50 States… Or Less

Updates

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  Afar Magazine interviewed us about our trip in the Jul/Aug issue. Check it out on the newsstands or see it here!
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  it feels weird to be putting our house (ok, fine, our rv.) in storage today. also weird? showering without flip flops. and dishwashers!
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  totally forgot how good sonoma county smells on a hot day. oak trees, grass, and blackberry bushes. if you live here, you know what i mean.
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  Just filled the tanks on the RV with gas for the last time on this trip. 1712 gallons of gas in 9 months.
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  Back in California for the first time since January. And hwy 199 is one of the best driving roads of the whole trip. Good to be home.
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  sitting in the coach with the heater on. summer on the coast.
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  I've always lived within a half hour from the ocean, but today was the first time I've seen a whale in oh, at least 20 years!
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  we just passed our 8th car! that was built in 1915.
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  We missed our chance to drive through a town called Idiotville in Oregon today.
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  Went to Cape Flattery today, the northwestern-most point of Washington and saw a bunch of puffins.
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  going into town (forks) later to take pictures of all the hilarious twilight related stuff. they basically rebranded the whole area!
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  camping next to the pacific ocean, which we haven't seen since the first week of january. it's foggy, of course.
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  Saw our 8th SR-71 today at the awesome Museum of Flight in Seattle. We are now more than a 3rd of the way to seeing all of the remaining 20.
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  in olympia for a night, then off to olympic national park for 4 more. I predict it'll be rainy!
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  the Seattle food scene beat Portland in sunset mag, but will it be able to top the last 3 days? seems doubtful, but we'll give it a try!
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  Portland has amazing food! today we had food truck BBQ chicken, a strawberry/ blackberry galette from ken's and deep fried kimchi at biwa.
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  Having millions of Cajun tots and beers at the Kennedy School in Portland.
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  Had the charcoal grilled boar at Pok Pok in Portland tonight. Highly recommended.
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  The timberline lodge on Mt Hood (the exterior from the Shining) might have the most amazing interior of any lodge I have been to.
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  Just passed a Church of God in Zillah Washington.
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  its really hot and we just drove past an amazingly delicious smelling field of mint. now I really want a mint julep.
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  Going to see a sweet laser show (with a Vangelis soundtrack) projected on the Grand Coulee Dam in a little bit.
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  Back in the PST. IdaHOLLA!
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  s'mores, campfire, and the smell of weed wafting over the campground.
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  saw a moose on the side of the road on our drive home tonight. he was just standing there, being a giant moose.
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  I would like to give a solemn thank you to the many bugs that gave their lives on our windshield today so that we could get to Glacier NP.
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  we just passed a car. that makes 7 since the beginning of the trip.
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  we can see snow capped mountains for the first time since we were in tucson back in january.
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  Little Bighorn Battlefield was a nice stopover. Hell of a beautiful place to have a war.
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  So long South Dakota, you treated us right. Your turn Wyoming.
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  jerk chicken on the BBQ, beer in hand, sounds of ice cream vans and kids playing in the campground creek. yep, feels like summer.
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  Went to Deadwood today, saw Seth Bullock, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's graves and visited George Hearst's massive open-pit Homestake mine
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  Many people have said Mt Rushmore wasn't really worth seeing, not having been since I was a kid. But I found it both ridiculous and awesome.
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  gretchen saw her first buffalo today, and then she barked at it. the buffalo was unimpressed.
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  The western prairie of South Dakota is stunning. I have missed the west more than I thought and am now soaking this up.
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  Visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell South Dakota today. Looked like someone made a model of Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral for a state fair.
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  I have never seen rain like we saw today, it was somewhere close to 4" in about an hour. it was like being in a little hurricane.
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  Saw our 6th SR71 today at the strategic air command museum in nebraska. There are only 20 left so we are well on the way to seeing them all
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  Got 40 great records for less than $100 at the amazing Love Garden Vinyl in Lawrence Kansas
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  lots of detours already due to flooding up north. more to come, I'm sure.
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  I think this little storm in Lawrence KS has the loudest thunder I've ever heard. it really sounds fake, like its from a movie.
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  Oklahoma has the best slogan of any state: Oklahoma is OK
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  Seeing the suitcase that killed Tom Mix at the Tom Mix museum in Dewey Oklahoma
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  the weather today started out super hot, then turned humid, then turned into possible tornados then lots of rain. and lightning. oh, Kansas.
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  tonight the dog and I saw fireflies for the first time. (the dog barked.)
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  At Clinton lake state park in Lawrence Kansas. Perfect summer weather and light. Grilling and drinking outside. Thanks Kansas.
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  Man, 25mph crosswinds in an RV with gusts of up to 40 sucks. My arms are very tired tonight.
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  they turn over 1/2 a million cases a day, at this one plant! 5 football fields worth, 18 feet high, every 24 hours. insane!
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  did the Miller tour today in Milwaukee, as it turns out, Americans drink a lot of beer.
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  Touring Frank Lloyd Wright's incredible Johnson Wax Headquarters buildings. Such amazing details.
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  Went to The Violet Hour in Chicago with Dinesh and Shawn last night, and happy to say that the place lived up to its rep for good cocktails.
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  Camped on the shore of lake michigan tonight. Surprisingly crystalline blue water
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  Drove on interstate 80 today. It charged us a toll. I thought we were friends i80
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  Hello Chicago. See you tomorrow for the rest of the week.
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  our neighbors tonight have chased away the same raccoon 4 times already. clearly they are having something delicious for dinner.
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  Missing New Orleans tonight. Making up a pot of dirty rice and a batch of sazeracs.
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  our security system, aka our crappy paint job, looks fine until it's parked next to a gmc with a good paint job, or a new $500k rv.
