IT

IT started when I was a young girl.  What is IT?  IT is my lust, my desire to travel and be on the road.  IT is my love of looking at maps and seeing where roads go....hence my discovery that Hwy 281 goes all the way from Mexico to Canada.  IT is also my love of anything "western."  I was the child of the 50's and 60's so western TV and movies were my form of day-dreaming.

There is a vague memory of my dad showing me on maps where he had traveled as an over-the-road truck driver.  I remember being jealous when he left and I could not go with him.  In sixth grade, a series of books that were biographies of American Indians and other historical people came into my life.  The books had orange binding (funny how I remember that) and I read every one of the dozen or so we had in the school (Oak Hill) library in the Big Room.

In my late 20's, 1979, I took my first road trip with my sister, Romey.  I remember we left Wisconsin the day after my 10th high school class reunion at the Bon Ton!  Uffda!  We were both poor so we slept in the back of my Chevette!  Across South Dakota to Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Deadwood and then into Wyoming to Cody and Yellowstone National Park.  We left Yellowstone by the north entrance and we stopped at my grandmother's cousins place in Big Timber.  Heading home, we were broke and tired, but the travel bug had gotten IT's hooks into me.

The same year a book, "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins was available.  I loved reading about the places he walked and people he met.  I think it was after reading his story, that I decided to take another road trip by myself.   So it was, in April, 1980, I took off.  I had some planned stops along the way, college friends in Minnesota and relatives in St. Louis, but after that it was a daily decision on what road on the map I would take.  I was still "poor," but I upgraded to a pup tent to sleep in!  I went through Arkansas (that is only time I have been in that state), Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada.  I remember in Texas, I was camping in El Paso and these two young guys from Houston set up camp next to me.  I was surprised when they said they had traveled all day to get there from Houston.  What? I was used to getting through two states in a day's travel.  They informed me that the distance from Houston to El Paso is the same as between New York City and Chicago.  Out came the maps to they could prove their point.

On this trip, when I finished with my fun in Las Vegas, a decision had  to be made.....was I going to go to Colorado or California?  Both states I really wanted to see, but Colorado won out.  So I went through the Four Corners (Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado) through the Rocky Mountains to Denver and up to Loveland.  A former housemate from Minnesota had moved to Loveland, so I paid her a surprise visit.  The next day, while she was working, her friend took me up to Estes Park to see the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Even though it was a foggy day, I was hooked!  I went back to Estes the next day and found a job as waitress (I had started waiting tables before this trip to make extra travel money).  Then as luck would have it, another new hire at the restaurant needed a roommate.  Voila!  I was now working and living in Estes Park.  This is still one of my favorite places to see and be.  That summer I got out the maps again and would often explore the roads of Colorado.  By August, I was homesick and went back to Minnesota.

A couple of years later, 1982, the travel bug was making me itch like crazy again.  So when a former co-worker turned best friend, Diana, was going to move to California and told me we could use her uncle's place free of rent for the summer.... it didn't take me long to decide to hit the road for the "other" state I missed out on before.  While I was in California for over three years, I would often take time off and explore the state and go to historical places and parks.  Many of my co-workers and friends there often exclaimed, "You have seen more of California in a year than I have my whole life."

In 1986, I made another road trip from Wisconsin to Georgia.  This trip was for love!  :)  I moved down there to be with Paul, now my husband for almost 26 years.  Due to the circumstances of our long-distance relationship and having not spent more than a couple weeks time total together, it was a big risk.  But I knew that if it didn't work out, I would make the best of it and decide to stay or leave Georgia...no big deal.  I had moved across the country a couple times by now.

We lived in Georgia for over twelve years and luckily I found a travel mate in my husband, who loved to explore the roads of Georgia, Tennessee, North & South Carolina just as much  I did.  During those years, we made numerous road trips between Georgia and my family in Wisconsin.  In 1999, we moved to Wisconsin and stayed there for seven years.  This time, it was Paul that was the perpetrator of the move to Texas.  He was a Winter Texan that decided he wanted to stay.  Another move across country....to the far end of the country....seven miles from Mexico!  Here we have explored areas of Texas and we have a subscription to Texas Highways which provides lots of info on places to go and see.  We have taken Highway 281 up to Hill Country a number of times.

Another subscription I have for a couple of years now is "Cowboys and Indians."  This has re-ignited my love of the West!  Remember the trails of the western expansion?  Santa Fe, California, Oregon. I am going to be crossing these trails on this trip! Remember the Chisholm trail where cowboys took cattle from Texas to Kansas and Nebraska.  I am going to be following that trail on this trip!

A few years ago when I started thinking of retirement, I knew I wanted to travel.  One day as I was looking at the Texas map, I started following Hwy 281 and saw that it went through all of Texas.  Then I got my Road Atlas and found it went through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota to the Canadian border.   Hwy 281 starts in Brownsville which is 54.4 miles from my house in Pharr. I can see and hear the traffic on 281 (named Cage Boulevard in Pharr).  So IT's appropriate that my road trip be along Highway 281.

Now that I have given you some of road trip history, you will see that even though I am over sixty years old and could be settling-down....it ain't gonna happen!  On the road again as I let IT possess me once again!

Road Trips

"A road trip is a journey taken on roads. Typically, road trips are long distances traveled by automobile."

I am going on several road trips this summer.  This has been a dream of mine for years!  I'm so excited to be taking this journey and sharing it with others.  My first road trip will be taking Highway 281 from the Texas/Mexico border (Brownsville, TX) to the North Dakota/Canada border (International Peace Garden).
U.S. Route 281 is a north–south United States highway. At 1,872 miles^[2] (3,013 km) long it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route.


I live within a stones-throw distance from Hwy 281, and in looking at the map, I found that it goes through the heartland or the Great Plains of America.  

"From the airplane, the Great Plains look like a repeated pattern of rectangular fields and arrow-straight highways, prompting urban Americans to dub it 'fly-over country.' This predominantly rural and agricultural region which stretches clear across the center of the country, embodies the all-American ideals of independence and hard-working self-sufficiency."  Eyewitness Travel - USA

When I lived in Colorado and California, I crossed this region several times by car traveling to Wisconsin.  However on those trips I was limited on time (using vacation time) so I made few stops at the sites of the region.  So I was excited to see what  the region has to offer.  I am using four travel books that I have accumulated over the years to plan my trip.  Eyewitness Travel - USA; America's Historic Places; Off the Beaten  Path; and of course Rand McNally Road Atlas.  I don't want to miss a thing!  

I am finding out that there is a lot to see along Hwy 281.  I plan to stop every 100 miles and take photos to share on this blog and see some of the sites within 30 miles of the highway.  Tentative plans are to leave Memorial Day and arrive in North Dakota about 7-8 days later.  I will then go to my mother's in Wisconsin.  
On June 7th, I will start my second road trip. My mom and two of my sisters and I will travel to Rapid City, South Dakota to see nephew, Tim and his family and tour the sites there.  After we get back to Wisconsin (June 12), I will spend two weeks visiting family and friends there.  

June 27th I will pick up my hubby, Paul, at MSP airport (Minneapolis/St Paul) airport and travel to spend the weekend with a sister in Wisconsin Rapids.  June 30th will start my third road trip of the summer!  We will travel to Upper Peninsula Michigan; western coast of lower Michigan to Muskegon (visit Texas friends); through Ohio to Niagara Falls, New York; Massachusetts (visit Paul's brother); New Hampshire (visit Texas friends); New York City (visit Paul's other brother); Pennsylvania; West Virginia and the homeward bound through Kentucky, Tennessee and ???   I have not figured out our route home yet!

I have found it quite interesting doing research for this first road trip.  In looking at the map of South Dakota, I found "Prayer Rock" on the map near Ipswich.  When I Googled it, I found another person's blog about their travels through the area.  They referred to a Yellowstone Trail, which I was unaware.  Thank goodness for Google, I discovered the Yellowstone trail that went from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to Puget Sound, Washington, going through my home state of Wisconsin.  So I got side-tracked and read about the Yellowstone Trail for about an hour!  

On my trip along Hwy 281, I will cross over other famous trails - Pony Express Route, Santa Fe Trail, and Oregon Trail.  Just like travelers today, the people going on these trails had another destination in mind and though they trudged, rather than fly-over the Plains, they did not stop.  

Did I say I'm excited about this trip?  :)  Here it is 4 am and I'm writing instead of sleeping.  Join me as I write about my road trips.  I will try to have visual and written descriptions of the sites that I visit on a daily basis....main reason for getting this laptop computer.  With Google at my fingertips, I can expand my knowledge base, as well as yours.  Any suggestions on must-see sites, leave a comment.