The last charming stops of our 2024 trip were in Kansas. Kansas gets a bad rap as being flat (always true) and boring (not always true), and besides being the geographical center of the country, it’s a state of farmlands and salt-of-the-earth Midwesterners. We’re always surprised to find little hidden treasures in Kansas! Strataca Salt Mine (Hutchinson...
It’s gettin’ hot. Summertime is here, and the living is definitely NOT easy, as the song goes. That’s the case nationwide, including in Independence, Missouri, just outside Kansas City, where we paid some sweaty homage to a wide variety of chiefs. President Harry S Truman The main CHIEF around Independence is their hometown boy, Harry S Truman, the...
Destination: St. Louis. This Mississippi River locale has something for everyone: music lovers, sports fans, history buffs, people who like Budweiser beer, and an urban park that is wayyy bigger than even Central Park. The Arch St. Louis is perhaps best known as the location of the massive national monument best known to most as simply “The Arch” —...
This trip has been full-immersion in all things Lincoln, and we’re starting to feel like experts in Sir Abe. We have visited his birthplace in Hodgenville, KY, walked where he gave his famous speech at Gettysburg, PA, etc etc etc, with all of the expected monuments and markers and statues. Lincoln Statue at Louisville, KY (note bird on head) Lincoln...
80% of the nation’s RVs are manufactured in Northern Indiana, and therefore you can find everything RV here: service, repairs, dealers, campgrounds and museums. All in the name of enticing you to “Go RV’ing!” Wait … we already have! Taking a trip to the RV Capital, while RVing in your RV, feels like a return to the mothership. Decatur, IN We...
We moved on from Pennsylvania to West Virginia, which is one of the five poorest states in the Union, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, Wheeling, WV was the richest city per capita in the U.S. during the late 19th century. But those days are long gone — so why oh why would we choose to stop here? It’s for prisons and palaces, of course, cuz...
Leaving Gettysburg, we headed to Southern Pennsylvania, where we considered the trials and tribulations of others, and endured tribulations of our own with the passing of our littlest traveling companion, Sprinkles. Lancaster Lancaster is the poster child for Amish country, and we envisioned country dirt lanes, smiling bonnetted-and-straw-hatted families, covered...
Prior to this trip, you could fit my knowledge of the Civil War into a snack-size Ziplock bag. Blame the really cute boy Adam who sat in front of me in high school History class — for an entire semester, I was too busy doodling MY first name — with HIS last name — to pay much attention to the curriculum. With our visits to Gettysburg PA, Antietam...
Hudson Valley is just 82 miles north of New York City, and yet a world away. With small towns, historic sites and lush land, it’s where many suburbanites have gone for decades to escape the city. Here, we peeked into the life of royalty: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (old money American royalty), Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt (new money American royalty)...
Leaving Connecticut, we popped into Rhode Island for an itty-bitty stop in an itty-bitty state. Exactly how itty-bitty? Well, you could fit 173 Rhode Islands into the state of Texas alone, and Alaska has four cities that are each bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island. Surrounded by the waters of Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean on the south...