Day 4: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.
            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

      Today was a LONG drive; well over 440 miles from Grand Island, NE all the way to Rapid City, SD. Our route today took us along I-80 West to Ogallala, NE. From there we went Northeast along the Western Trails Scenic and Historic Byway route along Route 26 and Route 385 to South Dakota. Towns included Lewellen, Oshkosh, Bridgeport, Alliance, Hemingford.

     Total miles driven at the end of day 4 of our trip? 1,500
     Average miles per gallon today? 56.9 MPG

Cowboy Boot Fence Post Covers
     Along the way between Bridgeport and Alliance, we stopped to take pictures of a fence that had a cowboy boot on the top of every fence post.

 Wide Load
    After that stop, somehow we found ourselves following a HUGE wide load carried by an 18 wheeler flatbed (the load was maybe 16' wide on the 18 wheeler trailer) and the Wide Load safety truck was right behind us. This wide load was going 71 miles per hour on the back roads of Nebraska! Finally it slowed and stopped in the middle of the road. We cautiously began to pass it on the right when it all of a sudden began turning right in front of us. We stopped and the safety truck following us came up next to us with his window down and he was screaming at us for being where we were. Oh well...

Model A and old car convoy ahoy!
     After the wide load experience we were just getting back on track with our speed and up ahead we spotted a slow moving car. The speed limit was 65 and they were going 30. Even 18 wheelers were having to pass them on a two lane road. We must have passed at least 20 of them but failed to take a picture of them. Each one had a big door sticker on the driver's side with a number. I think they were following the Oregon Trail.

Courthouse and Jail Rocks
     Next we stopped at the Courthouse and Jail Rocks. They are out in the middle of nowhere and shown below. The actual location is South of Bridgeport, NE. You could see them for miles.

Carhenge
    After lunch at a great restaurant called Ken and Dales we drove to Carhenge. It is supposed to simulate Stonehenge and was created by Jim Reinders. It was pretty cool. A lot of pigeons have made the old cars their home.

 

     One welcome surprise was finding that 385 in South Dakota was for the most part an excellent divided highway with a 65 MPH speed limit. It was free sailing all the way to Rapid City, SD.

     One thing is for sure; the flying bugs are out in full force. We had bug smears all over the windshield so we were happy to see a car wash at the station we filled up in. Gas here is $2.38 per gallon right now.

Day 3: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.
            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

     Over 1,000 miles into our trip and we are getting tired. Today's post will be a bit short with more detail added later. Today we traveled over 400 miles and tomorrow we have almost 500 miles to go!
     Today...
     We saw Freedom Rock in Menlo, Iowa. It is a really nice thing to see. A local artist repaints a huge rock every year by May 31 with a new theme dedicated to those who serve and have served in the Armed Forces.

     In Omaha, Nebraska,  we visited some of my sister's relatives and had lunch with them.
     We also found another Peter Toth wooden carving of an Indian Head in Lincoln, Nebraska, home of the Cornhuskers.

     That's it for today!

Day 2: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.
            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

     "Pre-Teen" and pointing...
     The day started with a good hot breakfast and then as we headed back to our room and were waiting for the elevator, the door opened and there were two women and a "girl" holding a large teddy bear in one arm and a curling iron in the other. Her hair was wild and her eyes had that faraway look in them. She walked out and the last woman to leave the elevator pointed at her and said "Pre-Teen" and rolled her eyes.
     Here's to another adventurous and sunny day! The weather is perfect outside.

     Today was spent in the Amana Colonies.

     What are they? Several towns by Cedar Rapids, Iowa where German settlers set up communal villages around 1855.  There are tons of shops including a woolen mill.  On the way, we stopped to see the world's largest wooden nickel.

World's Largest Wooden Nickel

     We also stopped at a "Literary" rest area on I-80 Eastbound. Since we were Westbound, we had to drive past it, pull off at the next exit and circle back. Then we had to go East to the next exit and circle back to continue. The rest area had the cleanest bathrooms ever.

Literary Rest Stop in Iowa

Giant Pencil at the Literary Rest Stop

     Once in the Amana Colonies, we traveled between East Amana, Middle Amana and West Amana and stopped at multiple shops. My favorite shops included the Woolen Mills and the Broom Shop where they had a giant wooden bentwood rocker made out of Maple wood.

     We ate lunch at the brewery in town and had Brats, Sauerkraut and Hot German Potato Salad.



     Our stay was in Marengo, Iowa in a small motel. We were the only guests for the longest time and then they put someone in the room next to us. Go figure; multiple rooms available and they put someone next to our room.

     For dinner, we ate at a restaurant owned by Greek owners and had Gyros. The owner's family was sitting near us and one woman talked non-stop mixing English and Greek together. It was interesting to hear about a shyster lawyer.
    We did some geocaching in Iowa as well We found two geocaches.

     By this time it was around 11 PM. We decided to go to bed and my sister checked her mattress and discovered a bed bug!!! That was it!!! She told me she wasn't sleeping in that room. We called the owner, got our money back and proceeded to drive all the way to Des Moines, Iowa arriving there well after midnight. We ended up getting a nicer room in a new hotel with a hot breakfast for less money than that bed bug hotel. Ugh!!
     One note of interest...the toilet at our hotel in Des Moines had the LOUDEST flush ever.

     That's it for today

Day 1: The Great Sibling Trip 2017

About Us

            We are a brother (Detroit, MI) and sister (Houston, TX) who love to travel together to parts unknown. This year my sister flew into Detroit and we began our journey West. Stops include Davenport, IA, the Amana Colonies in Amana, IA, Marengo, IA, Des Moines, IA, Omaha, NE, Grand Island, NE, Rapid City, SD, Sioux Falls, SD, several cities in MN including Mankato, MN, Wisconsin Dells, WI, Marinette, WI, Mackinaw City, MI and back to Detroit.
            We are also stopping for selfies and pictures along the way at some very interesting and unusual out of the way places that you will see in the blog. Enjoy!

     Our trip started at 6 AM sharp. We drove over 470 miles on ONE TANK of GAS and got over 57 MPG!!! Actually, we went through a whopping 8.8 gallons and had enough to go another 100+ miles. Gotta love a Prius...
     We stopped along the way and I got a 32 oz cup of coffee. There was construction along the way near Chicago and we ended up in the express lane. It was both a blessing and a curse.

     Blessing: We cruised past stopped vehicles in the other lanes.
     Curse: After drinking 32 oz of coffee, I had to GO!!! No way to get out of the express lane. I managed to hold it.  
     Somewhere in Illinois, there was a bad 18 wheeler accident on the Eastbound side. The truck was on its side and looked like it burned. Traffic was backed up for miles. Just down the road from that we saw yet another bad accident. The whole front end of a van was gone. Again, on the opposite side.
     We stopped for a bathroom break and lunch (forgetting about the time change and had lunch when others were stopping for breakfast. Oh well.
     Next up, we began looking for a carved wood statue created by Peter Toth. It was located next to a river...we found it.
     And little wonder, that coffee still needed to find a way out so off I went to find a bathroom. Aha! I found me an Outhouse and if I see an Outhouse, I use the Outhouse.
     Have you seen The Outhouses of America Tour web site yet? It's a hoot!

Peter Toth statue carved out of wood

The entire Peter Toth statue

      Next we proceeded to find a giant Vulcan carving out of a tree.  It was in Peru, Iowa in someones front yard. We got out; snapped the following pictures and got out of there!

Vulcan Carving

Live Long and Prosper

     Next up on the agenda? Do some Geocaching. Click on the link to go to the web site we use and find out more about it.
     We also loaded in the coordinates for the geocache we would be looking for in Iowa. We found the one we were looking for. Actually, both my sister and I looked for it and she ended up spying it deep inside a tree. We are actually having a lot of fun geocaching.

Here it is!

Hidden micro cache

My sister is proud that she found it

     If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I, er, we love to eat and try new places. We usually go up on Yelp and look at restaurant reviews and then go to the highest rated ones. Tonight we found a nice little Mexican restaurant with $5 Jumbo Margaritas as the special. We didn't waste any time ordering one for each of us.
     The waiter brought us a basket of salsa chips and some excellent salsa in a glass carafe. Boy were they good! Nice and warm chips and not too hot salsa. There was also a good selection of hot sauce if you wanted it.
     The food was very good and we are now stuffed. Since we are on the road again tomorrow, we took home the leftover chips in a paper bag that our waiter gave us.

Jumbo Margarita

Be Thirsty My Friends...

     Tomorrow we head out to the Amana colonies to see what they have to offer and we will do some more geocaching.
     Update in the morning at the hotel. Apparently, there are some massive curtain eaters of some kind in this hotel. Even though it's brand new, the curtains are either eaten by something or it is the new style for curtains!!!

The Great Sibling Trip 2017

Teaser for our upcoming Sibling Trip in June 2017...

We (my sister and I) are planning on traveling through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa (the Amana Colonies [buy a Witch's Broom, Sit in the World's Largest Rocking Chair]), Nebraska (Underground Railroad, Canteen Bar and Grill, National Parks), South Dakota (Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Wall Drug, the Badlands, Corn Palace), Minnesota (the Dam Store, Green Giant), Wisconsin (Wisconsin Dells, Mickey Lu's [best hamburgers in the World], Peshtigo Fire Museum) and Michigan (Mackinac Bridge and Mackinac Island) on this trip for a total of over 2,800 miles.

We will be driving a Prius so we are looking forward to mileage reports in the blog as well...

Our last trip included the World's Biggest Hot Dog on a roof, Mystery Spot, the World's Biggest Badger at a now defunct go go bar, The Schoolhouse Bar ("It's Time For Recess"), Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox, The Jolly Green Giant, Tin Man and a well endowed Tin Woman, Culvert Man and MUCH MORE!!!

So, get ready for an adventure through God's Country to some of the most unusual and far out places to visit in the Midwest.