A busy week on the road

Me with the first geocache of the day, found only about 500 feet from our hotel at a travel center next to our hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday morning.

By Allan Olson

The last week has flown by, and in that time so have many miles. My week last week was a blur; the weekend was all work, but it blended into some time off and over 1,800 miles of traveling in the course of four days.

The work week, while short in practicality, left me feeling panicked with all I had to do and wanted to do to get a paper out this week. It involved the carefully-crafted art of getting things planned in advance and getting as much completed prior to departure in order to avoid work while on the road as much as possible. Of course, I was not able to complete it all before leaving, as I figured would happen. I do have sleep requirements and other things to tend to.

My wife and I have been talking about a trip for just the two of us for probably close to two years, and not just a let’s-go-to-the-cities trip – but more of a let’s-go-see-some-country trip. The last trip we took was to Wisconsin to do some genealogy research. This trip was not going to be the same, primarily because we had no ancestors anywhere we were going on this trip except a living one in New Orleans, who we weren’t able to connect with, unfortunately.

With as much work completed as possible on Wednesday night, my wife and I packed, getting ready to embark on the biggest travel adventure of our life (so far). A few weeks ago, after conversations with more experienced traveling friends and after going back and forth on the issue, we made a decision to rent a car for this trip. On Thursday morning we dropped the kids off at school and then headed to Bemidji to pick up our rental.

This decision proved to be my brightest thus far, as the rental is proving  to be far easier on gas than the two old jalopies I regularly use to cruise up and down the road. It also has some pretty nifty automatic features that I’m going to feel lost without when I get back into my relics.

Our destination for the end of our first day on the road was the birthplace of Mark Twain – Hannibal, Missouri. I knew that it would be 12 hours of drive time, and I knew that we had to hit the road hard the first day in order to get some miles behind us. Nearly exactly 12 hours after leaving home, we were checking into our hotel. In all reality, that was the only day that our schedule went according to plan – at least the one in my head.

As hard as it was for me, we only made reservations at one place – a hotel in Texas where were spending three nights. The remaining places would all be reserved on the fly. At Hannibal, we had a hotel picked out but did not make reservations (and in hindsight, I wouldn’t stay there again, primarily because our room was right next to an exit and the door opened and closed all night long, so it was not a very restful night).

We booked out of there early to get on the road for the St. Louis Arch, but first we did a little geocaching in Hannibal. We crossed the mighty Mississippi River into Illinois and then crossed back again. We spent over two hours at the Arch and got to tour the inside, including taking a cramped ride to the very top, before we hit the road once again. 

My plan was to get to Jackson, Mississippi that night, but our travels took us into Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and Arkansas, all just to say I have found a geocache in each of those states. Because of that and a stop for lunch, we didn’t make it as far as I had hoped, and ultimately we rested our heads about 175 miles north of my planned stop. 

On Saturday morning we hit the road again, this time with our destination being Baton Rouge, via New Orleans and beyond. We wanted to drive as far as the road would take us, and we did. We were hoping for something to see down there, but aside from many houses and even schools sitting off the ground on concrete blocks or wooden piers, there was nothing to see but birds, boats and huge oil tankers (which we never got a good look at). We finally made it to our hotel in Baton Rouge at about 8 p.m., without really getting any opportunity to explore New Orleans.

On Sunday morning we set our compass for Texas. We left Baton Rouge at about 10 a.m., after checking out the state capitol and grabbing a few geocaches. We weren’t on the road long when a “Low Tire” light came on. I didn’t want to change a tire, so I found the closest gas station for air and then found a box store tire center. They repaired the tire and sent us on the road about 40 minutes later. We made it about ten miles before the light came on again. Again I pulled into the nearest gas station, pumped some air into it and continued on our course – to another box store tire center in Alexandria, LA. They repaired it and found a bone stuck in the tire. 

By this time my wife and I were both getting hungry, and she really wanted to try some authentic local food. We found a restaurant called Copeland Brass Pearl, where we both tried something we hadn’t had before. We ordered Catfish and Crab with Alfredo. Both dishes were delicious, but the experience was the best I’ve ever had in a dining establishment. The place was packed when we got there, so we sat at the bar and listened to the live music after carefully making our food selections.

During the course of the meal, someone asked where we had travelled from, and from that moment on we were apparently the hit of the bar with the ladies who worked there. They requested some “Minnesotan” words, and I impressed them with my solid Scandinavian accent, giving them a good old fashioned “ya sure you betcha” which got them laughing. We very much enjoyed the food and a break from being on the road. The relaxing meal and tire repairs put us at our destination much later than anticipated, but in the end it was all well worth it.

The hardest part of the trip so far is the things we are seeing that we know the kids would have liked, and missing them at home. We really do miss them, but this trip was just for us. Besides, they are in good hands with their grandma watching them – she just might not want to see them for a while after we return from vacation.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that will be carrying our most precious cargo. Also, snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit.