Burlington – Singin' One's Journeys

June 29, 2016 by traveler 0

ST-Last 3 States, Summer 2016

The Singin’ Trekker on the Road!

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I did a re-assessment of the trip and decided to delay departure until Tuesday and reverse the direction of my route. This would mean missing Trekfest, but with a four-day convention on the schedule and the possibility of attending another year, I could work with this idea. So,... I spent a relaxed 3-day weekend in Grinnell. RB's mileage hit 137K over the weekend, so she will hopefully make it to 140K before this excursion is over. Beyond doing a reshuffling of what I'd prepped for the trip, I didn't do anything but catch the newly released I4 movie at the local theater. After a couple of false starts, got out of Grinnell just after 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. RB's starting odometer reading was 136,037 miles. Since my goal was to get to Nashville, minimally a 10-hour drive away, I didn't plan many stops along the way. The one I did plan was Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa. It claims to rival San Francisco's Lombard Street for twists and turns, so I wanted to see it. Who am I kidding? I wanted to take RB on it.

I set the dash cam, but it's new, and I didn't anticipate that extended use would result in the recording of the actual descent being overlain. Fortunately, I did take a few stills that are below:

[gallery size="large" type="slideshow" ids="93,101,100,99,98,97,96,95,94" orderby="rand"] The drive was pretty steady until I reached the outskirts of St. Louis and realized their evening rush hour was underway. Rather than get caught in it, I stopped for dinner. When I finally reached town, I was treated to this wonderful view of the Arch. I visited it a few years ago, so I'm settling with this view before I continued south.

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Other than a wild--or incredibly long--delay on I-64, the drive was uneventful. Stopped for the night about an hour outside Nashville with a busy day planned for Wednesday. Started my playlist from the beginning. Lots of A's and started the B's just before I stopped for the evening. For me, the steady driving, accompanied by great music, really does make me relax.

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June 3, 2016 by traveler 0

Civil Rights and Race in the United States, Star Trek 50

Another Update… Just a Couple of Minor Changes…

… Really, they are! Two scenic drives that add very little to the trip distance overall, but add to the overall variety of the trip as a whole. First, the town of Burlington, Iowa, boasts that its Snake Alley rivals Lombard Street in San Francisco for its twists and turns. We will only need a slight detour leaving Riverside to get there. How can I possibly miss out out on the opportunity to take RB down it? And we’ll be too close to the Everglades National Park in Florida not to visit. There is the Loop Road Scenic Drive, which promises to provide a very good view of the variety of flora and fauna in the Everglades. And all from the comfort of RB! So glad I got the dash cam to capture it all! The great thing, too, is that this doesn’t add much to the total driving distance. …

Burlington Everglades National Park Florida Iowa Loop Road Scenic Drive Snake Alley

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