Lobstah!!

Location: Old Orchard Beach, ME

After our wonderful two days in Boston, we headed up the coast into New Hampshire where we stopped to eat in Portsmouth. This was a very nice little town with some great shops right along the Atlantic. We stopped and had lunch and we could see across the border into Maine, where it was of course foggy. The fog was the story of our Maine portion of the trip, it seemed the moment we crossed the bridge it was fog everywhere the entire day! We set up camp and decided to head out to see the beach. It was really nice and there was really no one there...I guess the tourist season doesn't start until late June up there. I also got the hint when we were the only ones pretty much in the campground. It was however really nice to have the entire beach just to yourselves. If you are wondering how cold the water was I can tell you from experience....very cold!!! I decided on the second day that I wasn't going to go all the way to the Atlantic without at least jumping in. COLD COLD COLD! The highlight of our Maine trip has to be our lovely lobsters that we cooked at the campground. We named them pinchy and pinchy...very original i know. The next day it was still very foggy, but we decided to check out some of the lighthouses nearby. We couldn't really see much, but it was still a pleasant drive up the coast. I would love to visit Maine again soon, it was such a wonderful place and we had so much fun. On Friday we broke down camp and of course the sun came out....go figure.

Tomorrow.....New York

Beantown

Sorry for the long break, I've been trying to get back into the swing of things now that i'm home. I will pick up from where I left off in Boston. Our next stop on trail was the Old South Meeting House. This is where many of the Bostonians met to discuss the tax on tea. We then walked across the street to the Old State House. In my opinion this was the coolest building in Boston. This is the oldest surviving building still standing in Boston and it dates back to 1712!! The next stop along the trail is actually right where i'm taking this picture from, the site of the Boston Massacre. We then moved on to the Italian district where we saw Paul Revere's house. I knocked on the door but I guess he wasn't home at the moment.

We then made the long walk across the bridge to see the USS Constitution. The oldest boat still afloat in the world. They are in the process of restoring it and they said it was going to be completed later this month.

More on my trip tomorrow!

It's a tea party!

Location: Boston, MA

Weather: Sunny 82

Since i've been without internet for a while i'll pick up my blog from our Boston travels. Lacey and I have had such a wonderful time this week! On Monday we walked the freedom trail in Boston looking at many different sites that were influential in the freedom of America. We walked around Boston for about 4 hours and just over 4 miles of walking for the day, needless to say we were very tired when we got back to the hotel. Our first stop on the trail was the Boston Commons, it is America's oldest public park dating back to 1634 when it was used for the grazing of cattle. We didn't see any cows in the park today, but we did however see over 20,000 American flags in honor of all the men and women of Massachusetts that died in War since the Revolutionary War.

We then moved on to the Massachusetts State House. It was built in 1798 at a cost of 133,333!! When you think about the time and how much money that would be today, it is very overwhelming. The land was originally owned by John Hancock and it is the oldest building still on Beacon Hill.

The next stop was the Park Street Church. This was originally the tallest building in Boston at 217 feet. During the war of 1812 gunpowder was stored in the crypt. Right outside that church was the Granary Burying Ground. It is the third oldest burying ground in Boston. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and Benjamin Franklin's parents are all buried here.

King's Chapel is next on the stop, and I found this to be fairly interesting. This church was built under orders from King James II to try and keep the old Anglican ways across the pond. The church was very beautiful inside, but not too much to look at on the outside, in fact they ran out of money when the built the church, so it doesn't even have a steeple. George Washington once attended a service at this church in 1789.

My computer is running low on battery....to be continued...

Hey England, the Mayflower has landed!

