Our 2010 Auto Trip; Part V, Travel to Kadoka, Day 9

Across Iowa and South Dakota; 1 July 2010 --

Starting out quite early this morning, Grumpy had hopes of canceling their reservations at Mitchell SD and being able to go to Chamberlain to spend the night. The past memories of buffalo steak dinners at Al's Oasis just across the Missouri River from Chamberlain danced in his head! These thoughts would be communicated to his First Wife and life-long companion, riding in the passenger seat to his right, to get her ideas and agreement, if possible.

We agreed, and a cell phone call to the motel in Mitchell took care of canceling the reservation. Reaching Sioux Falls at about noon, and after a quick lunch at a convenient Perkins restaurant, we drove west -- with a 35-40 mph wind coming out of the south -- and soon realized that we could easily reach Kadoka at a sensible hour of the afternoon. So we forged on, reaching Kadoka at about 4:30 local time, with the thermometer showing 90 degrees outside! The trip odometer, set when we refueled in Des Moines that morning, showed 550 miles; the fuel light had come on, indicating about 100 miles to totally EMPTY, a few miles before we got to Kadoka.

We had called ahead to alert Mother's childhood friend, Betty, that we would be arriving that afternoon, and wanted her to join us for supper that evening. Of course she was delighted to do so and so the three of us met at the H & H Restaurant located along the old highway that went through Kadoka.

We stayed in the RodeWay motel, with our Senior Citizen's discount, the most expensive accommodations we were to endure on this entire trip: $121 per night, including taxes!! And, to make Grumpy even more upset, the room smelled musty and mildewy, with ash trays on the night stand, although it as sold to us as a "Non Smoking" room. Fortunately, there was no trace of cigarette smoke that either Grumpy or Mother could detect -- we would have demanded another room if there had been! The good aspect of the room was that the bathroom was very handicap friendly, something Mother especially appreciated.

Grumpy has never had a high opinion of RodeWay Inn's, rating them just about the same as Motel 6. However, Grumpy has stayed in a Motel 6 back near Atlanta GA that he would rate with Holiday Express or maybe La Quinta. Grumpy's recommendation: don't stay at a RodeWay unless you can't find another motel!

Our 2010 Auto Trip; Part I, Days 1, 2 & 3

Across the USA (or at least part-way!); 26 June 2010 –

Day One: Starting out early on Wednesday morning, our first pleasant surprise was meeting our Un-Blief-able bicycling Grandson at the first major intersection. He had to stop for the red light that allowed our left-turning traffic to cross in front of him. Grumpy spotted him in time to honk the car horn and wave – and Blief waved back. Of course, this “Kodak” moment was lost to posterity because Grumpy was ill-prepared, having the camera stowed in the “boot” (trunk).

After a diversion (about 40 miles added to the previously-planned route on I-90) through Wenatchee, where treats were purchased for some of the people we would be visiting over the next weekend and early next week, and a total of about 9 hours of fairly steady driving at the Grand Mother’s proscribed 65 mile-per-hour cruise speed, we arrived at our destination for the first day: Ekstrom’s Stage Station.


Ekstrom’s is a rustic site with multiple campsites for tents, trailers and motorhomes. It also included two log cabins available for rent by the night or by the week. We got the larger cabin. It comprised two rooms, the main room encompassing the log building, had two convertible couches which could have slept two adults, and the large, attached bedroom that contained a monster bed made of pine logs, but with a very comfortable mattress.


The cabin was rustic and romantic, but luxurious it was not! There was a newly-installed lavatory sink – but no water plumbed in. This was fortunate because the drain from the sink as also not installed! A rough plank had been laid across the sink to discourage someone from carrying some water in and washing up, then pulling the sink plug – the waste water would have immediately appeared on the floor at the feet of the surprised guest!

