My 2021 Epic Road Trip By the Numbers

 A lot of people have asked me about some stats from my road trip, so here we go.  

Days on the Road:  32

Miles Driven:  8,393 miles

Most Miles Driven in a Day:  789 miles from Minneapolis, MN to Cleveland, OH

States Visited:  20 - Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Baseball Stadiums Visited:  4 - Dodger Stadium, Petco Field (San Diego Padres), Angels Stadium of Anaheim, Four Winds Field (South Bend Cubs)

National Parks Visited:  6 - Death Valley National Park, Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park, Cabrillo National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park

Hottest Temperature:  Needles, California - 122°F - July 9, 2021

Coldest Temperature:  San Diego, California - 67°F - July 4, 2021

Hail Dents in the Car:  4

Tires Popped:  1

18 Wheelers Seen Hauling Onions:  9

Route 66 Lime or Orange Sodas Consumed:  8

Days in Car w/Family:  23

Days in Car Alone:  11

Cheeseburgers Consumed:  13

Breweries Visited:  8 - Brewbaker's Brewing Company, Lost Abbey Brewing Company, Wild Barrel Brewing Company, Original 40 Brewing Company, Rip Current Brewing Company, Peace Tree Brewing Company, 1717 Brewing Company, and Back Channel Brewing Company

Beers Consumed:  Lost Count

Back Where it Began (Day 32)

Day 32 started somewhat early, but a little later than I thought it would.  Although I fell asleep in my car around 3:00am, I was still able to get a solid 4 hours of sleep, waking up around 7:00am.  The blackout shades in my car did their job.  Luckily I'm the type of guy who only really needs 4-5 hours of sleep a night, so I was good to go.  

It was about a 5.5 hour ride from where I slept in my car to my home.  I knew it was going to be a straight shot as I had enough fuel in the car to make it.  

This home stretch, gave me some time to reflect back on my trip.  I saw a lot while on the road, did a lot of things, soaked up so much Americana along Route 66 and baseball across the stadiums that we visited, ate a ton of great foods, got to spend some quality time with my family, it was all so wonderful.  It really made me happy and provided a very hectic, but mentally relaxing time away from work.  

Part of me wanted to hang a detour and head out on the road for another 30+ days, but I knew it was time to head home.  I had friends back home who I wanted to see.  I wanted to come home and do the things locally that I missed while I was gone.  

When I saw that Maryland sign, I was happy.  I knew I was almost there.  

I pulled into my driveway at around 12:45pm with little fanfare.  It was nice to be home.  I immediately unpacked the car, put things away, and jumped into my Lazy Boy for a well deserved nap while listening to baseball.  That is one of the things that I missed the most.  I'll wrap up the trip stats in the next blog entry.  

Lunch with K9, Beer Shopping, Cubs Baseball and a LOOONG Drive (Day 31)

My 31st day on the road was going to be a long one. I had approximately 1,200 mi to drive in order to get home and a single day to do it.  I had taken a lot of time off from work and so I really needed to be at work on Monday.  Here I was on Saturday waking up in Minneapolis. I really needed to make some good time getting home, so I departed early.

Since I was in Minneapolis and the direct route home took me through Wisconsin, I figured this was a great opportunity to get some New Glarus beer to bring back to Maryland.  I love New Glarus beer and the only place you can get it is in Wisconsin.  I figured I would do this in Madison, Wisconsin.

I headed east out of Minneapolis on I-94 and linked up with I-90 down to Madison.  There I met a long time friend, Kevin (aka K9) who lives just outside of Milwaukee.  We haven't seen each other for a while, so after working a mid-shift, he actually drove out to Madison to meet up with me for lunch.  What an awesome friend!!!  We decided to meet up at a place called The Parkside Pub. This place is one of those joints that you would expect in Wisconsin. Simple foods that tasted great and plenty of cold beer. I ordered a bratwurst and a couple Spotted Cows. Perfect lunch company, food and brews.  

