| 2159.9 | miles driven on the trip |
|---|---|
| 202 | pictures taken |
| 40 minutes | shortest driving day (Dayton->West Chester) |
| 19 | blog posts, counting this one |
| 15 | duration in days |
| 10 | stops |
| 8.5 hours | longest driving day (Washington->Dyersville->Omaha) |
| 7 | Waffle Houses seen |
| 7 years | longest amount of time I had gone before seeing someone on this trip (Andrea; I'm guessing here that the last time I saw her was at Aryn's high school graduation party.) |
| 7 weeks | shortest amount of time I had gone before seeing someone on this trip (Sarah; day after Blue-Gold until Day 1 of the trip |
| 7 | places where I spent the night (3 guest room beds, 2 air matresses, 1 futon, and 1 fold out couch) |
| 6 | new pairs of socks in a package |
| 6 | movies I watched for the first time, none new releases (Strange Brew; And Now for Something Completely Different; The Life of Brian; Silent Movie; The 40 Year Old Virgin; Coming to America) |
| 4 | baseball games seen |
| 4 days | longest amount of time I saw anyone on this trip (shared by Yonto, Sarah, Andy, and Andy's mom) |
| 3 | non-game-related baseball sights seen (Field of Dreams, Negro Leagues Museum, Busch Stadium tour) |
| 3 | missed stops (Rockne Crash Site - didn't call ahead; Indianapolis - no Vonnegut events; Ohio U - just wanted to go home) |
| 2 | days of driving 7 or more hours (Washington->Dyersville->Omaha, Omaha->Kansas City->Waterloo) |
| 2 | Sonics eaten at |
| 1 | number of times I got lost (missed a turn in Kansas City) |
| 0 | number of vacation days I have left this year |
Monday, June 25, 2007
By the Numbers
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Day 15: West Chester & Lorain, OH
My trip came to an end today. After waking up in West Chester, I drove home for Lorain. I decided to skip Ohio University; if I would have taken that detour, it would have been my third day of driving for 7 hours or more, and I just wanted to get home in time for the College World Series game.
Passing Dayton, I saw the giant Jesus. That's the only picture I got today. I also passed three more Waffle Houses between Cincinnati and Columbus.
When got home and pulled into the driveway, I tried to get a picture of my odometer, but it didn't come out. For those interested, this trip put 2159.9 miles on the Vibe.
I'll make a wrapup post for this trip if and when I remember to. Until then, thanks for following along, and a big thank you again to all of you who extended your hospitality in any way, shape, or form!
Passing Dayton, I saw the giant Jesus. That's the only picture I got today. I also passed three more Waffle Houses between Cincinnati and Columbus.
When got home and pulled into the driveway, I tried to get a picture of my odometer, but it didn't come out. For those interested, this trip put 2159.9 miles on the Vibe.
I'll make a wrapup post for this trip if and when I remember to. Until then, thanks for following along, and a big thank you again to all of you who extended your hospitality in any way, shape, or form!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Day 13 & 14 Addendum
Waffle Houses abound in southern Ohio. The official count is 2 on the way to Dayton and 2 between Dayton and Cincinnati. I also saw two highway signs without seeing the Waffle House.
Day 13 (Belated) & 14: Effingham, IL, Dayton, and West Chester, OH
On Friday morning (I think it was Friday; I've started to lose track of days), I helped Katie's mom's Little House on the Prairie class cook sourdough pretzels. Because, y'know, I'm such an excellent baker.
"Hey guys, watch this."
Notice all the skeptical glances.
Serious concentration.
Why did the poor man open a bakery? Because he kneaded the dough! Get it?
You need fast hands to make pretzels like these.
So tidy.
I got just a little flour on myself, too.
Katie and I show off the finished products of our labor. See, Katie was in fact present for this part of the trip.
On Friday afternoon, I drove down to Dayton to visit CJ. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no photographic evidence exists for this portion of the trip. CJ and I did make a fairly decent bean bag toss (cornhole) team, though.
It's now Saturday and I'm sitting at my friend Andrea's house in the Cincinnati suburbs. It is strange to be back in Ohio, and to have all my clocks read the correct time (now that I'm back in the eastern time zone.) Sadly, though, tomorrow is the end of my trip.
"Hey guys, watch this."
Notice all the skeptical glances.
Serious concentration.
Why did the poor man open a bakery? Because he kneaded the dough! Get it?
You need fast hands to make pretzels like these.
So tidy.
I got just a little flour on myself, too.
Katie and I show off the finished products of our labor. See, Katie was in fact present for this part of the trip.
On Friday afternoon, I drove down to Dayton to visit CJ. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no photographic evidence exists for this portion of the trip. CJ and I did make a fairly decent bean bag toss (cornhole) team, though.
It's now Saturday and I'm sitting at my friend Andrea's house in the Cincinnati suburbs. It is strange to be back in Ohio, and to have all my clocks read the correct time (now that I'm back in the eastern time zone.) Sadly, though, tomorrow is the end of my trip.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Day 12: Waterloo & Effingham, IL
No pictures today; then again, they would probably only make you hungry. Today was another travel day, this time from Waterloo to Effingham. The day began, more or less, with a homecooked lunch from Andy's mom, and ended (again, more or less) with a cookout with 3/4 of the Stolz family, and ice cream!
By the way, Andy and his mom tie the record for "person I've seen most on this trip." Of my 5 days in Waterloo, I saw Andy on 4 of those days and Mrs. Wolkiewicz on another 4 (Andy had already left for work by the time I woke up this morning). I also saw Yonto and Sarah on four separate days.
Thank you for pretending to care about my made up records.
By the way, Andy and his mom tie the record for "person I've seen most on this trip." Of my 5 days in Waterloo, I saw Andy on 4 of those days and Mrs. Wolkiewicz on another 4 (Andy had already left for work by the time I woke up this morning). I also saw Yonto and Sarah on four separate days.
Thank you for pretending to care about my made up records.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Day 11: St. Louis & Waterloo, IL
On Wednesday, Andy's parents took me to Grant's Farm. Grant's Farm was originally owned by President Grant's father-in-law, then by Grant himself, then by the Busch family. Since then, Anheuser-Busch has turned it into a tourist attraction.
The first place we visited was the grounds where the Clydesdales were kept, raised, and trained.
Sometimes, the horses sleep standing up. I think that's what these next two were doing.
The ponies' legs grow a little faster than the rest of their bodies do, so it's a little awkward for them to get around at times.
One of the qualifications needed to pull the official Budweiser wagon is a black mane and a black tail. From what we could gather, most ponies' tails start out white, and from there they may or may not turn black later on.
This one is stopping for a snack.
Me, bravely defying the "CAUTION, WE MAY BITE!" signs.
After the stables, we took a tram tour around the grounds.
I think there's supposed to be a waterfall back in there.
The original main gates have statues of deer on either side. The deer are fake, but the antlers are real.
Mr. Busch lined the property with gates made out of Civil War rifle barrels, as a memorial to the soldiers in that war. These gates stretch for a couple hundred feet, which is pretty impressive.
This is the original log cabin U. S. Grant built on his in-laws' property.
These covered wagons were sitting outside the log cabin.
As were these cannons.
Some donkeys, just hanging out.
The Grants and Busches both raised and showed horses. This is a very old equestrian jump.
A trumpeter swan, showing off for the tourists by balancing on one leg.
There are supposed to be some Japanese fish in there somewhere.
Rams, I think. Or antelope. I guess my optical zoom isn't all that great.
Baby versions of whatever animals were in the previous picture.
Some longhorns of various types.
Buffalo.
A (relatively) newborn buffalo.
More baby buffalo. Actually, one of them is the same as in the previous shot.
An emu. You'll have to take my word on this one, because it's hard to take pictures as the tram is moving.
A period covered bridge.
See that tree in the middle? Just to the left of it, kind of hidden behind the hill, is an endangered Asian deer. I believe these deer are only found in captivity.
A better look at the same deer.
Ooh, there's an even better look.
The tram dropped us off at this little zoo. I only got a few shots; the first was of these lemurs.
The other was of this bald eagle, looking very truthy. There were two bald eagles; both were rescued after being injured. Neither can fly anymore, so there's no roof or restraints on their area.
Next to the zoo was a carriage house that displayed quite a few old carriages. It also had this bust of Adolphus Busch.
Here's a horse-drawn firetruck, located in the carriage house.
Next to the carriage house was a stable for the show horses. As I mentioned above, the Busches love to show horses. None of these are actually Clydesdales; they were actually a variety of horses in this stable.
Here's Michelob.
Here's a donkey. I'm not sure if it was the "celebrity" donkey that wanted to be a Clydesdale.
Here's the same donkey, after I learned to point my camera lens through the bars, instead of at the bars.
Here's the other donkey that was in the stable. Maybe this is the one from the commercials.
Another show horse.
Here's President Grant's St. Louis home, Whitehaven. It's called Whitehaven because the house was originally white before the Grants discovered lime green paint. The house originally belonged to Grant's father-in-law, and President Grant lived there after the Civil War and before he moved to New York at the end of his life. Oh yeah, there were also eight years in there when he lived somewhere else.
Here's a view of the property from the side. The green house is off to the right. The stone building behind it is the "summer kitchen." In the winter, meals were cooked in the basement (the "winter kitchen"), so the heat from the cooking stoves could spread through the house. In the warmer weather, meals were cooked in a separate building, to keep the heat out of the house. To the left are two red buildings: the icehouse, in which chunks of ice from the adjacent river were stored for up to three years (!) when packed properly, and a chicken coop.
That's it, and unfortunately that's it for the St. Louis area. On Thursday, I stop in Effingham, Illinois to visit the Stolz family.
The first place we visited was the grounds where the Clydesdales were kept, raised, and trained.
Sometimes, the horses sleep standing up. I think that's what these next two were doing.
The ponies' legs grow a little faster than the rest of their bodies do, so it's a little awkward for them to get around at times.
One of the qualifications needed to pull the official Budweiser wagon is a black mane and a black tail. From what we could gather, most ponies' tails start out white, and from there they may or may not turn black later on.
This one is stopping for a snack.
Me, bravely defying the "CAUTION, WE MAY BITE!" signs.
After the stables, we took a tram tour around the grounds.
I think there's supposed to be a waterfall back in there.
The original main gates have statues of deer on either side. The deer are fake, but the antlers are real.
Mr. Busch lined the property with gates made out of Civil War rifle barrels, as a memorial to the soldiers in that war. These gates stretch for a couple hundred feet, which is pretty impressive.
This is the original log cabin U. S. Grant built on his in-laws' property.
These covered wagons were sitting outside the log cabin.
As were these cannons.
Some donkeys, just hanging out.
The Grants and Busches both raised and showed horses. This is a very old equestrian jump.
A trumpeter swan, showing off for the tourists by balancing on one leg.
There are supposed to be some Japanese fish in there somewhere.
Rams, I think. Or antelope. I guess my optical zoom isn't all that great.
Baby versions of whatever animals were in the previous picture.
Some longhorns of various types.
Buffalo.
A (relatively) newborn buffalo.
More baby buffalo. Actually, one of them is the same as in the previous shot.
An emu. You'll have to take my word on this one, because it's hard to take pictures as the tram is moving.
A period covered bridge.
See that tree in the middle? Just to the left of it, kind of hidden behind the hill, is an endangered Asian deer. I believe these deer are only found in captivity.
A better look at the same deer.
Ooh, there's an even better look.
The tram dropped us off at this little zoo. I only got a few shots; the first was of these lemurs.
The other was of this bald eagle, looking very truthy. There were two bald eagles; both were rescued after being injured. Neither can fly anymore, so there's no roof or restraints on their area.
Next to the zoo was a carriage house that displayed quite a few old carriages. It also had this bust of Adolphus Busch.
Here's a horse-drawn firetruck, located in the carriage house.
Next to the carriage house was a stable for the show horses. As I mentioned above, the Busches love to show horses. None of these are actually Clydesdales; they were actually a variety of horses in this stable.
Here's Michelob.
Here's a donkey. I'm not sure if it was the "celebrity" donkey that wanted to be a Clydesdale.
Here's the same donkey, after I learned to point my camera lens through the bars, instead of at the bars.
Here's the other donkey that was in the stable. Maybe this is the one from the commercials.
Another show horse.
Here's President Grant's St. Louis home, Whitehaven. It's called Whitehaven because the house was originally white before the Grants discovered lime green paint. The house originally belonged to Grant's father-in-law, and President Grant lived there after the Civil War and before he moved to New York at the end of his life. Oh yeah, there were also eight years in there when he lived somewhere else.
Here's a view of the property from the side. The green house is off to the right. The stone building behind it is the "summer kitchen." In the winter, meals were cooked in the basement (the "winter kitchen"), so the heat from the cooking stoves could spread through the house. In the warmer weather, meals were cooked in a separate building, to keep the heat out of the house. To the left are two red buildings: the icehouse, in which chunks of ice from the adjacent river were stored for up to three years (!) when packed properly, and a chicken coop.
That's it, and unfortunately that's it for the St. Louis area. On Thursday, I stop in Effingham, Illinois to visit the Stolz family.
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