Lambeau Field -The Grand Palace of Football - U.P'ers - Mackinac Bridge -9,079 miles

Lambeau Field, Green Bay Wisconsin, the grand old daddy, the epitome of all that is football. I first became a Packer Backer in the early 60's when I was stationed at K. I. Sawyer AFB in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. That's what connects the subjects of this particular post all together. I befriended some local Yuppers shortly after my assignment at Sawyer, and it was my new Finlander friend, Dick Ontto, back in 1963 who first invited me over to his home on Thanksgiving Day for venison burgers and local beer to watch the Packers play. Peg and I toured Lambeau Field, the very expensive sky boxes, and we ran out the players tunnel to the edge of the field, and walked around part of it's perimeter. I actually did get to touch the grass when no one was looking.

You can't imagine, after all these years of being a Packer Backer, the exhilaration of standing on the actual ground these Packers played on.



Vince Lombardi


From the skybox


From the field


12, that is TWELVE, world championships


And this fan did it too.

Gwinn, Michigan is 3 1/2 hours northeast of Green Bay in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the town I spent most of my off duty time while stationed at K. I. Sawyer AFB.


Now there are a lot of jokes about Yuppers, by others and by themselves. They live in a land that averages 200 inches of snow a year on the flat, which does not keep them indoors. They work hard (in the iron mines or cutting trees for pulp), when they have work, they play hard: hunting, fishing, skiing, ice fishing, drinking beer, eating pasties, and playing cribbage. They believe God created the Upper Peninsula first, then he created the lower peninsula later for trolls, or in more conventional terms, those that would not make it to heaven. They are wonderful people that accept strangers with open arms. A visitor is not a stranger for long. We re-connected with Dick and Julie after 47 years. It was as though we saw them last week. This was a highlight of the trip for me.



This photo with Dick, Julie and myself was taken outside of Rodney's Cafe in Gwinn, Michigan. We had a delicious breakfast of eggs over easy, home fries and cudighi, a great northern Italian sausage. This breakfast was so good after so many hotel "continental" breakfasts which were made up of bland cereals, old fruit, and terrible scrambled eggs (like poured out of a jug). The owner of Rodney's actually has a daughter in Charlotte, NC. See what you find out when you talk to people.

We drove south, then east, on US 2 along the north shore of Lake Michigan to the Mackinac Bridge that would spill us down into lower Michigan. It was a scene of white birch and pine trees with, at first a few, then a lot of views of the northern shore of this magnificent body of water.

Ooh, very cold water


One of many lighthouses on the shores of the Great Lakes.



The Mackinac Bridge, connecting the upper peninsula and the lower peninsula of Michigan. The longest suspension bridge in the world, 5 miles, built under terrible winter conditions in the late '50's. It has to withstand high winds, walls of ice and extreme temperatures.

It almost looks like a Caribbean scene of a bridge connecting two islands.

This will be my last post until we get home mid next week, at which time I will post my final one regarding our travels. I hope these posts provide encouragement for some of you to get behind the wheel and see the greatness and beauty this country and its people have to offer.

South Dakota - Minnesooota - 8,336 miles

We woke up to the sounds of the Burlington Northern Railroad passing by every hour. It was a bright sunny morning, a beautiful one for the ride down to Mt. Rushmore. You know, the mountain with the four faces on it. George, Tom, Ted and Abe. Kidding aside, in spite of the early summer crowds, it was worth the trip. The mountain sculpture's beauty is enhanced by a very nice and respectful memorial building which brings you into the viewing area. Columns with the flags of all 50 states line the walkway.




We drove east from Mt. Rushmore but had to stop along the way at the world famous "Wall Drugstore in Wall South Dakota. This place is like five miles of Myrtle Beach compressed into a quarter mile of stores. However, and fortunately, they do sell aspirin and other over the counter pain killers there. Since it is right off the highway, it's worth a chuckle to check it out. Heck, they even sell Davey Crockett "Coonskin Caps".



And then, for all you maize lovers of the world, ethanol junkies extraordinaire, supporters of Willie Nelson's efforts to save the family farm, in downtown, metropolitan Mitchell, South Dakota is the fourth, over the last hundred years, CORN PALACE. Yes, it's a large building with turrets and all, covered with pictures made from dried ears of corn. And yes again, there are 12 different colors of corn, even I didn't know that, and each year the pictures are painstakingly changed by local talent. It is truly unique. I only ask, why?






