#us-50

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Day 17 - July 9, 2017 - Winchester, Virginia to Manassas, Virginia

Day 18 - July 10, 2017 - Manassas, Virginia to Washington, D.C.

Day 19 - July 11, 2017 - Washington, D.C.

Day 20 - July 12, 2017 - Washington, D. C. to Ocean City, Maryland

Not many photos in the last couple days of the Highway 50 drive. July 9, I went to a Waffle House, a water park, and a used bookstore (the amazing McKay’s Books in Manassas, VA) and otherwise didn’t go very far since I was hoping to meet up with a friend in DC and hadn’t heard from her. I stayed in a motel in Manassas since I’d been having trouble charging my CPAP battery. 

July 10, I ate at a diner that had 85 Mountain Goats songs on the TouchTunes jukebox (!) and headed in to DC. Highway 50 pleasantly goes from being a freeway to rolling right past the Washington Mall. I stayed at the Hosteling International hostel in the middle of DC for two nights, figuring I’d want some time to see the sights. Did some bike riding using DC bikeshare bikes, looked at stuff, took a selfie in front of the White House with my “America Is Never Great” hat showing. You can’t get as physically close to the White House since the last (pre-9/11) time I was around there.

July 12, I made it to Ocean City, the end of Highway 50! I decided to spring for a “nicer” hotel there to celebrate, but it turned out to just be an overpriced motel that advertised itself as having “ocean view” rooms but that meant that if you went out on the balcony, you could see the ocean if you stood up and craned your neck. It was still good to be there!

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Day 6 - June 28, 2017 - Salida, Colorado to Manitou Springs, Colorado

Took Highway 50 out of Salida to Royal Gorge Bridge, just west of Canon City. Royal Gorge was a slight letdown, possibly because I got there before most of the attractions opened, but I suspect it’s just a tourist trap. I did see bighorn sheep there -- at least I think they’re bighorn sheep? After eating at Waffle Wagon (yes!!!) in Canon City, I took CO-115 north to Colorado Springs with the intention of going to Pike’s Peak. The book recommended stopping in Manitou Springs, on US-24 just a bit west of Colorado Springs, and that’s what I did -- and am I glad. I’d never heard of Manitou Springs before this trip, but it’s a kitschy town full of arcades. In other words, exactly what I went on this trip for. In particular, the arcades have a lot of vintage games, including old pinball games going back to the ‘40s (though the ones shown are not quite that old). This set off a certain excitement about pinball for me that I hadn’t felt previously. 

I spent so long in the arcades in Manitou Springs that it was late when I set out for Pike’s Peak in earnest, but I still wanted to try getting there. But I missed the turnoff and went way too far west on Highway 24. I looped back, but it turns out that when they say the road to Pike’s Peak closes at 7 PM, they really mean it. I ended up going back to Manitou Springs, playing some more games, and staying in a motel there.

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Day 5: June 27, 2017 - Fruita, Colorado to Salida, Colorado

Two groups of photos here: the first from Rim Rock Drive / the Colorado National Monument, near Fruita. As I wrote in my journal, “I just don’t have words for how huge and red it was.” After that, it was back to Highway 50 on into Salida. The second group of photos is from Monarch Pass, at the Continental Divide. I took the tram up the hill so I could be 12,000 feet above sea level rather than only 11,312. That’s the highest point on US-50. Spent the night at the Simple Lodge and Hostel in Salida, which I hadn’t known existed until I got to the town; in fact, I’m not even sure I knew Salida existed before that day.

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Day 15 - July 7, 2017 - Bethel, Ohio to Waverly, West Virginia

Day 16 - July 8, 2017 - Waverly, West Virginia to Winchester, Virginia

No pictures from July 7, just more farmland in Ohio that I didn’t much feel like stopping to photograph. Also, it was raining. I stopped in Chillicothe to do laundry, always an exciting part of any road trip. Ate at a disappointing 24-hour diner in Parkersburg, West Virginia and stayed Mountwood Park in Waverly, West Virginia, where I saw a deer, but not much else.

West Virginia was my least favorite state on the trip so far. Possibly this was largely because Highway 50 is a four-lane freeway-ish road for much of it, and there’s not much to see. Except the cat I saw in West Union, West Virginia, outside the place where I had breakfast, shown in the second picture mainly because I like the musical note wallpaper. Somewhere in West Virginia, my van rolled over to 50,000 miles. I successfully escaped West Virginia and spent the night in another Wal-Mart park in Winchester, Virginia; I spent a little time before that walking around the overly-quaint Old Town section of Winchester.

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Day 13 - July 5, 2017 - Loogootee, Indiana to Cincinnati, Ohio

Day 14 - July 6, 2017 - Cincinnati, Ohio to Bethel, Ohio

There’s almost always something happening in Ohio.

I didn’t take any pictures on July 5 -- it was more farmland, punctuated by stopping in Bloomington, IN to see my friends Ken and Dylan (the first friends I saw during this trip). I slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot just outside Cincinnati and the next day, I got ice cream at Aglamesis Brothers and went to the Cincinnati Zoo. This was the first zoo I’d been to in perhaps 25 years or more. I realized that my avoidance of them had outlived my zealous animal rights beliefs. So mostly, you get cute animal pictures. Ken had recommended Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati, a huge multi-ethnic grocery store, and it was truly awesome in an overwhelming way. But for whatever reason, the only pictures I have from there are the last two, from the parking lot. I got vegetarian chili at Gold Star Chili (I was very happy to be able to find a vegetarian version of Cincinnati’s legendary chili-on-spaghetti) and camped at East Fork State Park in Bethel, just outside of Cincinnati.

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Day 11 - July 3, 2017 - Overland Park, Kansas to Maplewood, Missouri

Day 12 - July 4, 2017 - Maplewood, Missouri to Loogootee, Indiana

July 3, I finally got my CPAP battery and, ready to sleep in a parking lot again, headed across Missouri to the St. Louis area. The book said there wasn’t much to see on Highway 50 in Missouri and you might as well take the interstate, so that’s exactly what I did. Hence, not much to say about Missouri. Spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot just outside St. Louis and on July 4, went to the City Museum in St. Louis, something I’d been looking forward to the whole time. What an incredible place -- it reminds me of an adult version of the Children’s Museum in Boston, but that’s not really a fair comparison since while the City Museum also has stuff to climb around in, it has a whole lot more. If you go, bring knee pads (or buy them in the gift shop) and wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and ripped.

Pretty much everything else in St. Louis was closed for July 4, so I continued through rolling countryside in Illinois and Indiana. I stopped in Olney, Illinois, which is known for its white squirrels, but didn’t see any, other than on the sign. Had dinner at an Amish buffet in Loogootee, Indiana and stayed at a campground there by a lake.

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Day 10 - July 2, 2017 - Kansas City, MO and surroundings

At this point, I was stuck waiting for my CPAP battery to arrive at the Batteries Plus Bulbs store in Independence, Missouri, so I had to occupy myself in Kansas City. I hung out at Kaldi Coffee in KC doing some stuff on my laptop, did some outlet shopping, ate Indian food, and stayed at the Motel 6 in Overland Park. Not much worth photographing that day except for the new sunglasses I got, and a “JO Stop” bus stop in Kansas City.