Mineral Point and the End of the Trail

Wyoming cowgirl boots ("Justins," which Tiffany described as a "good starter boot") on the cheap carpeting of a Mineral Point motel room; a fair summary of a glorious trip.

We have lived in Wisconsin for 27 years, but have spent very little time in the southwestern corner of the state, often called "the driftless region" (here's a chance to plug the wonderful novel Driftless by David Rhodes), so we decided to spend our final night in Mineral Point, often described as one of the most charming towns in the area. Unfortunately, Mineral Point has fallen upon hard times in the past few recessive years, so the downtown has many empty storefronts. Even more unfortunately, almost all of the restaurants have closed. Also unfortunately, most everything in Mineral Point closes on Mondays, shops and restaurants alike.

But God is good. We wandered into one of the few open galleries, and had an enjoyable visit with the owner/artist. And while we missed the final tour at Pendarvis, a Wisconsin Historical Society site focused on the Cornish lead miners

(their burrowings in the ground are what gave our state the nickname

"badgers"), we were able to take a stroll through one of the last remaining sections of original prairie in the state. But the greatest bit of good fortune was walking by a small bistro/cafe that has only been open a month just as the chef hung out the yellow "we're open tonight!" flag. An hour and a half later we were back for yet another of our "exquisite meals in unexpected places" experiences at Cafe Ellie in the Mineral Point Hotel (four rooms). They offer only three entrees each night (always including one that is vegetarian), salads made from local greens, well-selected organic wines and beers, and a bumbleberry pie that is to die for - what a great final meal on a great road trip! Two nights ago we got into one of those unresolvable debates about the Ten Best Meals we have eaten in forty years of marriage, and both agreed that the Corn Exchange in Rapid City, SD, belongs on that list. Who woulda thunk?

Many themes to ponder as we finish this trip. Among them:

1. Why did it take us so long to do the western tour?

2. How pleasant and manageable it was: about 3,700 miles in 13 days, but never more than 500 miles in a single day, all of it in a comfortable car that averaged over 41 mpg.

3. The balance of good advance planning (all reservations locked in before we left) and spontaneity (why not detour to spend some time at Devil's Tower?).

4. How helpful it was to travel with electronic companions: Della, our GPS (Perry Mason fans will understand her name); the smart phones (keeping emails cleaned up, handling work-related needs even while hiking in what appeared to be deep wilderness); the white-noise generator (a blessing in hotel/motel rooms) and the aging laptop upon which we have updated this blog.

5. The role of family history around John's grandmother, making our time in Cody/Yellowstone more meaningful.

6. The central role of long-term friendship, spending time with four sets of cherished, geographically-dispersed friends in Cody (Randy and Bev), Silverthorne (Dan and Donna), Colorado Springs (Rick and Cindy and their girls) and Des Moines (Michael and Catherine), which made it far more than a "see America's natural wonders" trip.

7. The usefulness of paper maps, in addition to Della. We had multiple individual maps, plus a US atlas, along with AAA books provided by some dear older friends who wanted to contribute to the trip (Della sometimes developed hissy-fits).

8. Reading one big book through much of the trip: Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee (the new illustrated edition, with additional essays, portraits of Indian leaders, maps, and pictures of Indian arts and crafts). It is a tale of great suffering and loss, as well as courage and resilience, and Susan read many passages to John as the miles passed.

9. We are still speaking to one another after all these days in the car together.

So, it is all good. Tomorrow will be about the final hours of driving, laundry, groceries, and returning to normal life. But The Road will now hold a greater allure, and we will be eager to return to it again.

Iowa!

After leaving North Platte, we continued east into Iowa. What a lovely surprise Iowa is. With its rolling green hills and prosperous-looking farms, it is "easy on the eye," a description we've always given to its neighbor, Wisconsin. We stayed last night with friends from long ago, Michael and Catherine, who we first knew when they met one another as young assistant professors at UW Oshkosh. They were only in Oshkosh 2 years, but we have stayed in contact since they left. They returned to Appleton less than a year after they left Oshkosh when John performed their wedding. Kate, Colin, and their friends from California were the only other people present at the wedding. We've been in the same house since they were married, but they've lived in at least 5 other places before settling in Des Moines where Michael is Provost at Drake University and Catherine in about to start a job as a statistician for a research group at a local hospital. Along the way, two lovely children have entered their lives (their daughter is 20, their son is 10) and it was a great joy to be with them last night.

Today, we left Des Moines and continued east. About an hour into the trip, we remembered with great fondness having had a lunch with Kate and Colin at a Maid-Rite restaurant in LaCrosse about 20 years ago, Maid-Rite being an Iowa chain restaurant started in 1926. Think of ground beef, lean and tasty, mixed with relish and a bit of mustard, all falling out of the bun (they give you a plastic spoon to scoop it up). Thanks to 21st century technology (our "smart phones"), we learned that there is a Maid-Rite in Dubuque, a city we expected to pass through around lunch time. We programmed the GPS for the Dubuque Maid-Rite and each had a delicious Maid-Rite sandwich. Made right. Twenty years ago, we were fascinated with how they cooked the hamburger and separated out the fat on a slanted cooking surface. Now they have some "new fangled" device to do that and as far as we could tell, it tastes just as good. This is

Kay, who remembers the old days, standing with the new equipment.

From Dubuque, it was an easy journey to Mineral Point and the Redwood Motel where we think we are one of two guests staying for the night. It's a bargain--clean, free Wi-Fi, and a great view of a meadow and birch trees. We plan to go out outside tonight to sit on one of their benches by the meadow and have a last sip to celebrate this wonderful road trip.

Across Colorado, into Nebraska

Leaving Colorado Springs this morning, we opted to avoid the interstate (and Denver) for as long as possible, and took the "blue highways" through the Colorado plains. We stopped for lunch in the little town of Limon and had a fine meal at Ruby's Cafe. The next town was called Last Chance, although we could not sort out what it was the last chance for, given that there was no gas station, no rest room and no place to eat. This is the part of Colorado where zoning ordinances require homeowners to purchase a rusted-out car with missing windows to put in the back yard, a financial burden for young folks buying their first home.

North Platte is - let us be honest - a truly depressing city. The downtown died years ago (although we found our way to the one decent restaurant remaining),

even though they are trying to put a happy face on it with banners and such. We asked our waitress to give us a more positive spin on the city, but the effort just got her depressed. Union Pacific owns the town, which is dominated by a railroad yard that makes Cheyenne's look like a Lionel layout under the Christmas tree. Very hot - mid-nineties - but beautiful skies.

We scrubbed off a lot of elevation today, not noticing until we arrived at our motel that we had consumed only half as much water as we had become accustomed to drinking daily. This is our sixth hotel/motel, and they

have been an interesting assortment, ranging from relatively high-end (for us) places to a restored historic downtown hotel to a mom and pop place with pine paneling. This one is in mom and pop territory, but it's all good.

The Golf Diesel has been a delight throughout - comfortable, plenty of space for our gypsy gear, and returning amazing mileage despite the challenges of headwinds, mountains, etc. John's goal is to keep the total trip mpg average above 40, which right now looks like a done deal.

Tomorrow, we are on to Des Moines to visit friends Michael and Catherine, our third opportunity to be house guests. Likely no post until Monday night.

Thunder, lightning, rain, wind, and a lovely outdoor wedding

Lauren and Frank's wedding yesterday inspired this trip. We had originally planned to go to Italy this summer, but on New Year's Day, when John performed the wedding for Lauren's sister, and Lauren and Frank asked him to perform theirs, we immediately changed our plans and came up with the road trip idea.

The day began with exploration of Historic Colorado Springs (in caps because that's the way they promote it). Basically, we poked in and out of a few stores in an area of about 4 blocks with 19th century buildings. We were selective and enjoyed doing some Christmas shopping in two galleries. Then we moved on to Manitou Springs, just up the road (near Garden of the Gods) and strolled around, poking into more stores. There the theme was "silliness" as we found several places selling clever toys (stocking gifts). Manitou Springs has about six public springs where you can fill your water bottle and taste the fizzy differences among them. We tasted at two of them and then had a delicious, slow lunch (the latter, not our choice; it's a place known for good food and slow service).

After a stop by the hotel to freshen up (and a quick visit to a battery store to try to sort out the one technological glitch of the trip; first John's and then Susan's phone started draining their batteries on fast-forward. Overuse of car charger? Altitude? Still not certain) we headed for the Myers' home. It was 96 degrees and sunny when we left the hotel, 83 with threatening clouds when we reached the house twelve minutes later. Colorado Springs being 200 square miles that include a number of mountains means that different parts of the city can experience dramatically different weather. The Myers had had quite a day. Rick's mom was stuck in the hospital, where modest symptoms had led to a full battery of tests, and now a major thunderstorm was brewing, threatening to tear apart the beautifully decorated tent, pagoda, tables, etc. As huge wind gusts blew through we went into "command central" mode, monitoring the Doppler radar and the progress of the raiding party attempting to spring Grammy from the hospital while the younger guests engaged in premature keg-tapping.

A mere half-hour later we had Grammy in her seat, the skies opened a bit, and the ceremony began as the musicians sang "Here Comes the Sun." John sped up the pace of the service when the thunder began to peal again, frightening one of the bridesmaids (Lauren's dog, Guinness), but in the end the ceremony was all that we hoped it would be. This may not be the first time that John has performed ceremonies for two brides from the same family within six months, but he cannot remember such a thing in the past.

As we left the festivities, we had one of those out-of-the-blue, memorable moments. A young couple approached us and asked directly, "How long have you been married?" We replied, "more than 40 years." They gulped, and said "what's your secret?" Susan immediately came up

with "lots of good sex" and John quickly added, "lots of humor." (This says a great deal about their respective priorities.) We learned that they are being married at the end of July, just bought a house and changed jobs. We told them about how we've agonized over the small decisions of life (which washer and dryer to purchase) and have made the big decisions quickly (move to Wisconsin). Susan suspects that a lot of work on the big ones gets done unconsciously and both of us attribute the outcomes to God's goodness.

So now we head for Nebraska. We have been at high altitude (between 7,500 and 12,000 feet) for a number of days, going through multiple tubes of lip balm and wishing we had brought skin cream. At Taylor's house John learned that opening a bottle of tonic at 9,700 feet can bring unexpected drama. We will spend the next two days descending to our familiar Midwestern flatlands.

Tiny and enormous beauty in Colorado

From the tiny alpine flowers on top of a peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, to the views of the mountains in the park, our trip through Colorado has ranged from looking at small details to wide expanses of amazing beauty. A theme beyond the natural wonders has been friendship. Yesterday, we left Cheyenne, WY, and drove through RMNP, on our way to visit our good friends Dan and Donna Taylor who retired to Silverthorne, CO after many years in Appleton (Dan taught classics at Lawrence). John wasn't so sure he wanted to see any more scenic wonders as we left Cheyenne, but who can pass up RMNP? Those mountains really are rocky, and quite different from what we saw in Yellowstone, though sad to say, they share the scourge of the pine beetle infestation. It was a great thrill to park our car atop a high peak and walk up a trail, starting at almost 12,000 feet. The tiny blue flowers extended only part way up the trail; at the highest point, no flowers were blooming that we could see.

Dan and Donna served us a delicious dinner and over several bottles of red wine and some sips of grappa (to be approached carefully at 9,700 feet of elevation), they told us about their new life in Colorado. Dan's on the county library board and we discussed how it might be possible to attract interest in the library from the many wealthy people who spend only a few weeks in their neighborhood. The folks at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center seem to have figured out how to leverage involvement from part-timers. We think people who have second (and third and fourth) homes need to figure out how to connect meaningfully to their communities and what could be better that donating time and money to local cultural institutions?

This morning, we said good-bye to Dan and Donna and, on Dan's recommendation, avoided the interstate by taking a beautiful drive through Breckenridge and then across to Colorado Springs, over a high pass and through a wide green valley. I don't know that we'll ever understand anything about ranch life, but we're enjoying seeing them and imagining life in this wide-open expanses of land and sky.

On the way into Colorado Springs, we drove through Garden of the Gods which is definitely a place one should return to many times, in different seasons, and at various times of day, to see the gorgeous red rocks and also the plant life. Tonight was the rehearsal for tomorrow's wedding and the rehearsal dinner. What a joy it is to be with so many dear people with whom we celebrated another wedding on January 1. By coming here, we can now imagine our friends (Dan and Donna, Rick and Cindy) in the places they love so much.