Current location: Middleboro, MA

Current Weather: Sunny 79

Miles traveled today: 213

Total Vacation Miles traveled: 1,130

Total Miles Traveled: 6,313

Today was such a beautiful day. We started out the day in Windsor Locks, CT going to church. We sat down at church and I started to notice that some of the writings on the statues were not in English, just then mass starts and everyone starts singing in some foreign tongue. Midway through the mass we realized it was in Polish. The mass was very interesting to say the least, but Lacey and I both enjoyed it. When we were walking out the priest was greeting everyone and we must have tourist written all over us, because right away he asked us were we were from. We then started on our round about journey to get to Massachusetts, because being in all 50 states is on my bucket list we took a 20 minute detour just so I could say I was in Rhode Island....Lacey thought I was crazy. We then headed out to Plymouth just to see where all the early settlers first came in. They have a remake of the Mayflower sitting in the bay, which was pretty cool to look at, but a little expensive for us to get on. We then moved on down the way to check out Plymouth Rock. It was pretty cool for being just a rock, it had the year 1620 stamped on the top and was kept just off the water's edge. While I was looking at the rock I had visions of my grandpa trying to sneak down there with a hammer and getting a chip of the rock. (For anyone reading this who doesn't know my grandpa, he is a rock hound and has been known

to chisel off pieces of rock with historical significance.) We then moved on through the historical area of Plymouth to see the first church built after the settlers landed, and also the first burial ground. This burial ground is one of the oldest in the United States. The oldest known gravestone still there is from 1681. The views from atop the cemetery hill was amazing. It made me think of my old vacation spot, Ocracoke Island, NC. We then spent the rest of the day driving along the coast looking at all the old cottages and checking out Cape Cod Bay. Looking forward to tomorrow!!

Next Stop.....Boston, MA

Say Cheese!!!

Current location: DeForest, WI

Current weather: 40 fog/mist

Miles traveled today: 245.1

Total miles traveled: 5,359

Today we set out for the farm at 8am on a cold and windy morning. The high for the day was 43 and it dropped the entire day. The wind chill was between 34 and 25 the entire day....is it really May 11th??? There were a few reports of wet snowflakes in the area, although we didn't see any. There was a lot more work than what I thought, and picking up all our tubing was very difficult since they had been sitting there for 8 months, and the grass was yet to be cut this year. To make the day even better, there was a light mist the whole day. We eventually got the trailer out with a little help for the farm owner and we were on our way. Tonight we are staying right next to an awesome cheese house that I have visited every time I've been up here. I have found a new love for cheese curds, they are so wonderful! Short post today because I've very tired and I will be going to bed shortly.

Next up.....West Lafayette, IN!

Current location: Hudson, WI

Current weather: 51 light rain

Miles traveled today: 456

Total miles traveled: 5,114.4

Well, its official, we have broken the 5,000 mile mark today! It doesn't really feel like we have spent almost 80 hours in that truck, but we have. Today was a very pleasant drive. Wisconsin has always been my favorite place to travel to. I might be thinking otherwise tomorrow because we are expecting a high of only 41 degrees tomorrow with a rain snow mix tonight. Yes, I used the S word in mid May. I have my winter jacket, gloves, and hat with me, so I won't be caught off guard. I remember coming here last September and the weather was about what it will be tomorrow and I thought my fingers were going to fall off. Needless to say i was way under dressed for that occasion, hopefully I can avoid that tomorrow!

Since this is my Ninth trip up here, I pretty much have seen all the sights around the area. My favorite place that I've visited while I've been up here is the St. Paul Cathedral. This church is very large, as it should be, they have around 800,000 members at this church alone. When you are driving into St. Paul this church is one of the first things you see, because it sits atop a large hill and over looks the city. The inside is just as beautiful as the outside. Lacey and I even attended mass here once last October when Purdue played Minnesota. Even though we lost the game, it was still a great experience to attend mass here. I highly recommend to anyone that is ever in the twin cities area to check this place out! Tomorrow we will be taking down our site in Wisconsin and pulling the trailer home.