After hanging out for lunch, I went to Trixie's Liquor to pick up some New Glarus and other beers local to Wisconsin. Then it was on the road to head home.  It was almost 3:00 p.m., and I still had 847 miles to go to get home.  No more delays or detours (or so I thought).

I cruised south and east on I-90 heading through the outskirts of Chicago. There I picked up I-90/I-80 East. I got to South bend, Indiana around 6:30pm and noticed that the South Bend Cubs were playing at 7:00 p.m.  Being the baseball obsessed person that I am, I decided it was a good idea to head to the game. I needed to eat dinner and also stretch my legs before heading back on the road and this was a perfect location.

I will say, for a minor league park, Four Winds Field is one of the best. The ballpark is absolutely beautiful with a lot of fun activities around the park. It was so much fun that I had to do a video chat with my daughters to show them the fountains in right field that kids can play in.

This beer was outstanding by the way.....

The game was a lot of fun and I sat next to some great people. After the game there were some fireworks, knowing that there would be a crowd getting out of there and being that it was 10:30pm, I decided to leave and watch the fireworks as I walked back to my car.

I got into my car and headed east.  I wasn't really tired as I was excited about the baseball game, so I was going to see how many miles I could put on before I needed a rest.  Eventually, I pulled over in a rest stop outside of Cleveland at around 3:00am. It looked like a pretty safe rest stop as there were lots of cars in the lot spending the night. I put up my blackout shades in the car, turned on some music, and went to sleep. It had been a long day, but I had a lot of fun.  

Detour to Drink with Friends in Minneapolis? Why Not? (Day 30)

Long story short, I never planned to head up to Minneapolis on this trip.  My plan was to go from Des Moines, Iowa, east on I-80, then down to Peoria, Illinois on I-74, hooking up with I-70 in Indianapolis, Indiana, then staying in Dayton, Ohio before heading home on Saturday.  That didn't happen after I found out that Minneapolis, Minnesota was only 3.5 hrs from Des Moines and only added about an hour to my drive home.  

I have some great friends who live up there and I rarely see them.  So why not head up to drink with some of my favorite people?  A beer drinking detour to Minneapolis was set in motion on Friday morning.

We did not do much sight seeing and I was being too chatty to take many pictures.  However, I was able to hit up Pizza Lucé, Back Channel Brewing Company, Birch's on the Lake Brewhouse & Supper Club.  All three having great beer and Pizza Lucé and Birch's having great food.  

This was about all I got for a picture while we were out.  It was so great to see some of my friends again.  

What a fun, unexpected day of seeing my friends Craig, Lisa, Tracy, and Courtney.  This is what a great adventure is all about!!!

The Road to the Beer of Des Moines Goes Through Omaha (Day 29)

The night leading into Day 29 of the trip was probably my worst night of sleep on the whole trip.  The bed at the Motel 6 in Sidney, Nebraska just wasn't comfortable compared to a lot of the beds I slept on during the trip.  Since I didn't sleep well, I headed out early the next morning.  This was okay cause I was going to lose an hour heading from the Mountain Time Zone to the Central Time Zone.  

It was a great day to drive from Sidney Nebraska to North Platte, Nebraska (which by the way is a very beautiful city). It took all about 2 hours to get from the hotel to my first stop of the day, the Golden Spike Tower and Visitors Center.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a train buff. I like looking at model trains, but watching real trains never really did much for me. However, the opportunity to go to the world's largest rail yard and look at it from the Golden Spike Tower was something I could not pass up.

As you enter the Golden Spike Tower, there is a nice gift shop that you enter and they take you to the side to watch a movie about the rail operations there in North Platte. I never realized that this was such a rail town for Union Pacific.

After watching a movie about the facility, you head up to the tower.  You have the opportunity in the tower to go to the 7th floor and look at the rail yard in an open air observation deck. After looking at things there, you can go up to the 8th floor and talk with someone who used to work in the rail yard for Union Pacific. It was a lot of fun.

