From Sunday, September 1 to Friday, October 4, 2019, I went on a massive road trip, which I called the “Road Trip to Nowhere;” it was the longest road trip I’ve ever taken other than the one I took after college in 1979. I mainly covered the horizontal lands of the Great Plains: Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota, but I also made stops in Ohio; Illinois; Wyoming; Colorado; Topeka, Kansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Greeneville, Tennessee. Overall, I drove 7,505.6 miles.
The trip was all about the Lewis & Clark expedition and the Missouri River; pioneers, farmers, and Native Americans in the Great Plains; stark landscapes such as the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park; soldiers in various forts in the Great Plains; and the American bison. I loved stopping at small museums where I learned about local culture and was introduced to artists such as Harvey Dunn, Terry Redlin and Karl Bodmer – artists who captured the Great Plains both past and present. I encountered the World’s Largest Buffalo; the world’s largest ball of stamps; the World’s Only Corn Palace; and giant grasshoppers, fish and pheasants on the Enchanted Highway. I found replicas of Viking ships and Scandinavian churches. I crossed the Canadian border and extended a hand to our northern neighbors at the International Peace Garden. I visited the childhood homes of novelists and celebrities such as Willa Cather and Johnny Carson. I learned more American history here than I have in any of my other travels, and even in all my years of schooling.
I did most of this trip solo, but Mike flew to Rapid City, South Dakota and accompanied me to Denver, CO, from where he flew back home. We visited our son in Denver and went on several hikes with him. I also spent several days with my sister in Murphysboro, Illinois on my way home.
Here is my Polarsteps map for the trip, the first showing the journey all the way from my home in Virginia, and the second concentrated on the Dakotas and Nebraska, the focus of my “Road Trip to Nowhere.”
I wrote quite a number of posts about my “Road Trip to Nowhere:”
- call to place: the road trip to nowhere
- anticipation & preparation: road trip to nowhere
- on journey: virginia to cincinnati on a “road trip to nowhere”
- art journal spreads: tiffany glass & road trip to nowhere
- art journal spreads: road trip to nowhere {illinois to nebraska}
- art journal spreads: nebraska to south dakota
- on journey: finding justice in cincinnati, ohio, and onward to springfield, illinois
- lincoln’s boyhood home in springfield, illinois
- art journal spreads: south dakota to north dakota
- on journey: springfield to omaha (& a first encounter with the corps of discovery)
- the epitome of kindness at boys town in omaha
- the gerald ford birthsite in omaha
- the joslyn art museum in omaha
- art journal spreads: north dakota
- a walk around the old market in omaha, nebraska
- art journal spreads: bismarck to medora, north dakota
- tower of the four winds & the desoto national wildlife refuge
- nebraska: fort atkinson state historical park & the swedish heritage center
- native american portraits
- norfolk, nebraska: childhood home of johnny carson
- art journal spreads: medora, north dakota to wall, south dakota
- on journey: following lewis & clark from yankton to ponca state park
- a day in sioux falls, south dakota
- sioux falls to mitchell corn palace to the ingalls home
- brookings to watertown, south dakota
- on journey: watertown, south dakota to fargo, north dakota
- fargo to jamestown, north dakota
- north dakota’s big skies & the international peace garden
- north dakota: the scandinavian heritage center & the knife river indian villages
- washburn, north dakota: the lewis & clark interpretive center and fort mandan
- the north dakota heritage center {the horse, native peoples & north dakota history}
- the north dakota heritage center in bismarck: adaptation gallery
- bismarck art alley
- mandan to the enchanted highway to watford city, north dakota
- fort union trading post national historic site & grasshopper encounters
- theodore roosevelt national park (north unit)
- theodore roosevelt national park (south unit)
- the north dakota cowboy hall of fame & medora
- on journey: medora to devils tower to deadwood, south dakota
- tatanka: story of the bison & spearfish canyon
- south dakota: sturgis, bear butte & wall
- the badlands, south dakota
- south dakota: minuteman missile national historic site & prairie homestead historic site
- the journey museum in rapid city, south dakota
- south dakota: mount rushmore & jewel cave national monument
- south dakota: crazy horse memorial & chapel in the hills
- south dakota: custer state park
- south dakota: custer, wind cave national park, & rapid city
- on journey: rapid city, s.d. to toadstool geologic park to fort robinson state park
- scotts bluff national monument in nebraska
- chimney rock national historic site, nebraska
- cheyenne, wyoming: the wyoming state capitol, sanford’s grub, & the wrangler
- the cheyenne depot museum & cowgirls of the west
- cheyenne: a historic walk, frontier days, & mid mod etc.
- rocky mountain national park, colorado
- around & about fort collins, colorado
- denver: flatirons vista & larimer square
- denver to grand island, nebraska: front street, fort cody trading post, & a pony express station
- grand island, nebraska to topeka, kansas: wilber, beatrice & red cloud
- topeka, kansas: brown v. board of education national historic site
- ulysses s. grant national historic site in st. louis & a couple of days in murphysboro, illinois
- greeneville, tennessee: andrew johnson national historic site & homeward bound
Besides filling three journals on this trip with details and observations, I also did some art journal spreads in the journals.
I sent some postcards home to myself from each of the three major states I visited.
Nebraska:
South Dakota:
North Dakota:
Overall, this was a fantastic trip where I learned much about the history of our country and the settlers and Native Americans who shaped it.
*September 1 to October 4, 2019*
**Drove: 7,505.6 miles**
~ wander.essence ~ 
Excellent. I have done pieces of this trip. Love the content
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Thank you so much, Kelly. It was a huge trip, but one well worth taking. I definitely learned a lot!
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Yes, a lot of history around that trip
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This is an impressive achievement. I hope one day to be able to follow in the same footsteps.
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I hope you do too! I think you would like it if you have a great interest in American history. Otherwise, I’d stick to the western side of Nebraska and the Dakotas, where you’ll find more outdoor activities. 🙂
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Amazing trip!
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It was a big one, Anabel. I guess it turned out to be more than a Road Trip to “Nowhere!”
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What a great adventure you had.
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It was definitely a grand adventure! Thanks, Carol. 🙂
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What a wonderful trip. We are planning a month long trip this summer from Missouri through N Mex., California, Oregon, Idaho Alberta Canada, Montana, S. Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa and then back home. That is if the Covid subsides.
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Wow Geri! That sounds like a huge trip, and a great one. I still haven’t explored New Mexico enough. I used to live in Idaho (Coeur d’Alene); I’m sure you’ll love it. I hope COVID will subside so you can take the trip. Have a great time! Are you going to Banff in Canada? I LOVED it there!
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We are planning to hit Banff when we visit my fiancé grandchildren in the Calgary area.
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