Vacation notes

We did 4500-ish miles in 11 days. Saw a good chunk of the country we hadn't seen before, the wife hadn't been off the west coast except for Hawaii. 11 states. Ranked in order: Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana (sort of a 3-way tie for first place), Utah, Iowa, Idaho, Nebraska, Washington, Minnesota, Oregon, Illinois. Saw cars from all 50 states I'm sure. Worst drivers are from Washington, closely followed by Oregon and some completely insane folks from Florida. California drivers were surprisingly well mannered. The stereotypes about Indian truck drivers (dot, not feather) are true. All of them. At least enough to show why the stereotypes exist. 

I couldn't believe that other states have rest areas that aren't disgusting filth pits covered in graffiti. WY, MT, MN, IA, NE, SD, all had NICE rest areas. SD and MT have state police substations in some of their rest areas. We could tell we were back in the PNW when we saw vending machines behind cages and ethnic slurs carved into the mirrors of one off of I-90 in Idaho. 

Most of the country can't comprehend the greatness of midwest truck stops/gas station & convenience stores. Holy cow, Casey's General Stores with gas stations could take over the whole country if you give them a few years. 

Seeing just the slices of the states we traveled through, we're definitely headed back to the top 3 states. 

How many states allow on-road use of side by side ATV's? I was surprised by a few, it might be fun to commute to work in an enclosed SxS in the winter.

California-Del Norte (formerly known as Washington) allows ATV use on roads but subject to local approval.

That’s doing so serious windshield time in 11 days….

I see SxS’s or other such ATV’s every now and then on the roads. Legal on roads if plated from my limited understanding

Casey’s is great but BucEes is a order of magnitude better & boy howdy I do love Casey’s breakfast pizza 🤣🤣 they have good tenderloins with mustard, pickle & onion

I haven't traveled much and would love to travel the states and see the country. some day.
I just dint know if the wife and I would do well as we travel differently, I like to move and she likes to stop

I haven't traveled much and would love to travel the states and see the country. some day.
I just dint know if the wife and I would do well as we travel differently, I like to move and she likes to stop

I like to go, wife likes to meander & sightsee/stop

in retirement I’ve learned sometimes we go and others we stop. When we went to Idaho made it to North Ogden UT and called it a night 

Went from WY to just outside DC non stop for a bro’s funeral while back and let me tell you that was a long ass haul 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Now I like to go slower, sightsee but also make hay while the sun shines as much as possible 

Trying to work out a DC trip next year with all the offspring & staying in a VRMBO somewhere in Virginia, will see how that works out 🤯🤯

Trying Casey’s breakfast pizza again

This was the most windshield time I've had. I'd flown into several of these states, but often didn't get out of the airport, or much past an auto parts store or local convention center/other venue for meetings or trade shows. I didn't get to see what the land looked like from the ground. There are areas we want to see again in more detail. I would love to explore more of SD, Wyoming, and Montana. We are usually the play it by ear types, taking plenty of time to get where we're going. This was just a flying trip to see what we could see in the time we had. Next year I think we're going to either spend the entire time in MT/SD/WY, or do a circuit through the northern states then turn south through Iowa and come back through a southern route.

You don't get the "midwest = corn" thing until you are in the middle of it. We were just before harvest, and it was a sea of corn from Eastern Wyoming through Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and even into Montana. Hundreds of miles of windmills and corn.

Look at US 2 across Montana even across ND and drop down thru Minnesota into Iowa

Or down thru SD into Iowa avoiding Minnesota completely

Across northern IA to the Mississippi and follow it south, that is some real beautiful country & then head back west

Depending on the time of year a side trip into Wisconsin for fresh squeaky cheese curds is always worth it as is farm stands in Iowa selling sweet corn out of the bed of a pickup

The Amana Colonies outside of Iowa City are really neat to visit. Taylor’s Maid Rite in Marshalltown is home to the original world famous loose meat sammich and Luther IA has some incredible BBQ

Pella IA for the tulips if they are blooming

Never seen corn in Wyoming, guess I need to get out more often & corn in Nebraska is not like IA corn 😁😁

Stop at Brownells on I80 and then go north on the 2 lane thru corn country for a real treat

Driving across Nebraska is never any fun but great for podcasts 🤣🤣

You really have to plan ahead for Glacier NP, have friends in Kalispell and a border town and in the summer it turns into a zoo with so many tourists, been told it’s like Jackson hole with all the millionaires visiting and moving in

Going to the sun is an incredible drive, well worth the time it takes

If ya want to see a Smithsonian quality museum in Wyoming, the military vehicle museum outside of Dubois is well worth the detour