Introduction
In June of 2002, my brother and I took a month and drove across the country. For a rough idea of the route, Craig and I started in Maryland, went northwest to Chicago then across from Denver to Northern California, down to LA, then back east by way of Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Texas, New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, and then back to Maryland. In one huge driving trip we saw the Great Lakes, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean.
I did literally all of the driving - all 9,361 miles - but my brother contributed as camera man and journalist. The words that follow are his log of our trip and some of the pictures we took along the way.
Since it was such a long trip, I'll break up the blog posts into three or four posts to avoid having one massive post. I have a ton of great memories from that month and it was fun sifting through the old photos and logs. Even though it's much more "travel log" than "driving adventure" in parts, hopefully you enjoy the look back.
Day 1 - Laurel, MD to Cleveland, OH - 480 miles
Went too far on 270 past Frederick and ended up missing 70 and going north and east on 15. Turned around in Emmitsburg (Main St.). Went south on 15 to 77 and went toward Hagerstown. 77 West went through Cunningham Falls State Park, which had a stream off to our right. Very curvy, scenic road.
PENNSYLVANIA
Stopped at Fallingwater in PA at 4pm. Took the $4 "Grounds Tour," which means you can go anywhere but inside, and there's no guide. The real tour is an hour and 15 mins long, so we decided to go at our own pace.
OHIO
Day 2 - Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL - 422 miles
Woke up and went into Cleveland at 10am. Visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and stayed for a couple of hours. Tickets were $17 per person. We then went to Terminal Tower, which has a mall, hotel, and restaurants. We got lunch from The Great Steak and Potato Factory and left Cleveland at 1:15pm.
Stopped at service station outside of Toledo to grab an ice cream cone and get gas. Craig also bought sunglasses at the little souvenir shop inside.
INDIANA
Took exit 101 off of I-90 and drove about 2 miles north on Rt. 15 to Michigan, then turned around to get back on I-90.
MICHIGAN
INDIANA
ILLINOIS
Arrived at the hotel in Wood Dale (outside of Chicago) at 8pm CT. For dinner we had Chicago style pizza at a pizza/sub place in Wood Dale.
Day 3 - Chicago
Woke up and went into Chicago on a Metra train (10:30am). We then took the subway to Wrigley Field and watched the Cubs game. The Cubs won 4-2. The people in front of us were Houston fans, the people next to us were White Sox fans, and the guy down and to the right of us had a sign saying "Cubs: We Stink." We ate lunch at Wrigley. Craig had a burger, fries, and an Armour Dog later. Paul had two Armour Dogs.
After the game (ended around 4:20pm), we took the subway back into Chicago and went to the SkyDeck at Sears Tower. Sears Tower was actually difficult to find coming off the subway. You'd expect it to tower above everything and be visible from everywhere, but there are so many skyscrapers in Chicago that it's hard to see Sears Tower when you're a block or more away. We walked around the SkyDeck after watching an introduction video. We left Sears Tower at around 6:30pm and ate at Giordano's, a place with "Famous stuffed pizza" and thin crust pizza that was "no less famous." We had the stuffed pizza. After that (about 8:15pm), we went back to Union Station and took the Metra back to Wood Dale.
Day 4 - Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO - 352 miles
Got up and left the hotel for St. Louis at 9:30am. We stopped at about 10:45am to get gas and go to the Verizon Store and the mall. We bought an adapter so that we could dial up the internet through the cell phone. We also bought an adapter that plugs into the headphone jack of the laptop (or anything else with a headphone jack) and sends a signal you can tune into it with the car radio.
MISSOURI
Arrived at the hotel in St. Louis at 4:30pm. At 5:30pm we left to go see downtown St. Louis. We went to the Gateway Arch and took the 6:45pm tram ride to the top. The tram ride was $8 each person. The top was 630 feet, and you could look basically straight down. While at the top, you could feel the arch swaying in the wind. The tram up and down were these little pods that were about four feet tall and had five seats in them. We got to the bottom and visited the Museum of Westward Expansion, which was in the same place. We left at about 8:30pm to get dinner in Laclede's Landing and got back to the hotel around 11pm.
Day 5 - St. Louis, MO to Kansas City, KS - 292 miles
We woke up and checked out of the hotel around 10:15am. We got gas and went to Hardee's for breakfast. They didn't have "sheep!" (Cinnamon-raisin biscuits). We didn't actually get on the road until almost 11am.
We drove through the Missouri River Valley Wine Country, which Paul liked because of the curvy roads. It was very scenic, with vineyards and farms everywhere. At parts, you can see the Missouri River off to the left.
KANSAS
Arrived at our Uncle's house at 3:30pm. Ate dinner with our Uncle and Aunt at Rosedale Barbecue in Rosedale, KS. After dinner, we visited the Rosedale Memorial and the Liberty Memorial. We also drove through the Plaza in Kansas City.
Day 6 - Kansas City, KS to Hays, KS - 317 miles
Left our Uncle's house to visit Kansas City at 9:15am. We ate lunch at KC Masterpiece in the Plaza. We walked around the Plaza for about a half hour after lunch. We didn't have BBQ sauce all over ourselves because the "napkins" at KC Masterpiece were TOWELS! Anyway, we walked around the plaza, which is the really rich stores in KC. Comparable to Georgetown in DC. We left for Hays at 1:00pm and arrived at the hotel in Hays, KS at 5:30pm.
Day 7 - Hays, KS to Denver, CO - 344 miles
We got gas then left for Denver at 9:30am.
COLORADO
We didn't make any long stops between Hays and Denver, and arrived at the Hampton Inn in Denver at 1:30pm MT. We had lunch in downtown Denver then walked up and down 16th Street Mall in the afternoon. We went back to the hotel for a couple hours before going back to the 16th St. Mall to eat dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. We didn't get back to the hotel until after 10pm.
Day 8 - Denver
We slept in and didn't go into the city until after noon. We went to the park and tried to go to the U.S. Mint, but it was closed. We walked around the 16th St. mall (an outdoor strip of shops and restaurants on both sides of 16th St. Only buses are allowed on the street.) and then went to see Undercover Brother at the United Artists movie theater. We got back to the hotel around 7:30pm. We had popcorn at the theater, so Paul didn't want any dinner. At 10:50pm, Craig decided to order from Pizza Hut.
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