I think my favorite part was the fact that they have an area in the rail yard that sorts the railcar based on their destination. That is, a railcar comes to the top of the hill, it's determined based on the payload where it's going. The railcar gets pushed down the hill and directed onto the right track for a locomotive to take it to its destination. It was weird watching railcars just glide down a hill without anybody steering them or them connected to a locomotive.

After leaving the rail yard, I headed towards Omaha, Nebraska where I was going to eat a late lunch and visit a world-famous bar.

My first stop was at a place called the Highlander Accelerator.  Here there was a bunch of smaller restaurants, one called the Big Mama's Kitchen. I got a famous chicken sandwich from there. It wasn't like a normal chicken sandwich you'd get a Chick-fil-A.  It was served in a sub roll, with chunks of fried chicken in it. It was so good. I was so hungry at that point, I forgot to take a picture of it but you can take my word for it

Next, I went to the world famous Homy Inn. I had heard a lot about this place as it is one of the only places around that serves four different types of champagne on draft. I am not much of a champagne fan, so I went with a local beer and it was delicious. It reminded me of the ultimate dive bar. The people who work there were super nice and a lot of fun to talk with. After a couple beers, I headed back on the road.

I made one pit stop between Omaha and Des Moines. This was to a roadside attraction of a VW beetle that they turned into a spider in Avoca, Iowa.  I'm a sucker for roadside attractions like this.

Next it was onward to Des Moines, Iowa. I had never been to Des Moines, other than just passing through. However, Des Moines has a reputation as an incredible beer city. I wanted to put that to a test. I booked a room at the Holiday Inn in downtown Des Moines as it was relatively cheap and was within walking distance of many bars and restaurants. I must say this was the nicest Holiday Inn I've ever been in.  

Once I dropped all my things off at the room and got settled, I headed out for a mile and a half walk to Peace Tree Brewing Company. Oddly enough it was beer bingo night there. I didn't participate as I wasn't going to stick around long, but I had a really good time. The beers were pretty good.

Next up I walked across the street to 1717 Brewing.  Once there I was super excited to see that they had a Black IPA and an ESB. Two styles I rarely see anymore. 

After talking to some guys that work in environmental cleanup at 1717, I headed over to Zombie Burger + Drink Lab. There I got one of the most amazing burgers ever. It was called The Walking Ched. On there you had a hamburger, bacon, cheddar cheese, caramelized and red onions, macaroni and cheese, and mayonnaise. Oh, and did I forget to mention that the bun is made out of a deep fried macaroni and cheese patty?  It was amazing.  To make sure I was full, I also ordered the poutine.

Next up I walked to the El Bait Shop.  However, as I was walking over there I ran into a place called Brenton Skate Plaza. That was pretty awesome. I had to get my picture taken with that sign.

El Bait Shop is a bar that has somewhere on the order of 150 beers on draft. I asked the bartender for something really good and local and he pointed me to the Mea Pulpa from Lion Bridge Brewing Company in double New England IPA. It was probably the most outstanding beer I had on the whole trip.  I had a few more beers, was very tipsy, and decided it was time to head back to my hotel room.

Overall, Des Moines was amazing. I wish I had more time to hang out there. The downtown area is absolutely beautiful and there are ton of breweries and bars that you can walk to. I definitely hope to head back there sometime soon. 

Goodbye to Family. Hello Jail, Hail, and the Trail Back Home (Day 28)

I got up early in the morning on Day 28, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then headed over to Salt Lake City International Airport to drop the family off.  We knew that at this point they'd be at their breaking point from being on the road for so long.  So we planned ahead and thought it was the best for them to just get on a plane and head back to Maryland.

After dropping the family off, I needed to get an oil change on my car.  At this point, I had done around 6,500 miles.  I went to a Jiffy Lube near the airport and once that was done, I headed East on I-80.  It felt so good to have my car fully to myself again, so I could play the music as loud as I wanted and drive for as long as I wanted without stopping.

It had been some time since I drove I-80 East out of Salt Lake City.  I had forgotten how big an incline there was getting out of there as you head east.  The sights are beautiful as I drove. Once on the other side of the mountains, it didn't take too long before I was in Wyoming.

