Day 12: Dover DE to Brooklyn NY via Philly

Bit of a hike today, took 13 through Wilmington DE and South Philly, lots of traffic. Good food at the South Philadelphia Tap Room, lots of meandering through industrial zones, finally through traffic on Staten Island and on the Belt Parkway, now with babushka and dyedushka, no driving for awhile. 

Day 11: Chapel Hill NC to Dover DE via Chesapeke Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Long drive, long bridge, good meal at Mojo's in Salisbury MD, nice beach at Kerr Dam in NC, NYC here we come!

Day 10: Cleveland TN to Chapel Hill NC via Ashville NC

Smokey Mountains are awesome, nice and steep too. No more armadillo roadkill, now back to deer and raccoons. Ashville has a super fun pinball museum and arcade, everything working and unlimited play for a flat fee. 

Day 9: Memphis TN to Cleveland TN

Beale Street, glimpse of Graceland, then highway 64 across Tennessee, beautiful rolling hills country. Stopped at David Crockett State Park on the Trail of Tears and walked a few steps of the trail itself. Tomorrow to Ashville NC to play pinball and then on to somewhere around Norfolk VA. 

Day 9: Memphis, air conditioning now not working consistently - UPDATE: Fixed!

Seems my 100% fix rate (one data point) with the air conditioning is now significantly less than 100%. Fortunately it is quite nice here in Memphis, 70'sF and breezy. I think my laziness will win out and we will just wait until we arrive in NYC to diagnose and fix it. 

Update: Ah ha, I found the loose wire, fix rate back up to 100%!

Day 8: Bentonville AR to Memphis TN

Crystal Bridges Museum has an interesting art collection, then went east through the Ozarks and lots of rain, BBQ in Jonesboro at Demo's Smokehouse, then through more driving rain to Memphis over the Mississippi River. From I55 the I40 bridge looks quite sparkly. While unloading luggage spoke with a drenched motorcyclist who had ridden through the same downpour, glad he made it. 

Day 8: Bentonville

Visiting a couple companies here, recommendations for Egg&I, Pressroom, Herman's (BBQ), Big Rub truck near 21c. How much of the $3.2b dividend does the Walton family invest in this area?

Get the Brown Sugar at the Pressroom :)

Day 7: Wichita KS to Bentonville AR

The Great Plains seemed to end as we exited Kansas and went through a bit of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Spent some time swimming in the Neosho River, lush, rolling lake country. Table Mesa in downtown Bentonville is good eats and handled our clan easily. Tomorrow will start to aim at the east coast, not sure whether to head through Tennessee or further north yet, need to be in NYC by the 30th June. 

Day 6: Lamar CO to Wichita KS via Dodge City

Flat day. Possible gun fight in Dodge City starring Wyatt Erp. Now looking for BBQ. 

Day 5: Granby CO to Lamar CO via Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park feels like the top of the world. Hung out briefly in Boulder CO (but not long enough to look up anybody), then through the beginning of the plains and a nice lightning and wind storm with cheers from the boys. 

Day 4: Vernal UT to Granby CO via Dinosaur National Monument and Steamboat Springs

Made it to giant ski resort that looks slightly empty in the summer, no wonder the rooms were such a good deal.

Day 4: Air conditioning is back

Step 1: curse gently under breath 

Step 2: check fuses

Step 3: grumble a little that all the fuses are good because, really, that is a good thing

Step 4: open hood, unplug and reconnect any wire that looks remotely attached to the air conditioning

Step 5: smile nervously after the air conditioning starts working again because you really didn't fix anything

Day 4: Dinosaur National Monument

Very interesting fossils, and the air conditioning broke on the van in 90+F ...

Day 3: Ely NV to Vernal UT (397mi)

There is another shoe tree near Delta on Route 50, didn't get a picture. Multiple 7000+ft passes, including a 9000+ft on Route 191 to Duschene UT. 

Day 3: Ely NV to Delta UT

Splash pad and 100+F

Day 3: Ely NV to (hopefully) Vernal UT

Aiming to see dinosaur bones tomorrow. Perhaps there is some DNA we can examine. Our van is generally running well, a bit of detonation under load, uphill, at altitude, so need to back off a little sometimes. Interestingly the oil pressure reads high when backing off the throttle after a long uphill so need to figure out how bad that is. 

Day 2: Placerville CA to Ely NV via Route 50

About 408 miles, lunch in Carson City at Adele's which was very good. Go there and eat. Lots of 6-7,000ft mountain passes along Route 50, good swimming pool in Austin NV. 

Day 2: Shoe Tree Near Austin

Day 2: Swim Before Starting

Day 1: Home to Placerville CA

Just arrived in Placerville, goal for the day was to get on the road, kind of a late start but here we are, 120mi into our 3000+ mile trip mostly via Route 50. Hope everyone has a great summer, I will be working while in NYC and Michigan. 

Pre trip test post

Testing blog prior to leaving on our summer trip to NYC.