We did have delightful dinner in Mitchell at the Station Restaurant, which was a converted railroad station which offered a free T-shirt if one could finish a 48 ounce steak. We saw one patron order this meal, and I doubt their T-shirt inventory went down.

We did stay over in Mitchell then drove through all of southern Minnesota stopping in La Crosse Wisconsin for the night. This was not uneventful though. The landscape was very nice, rolling, gentle hills, neat rows of knee high corn and soybeans, cows leisurely feeding on green pastures. We could not help leaving the highway at Austin, Minnesota to tour the museum dedicated to the world famous production of SPAM. Now I don't mean all those bothersome emails, I mean that meat in those funny little cans that are known the world over and sold in more then 160 countries. I wonder how you spell SPAM in Senegalese or Kazakhstanese?





The landscape just east of Austin, to the Wisconsin border was filled with windmills. Very large, white, and gently rotating in the breezes providing clean energy to that region.



Next, Lambeau Field, Upper Michigan - UP'ers - eh!

Yellowstone NP - Cody, WY - Big Horn NP - Devils Tower WY

The drive down from Livingston, Montana to Yellowstone Park (just across the border into Wyoming) was a beautiful drive with views of snow capped mountains, with green fields with pasturing cattle browsing about.




When we arrived in Gardiner, the last Montana town before the park entrance we paused for gas and to wash 5 days worth of dead bugs off my car. Peg took these photos while I did the work. Also some pictures of the Yellowstone River as it passes through town.







We proceeded to the Roosevelt Arch which is the main and original gateway into the park. It happened again. In an earlier blog I mentioned while we were in Redwood Forest driving my Z through a giant redwood tree that some Japanese tourists were milling around and admiring my car in the parking area. They were taking a lot of photos and when I came up I motioned for one of ladies to sit in the car so her friend could photograph her. It made her day. While we were stopped in line to drive though the Roosevelt Arch, again some Japanese tourists saw my Z and took many pictures of it. My guess is that my beautiful car is a rarity in Japan and what they have there is no comparison.

Back to Yellowstone, including material from their own pamphlets. Established in 1872 as the world's first national park, at the heart of the park is volcanism. Several times over the last 2 million years huge volcanic eruptions occurred here. The most recent spewed out nearly 240 cubic miles of debris. The park's present central portion collapsed forming a huge basin. The magmatic heat powering those eruptions still powers the park's geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mudpots. The area is in constant change as new springs are forming all the time. The air is misty with the smell of hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs)and the acidic water is boiling hot. People are warned to stay on boardwalks as a slip of the foot could be very serious. The park abounds with all sorts of wildlife:elk, bison, bear, moose,deer, coyote and much, much more.







We left the park from the east entrance passing a Yellowstone Lake which makes up most of the southeastern portion of the park. We drove through the 8530 foot elevation of Sylvan Pass and descended through the west slope of the Absaroka Range, named for the Crow Indian Tribe.

After spending that night in Cody, Wyoming named after Buffalo Bill Cody,

we drove east on US Route 14 though the awesome Big Horn National Park to Sheridan Wyoming and had lunch.









Be sure to double click these photos.





Beyond Sheridan was a long ride though high rolling desert, still green from a lot of rain, to Devils Tower National Monument. This place played an important part in the movie "Close Encounters of The Third Kind" a 1977 movie staring Richard Dreyfus. Anyway, about 50 million years ago molten magma was forced through sedimentary rocks above it and cooled underground. As it cooled it contracted and fractured into columns. Over millions of years, erosion of the sedimentary rock exposed Devils Tower. It rises 867 feet from its base.



It was late in the afternoon when we left the tower so we decided to drive a couple of extra hours into Rapid City, SD. Then we could get an early start before the crowds at Mt. Rushmore.

At this time we now have traveled 7,609 miles on this vacation trip.

Be ready for the next blog which not only covers Mt. Rushmore but a world famous retail store and a monument to maize, but a meat museum and a lot of wind.