Day Two: Again starting out early (five o’clock in the morning is not considered “early” now that we are in Mountain Daylight Time zone!), we drove steadily at our ponderous pace all the way the Miles City. In one full day of driving we still had not made it all the way across Montana! And we started the day about 120 miles into the western edge!

Our accommodations here were nothing special; a Super 8, but very convenient to a good restaurant for supper (and breakfast) and two or three choices of gas stations all selling regular for $2.659.

Day Three: This “early morning” stuff was getting “tire-some” to the old Codger doing the driving, so we did not break any records getting up and dressed to begin another long day driving the remaining 100 miles of Montana plus the ~400 miles across North Dakota to Moorhead MN where we would stop for our third night on the road.

Early in the way across North Dakota, we encountered the southern portion of the North Dakota Badlands (Theodore Roosevelt National Monument). “Beware of Buffalo”, read the signs beside the viewpoints overlooking the Little Missouri valley. Grumpy and the Grand Mother laughingly reminisced about their experience three years before when they became “trapped” behind a slowly moving herd of 100-plus buffalo who insisted in using the scenic highway right-of-way as their personal walk-way rather than taking the bee-line route to their pasture of choice. Especially comical was the footrace participated by the desperate occupants of the 20 or 30 cars, who were backed up behind us and buffalo herd, and all tried to be the first ones into the restrooms at the visitor center when we finally were able to pass the buffalo (after two hours!) and reach what became a small emergency.

Our accommodations in Moorhead were by far the most dismal of our trip so far. Another Super 8, our bed was smallish and very firm; the “Handicap Capable” room, which Grumpy had reserved, was so poorly designed that a contortionist was required to access the toilet paper while seated on the “throne”, and the grab bar to supposedly help the disabled to stand, was positioned such that it was useful only if the handicapped person was using it to push back from the “throne” after having lowered his face into it to dispose of a rejected meal or too many stout drinks (i.e., calling salmon and such)!

Despite some INconveniences at the first stop (Ekstrom’s) and poor accommodations at this final stop before our destination, Grumpy and the Grand Mother chalked these first three days of our Summer 2010 Auto Trip as “Just another chapter in our 62-year journey through life together; never a dull moment! Another day, another surprise that we should have seen coming – or maybe not!”

Chopin on the Piano

Saturday 17 April 2010 --
The Grand Mother and Grumpy, with friend Margaret, journeyed again to Bellingham, this time to hear 24 versions (Etudes) of Chopin. We had heard about this performance the previous week when we went up to Bellingham to listen to Rachel's Junior Concert. Great enthusiasm about listening to Chopin was expressed by members of our tour group, so an immediate commitment was made to return this Saturday for more music. Besides, Rachel would again be playing!

We didn't have to start so early in the morning as we had the week before, since we were not going to tour the Tulip fields again. However, the Grand Mother had desired to preview a motel at which we might stay when we come up (again!!) on 24 May when Rachel will be accompanying the University Orchestra. Reviews on the Internet indicated that the Day's Inn tentatively chosen by Grumpy might be "in a dangerous-looking area". Upon arriving at the motel for the "inspection", we were greeted by a young lady, "who was not the manager!" who explained where the "dangerous area" was: a grove of trees about two or three blocks away, in which allegedly "the gangs do their business" when it gets dark.

A visit to a typical room, and the observation that this motel had an elevator, resulted in a unanimous conclusion that this motel was acceptable. Grumpy made the reservations and then instructed Margaret and the First Wife that they should think twice before taking a walk "over there towards those woods" after 10 pm or so at night.

The performances this evening consisted of twelve Etudes of Chopin, Opus 10, played by twelve different students or faculty, an intermission, then six different performances of music by other composers; another intermission, and finally another twelve Etudes of Chopin, Opus 25, played by yet another twelve different students or faculty.