Next up.....DeForest, WI

Follow the yellow brick road

Current location: Kansas City, MO

Current weather: Heavy rain 63

Miles traveled today: 463.3

Total miles traveled: 4,163.3

Today we left Guymon, OK, and I was actually pretty sad. I was sad not because Guymon is such a great place, but because as we were gassing up the truck the storm chasers were gathering for the day. You know its going to be a good severe weather day when you see the chasers in your town. In fact as I write this, there are 3 tornadoes on the ground in Texas and Oklahoma. On our way out, we did however stop in Liberal, KS, to see the official house from the Wizard of Oz.

We then played for a bit in the Munchkins playground and then we were off on our way again. I feel Nathan really got the shaft when it came to driving today. We stopped on the west side of Wichita, and by the time we were on the east side the skies opened up. It didn't stop raining the rest of the way, and most of it was HEAVY rain with quarter sized hail mixed in at times. We made it to Kansas City a little later than we expected, and on fumes as you can see from the picture, but we made it none the less!

Next up....West Lafayette, IN

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind

Current location: Guymon, OK

Current weather: Overcast 64
Miles traveled today: 35.8
Total miles traveled: 3,700.8

Well today was our work day. We had 2 days of travel to take down these towers and 2 days of travel ahead of us. This might have been the hardest day for us during these 3 weeks. We took down the two towers in about 6 hours, and we had to use the primitive way of our pulley system. Nathan and I were really wishing we had that man lift when we got to the second tower and our muscles were getting weaker. We did however have almost perfect weather.....overcast, 60 degrees, no wind....NO WIND!! That is almost unheard of out in the high plains, so we had to take advantage of it. Nathan and I also made a decision to stay in Guymon again instead of Liberal, KS because we passed the hotel in Liberal and it looked pretty dumpy. We will be hitting the road bright and early in the morning headed back for a stay somewhere in the Kansas City area.

My pictures tonight are from my favorite things on the high plains....tumbleweeds!! I named this one Tommy.

Next up....Somewhere Kansas City, KS

Going green

Current location: Guymon, OK
Current weather: Sunny 64
Miles traveled today: 448.3
Total miles traveled: 3,665

I have often wondered where someone really lives when they say that they are from the middle of no where. My question has been answered.....Southwestern Kansas. It took all my strength and will power not to gouge my eyes out from pure boredom. I also thought that when I pulled onto the Kansas Turnpike that it was some kind of a joke. I don't think anyone should ever have to pay to drive in Kansas, Kansas should be paying us! We did however stop in Greensburg, KS to see the worlds largest hand dug well. There were numerous signs along the side of the road that told us to stop, so we did. I'm sure all of my fellow weather nerds know all about Greensburg, and for those of you who don't know I will tell you. May 4th 2007 an EF5 tornado went right through the middle of town destroying 95% of the town and killing 11 people. It literally looked like some one dropped an atomic bomb on US soil. This picture was taken 12 days after the tornado from the city center just to give an idea. Almost 3 years later and the city is still in major rebuilding mode. They are not only rebuilding, but they are building all homes and businesses "green" powering the entire city by solar and wind power. The next picture is taken from the city center as well looking southwest, and as you can see many homes and businesses are yet to be built back up. The water tower is at the location of the hand dug well. We were not allowed however to go down into the well because it has been closed since 2007. I talked to the lady in the small temporary gift shop and she told us that the well is 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter. They are set to build the new museum this summer and the well will open back up to the public soon after.

Arriving at Greensburg and then leaving I started to realize how unlucky that town was to be dead in the path of this huge tornado. There is complete nothing in any direction yet this small town took the direct hit. One thing is for certain though, and that is that the people of Greensburg are very resilient and they will complete their "green" town. The lady in the gift shop told us...it may take 10 years but it will be done. It sure looks like they are well on their way.

Next up...Liberal, KS

Wagons West!

