On the road again

As noted in the previous post, this blog started in 2009 as kind of a lark, and was used to document a long road trip with Kathy, Lola and Maddie (the latter two being our Golden Retrievers).  Back in May, 2009, I was a working schmuck, but a schmuck with a month long sabbatical, a perk of being a partner in BKD.  Most of my partners used their sabbatical time to go to Europe, Tahiti, the Caymans, wherever.  I used the time to cruise the two lane highways of the western United States with a couple of dogs.  Lola and Maddie were not yet two years old back then, and this was new territory for all of us.  I had no real idea how it would go.

Bottom line, we had a great time.  Over the last four years, we’ve taken a number of road trips with the dogs.  None as long time-wise, but we’ve driven between KC and Phoenix / Utah a few times, to Colorado, etc.  With my retirement and relocation in October, 2012 the open road was again calling.  The ideal time to go?  When it gets hot here in the desert.  With average high temps around 100 in July and August in southwestern Utah, the cooler climates seemed inviting.  We’ve opted for what one of my road trip books referred to as “The Great Norther,” US Highway 2 running from Seattle, Washington to Bar Harbor, Maine.  Of course, we have to get to Seattle from Utah to start the trip on Highway 2.  We’ve decided to drive across the Mojave desert and pick up the Pacific Coast Highway just north of Los Angeles.  From there, we would hug the coast up through California and Oregon before heading on to Seattle.  I refer to the trip as “driving to Maine via the Pacific Coast Highway.”  The trip would include a diversion to Syracuse, NY to visit our son Chris.  Additionally, after some time in Maine we would head down the Eastern seaboard to Baltimore, MD to visit our daughter Sara.  As with past trips, we would largely avoid the interstates and focus on the two lane highways…..that is, until heading back from Baltimore, at which time we would drive every mile of I-70 en route back to Utah.

One thing I knew wouldn’t change–Maddie (on the right, above) loves road trips.  Lola is sort of a nervous soul who prefers “stay-cations” to hitting the road.  But she is such a sweet dog that she’ll go along with us OK.

Being a compulsive accountant, I mapped out a five week long trip, day-by-day, with mileage and driving time included:

July 2, 2013 July 3-4 July 5-6 July 7 July 8 July 9-10 July 11 July 12-13 July 14 July 15-16 July 17 July 18 July 19 July 20-22 July 23-25 July 26-28 July 29-30 July 31-Aug 2 August 3 August 4-6 August 7 August 8

Oxnard, CA Monterey, CA Mendocino, CA Crescent City, CA Newport, OR Seattle, WA Spokane, WA Kalispell, MT Williston, ND Duluth, MN Manistique, MI Sault Ste Marie, MI North Bay Ontario Syracuse, NY Burlington, VT Hancock, ME Providence, RI Baltimore, MD Indianapolis, IN Kansas City Grand Jct, CO Ivins, UT

450 miles 274 miles 270 miles 227 miles 231 miles 308 miles 279 miles 237 miles 564 miles 603 miles 333 miles 120 miles 274 miles 399 miles 234 miles 324 miles 330 miles 367 miles 617 miles 472 miles 846 miles 395 miles

7:09 4:46 5:12 4:44 5:09 5:35 4:18 4:04 9:11 10:15 6:45 2:16 5:57 7:31 5:00 7:13 6:04 6:51 10:14 7:30 12:39 5:46

The Middle of Nowhere

The Lean Horse trip was a short one, at least compared to the 25 day odyssey of May, 2009.  And somehow we missed Wyoming on that journey…..headed south from Colorado, and by the time we got back north we were too far west.  So I thought we would right that wrong on this trip with a visit to the Cheyenne / Laramie area.  Plus it’s sort of on the way home to KC.  Well, not really, but it’s not far out of the way.

I’ve always liked the American West…..the wide open spaces, the raw beauty of nature, etc., from the Southwestern deserts to the mountains in Montana.   Plus, you can almost imagine the land as it was hundreds of years ago.

Wyoming is apparently the least populated state in the US, and trails only Alaska in terms of sparseness of population.  So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the drive from Hot Springs to Cheyenne….lots and lots of miles without many cars.  I jokingly posted on Facebook that I’d found the geographic middle of nowhere–Lusk, Wyoming.  Strangely, there was road construction leading up to it.

We stayed at a very nice bed & breakfast, the Windy City Inn.  Talk about the middle of nowhere…..halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie on Happy Jack Road (Wyoming 210).  The place sits on 70 acres about a mile off the road, overlooking Curt Gowdy State Park.  Cell phone service, but no internet.  Our unit was the “Spa House South,” which is an open floor plan, western-themed free standing building.

The only drawback:  the weather.  After near flawless weather on the May journey, showers and thunderstorms moved through Monday afternoon on the drive and on Tuesday.  Not a steady rain, just storms moving through, followed by sunshine.  As a result, we did not make it to the state park.  We did drive into Laramie (home of the Wyoming University Cowboys) and spend some time relaxing in the sun and reading.  And having a couple of brews from the Grand Teton Brewing Company.

Relaxing on a pleasant Wyoming morning.

View from the deck of the "Spa House."

Storm clouds on the horizon.

Maddles lounging on Wyoming vacation.

Lola dozing in the warm sun.

Destination Hot Springs, SD

The second leg of the journey, and the primary destination of this trip, was Hot Springs, SD, site of the Lean Horse Hundred.  A pretty easy drive on Friday with the most noteworthy feature being billboards.  Lots and lots of billboards on I-90.  For a while it was neck and neck between the Corn Palace and Wall Drugs, but ultimately Wall won out.  The Goldens were pretty much in mid-trip form–they just hopped in the car and rode quietly.

