Day 36

Slept in a little bit because we were definitely really tired from the last couple of days. Then we finally got up got going and started heading down to Chicago. The drive wasn't bad and was a lot shorter than the last couple we had made. There was, however, a lot more traffic and road construction and we remembered why we don't like big city traffic. Finally made it into Chicago and checked into our hotel which is right off Michigan Ave also known as the Magnificent Mile. After we got settled in we went to dinner at a local pizza place (sorry can't spell or really say the name so not gonna try). We met some girls in the bar there from Ohio and big surprise they knew all about Hilton Head. Ended up talking to them until our table was ready then went and ate. After dinner we went out to a local bar called Pippens because Joseph looked it up before we left and found out they had a Golden Tee Live machine. We ended up playing 3-4 rounds of golf on it then just hung out for a while before we headed back to the hotel to call it a night.

Day 35

We were supposed to wake up and be ready to go at 9am but Joseph miscalculated when he set the alarm and set it for 9:30. Needless to say we weren't ready but it was alright because what we were supposed to do was entirely optional and Eric figured we wouldn't actually be awake to go anyway. We did however wake up a little later in time to go fishing. Eric picked us up and took us to lunch again along with one of the guys that went out with us the night before. After that we went and met up with the fishing guides and hit the river. We started out fishing for Musky which is known as the fish of 10,000 casts. We ended up catching a couple of them but not any that were really big. We did however cast so many times that our arms actually got sore. At 3 Eric our salesman had to go so the other guy from the night before came and took his place. After that we started fishing for Walleye which is a lot easier cause all you do is drop the line to the bottom and wait. We caught a bunch of Walleye but only 3 that were of legal size. We then went to a local bar/restaurant on the river and took a little break and got some snacks. After that we went back out on the river to try for some more Walleye and Musky. Joseph ended up catching a 20" small mouth bass which is apparently a really big bass. That was about it though so we ended up going in at about 9 pm and heading back to the bar/restaurant for dinner. For dinner we ate our freshly caught fish and a few sides similar to what we do down in Hilton Head. Once we were done there we went back to one of the bars from the night before that is actually named The Bar and once again hung out there till closing.

Day 34

Well this day we went to the Greenheck factory for the whole day. And I mean the whole day. Left the hotel at 7:30 and left Greenheck for dinner at 6. We started with a little presentation that told us about the company, its products, its history, and its size. The most interesting thing about the makeup of the company is that it is entirely owned by the employees. They all get stock options when they are employed there but are required to sell out when they retire. After the presentation we went on a tour of the main plant. This was very interesting because of all the machines that we got to watch actually make the pieces for assembly. The most interesting were the fully automated punches and laser cutters. They also had an automated spinning machine that spun the metal, shaped it, and finally cut it to the correct size. After that we went to a product showroom and saw all the things we had just watched them make. We then took a break for lunch and ate with Eric and a few other Greenheck people. Then we started with the industrial stuff and basically did the exact same thing again but with different products and larger machines in the factory. After all that we still weren't done and joined in with another group and went back to the product showroom to learn about louvers, dampers, and modular air handlers. Everything we went over and learned about was very interesting and impressive, but at this point we were glad it was over so we could get off our feet. We then went to dinner with Eric at a local steak place that also brewed their own beer. We then went back to the hotel and took a short break and changed before going out to the local bars with a couple of the younger guys from Greenheck. We ended up going to 4 different bars and seeing a lot of the locals. Joseph and I had a really good time while remaining controlled, but one of the guys that went with us could barely stand at the end of the night. We ended up closing down the last bar at 2am before we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Day 33

Today we drove to Wisconsin, hadn't had an exhilarating drive like that since west Texas. Tomorrow we spend the day with one of our big suppliers Greenheck, so business all day tomorrow and in typical business style we begin at 7:30am, the guy said he'd give us a break and let us sleep in the next day... yeah... all the way till 9am! Guess I'll finally get some sleep when I get home.

