There and Back Again
(or, a road trip into iOTWr’s America)
by Ghost of Brig Gen J Glover
July/August 2020
Some may have heard that we took a certain road trip that initially had a particular theme to it, MAGA 2020, or ‘go west young men, A Refresher in Americana’, if you will. But once announced to a ‘certain’ person, named CLAUDIA, it morphed into something quite very unexpected.
I forget on which post, but I threw out the idea of meeting with anyone in our ’projected path’, crazy right? And well, I received some responses.
Our ‘mission’ was to go from the NY environs to the Black Hills, SD, and those special places associated with that region. We have been there before, but we wanted our crew of two teens to experience, at best, what is left ‘to see’. (What has changed out there, if at all??) And you know what?? There is LOTS to see and not much has changed if you don’t look so hard for the change.
Of course, it really depends on where you go and when you go; timing is everything when traveling, especially these daze with this intermittent violence going on. For instance? We went to Chicago AFTER the first riot yet BEFORE the second one. Basically, slipped in and out for two hours. Then, when we got to Georgetown, DC, we were ‘treated’ to a ‘protest’ down the block on the corner from where we were staying. Like I said, TIMING. The other timing part of it is that the timing was PERFECT for us a family and considering the socio-political state of the country we figured, ‘we had better go NOW’ not knowing what to expect in a month or even a year as in next summer?? (for instance Kenosha ‘happened’ just since we have been back.)
We have been, like others, maybe a bit too cooped up and saw what was going on with the whole Whuflu and city violence not too far from us, actually just 17 miles away!
In our mind? Road trip! Well, to at least exit out of the surreal existence we were living in, just outside NYC, near Whuflu ground zero.
The other motus operandi of the trip was, the fact that M Hatch and I have been to NOW all 50 state capitals as of the two Dakotas! Only took about thirty years to accomplish.
While a trip like this may be a venture that is more than some can do, either physically or mentally,(both are necessary to take this on), I cannot, and I really mean CANNOT, express the concept and realization of ‘meeting’ people on iOTWr and THEN meeting them in person??!
When we were planning this vacation? We did NOT plan on this…’other worldly’…iOTWr Trip!
BELIEVE ME.
Something drew us ‘out there’. Like being driven or pulled to Devils Tower or the Field of Dreams, OR there was something in the form of Whuflu that sent us running out there from where we were living?!
People ask “what can I do?” Go see what was either built or created before us for us. If not by car, go see those places that some take for granted, like that local statue in your local city park.
Great time, great ‘shoebox memories’ made. So here is our ‘slide show’ of what we did ‘for summer vacation’.
From what you would see in the photos, you would think I wore the same shirt out every day.
Best to all iOTWers,
God Bless, stay safe and BE STRONG.
Ghost of Brig Gen J Glover
Claudia’s Place
We had a GREAT spaghetti dinner, myyy favorite!
Anymouses’ Place
Taken after a great lunch at a local place.
Hill City, South Dakota – note, ‘Revere’ magnet.
Charlie WalksonWaters’ Place
“I can see the Badland from my house” – hehe
Phenrys’ Place
Phenry has the best mask! “This mask is as useless as our government”
Lil’ Morphin Annies Place and Dixon Stained Glass Studios
And eventually becomes a finished piece. After glass selection and cutting.
PURE courage and VICTORY
The level of detail in this piece is REMARKABLE.
Honorable mentions of some almost visits:
• Systematically confused – we’ll meet in Central (—) at that ASG statue, hopefully two or three years?
• Hanoverfist – we missed you at your place of work! We love the area you are in (—), so we’ll be back, just get some ammo on those shelves!
• SNS – communications were down at the time! M Hatch’s sister is from your area so…we’ll see ya come some time.
• Joe6pak – the magnets made it, thanks. What a nice gift to get when we got home!
Major Highlights of the Trip:
• Hillsdale College, MI
• Frank Llyod Wright – Richland Center, WI
• Louis Sullivan – banks in the midwest
• Louis Comfort Tiffany – several churches
• Teddy Roosevelt NP, ND – Buffalo!
• Going 113 mph in FAR eastern Montana…oops.
• Mount Rushmore, SD – Gutzon Borglum, an American masterpiece
• Devils Tower, WY – the stump of America
• Custer State Park, SD – more buffalo!
• Crazy Horse, SD – incredible undertaking by a private family
• The Badlands NP, SD
• North and South Dakota State Capitals – completes the done ALL fifty cycle….whew.