Prior to the start of the first twelve Etudes, of which the eleventh was to be played by Rachel, Grumpy had his camera calibrated (see left) to take photos in the ambient artificial light, using ISO 1600. Being fascinated by the markedly different postures of the hands of some of the pianists, Grumpy's camera "clicked" as he photographed four of the earlier performers as well as six or eight of Rachel (see below, right).
At the first intermission, the professor who played the Etude just before Rachel's, approached me to complain about the camera flashes and lens clicking, both of which were distracting to the pianists. I plead guilty to camera clicks but "not guilty" to using a flash. Later we discovered the guilty party who used the flash was several rows behind us.

Grumpy examined his camera very carefully to see if there was a mode in which the artificial "click" sound could be turned off (for taking photos of birds or animals, for example). Finding none, he took no more pictures during the remainder of the performances and has vowed to be more considerate in the future.

We enjoyed all of the musical performances and, after a dinner together with Rachel and her parents, we returned home, with Grumpy crawling into bed at 10 pm -- long after his usual bedtime. The next three days were all going to be busy for him, driving hither and thither!

Summer 2008--Shopping in Portland

[Friday, 11 July 2008; Woodburn to Portland]--After yesterday, when we visited Elynor's cousin, Bill and his wife, Marvel, in Mount Angel, today was a dullish day with the short drive from Woodburn where we "enjoyed" another screw-up at the Super 8 the evening before. It seems that they didn't have our reservations -- they had us listed as "noshows" for the night before! So Grumpy had to be his true self: Grumpy!! [Grr-r-r-r!!!]. Ultimately we got a room satisfactory to our specifications, and at the before agreed-to rate -- and with the promise that "the manager will probably refund the guaranteed payment" due to the alleged noshow the previous night.

As I said in the above paragraph, today was a dullish day, or would have been except that we did a bunch of shopping at a nearby Wal*Mart store. "Bunch of shopping" is hereby defined as $502.54 worth!! This may be a record for Grumpy and the Grand Mother in one shopping trip where nothing larger than a 24-roll package of toilet paper is purchased. The excitement came when we took the two(!) shopping cart-fulls out and tried to fit them in our Accord. The trunk having been pretty well filled at the outset of our trip -- and further "stuffed" with more "stuff" that we bought along the way -- so Grumpy had the challenge of repacking/rearranging the luggage and souvenirs so that the roughly two cubic yards of Wal*Mart purchases could be loaded. Eventually all was onboard and we felt rather victorious -- until later, as you shall learn in the next (Saturday's) posting.

Summer 2008: Day 8, Sister Hazel and Nephew Paul

Arising early Saturday morning (but not early enough to catch sister Hazel in bed!) we "invited ourselves" out for breakfast. Hazel obliged with home-raised (organic) eggs, including this huge, double-yolk one which Grumpy had the privilege of eating. Also on the menu for breakfast was an unusual and tasty grain cereal, Anoa (from India? Grumpy forgot its origin), as well as homemade whole-wheat bread with Raspberry jam.

Hazel had chores to do, since Paul had gone to the Iowa state convention, so Grumpy went along and took a few photos of the process. Three horses were also fed with the milked goats trying to "horn" in on a few bites of the horses' oats. This resulted in the goats getting the best of Hazel -- so unexpected that Grumpy failed to get a candid shot of the upended and disgusted kid sister that he loves to tease! Maybe next time!!

Hazel has 8 laying hens and two roosters. Billy Graham is the handsome fellow shown here as he announced that morning was here! The reason that the other rooster is not also photographed is that Albemarl, although quite old, is not of the opinion that he is no longer sufficiently virile to "take care" of all 8 hens. Thus, if the two roosters are allowed to be free at the same time, they would fight to the death of one of them. Hazel explained that the schedule is that Albemarl gets the hens during the night and early morning hours while Billy has charge during the day to early evening hours. Everything seems to work out fine, as Hazel reports that she gets at least seven beautiful brown eggs each day.
Grumpy took several photographs of his favorite little sister, but chose this one as his favorite for the BLOG.

