End of the road?

During the 12 hour ride home I've been trying to think about what my most memorable experience has been, some have also asked where my favorite place was, it's difficult to choose. Everything about the trip has been such an adventure, the planning, driving, re-planning, making stops, seeing national parks, tours, tasting regional food and drinks, and meeting people from different cites. The entire trip, as a whole package, has really been my favorite place and best experience.

Memorable:

• Seeing construction cones on I-90 almost never means construction is underway, these cones will stretch for as many as 5 miles without any construction work or equipment in sight!
• Sorry Atlantic City, in almost EVERY state you'll find a casino, some make most AC casinos look amateur. Las Vegas & Atlantic City are just the gambling "book ends" of the country.
• 5 pounds of peanut butter & 1 pound of beef jerky can sustain two humans for well over a three week road trip!
• You won't believe how many underground tours you can go on!
• Most of the country seems to pronounce Tour, "Two-ore".
• At&t wireless does, in-fact, suck almost everywhere in the country with the exception of major cities and the state of Kentucky.
• You'll meet some of the most interesting people working behind the counter of a Motel.

So is this the end of the road? I don't think so! There are still many more miles to be traveled and countless places to see. I'll leave you with this... before seeking travel outside the country, look within. We have so much to experience here in the United States. The US has some of the most amazing terrain; you're able to go from a flat, desert-like area, to snow capped mountains, to huge bodies of water in only a few hundred miles. I challenge everyone to get on the road and just drive, if even only for a short distance, see what our country has to offer!

Trip Duration: 23 Days, July 2, 2010 - July 24, 2010

Number of States: 22 States

NJ, PA, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA, OR, CA, NV, UT, CO, KS, MO, KY, WV, MD

Distance Traveled: 8,430 Miles

Starting Mileage: 32,752 Ending Mileage: 41,182

If anyone needs help planning a road trip or is just looking for some ideas, please, feel free to email me: Tripsponder@gmail.com. I'd love to help!

Saint Louis, MO & Louisville, KY

As soon as we got into St. Louis, we walk out to Laclede's Landing to checkout the local bars a restaurants. Laclede's Landing reminds me of Old City, Philadelphia with it's cluster of local nightlight locations. For dinner we found Joey B's and tried their Pizza, they advertise that Rachel Ray has it on her favorites list. I'm not a big fan of Rachel Ray, but this pizza was REALLY good. It reminded me of pizza my mom used to make years ago. We chose Joey B's Special Pizza loaded with pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, and onion.

The next morning we shot out the see the St. Louis Gateway Arch and the attached underground museum. The museum was arranged in a circle, every ring was another 10 years in the westward expansion. I have never been in a museum setup this way, it worked pretty well.

After the museum and watching a movie about the construction of the gateway arch, we got on the ride that takes you on the 4 minute journey to the top. The ride was very retro and reflected the 1960's view of the future. Check out the doors and elevator pods.

Views from the top of the Arch

Gateway Arch from the outside:

We're in St. Louis so we had to hit the Budweiser tour.

Entering into Kentucky around 10:30PM we had to hit some KFC! Bad idea.. it was so bad, cold & soggy. I figured KFC in its home town would rock, not that case. Oh well, was fun to eat KFC in Kentucky anyway.

Before departing Kentucky and embarking on the 12 hour ride home we hit the Louisville Slugger Factory tour. If you're ever in the area, this is a MUST SEE tour.

Colorado & Kansas

Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Tour, Cripple Creek, CO

I got to ride a sweet underground rail-bike!

Do you think this is a nice small town, or a huge casino? It's a huge connected casino on both sides of the road! We found this location after the gold mine tour, played some 50 cent roulette and left winners!

The Garden of The Gods, Colorado Springs Area

Coors Brewery Tour, Golden, Colorado

We drank the newest (old) beer Coors has to offer. It's currently only available in a few test markets-- Batch 19. Batch 19 is advertised as their "Pre-Prohibition" brew that was apparently found hidden in their basement.

On our way in Kansas we stopped at the Scott County Fair. We didn't know what to expect, but were looking for a local experience and a rodeo, we found it. The entire town was at this fair, all 200 of them! Unfortunately, we would miss the rodeo as it was scheduled for the next day. We were lucky enough to be there in time for the "beefiesta", which translated into free roast beef sandwiches!

The next morning we went to the Underground Salt Museum in Kansas

Vehicle Driven by Mike Roe of Dirty Jobs during episode 44 of the show

Among salt related material the museum also had some neat movie props as they are used as storage for some of the biggest movie companies.

Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon