Davenport to Mt Rushmore

This part of the drive drags a little  We got out of the hotel about 6:30.  Should have stopped for gas last night.  I decided to make a couple of changes that didn't work out perfectly.  We drove through Iowa City to look at the University of Iowa.  Glad I did it, but put us a little behind.  Then I suggested another slight detour to take Mo into Omaha Nebraska.  We looked for the College World Series field, but my gps took me to the headquarters, which was only a small brick building.

I told Mo about the other time I went through Iowa.  I had just finished my freshman year at Va Tech and my girlfriend at the time had relatives in Iowa and Wisconsin.  Her mother planned a road trip that summer and I was invited to come along.  What this meant was that I had the opportunity to drive a Chevrolet Vega
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2008/12/19/the-chevy-vega-the-worst-detroit-car-ever 3500 miles filled with myself, my girlfriend, her 10 year old sister and her mother with enough clothing for two weeks.  It was actually an enjoyable trip.  I've always loved travelling, but it took me two weeks to stretch out my legs after that.

Mo and I stopped for lunch in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  We had Chinese, which Mo says he likes a lot.  He has South Korean and Chinese friends that fix meals for him.  If you know Mo, this is not a surprise.  Hasn't met a stringer yet.  When we were at the Wilbur Wright home yesterday a neighborhood church lady tried to recruit him to attend her church this morning.  I had to drag him away, or we would still be in Central Ohio.

We are now only an hour from our camp ground at Mt Rushmore.  I'll let you know tomorrow how thing s workout.  If it works out the way we hope we will have a much better story.

Indianapolis to Davenport

Closing in on Davenport Iowa.  Had a great first day.  Glad we made some time for exploring.  I saw a sign for the Wright Brothers family home and flight museum.  Mo didn't know anything about this, so we went to the gift shop and got some info.  We decided to pay for a short tour.

http://www.wwbirthplace.com/



 It was really cool, but we noticed out in a field behind the museum some guys flying gas powered planes.  The planes were about 4 feet long, and can fly up to 100 mph and for as long as 30 minutes using the equivalent of a weed whacker engine.  This is amazing.  So glad we stopped.  We laughed ourselves silly when the guy used his plan to chase a crow 1000 feet in the air.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=881665735180748&set=vb.100000119892752&type=2&theater

We are gaining an hour now, so arriving Davenport at 8:30 but really feels like 9:30.  I want to get on the road by 6;30 as we need to get to Mt Rushmore campground before dark tomorrow.  Looks like 11.5 hrs.  Pretty redundant scenery in the morning and then will get interesting going through the Badlands of South Dakota about 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. 

The stop in Indianapolis was great.  St. Elmo's restaurant was established in 1902, a year before the first official manned flight by the Wright Brother at Kitty Hawk, NC. 

Blacksburg to Davenport Iowa via St Elmo's Fire in Indianapolis

We are off!!! Reset my odomester to 0 tin order to track our miles each day.  got out of Blacksburg a little after 6.  Had to make a stop at McDonalds for two senior coffees (they didn't catch me! and a bowl of oatmeal for Mo and a chicken biscuit for the old guy.

I was up till 1:30 finishing paperwork last night, so 5:30 came way to early.  I took the first three hours and Mo is driving us toward Indianapolis now.  We are actually ahead of schedule as St Elmo's Fire doesn't open till 3.  We will find something interesting to do, or just sit and talk about solving the world's problems.  We got a good dent in that this morning. Lots more to come, though.

I'm helping Mo to develop a library in his home town in Tanzania. He's doing 99.9% of the work but I'm his idea guy and wing man.  Pretty cool seeing it come together.  He has over 10,000 books ready to be shipped and is going over on June 9th to keep things moving.  We have talked about several ideas to make this happen.   we are talking about stopping to visit Salmon Kahn of the Kahn Academy in Mountain City, California next Friday. https://www.khanacademy.org/ .  Mo and I are both big fans of his.  We think he can help us change the world.


If he's not available we might visit Bill Gates.  If neither is around we are thinking of going by Apple to see if they will donate some laptops.    Mo has big plans and I want to see him do this!! We are calling it "the big idea."  Details as the trip continues.

Last night I picked up Mo at his Aunt Sera's house in Christiansburg.  She graduated from an on line college in New Hampshire last weekend and Mo drove her up and back for her graduation.  The cool thing about this is that New England was on my original itinerary, but needed to take it off because of the many things we wanted to see.  So glad he got an opportunity to go that way.

We had dinner at Amelia's in Cambria last night, trying to avoid a sold out restaurant of parents and VT grads.  Had a great meal and got to visit with Reggie and Cathy Tuck.   They were back from a trip to Turkey.  They enjoyed meeting Mo and talking about the historical sites in Istambul.

 
We are getting close to Indianapolis now. We've been driving through farmland in Ohio for a couple of hours.  I've enjoyed introducing Mo to these new sites.  I've seen them dozens of times, but makes it special when you see it with a friend for the first time.



Dinner at St. Elmo's Fire at 3 pm and then on to Davenport Iowa for the night.  Tomorrow will be another long driving day, with our destination a camp site near Mt Rushmore.



Check out the google maps image of St. Elmo's Fire.  You can actually do a walking tour of the restaurant.  Wow!.  I went once before on a trip to Chicago and had a great time. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.764888,-86.159677,3a,75y,54.94h,69.33t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1soUtSupczl80AAAGu4ZSuZw!2e0!3e2!6m1!1e1

Will update you again toorrow on the rest of our day.  John and Mo

Final Prep - travels with Mo

Talked with Mo last night to discuss meals on the road.  Mo cooks better than me, so we are working out some things that will work for both of us.  Mo and I have known each other for almost 4 years now.  We've got a lot to learn about each other, and 16 days 24/7 will give us that opportunity.