• Field of Dreams, Dyersville, Iowa – off the bucket list for ALL of us now!
• Buddy Holly Memorial Crash Site, Clear Lake, Iowa – say no more.
• Marine Corps Memorial, DC – Felix de Weldon, 1951 – goose bumps.
• AND allll the iOTW ‘pit stops’ along the way to refresh the engines of the mind and spirit, and wind in the sails.
Great job. Thanks for posting this!
Way to go, Ghost! Your route was quite a way(s) to go, as well!
Awesome Ghost. Somehow I missed your posting of your trip. From the sound of your itinerary, you were about 50 – 60 miles from rest and dinner at our home. Hope we will meet in the promised afterlife.
Looks like it was a good trip. I would love to take Mrs. RadioMattM on a road trip of the US. She has only been to the west coast states plus a trip to Las Vegas with a quick trip across the line into Arizona.
Now all we have to do is get the damned border opened and have it so we do not have to go into self-isolation for 14 days when we get back.
Beautiful.
There very few thing better than a drive across/around the U.S. I’ve done it six times in my life. Look forward to it every time and would rather drive than fly unless I’m on someone else’s short vacation schedule.
A very ambitious undertaking to say the least.
And a far too short a visit as you passed through.
The average of 320 miles a day would not work for me and/or Mrs. Anymouse. A “relief tube” would have to be installed through the floor in the van. Getting old makes it worse than traveling with a kindergarden class.
Hoping for a “Midwest IOTW Get Together” if not this fall perhaps next spring. Maybe make it to the barbecue that Joe Dan throws every year and have an “IOTW Table.”
Thanks again for stopping and picking up the check at the “Dead End” was very gracious of you.
Nice meeting you and the missus. And your boys. A fine family. Glad you had a great trip.
Sorry about Georgetown. It only got worse after you went through.
Jealous; some day I need to rise up off my a$$. Glad you got out of the house and had a safe trip.
What a lovely family! We totally enjoyed their visit to our place! And, we feel a bit better about the future of America, if we can count on the next generation being like their boys.
That was a creative and resilient way to deal with the lockdown!
Thanks C for suggesting the post! And thanks for that hosting us and the welcoming sign, albeit a brief visit, it set the pace for the rest of the iOTWr trip. We missed the chicken coop darn it though! NO PROBLEM we’ll be back at some point to go with YOU to your fave diner…we missed it on the way out! It was GREAT meeting your sistas…give them our best.
@Anymouse – we are going shootin’ next time. And for an older fella the parking manuever you did at the Dead End was NYC worthy. I think you even impressed your lovely mrs there?!
(for everyone) The Dead End was a Dillinger and others hangout…kinda like here?
@PJ – please send someone @iOTWr a message to me, we WILL hook up BEFORE those pearly gates, screw that!
@Jimmy – IF you are into it, being behind the wheel, WITHOUT traffic is very relaxing. My problem is my rapid eye moment.
@ Tom Dually – you are welcome. Once C said go ahead we went ahead…
@Robert Mathews – indeed the American Landscape is. and thank you.
@PHenry – thank YOU so much for saying sure what the heck let’s meet. And for the record the meeting spot could NOT have been MORE ‘Phenry’ folks! We went to the Patrick Henry Scotchtown, HIS HOUSE. Just did the exterior tour, man was it HOT.
@Lil-morphin Annie- Being able to visit you and your husband in your stained glass shop was humbling because of my/our fondness of stained glass windows and churches. I am thinking of QUITTING my position and getting an apprenticeship, well at least one of the boys??
(Annies business took a loss/hit of flooding after a kick ass storm, that we dodged ourselves, hitting them very hard, so do a design for a window you want and send it to Annie and R to keep the business going)
Major kudos do go to @M Hatch, she was the steward and ‘rudder’, the organizer, on the good ship…
It’s been a long time since I did a road trip, now you’ve got me thinking about one.
Postscript-
Wanted to to THANK @BFH for having iOTWr in the effing first place…a place where I can actually post a logue/ manuscript of some type…
Where else can one do this??
Talking with you guys and gals is like being at our kitchen counter after work or on the weekend on the back patio…
Ghost
@Joe6pak – boy I wish we could have kept going to your place and stopped @systematically confused on the way.
Let’s start a plan for a half way point??? I suggest the Black Hills next time or a place called Butte, Montana? 2023?
I tried to put the ‘Revere iOTWr’ magnet on as much as possible, BUT it depended on where we where and went??? The crew were VERY defensive of it, iow proud and made sure it was protected, like a FLAG itself…
Meeting iOTWr’s on the road makes sense and a GREAT reason and basis FOR a road trip.
What is that biblical or other saying about GOING to the mountain? OR mountain coming to you?
I would like to say one thing about meeting iOTWr people. It’s like meeting old friends that we haven’t seen in years. Ghost and family hugged and hugged; even the boys! I met up with tctsunami earlier this summer and it was the same feeling. My sisters were impressed even though they don’t read the site. We never ran out of things to talk about.
Good people. That’s who we are!
After Ghost and I had our road trip planned, he forwards me Claudia’s email. All I said was “OMG, WE ARE GOING TO MEET THE CLAUDIA!!!!” I was so excited. I then planned to reroute our hotels and map. Then the next thing I know we are meeting up with Anymouse, and then CharlieWalkson, PHenry & Lil Morphin Annie, I changed the whole play book and now different hotels and routes. Then other places to see came into mind to visit around all the iOTWrs. It was an exciting trip and I truly think “Field of Dreams” was one of my favorite stops. Claudia mentioned how special she thought it was and couldn’t wait to hear what we thought. It’s an amazing place that needs to go on everyone’s bucket list.
Hey Joe6pack, I know we spoke but you were with us in spirit by displaying your magnet on the trip. THANKS! Oh lots of TRUMP SHOPs throughout SD. We were all so happy to see!
It was great meeting everyone and knowing how much we all love our country and are praying for Making America Great Again! We don’t see that much in NYC.
God Bless us all!!!
@Worker Peasant Tax Slave – well let me tell ya, could we necessarily afford to go?? NO!
Please, don’t think we paid with cash or something! We are no NY Rockerfellas, FAR FROM IT…haha…
Meaning, yep, get off ya butt and go and see what’s waiting for YOU. And just put it on credit, well at least the gas and hotels. Oh wait GIFT SHOPS?!?
Don’t be jealous just freakin’ ‘do it’. And that is NOT some bullshit corporate logo nonsense. It’s BASED.
And you had better go…before some places DO burn down OR the statues in YOUR park are gone. Go and document them for the Ages.
THIS is how we fight back and participate, passively of course…
Respectfully,
Ghost
Average 5.5 hours driving per day was to slow to apply for the Griswold Vacation certificate.
However, you do qualify to apply for the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off certificate.
Life moves pretty fast…if you don’t stop and look around once in a while… you could miss it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsYBtfQ3QDo .
You haven’t.
@Blink – that was a REAL LOL.
Why? Because YOUR calculation there is SPOT on. So the idea was to drive a certain distance EACH day six hours min to nine hours max, to make time and SEE stuff along the way per Ferris’ Logic.
My advice? NEVER push it to where you have to pull in at night, get in before dusk.
Of all things Sirous Satelite kept the music going for the trip part, but not once did I hear what I was waiting for:
Against the Wind: written by Bob Seeger done by the Highway Men:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUgTo2ERfiA
The original of course, Thanks Bob.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmrkY-EZy74
Sounds like a blast! I’m taking a road trip in a few weeks…. More southerly route from SC West to AR and MO to attend a (Great?) Nephew’s nuptials. Coming back through IL to catch up with my Sister and Brother-in-law.. then home again, home again, jiggity jig. Am catching one iOTWr in GA on my way out and a few more in MO.
And after my experience with an iOTWr meet-up last year with PHenry, Tanggor, Beachmom and some other lovely folks, I would recommend that all of us make the effort.
Someone a lot smarter than me once said, “All who wonder are not lost.”
The Mrs. and I love to road-trip, and the idea of adding in a visit here and there with best friends we haven’t yet met sounds like great fun.
Thanks ‘ghost’ for showing us the way!
Robert Frost said it BEST, The Road NOT Taken:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken
@Chance – those who ‘wander’ are not lost, I think? But whateva, wonder is good too…I wonder and wander, mostly mentally.
Talk to C about traveling and figuring out where peeps live. Meaning an iOTWr…travel picnic. IF I would have neve thrown out the idea or question it would have NEVER been answered.
THANKS C AGAIN.