Day 32

Drove pretty much accross the entire state of South Dakota, which is as exciting as it always is. Our views of corn were only obstructed by the seemingly constant road construction, guess they have to do it while the weather is warm. For those who have never seen it, stop in Mitchell and see the Corn Palace Casino. They change the look of the exterior every year by changing the design made by corn... hence the name. Almost stopped off and saw the people we hunt with out here but decided against it after wasting time with my credit card hunt after lunch. Really if you've never been before you should take the back roads from Rapid City to Mitchell, you see alot prettier country that way as well as seeing all of the VERY small towns such as "Gregory, the ground zero of Pheasantdom." That is where we hunt every year for those who don't know. Tomorrow, on to Wisconsin.

Day 31

Spent the day in Keystone which is the town closest to Mt. Rushmore. Of course went and saw Rushmore which is impressive in person, really not alot to do there other than to go see it. Keystone is a neat mountain town, but like most towns in South Dakota not a whole lot to do. We of course found the only two bars in town! The restaraunt we ate at had an interesting setup, to get a cocktail you have to order from a seperate waitress which gets drinks from the bar next door. The restaraunt and bar are under seperate management so you have to pay seperately. This invaribly led to me leaving my card there which I discovered at lunch on the way to Sioux Falls, luckily we were only 20 min out so we went back and got it.

We reccomend staying at Sturgis, the home of a HUGE motorcycle rally in August, and driving the hour to Rushmore to visit then drive back. Would deffinately be worth the drive to see Rushmore.

Day 30

Drove to Mt. Rushmore, which is in South Dakota in the Black Hills area despite where more than a few others have thought it was. Arkansas being the worst guess to date.

few more

Yellowstone

park city pics

Day 29

Today we drove to Sheridan Wyoming, this is our 1/2 way stop to Mt Rushmore. We'll pick this drive up tomorrow. Made it one more day w/o any speeding tickets! Montana is a beuatiful state in the summer. Don't know why anyone would stay here during the winter though.

Days 27 & 28

These days we drove through Yellowstone. Hard to really describe you'll just have to look at the pictures, we're working on them but there's alot. We hit the main things like the Hot Springs, Old Faithful, Paint Pot, Tower Falls, and petrified tree. We also saw buffalo, elk, deer, and other assorted wildlife. We covered almost all of the roads that you can drive in a car but that of course is a small percentage of the park. With all of the volcanic activity, geysers, and hot springs the rivers were not nearly as cold as you would think. Before I come back I need to learn how to fly fish. Other than that all you can really say is that it is a beautiful place.... in the summer.

Day 26

Today we drove to Yellowstone. Pretty uneventful drive except that Jeffrey has now tied me with his first speeding ticket of the trip. A whole whopping 10 over. I guess it is slightly cooler than my 5 over but oh well. When in state tags are blue, its pretty easy to spot the out of state white one. Cop walks up "you know I clocked you at 75 in a 65?" Jeffrey- "yup" Cop stands there for a second, apparently awaiting an apology that he never recieved, then asked for license. Obviously unimpressed by our lack of caring that he thinks 10 over is too fast.

Tomorrow we'll be in the park, if the internet speeds up we'll post some pictures, right now it would take all night.

Day 25

Today we went to the Olympic Park in Park City. Interesting being at a ski park with no snow. They had an interesting idea, install rides at the park to generate attendance by people other than professional snow skiers. They also have a training facility to train people to freestyle ski, jumps spins and flips, by landing in a pool.

The first ride we went on was called the Comet. Basically they take you down the olympic bobsled run in a bobsled on wheels. Professional driver of course. We hit speeds of over 60 mph and felt more than 4g's through the corners. It was a BLAST! I will say that it is a very violent ride, you are wearing a helmet but your head bangs into the sides and your body slams around as well. Deffinately a great experience and I reccomend it to anyone... that is anyone who doesn't have serious back problems. After that we rode a HUGE zipline from the top of the big ski jumps to the bottom, also a lot of fun but a little unnerving at first if you are afraid of heights like myself. Lastly we rode what is basically a luge down a metal run. Was fun but not as fast as I wanted to go, guess thats so idiots like me don't fly off and die.

Had dinner on main street again, this time is the No Name Saloon, which is really designated a bar but had good food. Because Utah is Mormon and has wierd laws, to be a "bar" it has to be a private club. To get around that they make you sign a visitors card to come in... another effective law. That law is only topped by the other stupid law... that being that the most liquor they can pour into a liquor drink is one oz. So to get by this law you order a $3 liquor drink and a $2 "sidecar" which is another 1oz shot served on the side in a shot glass that you pour into your drink yourself. Also effective. Man I miss my free pouring dive bars in the south!

Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone. We have some pics that we will post sometime.

Drive to Reno, Reno, and drive to Utah pics

Golden Gate and Napa pics

Day 24

Ok well today we got up and left Reno for our long treck across Nevada and to Park City, Utah. It was a pretty boring ride through Nevada cause there's not really much to look at. We did have one new experience for the trip though.... We got pulled over. Joseph got a speeding ticket going 5 over in a work zone. So 1 ticket for 4600 miles not to bad. Especially since both our friends were creating pools on how many tickets we would get. Anyway after that we continued on and finally got to Park City. We are staying in a very nice place thats actually a bunch of little condos. This is really good for us cause we have a washer and dryer for laundry and we each get our own bedroom. Basically this means I'll sleep better cause I won't have to listen the freight train in the other bed. Well thats all for now except the pictures.

Day 23

The next day in Reno we woke up, got some lunch, and then went to an auto museum that we read about in the hotel brochures. We figured it would be a small museum with maybe 50 or so cars in it. We were very wrong. The museum was almost entirely donated by the founder of Harrah's casino. He donated a total of 175 cars and there were many more that were on loan from other private collectors. They had cars dating from 1896 all the way through 1994 hot rod. Once again no pictures because we figured we wouldn't be allowed to take any because every other car museum hadn't let us. Anyway a few of our favorite cars they had were a beautiful copper bodied Rolls Royce, a 1933 Cadillac 16, a Hemi Belvedere, a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado that belonged to Elvis, a 1953 Corvette that belonged to John Wayne (all original survivor), and a Don Garlits dragster. Needless to say it was a great museum. After that we went back to the hotel and played some more blackjack in the main casino this time. We both lost a little bit more money again then we went to dinner. After dinner we went back to the casino and started playing again. This time I played blackjack and Joseph played craps. We had a lot better luck this time and in the end I cashed out with $1000 and Joseph cashed out with a little over $1200 (see pictures). So once again the casino actually lost money to us. After that we called it a night and went to bed.

Day 22

Yeah we know we fell behind in posting but better late than never. Anyway we got up and left San Francisco and drove across the golden gate bridge to a little town on the bay on the other side called Sausilito. It was a very neat little town. We ate lunch there at a restaurant right on the water. Also saw a guy on the shore on the way back to the car that was stacking rocks. I know it doesn't sound like anything special but he was balancing some pretty good sized rocks on top of each other using only a few smaller stones to help hold em up (sorry left the camera in the car so no pictures of this).

After that we left Sausilito and drove to Napa. Joseph had called a friend of his and gotten some recommendations on a few different wineries we should go to. The first one was a few miles from the main road where all the other wineries are, but it was one we were told we shouldn't miss. It was called Darioush. They had a really cool building that looked very Mediterranean. It was a very nice place and we bought a couple bottles after we walked around inside and looked around (they had a few Barcelona chairs by the way). After that we went to another one that was recommended to us. This won was Peju. There we actually did a full tasting. We were only supposed to taste four wines but once the guy that was running our tasting group found out we were a couple brothers on a road trip he just kept on pouring. We ended up "tasting" about 10 different wines. All of them were very good so we got a few more bottles. Then we went to mom's favorite which is Cakebread. They were much lower key but still very nice. After that we drove on to Reno.

Once in Reno we checked into the hotel, got some dinner, and then hit the tables to see what we could do. We, however, didn't know we weren't in the main casino but actually in the area they call the "party room". It was just a little bit different because our dealers were wearing bikinis. Anyway me and Joseph both lost $100 then went to bed.

News Flash...

The boys have in fact not fallen off the edge of the earth. They've just entered Utah according to a very reliable source.

The boys left San Fran on Sat, driving across the Golden Gate bridge and on to Napa....where they visited some wineries and did some tasting & buying.....they arrived in Reno late Sat. and spent Sunday there. They leave today for very long drive to Park City......and I don't think they have internet connection there.....so we may not see them blog for a while.

There you have it. The boys went on a wine tasting... and then headed off to the land of the Great Salt Lake (with a quick pit stop in Reno of course).