I made it all the way as far as Rawlins, Wyoming.  I stopped there to get a drink and go to the bathroom at a gas station.  While stretching my legs, I noticed there was a penitentiary a mile or so away that was open to tour. That seemed like something fun to break up the day.  So I drove over there, arriving at 3:28 p.m. and finding out there was a tour leaving at 3:30 p.m. Score!

The Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum tour was amazing. I learned it had been used for a long time and was the first prison in Wyoming.  Its use preceded Wyoming even being a state and it closed down in 1983.  

The tour here was exceptional.  You got to see pretty much every aspect and corner of the facility.  

Not to be morbid, but one of the coolest things on the tour was seeing the gallows and gas chamber on death row. It never actually seen a gas chamber before, but this one was used to execute five inmates at this prison.

Here's a view of the gallows as well.  

One of the most interesting things about this penitentiary was the fact they have a bunch of pictures of the inmates on the wall.  This guy was killed in the gallows, but it failed the first time since he was too light.  So they had to string him up a second time.  What a horrible way to go having to be hung twice!

Here are some of the women which were housed here.  

Finally, it was real cool to see all the artwork in the prison painted by the inmates.  

Oh and let's not forget about the license plates that were made there by inmates.  

Overall, the Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum was amazing.  One of my favorite spots that I visited on the trip.  I highly recommend going here if you happen to be cruising down I-80 and need to stop somewhere to stretch your legs.  Totally worth it!!!

After the prison tour, it was onward to Sidney, Nebraska where I was spending the night.  The ride through Wyoming on I-80 is long and there are some parts of the state where you drive a long distance and do not see much in the way of exits or attractions for miles.  Well except random fences that I assume help block snow and other debris from blowing onto the Interstate.

It's beautiful country and there is plenty of nothingness to look at (I love open spaces).  However, despite the long drive through nothingness, it did not end up uneventful.  

As I'm driving down the road, I look ahead and see a beautiful looking thunderstorm ahead.  I look quickly at the radar and it's got a small thunderstorm, nothing too serious.  So I continue on my merry way eastward.

Eventually, as I drove into the thunderstorm, the storm grew and my car started taking on hail.  

This was the point I came up on some stranded motorcyclists.  It was a couple with a motorcycle and a tow.  They were on the side of the road, getting hit with hail that I'd guess was quarter sized.  Wyoming has no overpasses, so I wanted to make sure that these two were safe.  I invited them to sit into my car.  

They were a nice couple (I think named Brian and Lisa) from Kentucky who had traveled to Yellowstone and Grand Teton and were driving back home.  They were so very thankful that I let them into my car.  With as much as I travel that I do and as much as I love to drive, I believe in being a good steward of the road and helping those who need help.  These two clearly were in need of some shelter and I made sure they got it.  

Once they got into the car, it got real bad.  Hail was from a quarter to golf ball sized.  It was pretty intense.  I have never seen hail that big and I was thankful that I was in a car during this.  I had joked before the trip my car was going to get a flat tire and take on hail.  Well I got my flat tire in Holbrook, Arizona and this was my hail event.  The self fulfilling prophecy was complete!

After the storm, I said bye to my new friends from Kentucky, wished them safe travels, and headed East again.  Overall, the hail damage to the car wasn't too bad.  A few spots had chipped paint due to spiky hair and about 5 dents from larger hail hitting the car.  However, it was just so loud at time in the car.  Based on the sound, it sounded a lot worse than it looks.  

I didn't stop again until I reached Sidney, Nebraska.  I went directly to get dinner at a place called Dude's Steakhouse & Brandin' Iron Bar.  It had good reviews online and fit my criteria of a "mom and pop" style restaurant.  After driving on the road all day, the steak was soooooo good.  I love a good ribeye.  

After dinner, I hit up the Motel 6 in Sidney, Nebraska.  It was a cheap option and had great ratings online.  I needed a break after doing close to 600 miles that day.