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  the Mississippi river is twice as wide as it is on the gps's map. but it looks like it's dropped at least 4 feet.
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  we just drove through Future City, Illinois. not very futuristic.
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  Got the Miata all sorted out and running again. Good to have our shuttlecraft back.
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  how do we know when to move on to somewhere else? when I finally figure out how to navigate without a map.
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  somehow managed to attend two events in Kentucky in a week where the Governor was doing a ribbon cutting. random.
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  our visiting bay area friends brought the bay area's weather with them. cold and rainy, which is better than 90 degrees with 65% humidity!
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  The hard hat tour at buffalo trace distillery was great. Got to taste the mash and get up close to the still.
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  Went to a fried chicken place tonight for dinner that had KOOL-AID on the drinks menu.
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  Makers Mark, Heaven Hill and Jim Beam distilleries today. Makers was beautiful and actually the best tour so far.
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  Dang... blew the radiator in the Miata today. Good thing it is easy to hook it up to the RV to tow it along behind us.
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  Just passed the ham and gun store. We're totally going back there tomorrow.
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  adult bookstore on one side of the freeway, and a billboard on the other side that says "hell is real."
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  so far I've been to 11 new states on this trip. yesterday we added Kentucky to the list.
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  Man, they don't screw around at Princes Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville. Medium hot fried chicken is almost too spicy for me.
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  Great drinks and superb bartendership at Bar 308 in Nashville. Thanks Ben and Brandon!
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  At Hatch Show Print in Nashville, picking up some great letterpress posters for friends.
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  if you ever need to teach a class in advanced freeway tailgating, talk to someone from Memphis.
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  At the stax soul music museum. So much good music came from here.
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  Survived 4 tornados within 10 miles of us, got the RV stuck in mud, and drove through 10 in of water, but we finally made it to Graceland.
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  Drove within 9 miles of a tornado today. Had to break our streak and get a hotel room for the first time. Tornados are annoying.
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  vuvuzela like sound coming from the direction of the lake tonight. frogs?
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  This week: a tow truck museum, 3 distilleries, tour of the place that makes Ssäm's country ham and a glass boat tour of an underground lake
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  I think waffle house and dollar general should merge, easier distribution to every town in the south. plus both have black & yellow signs.
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  heading west again feels weird. it's been a while.
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  Great Smokey Mountain National Park was predictably amazing. Highly recommended in spring, so, so green.
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  Bummed that Tennessee's state motto isn't actually "Tennesseein is Tennebeleivin!"
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  I love that in all of the 19th century graffiti we have seen on this trip, the artists always took the time to add serifs to their letters.
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  Heading to the Foxfire Museum now. A book series that was on every 1970s bookshelf containing Appalachian wisdom on how to do everything .
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  Just had a great week in Atlanta with our hosts Josh, Katy, Lucy and little Beatrice. Thanks guys!
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  Atlanta is more pretty then i remembered. Hilly and windy roads and billions of trees.
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  Went to stone mountain today. Its like the confederate mt rushmore.
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  Having a cocktail at Holman and Finch in Atlanta that tastes like soap...in a good way. I blame the rhubarb bitters.
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  At the Cyclorama in Atlanta. A rotating football field sized painting and diorama depicting the battle of Atlanta. Super-kitch.
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  Georgia needs some of those wildlife overpasses like they have in Florida for armadillos.
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  it appears spring break has finally (finally!) ended. the 1000 acre park we are in has just one other set of campers.
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  bought a book in charleston today, "barbecue road trip." now I'm really looking forward to Memphis and Kansas city.
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  Went to an extraordinary bar in Charleston last night, The Gin Joint. Best Chartreuse Swizzle I've ever had, and tobacco infused Manhattans!
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  Made it to Fort Sumter where the civil war (aka the war of northern aggression) began 150 years ago this weekend.
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  At a bar, husk, in charleston, that has 9 kinds of pappy van winkle bourbons! We're getting close to the source.
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  on the move again, on our way to spend 3 days in charleston.
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  bought a tobacco and honey scented soap in savannah today. the rv smells really good now. might go back and buy the whole line.
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  heading into georgia today and crossing off another state from my haven't visited list.
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  We finally caught the mouse that has been chewing through our walls since Louisiana. We don't have to keep the cereal in the shower anymore.
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  we bought stuff to grill, but then we drove past a BBQ place that smelled really good. so we had that instead. oh, the perils of the south.
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  Saw space shuttle endeavor on the launch pad for the last time. A bummer the shuttle program is ending but I'm excited for what comes next.
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  We are seeing a good diversity of eagles painted on RVs. Soaring over buffalo, keeping watch for freedom, even eagles that fade into flames.
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  Got a new radiator for the RV. We are now running about 30 degrees cooler. Just in time too, it's 90 outside right now.
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  There are cardinals attacking our shiny aluminum wheels. Cool looking birds, but not so bright. I wish they would go after our mouse.
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  Our kitchen table is made of unfinished oak and my very hot laptop is sitting on it. It really smells like bourbon in here.
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  Woke up yesterday to the sound of the blue angels training. Found out we were camped 2 miles from their home runway in Pensacola.
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  Fried alligator at cochon in new orleans is the business. You should go to there.
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  At cafe du monde. There is so much powdered sugar on the ground, it looks like Tony Montana's study.
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  Triple milestone today: we crossed the mississippi river, turned over 4000 miles and have now spent 60 days on the road.
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  Heading to a big lebowski quote-off at the Alamo draft house in Austin and then to the highball for white russians and bowling.
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  West Texas is great... just saw some cowboys in a helicopter land at the store next to us (in the middle of nowhere) for a beer run.
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  I take back some of the mean things I have said about west Texas... The drive through Guadalupe national park at sunset was exquisite.