And this post could not be complete without this group photograph of Elynor, Hazel and Paul (holding Tootsie). Paul arrived back from the convention in time to join us for lunch and a short visit before we had to again retire to our motel (the Best Western near the Des Moines airport). We were treated rudely by the personnel at the front desk when we arrived at this motel and vow not to patronize it next time we come this way.

Ward & Elynor's 2007 Wandering: Home at Last; The Highlights

We arrived home on the 18th of July, a day early. As we came over Snoqualmie Pass we were engulfed in a cloud and a steady drizzle accompanied us all the rest of the way into Seattle. We were thankful for the reprise from the heat in which we had suffered the past 19 days (Well, how much can you really suffer when you drive an air-conditioned car, stay in air-conditioned motels and eat in air-conditioned restaurants? Not too much!). We were home! Our view from our home is the main reason for the Grand Mother's (and truthfully, Grumpy's as well) insistence on continuing to live in this house.

Reminiscing about the 5,000 mile trip we had just finished, brings to mind some highlights which we would like to share with those who might be bored to read each of our previous periodic postings.

The first major sight which Grumpy likes to call a "highlight" is the "traffic jam" caused by the herd of Buffalo in the North Dakota Badlands. In front of our car (lower left in the above photo) are five other cars (the white pickup in front is the Park Ranger who is holding the tourist cars a respectful distance behind the herd of Buffalo). Part of the herd (there were more than 100 head!) can be seen walking on the roadway around the curve and out of sight in the center of the photo. There were another ten or more cars behind us; we all proceeded at a "leisurely Buffalo pace (about 1/2 mile per hour)" for about two hours before the herd finally decided that they had reached the "greener pastures" on the other side of the South Unit of the ND Badlands, and vacated the roadway. The worst thing was that there was no "Rest Stop" during this interval and not all behind the Buffalo (including the Grand Mother and Grumpy!) were prepared for such a long wait -- you should have seen the scramble to the latrines at the visitor center afterwards!!

The next highlight, which we enjoyed on several different occasions during this trip, were the times when unexpected people gave us pleasant surprises by being where we had planned to visit. Specifically, this includes seeing Mia (Ed & Sara's daughter who had flown in from Iraq the day before our visit there); Jack and Ann, who drove all the way from their ranch in mid-western SD to be at the cousin picnic in Spearfish; Roy (my old high-school buddy) whom I had the pleasure of bamboozling again with my made-up story about being lost on I-90 when I surprised him at the visitor center between Sturgis and Rapid City; having the pleasure to see Gary's daughters, Stephanie and Alisha, her husband and children who were up from Texas due to floods at the military installation there; also getting to see Larry's daughter, Melanie and her children; the surprise of seeing Kay and Bob, up from Colorado Springs for the 4th of July; getting to have lunch with Edythe (Elynor's cousin) and her brother, Harry in Altoona IA; the surprise of seeing my cousin, Jeannie (from Everett WA!!) at my sister Hazel's place; getting to visit simultaneously with both Karl and Kathy (our former foster twins), not once but twice, once in Buffalo WY and again a few days later in Thermopolis WY; and, getting to meet Neil's & Dylllis's granddaughter, Natalie, and Dulcinda's husband, John when we stopped in Lander for a visit and lunch with Neil and Dyllis.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention this old church we found in Arthur NE; it is made of straw bales! Now maybe that fact wouldn't have had such a powerful meaning to us if our Grandson, in concert with his wife, hadn't built their house of straw bales (Grumpy had the distinct honor of doing the electrical wiring for the Amboy and his spouse!). This church was built in 1928 -- who says straw houses are "flimsy" and won't last a long time? (Incidentally, Grumpy was just a year old when this church was built, and look how he is still alive and kicking!)