Current location: Shawnee, KS
Current weather: Sunny 66 degrees
Miles traveled today: 524
Total miles traveled: 3,216.7

The traveling continues after a nice week off. Last week we were supposed to go to Wisconsin, but the trip was called off because we might have more work to do up there before we take everything down. Today we started out at 8am headed for Kansas City, KS. We cut across central Illinois and started seeing signs for the Lincoln Museum in Springfield. We figured that now would be the best time of any to stop off and see what it was all about. For being the capital of Illinois, Springfield is pretty small. The sign said there were 111,000 people living there....half the size of Ft. Wayne. I did however like how easy it was to get around in the downtown area, and the buildings were very well kept and there were statues of Lincoln everywhere you turned. This picture was outside their Union Station. We then went into the museum itself and we were surprised to hear that today was the 5 year anniversary of the museum! They gave us a free book about Mary Lincoln Todd and birthday cake. The museum was very well put together, and it lead us through every part of Lincoln's life. Most of the museum, pictures were not allowed, but just seeing all the stuff was a lot of fun. They had one of his three stovepipe hats that are known to exist ( I believe the other two are in DC.)

When you walked through all the rooms there were all these life sized figures of the Lincoln family, and this one was out in the center of museum. If you look to the very far right there is a man that was a Lincoln impersonator who was there for the 5 year festivities. This last picture is of the massive White House that was in the museum for the presidential years. There were about 16 different rooms in here that showed everything from the dresses of Mary, to the assassination of Lincoln. If you are ever in Springfield and looking for something to do I suggest you see this place!

As for the rest of the trip, it was pretty uneventful getting out here. We made it just in time before the major rush hour traffic began in Kansas City! Tomorrow I hear there could be a little severe weather out in the panhandles....we'll see how that goes....

Next stop.....Guymon, OK

Home sweet home

Current location: Lafayette, IN

Current weather: Thunder 73

Miles traveled today: 446.7

Total miles traveled: 2,692.7

Yay!!! We are back from Iowa, and are now halfway done with our travels. I think I should say halfway done lightly though because our hardest trips are coming up. Today we traveled right along with the cold front and we stayed mainly in the rain. We finally broke through in Eastern Illinois. I found it funny that I experienced that same cold front 3 times in the past 2 days. As you can see our truck got very dirty traveling along the dirt roads of Iowa. It almost looks like we have a weird paint job.

This will be a short post because I'm pretty tired and need some rest. I'll be back for more fun in Wisconsin!

Next up.....Baldwin, WI

Dust in the wind

Current location: Ames, IA
Current weather: Cloudy 48
Miles traveled today: 95
Total miles traveled: 2,246

Hello all! I did it again, I thought today would be an easy day and it becomes a hard day. We made it back to our site around 9am and started working on the base of the towers. Usually they are pretty easy to take off, but when the cement was laid down it also got on the base of the towers making it almost impossible to break free. It took almost 2 hours for each base. We finished and we decided since we had a little free time for once to check out Iowa State's campus. It seemed very compact and pedestrian friendly. I took a picture of their football stadium....reminds me of IU's....puke. They also had some really weird/random statues and art things all over campus.

My focus then shifted to the severe weather that was brewing to our south. I felt pretty good about our chances when the sun came out and we began to warm up, but then the clouds came back and the north winds kicked up. The warm front seemed to be dancing right over us and eventually the cool air took over and won. In Ames the temperature was 51 degrees and about 30 miles to the south in Des Moines it was 84 degrees. I'm sorry if anyone was looking for cool pictures of severe weather....i have none :(

I leave you today with a little video from the top of our towers, enjoy!!

Next up....West Lafayette, IN!!!

I've seen fire, and I've seen rain and hail

Current location: Ames, IA
Current weather: Thunder 54 degrees
Miles traveled today: 510.2
Total miles traveled: 2,151.2

Today we left Purdue at 8:00am bound for Jefferson, IA. I was very close to calling the trip off for a day because of all the storms they were forecasted to get tonight into tomorrow. I put some of my meteorological skills to the test this morning and decided that if we could get here by 4pm we would still have a little bit of an opening to get the towers down before the rain. As we kept moving along into Iowa Nathan and I were noticing the clouds start to darken. I was getting nervous that my forecasting would be wrong and our day would be a waste, especially when we ran into quarter size hail for a couple minutes. Then out of no where a clearing appeared to our northwest and we had the window that we needed!