I may be crazy but I like driving which is why over the past 20 years or so delivering and driving flowers and other goods I’ve driven well over a million miles. I still want to make a long road trip across the country someday just because, either that or walk across America. I’ve never been further east driving than Butte, Mt., I want to see what’s on the other side of the country while taking my time and just enjoying the ride and the people I’d meet all over America. I drove my 56 Ford F 100 P/U truck to San Diego once from Spokane in Sept. 1974 so I could have a vehicle and a way to get around down there when I wasn’t out at sea, it took me 3 or 4 days of driving to make it to San Diego in that old truck which beat me to death with no power steering and had hard bench seats but it was worth the trip. My brother flew down to San Diego before I went overseas in May 1975 and drove the truck back to Spokane since I was getting out of the Navy that August.
You can go on ANY road trip, might as well make it an iOTWr one…WE make great waypoints…way way points…
Meant to add ALL are welcome to visit, even tangently, like a touch and go.
Wow, wonderful! ❤️ Thank you for sharing your iOTWrrrrRoad Trip Report!
👍👍
Ghost, thanks for the correction, too often I type faster than I think.
Also, love Frosts’ The Road Not Taken, a true classic that has stood the test of time.
My favorite Robert Frost quote:
“Home is the place that when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
Remember that, just in case we are all refugees in our own country one of these days… It’s good to know there may be a place to stop or a kindred spirit to welcome.
Ghost, Thanks so much for stopping by. I drove my wife half nuts looking forward to your visit. It was like seeing old friends you never met. You left me hoping to see you all again and any other iotw terra traveller.
I’ve driven from here to all point west of me many times, once down to Tx, over the panhandle to FL, up through w virginny, touched PA then west home. A road trip is a wonderful thing.
btw, my wife got her car back 14 days after she hit the deer.
@ghost of brig gen j glover – For several years I did long motorcycle rides each summer. After doing it for a few years I determined I could easily do 600 miles days – day after day, +/- 50miles for how ever long it took to get to where the sites were I wanted to see at a slower pace.
Which worked out to 10 hours riding, that always averaged 60mph at day’s end. With average speed mix of 30mph ~ 80mph. 600 miles from home twice got me to Champaign-Urbana Ill., and twice to Galesburg, Ill, the first day. Two and a half days to Rapid City. There after a slower pace to Devil’s Tower, Little Big Horn, Medicine Wheel Pass, Cody, Yellow Stone, etc. Or places in Mich UP, or around Memphis or in Vt, N.H., Maine.
Stopping by 6~7 pm is good advice. The cheap hotel rooms or even a camp site are gone later. I always just looked for a place to sleep at days end. But I sometimes stayed in places so cheap it seemed a good idea to look out the window every 30 minutes to make sure my bike was still there. But more importantly riding on till mid night or later you might start seeing heads or other parts of deer bodies laying on the road. Especially up through Pa, and NY, Not safe riding. Or worse Moose in upper N. England. I was pretty sure a moose collision would find me the loser in the meeting. Horrendous down pours of rain are also not fun in the dark. Especially on two lane roads.
Some of the more fun trips were just leaving the house with the out bound route rule being – to make a decision at each road junction whether to go right or left or straight ahead if possible. One such trip found me at day’s end on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, sitting in my hotel room with a large bag of crabs to eat from the crab shack across the road. Another one day trip landed me on the NC outer banks. Good times.
Even after a truck driving career of 1M miles in my yute, I still love road trips.
And yes Blink, you will not survive a bike/moose crash.
Probably half of all car/moose crashes involve fatalities.
I absolutely love road trips. During one summer just before my Junior year in college, I went on a month-long road trip from Michigan through the northern states to Seattle, WA to visit my friend’s relatives. Then on down the west coast to LA, CA then on to Las Vegas and back to Michigan.
I’ve also taken two and three week trips, usually to the mountains in the west. I get my love of road trips from Dad as he used to be the happiest when the pavement was moving under him.
It’s been over four years since my last trip. I’m getting that wanderlust pretty bad now!
Well, we COULD rent a couch bus and go from place to place and pick up ‘our friends’…it could be a reality show! Okay maybe not…
On the front of the bus in the destination location:
“iOTWr’s ON Board, This trip ends when and where we break down…”
@ Charlie WalksonWater – Jeez didn’t mean to drive the mrs crazy (and therefore YOU)! VERY GLAD it worked out with the deer and all, meaning a pain in the ass (for the deer) and and nerve wracking for yous, but she is safe and okay. YOU live in a VERY livable area CWW….
“It was like seeing old friends you never met.” – could not have said it better! Just so people know, CWW has a side gig as a car theme artist. He GAVE us two prints!
Thanks to all the posters…and looking forward to seeing more on the next sojurn!