob Dole. With all that happening in Kansas we are so embarrassed for making fun of Kansas in the ... read more

Day 15 Grand Junction to Colorado Springs, CO Happy Fourth of July America!! Thank you for all of the beautiful National Parks!!!!!! Grest day today, we found our way to . . . yep you guessed it . . . Wal-mart!! Whoot! Everyone has to go at least once or twice on a road trip! Leaving the parking lot, we took a southerly route on 50 to Colorado Springs. Why cross a state in 3 hours when you can take 8? By the way, this is the same 50 that takes us to Ocean City, MD! We headed south so we could make an unscheduled stop at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison park. (Follow the link for more information on this little-known canyon National Park.) We took the South Rim road and found that the ... read more

Day 13 Yellowstone National Park to Grand Tetons to Salt Lake City, UT We packed up the tent and stored it deep in the van with promises of a bed and hot shower to end our day!! Although some parts of Yellowstone are indeed beautiful, overall, the park paled in comparison to the parks to the north we have visited earlier during this vacation. I have to say that the ecology program the ranged presented at the campsite in Yellowstone was the best . . . hands down! We were anxious to see what The Grand Tetons would bring, more of the same or a new beast altogether. The two parks are virtually connected. Exiting the south of Yellowstone puts the tourist on the Rockefeller Parkway. A relatively short drive that enters the north of the ... read more

Day 11 Glacier National Park to Yellowstone National Park, WY Time to say good-bye to Glacier and head south to Yellowstone. We both feel like we have so much more to do and see here.....and we are still whipped from our hike yesterday! We packed up the tent and headed down the road. When we were planning this trip we decided that our route wood be flexable. Today is an example of that. While we didn't find the elusive World's Largest Spool of Dental Floss, we did have the opportunity to visit the headwaters of the Missouri River. Jill, once walked across the Mississippi river at its humble begining and we hoped to do the same with the Missouri. Unfortunately, if the word "confluence" is connected with a river's beginning, chances of walking across it are ... read more