This picture is of a huge field fire just to the west of Iowa City, and it is also where we ran into the hail.

When we got to the farm they already had the man lift ready for us to use. We got a quick lesson on how to run the man lift and then up we went. We were a little scared at first especially with the stiff wind at the top of the tower, but we eventually calmed down and the towers came down as well. We did however have trouble with the base of the tower and will have to go back tomorrow and work on that more, if the weather gives us a break.

Here is a view from above as we take down the towers of the lone barn in the field. I really like this old barn and have taken many pictures of it when I have visited this site. Tomorrow we may have some severe weather so stay tuned for some cool weather pics!

Next up.....Jefferson, IA (round two)

The eagle has landed

Current location: Lafayette, IN
Current weather: Sunny 82
Miles traveled today: 289.7
Total miles traveled: 1,641


We made it back into Lafayette today around 2:30 and we went straight to the farm to drop off our towers and we finished our work around 4. It feels really great to be back home after a trip like that. We were gone for about 72 hours 30 of which were spent in the truck, you can imagine how good it feels to be out of there!

To celebrate my return, Lacey and I went to Maru, this is a really good sushi place in West Lafayette. We then went to Holy Thursday Mass at St. Boniface and it was such a beautiful mass. This was my first time going to church on Holy Thursday and I really enjoyed it.

Well one more day of work, most of which will be turning in all my travel stuff from this past week and getting ready for our next trip to Iowa. More adventures coming soon from the cornfields of Iowa!!! Have a great Easter everyone!

Next up....Jefferson, IA

O-H!!! N-O!!!

Current location: Chillicothe, OH

Current weather: Sunny 69

Miles traveled today: 459.2

Total miles traveled: 1,351.7

Today we left Fayetteville, NC, around 8am and instead of taking the interstate through Raleigh we took a back highway. I was thinking at first that we should have just kept with the regular route, but I think it's fun to switch it up a little. Traveling through the "boonies" of NC was in fact fairly interesting. Cotton planting season is now in full swing, and we also noticed numerous small grave yards right along the roads. It was almost as if the people that lived in the house were just buried out in their front yard by their favorite tree....very interesting indeed.

I also love how much the land changes while you're in NC. We started out with flat sandy soil and in a few hours we are greeted with our first sign of the Appalachian Mountains. Mt. Pilot was always a fun landmark for me when I was a kid heading out to the outer banks, not only did it signify the entrance into NC, but also the unique shape of the mountain. When I was little I always called it Mt. Burt in honor of Burt from Sesame Street. Then when I got older and traveling with some of my guy friends we renamed it Mt. Boob. Looking at it now I think Mt. Burt is a much better name, and it always makes me happy to see it.

*******SCIENCE NERD ALERT********** When we started driving up the mountains we noticed a water bottle we had in the truck was dripping every time we would climb up the mountain. When we would level out it would stop, and when we were descending the mountain the water would actually retreat back down the straw into the bottle. Hopefully the video works!

Once we got into Virginia we decided to stop at a historic site along the interstate. We stopped at Shot Tower State Park only to find out they don't open until April 1, go figure. We did however get a picture of the tower and I read about what it was used for. I found out that this tower was used to make lead shot for the civil war. Lead and firewood were taken to the top of the tower and the lead was melted down. The molten lead was then dropped down pipes of different sizes and the lead fell over 150 feet, most of it being underground. As the lead fell not only did it cool but it also took on a spherical shape. The lead then fell gently into a large pot of water to cool down even further.

We then ran into our first traffic jam/wreck of the trips. I think by the time we got there most of the carnage was cleaned up. The only thing we could see was the remnants of a semi trailer that had caught fire. I just hope everyone was ok.

Tomorrow we have about 5 hours ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to being back home for a few days and spending time with Lacey's family for Easter before we head out to Iowa.

Next up.....The Holy Land (West Lafayette, IN)

Carolina on my mind

Current location: Fayetteville, NC

Current weather: Sunny 71

Miles traveled today: 403.2

Total miles traveled: 892.5

Today we woke up to a rainy/foggy morning, and being in the mountains with a low cloud deck the travel was a bit difficult at times. Our hotel last night sat up on a fairly steep hill. I'm glad we never stayed at this hotel before with the trailer because I don't think we would have made it up. This is a view from the parking lot of the hotel to give you an idea of the hill we were on.

Driving a few miles down the road was the tunnel that connects West Virginia to Virginia. This always brings back memories of my childhood going to the outer banks. My sister and I would try and hold our breath the entire length of the tunnel. I would always cheat and my sister would hold her breath until her face was bright red. My secret plan was for her to kill some of her brain cells so I could once again be the smartest child.

We then reached the pot of gold of our almost 900 mile rainbow. Our towers were all taken down for us on this trip...others will not be so easy. We had four of these bad boys to load up in our trailer and tie down. The sites were about 1.5 hours apart and it only took us about 3 hours of total "work" time to get them loaded. On our way out from our first farm we had our first wildlife encounter. This is our snapping turtle friend and when we got out of the truck to take its picture, it wasn't happy with us at all. We tried to get him to move out of the driveway but he wouldn't budge, so we just straddled him with the truck.

We then went to Mt. Olive, NC, the pickle capital of the world for some lunch. It was about this time that I became pretty bummed that we were only an hour from the beach and it was such a nice day, but we still had work to be done. We then drove to our next site and packed up the towers, where we almost had a disaster. As I was cutting the ground rods with the saw sparks caught some of the dry grass on fire. We were able to stomp it out pretty fast, but if ten more seconds would have passed the entire north side of the lagoon would have been on fire. The winds were about 20mph and dry grass was everywhere. My heart was beating pretty fast after that scare. We then hit the dusty trail back to our hotel.

Next up...Chillicothe, OH

Take me home, country roads

Current location: Bluefield, WV

Current weather: Light rain 46 degrees

Miles traveled today: 489.3

Total miles: 489.3

This morning we kicked off our travels at 8am. We woke up to a heavy frost...hopefully we won't run into anymore of this the rest of the trip, 80s by the end of the week?!? We then headed off to the Uhaul on the west side to pick up our trailer. I was hoping that this would take us maybe 10 minutes.....wrong!

I backed up to the trailer and the guy told us that we had the wrong hitch. I thought it would be ok because we had another hitch ball in the back of the truck. It turns out that they were the same size. This made me really mad because I had called 3 days before to make sure that we had the right ball size and they told me that we would be fine....I guess Uhaul couldn't handle our big balls! It took the guy a little over an hour to change our hitch out, which was entirely way too long. This put us on the road a little after 9. If there is anything I've learned from this job is that whenever you think a job will be quick and easy, it usually never is the case.

Our travels then took us through Xenia, Ohio, and if you're a weather nerd like me or lived through the 70s this town should ring a bell. Almost 36 years to the day April 3, 1974 the single largest tornado outbreak on record occurred. Almost 150 tornadoes in 13 states with nearly 330 deaths. Xenia was by far the strongest and even rivals the 1999 Moore, OK tornado.

We then moved into West Virginia, the coal capital of the world. I just took this picture because i thought the smoke looked cool against the dark blue clouds in the background. So here I am now in Bluefield, WV a town that sits in a valley right along the West Virginia/Virginia border.

Next up....North Carolina

It begins....

Current Location: Lafayette, IN
Current Weather: Light Rain 45
Miles Traveled: 0

Starting tomorrow (March 29th) I will be traveling by truck all over the country taking down weather instrument towers. I estimate that we will be on the road for about 80hrs. The first trip takes me to Eastern North Carolina. I'm sure I'll have many stories and pictures to share in the coming month. Stay tuned!