I'm going to pack tonight and will work on organize and packing the car Friday night.  Mo is going to stay at our house Friday night so we can pack the car together, go over final trip details and get a good night's sleep and an early start (6 a.m.).  We are heading to Indianapolis for an early dinner  and then on to Davenport Iowa.

Herb Grant has been very helpful in sharing his hiking and camping equipment and advise on travelling.  He is such an excellent planner and wonderful friend.  Herb talked about making part of the trip with us, but it didn't work out. I'm hoping that Herb and I can a couple more adventures over the next few years.  We talked about Peru and started planning the trip.  Had to postpone it, but still on my bucket list.   Hoping to see him tonight at the Blacksburg Country Club as his son, Aubrey, will be performing.

I'm hoping to catch up with Aubrey in Nashville, TN on May 31st, our last night on the road.  Aubrey is going to suggest some good music venues and probably a watering hole or two in the city.

I love it when a plan comes together.  200 things to do before 6 a.m. Saturday, but will hopefully get the things done that are most important.

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone," Pablo Picasso

pikes peak

got some additional information about Pikes Peak in Colorado today I have several friends that have made some other trips and had a great time.  They seem to be getting excited for me.

Booked our tickets for the Cog Rail to the top of Pike's peak.  In the info it said the elevation of 14,000 feet can be a problem.  I've been higher higher but it was much gradual. Hope we do okay.

Also said the temperature will drop 30 degrees from base to the top.  I suggested to Mo that we needed to long underwear and this is why.

My lions club friend Bill Mason sent me a couple of pictures.


Will be staying with a good coaching friend,Jack Fertig, in Fresno California near Yosemite.  Hard to believe it gas been almost 30 years since I saw him.  We've talked often over the years.

what to wear??

Trying to figure out clothes to take on my trip. Mostly warm but snowing every day this week at Crater lake in Oregon.

Can't wait to take mo up the Narrows at Zion.  My favorite destination in the world.

11 days to go

Getting our stuff together

Mo and I worked on organizing and preparing our gear for our trip this afternoon.  I've got a lot off stuff between my Kilimanjaro hike https://www.zaratours.com/and doing a 60 miler across Connecticut last spring.   I'm including a link to Zara Tours, because is the group that led us up Mt Kilimanjaro.  Another friend contacted me about getting some information about doing the same hike.  Only regret I had was that we didn't do a more extensive safari.  I hope I will be able to go back again one day and take my wife, Wendy.  We did a one day one, and got to see some amazing things, but a 3-5 day trip into the Sergengetti would be amazing!!!  If you ever want an adventure I highly recommend Tanzania.  

Did I tell you about my friend, Mohamed.  I met Mohamed 4 years ago at Kroger's in Blacksburg.  At the time Mo was working at Kroger's and taking classes at New River Community College.  Mo came over from Tanzania  Since then he has graduated from New River and now is close to finishing at Va Tech.  Mo talked with one of our mutual friends, Wanda Price, about getting a Va Tech class ring.  We worked on this together and Mo has his ring coming in July.  I only wish it could get here a little earlier.  Mo is heading back to Tanzania

I was able to borrow several things from my Kili hiking partner, Herb Grant.  Just missing a couple of small things.  I told Mo that we will want to have everything ready and packed on Friday evening, May 16th, so that we can get an early start Saturday morning. Unlike Kilimanjaro, if i forget something i can pull off the side of the road and find something along the way.

When Herb and i hiked Kilimanjaro I was 54.  the oldest in our group.  Herb and I worked very hard to prepare ourselves for this hike.  my favorite character of all the folks that went along on our hike was
Joseph Mele.  Joseph was about my age at the time. He had been helping lead trips up Kilimanjaro.  Joseph had an addictive personality, and everyone loved him.  He would frequently break out singing Christmas carols and would often stop and yell "power to America, power to Tanzania!!!"  We also loved hearing him sing this song.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBwp9k0i-3IJambo Bwana a swahili song.  Because I was the oldest, Joseph tended to connect with me.  He called me "Papa" and we frequently walked together on our way to the top.  I also called him "Papa" as he was the oldest in our group.

Herb Grant 2010 - Full moon hike Mt Kilimanjaro

Got some great advise on South Dakota from my friend, Steve Cass.  Steve recommended swinging by the badlands https://www.nps.gov/badl.  He also recommended stopping by Wall Drug.  Will fit in what we can.  So much to do and so little time to do it.



In addition to our stuff we need to start pulling together a plan on how we will eat.  Fortunately Mo says he know how to cook.  I can survive.  I know I can.  I cooked dinner for myself each night on a 6 night hike across Connecticut.  We will keep things simple to save time, more than anything else.

I'm planning on growing another beard on the trip.  Probably will start tomorrow morning.  Takes me a long time to grow a beard, and even then it isn't very full.  My father grew a beard several times.  Not sure what his motivation was, but I think I liked that he did that.  Made him a little edgy.

We called my father "Papa" when I was growing up, and even as I grew up and had my own family.  Never called him anything else.    Wish I had gotten to know him better.  Lost him in 1990, so almost 25 years ago.  I ran into a guy recently that had my father in a freshman English class in 1965.  He told me that my father was his favorite teacher ever.  I don't know if he was being truthful, but I'm taking it that way anyway. Here's to Papa!

Forgot to tell you.  When we got ready to leave Tanzania I asked my Tanzanian friend, Joseph what size she he wore.  He had accompanied me to 19,000 feet above sea level wearing 15 year old ill fitting running shoes with holes in them.  I took off my $300 hiking boots and gave them to Joseph.  I have no idea whether Joseph is still wearing them or if he sold them to provide for his family.  Makes no difference to me.  Here's to Papa Mele!