For me, the weekend revolved around the race.  From the Friday afternoon arrival for registration, pre-race briefing, and general nervousness to the finish Sunday morning, the race was pretty much my sole focus.  (See separate race report).  Not so much so for Kathy, of course.  She stayed with the dogs, took them for walks on Saturday and again Sunday morning while I snoozed, recovering.

A couple of noteworthy things about the stay.  First is that Hot Springs is not terribly, well, noteworthy.  It seems like an OK place, but not a destination (unless you’re running Lean Horse, of course).   Most of the Black Hills tourism (Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood) is farther north, although Wind Cave and Custer State Park are nearby.  Hotels were pretty bland, as were the apparent restaurant choices.  We stayed at the Flatiron Inn, a renovated 100+ year old building with an operating restaurant / coffee shop on the lower level and four suites above.  Our space was furnished with antiques but was otherwise modern.

The Flatiron Suites and Coffee Shop

Inside the suite.

The restaurant was closed on Sunday and Monday, so we were virtually alone in the building.  We had a key to the front door and locked it behind us when we came in or went out.  Strange.

Post-race recovery can be complicated by the Goldens.

We did make a trip to Custer State Park on Sunday afternoon.  Temps were still warm, and the prissy Goldens couldn’t go too far.  But we did get out with them.

A trip to the Park on Sunday afternoon.

Finally, Hot Springs, like much of South Dakota, is apparently full of bikers, all of whom ride Harleys and none of whom wear helmets.  I wanted to have a drink at the bar (below), but my available Sunday night timing was conflicting with “Design Star” on HGTV.  Of course, the fact that I like HGTV probably precludes me from fitting in at a biker bar.

I like the simplicity of the establishment's name.

Next stop on this brief journey–Wyoming.

Travels, redux

This blog started to commemorate a long road trip with my wife, Kathy, and our golden retrievers Lola and Maddie.  Rather than the 25 day trip in May, 2009 forever keeping us from traveling together again (as perhaps it should have), we’re back at it.  This time it’s much shorter…about a week of full togetherness.

The occasion this time is a trip to Hot Springs, South Dakota for the Lean Horse Hundred running event.  After the race (which ends Sunday morning), we’ll stay another night in South Dakota before heading to Cheyenne, WY for a couple of days.  We missed Wyoming on the last trip, so we’ll hit it on this one.  Back to KC on Wednesday.

While I’m not concerned about traveling with all my gals, I’m not sure this is the ideal trip.  My family has come with me for marathons several times in the past, and the May trip ended with a 50k on the final day.  With shower and a 30 minute nap I’m pretty well recovered from the shorter races.  But the Lean Horse Hundred is, well, 100 miles.  My previous two hundreds have left me pretty beat and sore.  Plus the 24 hours-plus of running requires more than a short nap for recovery.  Finally, Kathy is left by herself with the Goldens for the full day on Saturday….of course, it’s not like she’s never done that before.  So this may be the last trip of its type.

The first leg was today’s drive to Sioux Falls, SD.  The Gals got pretty much back into their old habits.  Maddie jumped up, situated herself in the “hammock” portion of the back seat cover and went to sleep.  Lola, true to form, was nervous as the proverbial cat, sitting up for the first half of the drive, never really resting, always awake and panting.  Fortunately, she settled down about three hours in and rode pretty well.  The noteworthy fact on the drive was that virtually all of I-29 was under construction through Iowa.  Sen. Grassley really brought home the pork on this one.

Madeline, resting on the drive. Lola (background), restless.

We’re in the Staybridge Suites…..relegated to the “dog rooms” way in the back.  I-29 sounds like it’s about 10 feet away.

Maddles lounging in the hotel

Tomorrow is the six hour drive to Hot Springs.  Need to arrive by 3 PM for race registration….then a 4 PM race briefing and some food, followed by a good night’s sleep.  I hope.

And so it begins……

Wednesday, May 6, 2009:  disaster-eve.  For reasons presently unclear, I’ve decided to spend pretty much a full month on a road trip with my wife and two dogs.  I love all of them dearly, but it will be pretty much 24/7 with the dogs, and Lola, one of my beloved Goldens, gets carsick after about 30 minutes of riding.  And I’m doing a 5,000 mile trip with her?

By way of background, I’m a partner with BKD, LLP, a top-10 CPA firm.  Every five years, partners are allowed / required to take a calendar month away from the office, email and phones.  Sounds like heaven, yes?  May 2009 is the last month of our fiscal year, five years after my last sabbatical, so I’m off for the month.  Most people choose a trip to Europe, Australia, a beach vacation, etc.  But a long trip like that would require me to leave my dogs behind, find a house sitter, wrestle through the logistics of a trip, etc.  So sometime this past winter, we just decided on a road trip piling the dogs into a rented minivan and heading for California–via Arizona and Montana, of course.

The only hotel reservations we have are for May 28-30 at the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp, CA.  This is the site of the Shadow of the Giants 50k on May 30 in the Sierra Nevada mountains, just outside Yosemite National Park.  A beautiful place and a fun event (I ran it in 2007 also).  Otherwise, we have no reservations and right now don’t even know the exact route we’re taking on Thursday.   I guess we’ll just play it by ear.  And, by the way, the “over / under” on the number of days this trip really lasts seems to be about seven.  In other words, the smart money is betting we’ll be home long before Memorial Day.  We’ll see.