I think it would also be remiss to fail to mention the great honor and pleasure Grumpy had in showing the Grand Mother the namesake features of Thermopolis WY: The natural hot springs and the resulting mineral deposits left by the evaporation of this hot, mineral-laden water as it flows over naturally-forming terraces and into the Wind River, as shown in this panoramic photograph.
Grumpy is also honored to have had the opportunity to drive the Grand Mother through the Wind River Canyon -- we had to negotiate this scenic drive twice: going to Thermopolis from Casper WY and again going from Thermopolis to Lander WY. Scary but impressively beautiful. Too bad Grumpy didn't stop to take pictures. But they wouldn't do justice to this grand sight. It is best viewed in person.

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The highlights are all pleasant memories. But there were a couple of notable unpleasant things that happened during the trip that may be worth remembering -- if only so we don't let it happen again.

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The first was our stay in Livingstone MT; Livingstone is a nice little town and the people are hospitable. But our stay at the Travelodge Motel was memorable in that it was the most expensive of our trip and also one of the least accommodating. The "free INTERNET" didn't work and the "free custom breakfast" turned out to be a breakfast buffet with fewer choices than the advertised "custom" breakfast. Grumpy made the mistake of thinking he had stayed at the Travelodge last time he was in Livingstone whereas it was the Econolodge next door: half the price with as good or better beds; maybe even with free INTERNET-- that worked.

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The second unpleasant thing was our "welcome" at the Super 8 in Indianola. Grumpy had made a confirmed reservation for a room with all the requirements needed for the Grand Mother (first level, non-smoking, queen- or King-size bed). The reservation had been made by calling directly to the motel six weeks before our planned arrival and Grumpy was even given the room number: #108! While we were visiting at Hazel's, the Grand Mother, being ever cautious, had convinced Grumpy that he should call the motel to "make sure that they have our room and will hold it if we are late getting there". Grumpy acceded to her wishes and was assured that "the room was ours and they wouldn't give it away; we could come in as late as we wished".

But when Grumpy walked up to the front desk at about 9 p.m., he was informed that "we are sorry, but #108 isn't available -- the people that had it last night haven't checked out. But we will give you another room -- here, #2xx". Grumpy firmly announced that a second floor room was out of the question since the motel did not have an elevator and the Grand Mother couldn't accommodate stairs. The clerk then offered a room downstairs with two Queen-size beds. "Non-smoking, right?" Grumpy asked.
"Oh, no. Sorry sir, but that's all we have. Is that a requirement?" the clerk offered.

At this, Grumpy, having driven from Olivia MN to central IA that day plus visiting all afternoon, erupted into a very foul mood. Slamming his fist on the counter, he demanded that something be done to give us the promised (and required) accommodations, "AND NOW!".

"Would you like to speak to the manager?" asked the young clerk, redundantly.
"You d---ed right I do!" said Grumpy, grumpily.

The manager was called from some back room and, when he appeared said, "May I help you?"
Grumpy explained the situation and the manager immediately "found" a non-smoking room on the ground floor with two Queen-size beds. Why couldn't the clerk have "found" that room without the clumsy effort she had made? Grumpy and the Grand Mother will remember NOT to stay at this Super 8 in the future.

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The best is left for last. As many of you know, at least those of you who are related to the paternal ancestor's family (either by birth or by marriage), there is a tendency for one with a certain surname (usually a male member), when posing for a picture, will put one leg up, the foot resting on a step, a log or a rock -- sometimes even another human being! Some of those related by marriage in particular, have noted this phenomenon and have questioned it's source, summarily attributing it to genetics. Grumpy disagrees and thinks he has found the answer: see the following photo.In the photo above, the observant reader will note the Grand Mother gazing at a scenic overlook of the North Dakota Badlands, with one foot up on the convenient railing!! Now, to Grumpy's keen observation and with his scientific mind, this is proof positive that the trait is a tradition, not a genetic characteristic unique to the paternal strain as some naysayers would have you believe. So go ahead there offspring and associated companions: When posing for a photograph next time, lift a leg without shame or worry.

It's traditional!