Cheyenne

The seven hour drive from Cody to Cheyenne was lacking in spectacular scenery (except for the glorious Wind River Canyon), but high desert sagebrush country has its own subtle beauty. We have tried to focus on the downtown area of each city we have visited, but only in Cheyenne did we book a downtown hotel - the Historic Plains Hotel, built in 1911 and restored some years ago. The good news is that the Plains is very nice overall, although the rooms are small and dark and somewhat lacking in hot water. The bad news is that downtown Cheyenne has not fared as well as the other cities we have visited. John has a theory going that cities with a smaller population base (Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Cody) have done better at maintaining vital downtowns than larger ones because their economy does not support regional malls and big box retailers. Which is to say that not a whole lot is happening in downtown Cheyenne (it is the state capital, so it has many law offices, but we get the sense that the Wyoming legislature only meets every other year for a cup of coffee). The Union Pacific still has an incredibly vast switching center - so large that huge bridges have been constructed to move traffic over it - but there is no longer any passenger service. We ate at an old-school western restaurant favored by locals and had a perfectly adequate meal, then went walking. Which is how we ended up at the western store with Tiffany.

It seems that spending two days in Cody with Bev Perkins and her extensive

collection of cowgirl boots awakened something in Susan that we did not suspect was in there - a hunger for cowgirl boots. And Tiffany was the lady to make it happen. Tiffany learned to ride horses before she could walk, has worked rodeo, shows both horses and dogs, works for the sheriff 40 hours a week and in the western store part-time, and is one of the nicest human beings we have ever met. Which is how Susan wound up with her pair of "starter boots." Tiffany also tried to fit John, but his narrow little feet proved too much of a challenge even for her.

Side notes: we are glad for most everything we brought along on this trip (our own pillows in particular) but next time we will bring a short extension cord - most hotel/motel rooms are lacking in enough outlets to recharge cell phones, laptop, etc. Tomorrow we head for Colorado to visit Dan and Donna Taylor, our last stop before the wedding that precipitated the entire trip.

Two Days in Cody/Yellowstone

We arrived in Cody shortly after noon on Sunday. Our friends Randy and Bev were both tied up for the afternoon - Randy preaching in Montana and Bev with the Plains Indians Annual Pow-wow on the grounds of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center where she works as the conservator. We wandered in and out of the wonderful Center and the Pow-wow, exceeding our annual quota of frybread consumption, before spending the evening with Bev and Randy.

Monday began with breakfast at the Irma Hotel in Cody. This place is meaningful to us because we have a collection of letters written on the hotel stationery in 1919 from John's grandfather to his grandmother, who grew up here. In the letters, he's telling of his great love for her and begging her to return with him to the East. We're not quite sure why he was here--pure adventure perhaps--but we know he stayed at the Irma. She graduated from Cody H.S. in 1915. In August, 1904, she traveled with her sisters, father, and several others (including some "Eastern visitors") to Yellowstone and we have a detailed description of the journey written by Bertha, her eldest sister. Their "caravan consisted of the mess wagon, a covered wagon in which the tents, tarps, bedding and grub was carried, a three seated Park rig, and four saddle horses." Describing the area along the Shoshone River, she wrote" Its shores are lined with attractive verdure in the form of cottonwood, quaking aspen, and willow. Everywhere up and down and over the mountains are forests, forests, forests till it seems that there is wood enough to last the world for years."

Unfortunately, that's no longer the case. The pine bark beetle is devastating the forest so now there are great swaths of dead trees. You can still see evidence of the great fire of 1988, and with all the dead trees, one can barely imagine what the next fire will be like. We saw one area as we drove into Cody a few days ago, where they have clearcut part of a mountain where the infestation is especially bad.

We didn't go to Old Faithful as we wanted to travel through the Lamar Valley in hopes of seeing wolves. Bertha, however, did see Old Faithful and she described its "uniform periodicity of action" (65 minutes in her time; 80 minutes now). They returned to see it at night "by searchlight. There is no way to describe the grandeur and beauty of this sight. When the searchlight if played on this beautiful spray, it is first one color than another until it dies down out of sight." We try to imagine what it was like for them traveling through the park in 1904. Remarkably, we saw many of the same things she saw, only we took one day to do it.

Bertha didn't talk much about the wildlife but I'm sure there was plenty to see. This may have been because she was so used to seeing bison, elk, wolves, pronghorns

and coyotes (all of which we saw on our tour) in and around Cody. As for us, our jaws dropped many times not just on the partial tour of Yellowstone that Randy conducted for us (he and Bev know just about every corner of the park) but on the loop drive (in the east entrance, out the northeast entrance) to and from the park. Our first buffalo was a thrill to see; by numbers 308-370 we were a bit less excited. One thrill was watching several wolves move through a patch of sagebrush; another was the elk that crossed the road in front of us. A delightful day, followed by a lovely evening with Randy and Bev, enjoying the incredible view from their porch as we ate. Now, we're moving on to Cheyenne.