Purposes of this trip:
Several goals for this trip:
Visit many national parks
Visit many colleges (to photograph more campus signs -- want to get to 500th college)
Visit a friend for a chance to play golf
Do a bit of family history research in Memphis

OKLAHOMA: Two colleges near Oklahoma City (but missed one due to bad instructions by my new Garmin) plus Chickasaw Chickasaw National Recreation Area
ARKANSAS: Hot Springs National Park (sign-only since visited the park many years ago)
TENNESSEE: Two colleges (Memphis and Lebanon) plus Stones River National Battlefield [which ended up getting skipped due to a 90-minute interstate traffic jam]
KENTUCKY: Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park and one college in Louisville
INDIANA: Evansville History and Science Museum (tried twice in the past) and a nearby college plus Visit a friend to play some golf with
OHIO: Eight colleges plus two national parks: Hopewell Culture National Historical Park and First Ladies National Historic Site
MICHIGAN: Six national parks: River Raisin National Battlefield Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Father Marquette National Memorial and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Keweenaw National Historical Park and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
WISCONSIN: Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway
MINNESOTA: Five colleges (in St.Paul) plus Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

MISSED VISITING:
Central Oklahoma University in Oklahoma City (actually, its suburb Edmond) due to my new Garmin giving me bad directions.
Stones River National Park southeast of Nashville due to a record-setting (for me) interstate traffic jam that lasted 90 minutes and caused me to miss the park visitor center being open
Pictured Rocks National Seashore -- I got to the closed visitor center where I expected to learn where in the HUGE park to see anything. Plus, it was lightly raining so I took a few quick photos then left.
Keweenaw National Historic Park -- The visitor center was closed until June 06, a bit over a week after I was there. Since it was a rainy and foggy morning, I skipped the extra couple of hours it would have taken me to go there merely to photograph the outside of the visitor center.
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area Visitor Center which is in the lobby of the St. Paul Science Museum. It is only open 10am to 5pm and I was not in town during those hours. Since I skipped St. Paul altogether, I also missed photographing the campus signs of the five small colleges on the west part of downtown St. Paul/
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and the nearby Postville where my great uncle lived at the end of his life as well as the Effigy Mounds National Historic Park just east of Postville -- since the rain continued, I decided to stay on I-35 and continue home.
St. Paul with its five small colleges and the Mississippi River National Park that is only in the limited-hours (10am-5pm) lobby of the St. Paul Science Museum.

OBSERVATIONS: Some observations made while traveling in this area:

1. Eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas have very few farmlands that grow crops. The few farms I saw mainly were for grazing of cows, goats or horses. Did see one with horned steer. Quite a bit of these areas in both states are quite tree covered. To that end, I saw dozens and dozens of log-hauling trucks in both states.
2. Ah, construction season. Encountered eleven in Kansas, five in Oklahoma and three in Arkansas including most of I-30 in Little Rock which caused quite a large traffic jam.
3. Edmond Oklahoma is a town I would just as soon avoid. Ditto Lake Hamilton Arkansas. Both have quite inefficient traffic patterns and traffic lights.
4. Highways, particularly interstates, are so overcrowded with big trucks. And, while driving between Little Rock and Memphis, a lot of them were FedEx trucks. Small wonder since Memphis is where the FedEx headquarters are located.
5. In Oklahoma, I did not see a single "deer crossing" highway sign. Hmmm...
6. Like I have done on a couple of recent trips, I got into the rightmost lane of the interstate, set cruise control for 1 MPH over speed limit. Then, I watched as countless vehicles go whizzing past me. And, as before, I only have to pass one or two large trucks or RV's.
7. There are countless unfortunate animals who met their demise on some highway. They are everywhere. Rarely a mile goes by without at least one.
8. Most states have "county roads" and often have a sign saying such as "Co. Rd 123". However, Ohio, or, at least, around Ashland, also have township roads with the signs saying such as "Twp Rd 123". First time I believe I have seen township roads designated from the highway.
9. The drivers of large trucks going through lower Michigan, especially on two-lane roads, are usually the ones passing others rather than them being slow and everyone passes them.
10. A number of small Michigan towns, especially those in The Thumb portion of lower Michigan, have their street lights hanging over the middle of the highway suspended on wires. When I first saw them, during daylight hours, I assumed they were surveillance cameras. But at night, they are lit up like street lights.
11. Most everyone traveling in the U.S. 48 states has seen those large power-generating windmills. What I did not know, until this trip, is that they all might have a red light at the backside of their blades holder that flashes on and off every three seconds. At least, that is how I saw dozens and dozens of them early morning heading east towards Port Hope.
12. Something we do very well in the U.S. is our parks. That refers to city, county, state and national parks.
13. Since residents, or former residents, of lower Michigan like to hold up their right hand with four fingers together but the thumb extended out -- this represents the shape of lower Michigan, part of the state is called The Thumb. I noted that several businesses in that part of the state use "thumb" in their name.
14. "Mill Creek" is quite a popular name for places and businesses, at least in the eastern half of the U.S. It stands out to me because one of my Wilson ancestors lived in Mill Creek PA
15. Traverse City had dozens and dozens of commuters driving into town at 6:00 am. Grayling, a town about an hour east of Traverse City, had many commuters driving into town too.
16. Both upper MNichigan and Wisconsin have really gone in for using roundabouts at intersections
17. Wisconsin calls roadside parks "Wayside"
18. I am certainly used to seeing highway signs telling of an intersection county road number. However, Wisconsin adds fractions to them too such as 20-1/2 or 14-3/4.
19. The Wisconsin Namekagon River is certainly a winding one -- the highway between Ashland and St. Croix went over that river four times.

The Bests:

• Eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas still have so many trees
• Interstates that are only lightly traveled vs. heavy traffic, particularly with big trucks. In the central part of the country, the east-west interstates are usually the crowded ones and the north-south are much less traveled.
• Got to play a round of golf for the first time in six years. And, my score was several strokes less than what I expected it to be after not playing for so many years. And, my fifty year old clubs still work (I bought them as a high school graduation present to myself)
• The northern half of lower Michigan surprised me in several positive ways. For one, many colorful large bushes were flowery and I would expect to see something like this in the southweastern states in late March. Two, several four-lane highways were present and the speed limit is 75 MPH (in the eastern half of the 48 states, only Arkansas and parts of lower Michigan allow 75 MPH, all the rest are 70 MPH).
• Michigan is pretty good at providing a "passing lane" every 10-15 miles on the two-lane highways.

The Worsts:

• Tennessee highway system -- particularly the interstate highways because in the past two years it has caused me to miss, FOUR TIMES, visiting a national park. Plus, the state's gas prices are much higher than the five other states I have recently been in.
• The constant rain and fog and clouds nearly the entire trip -- only Arkansas was rain-free
• Indianapolis -- it ranks in the top five cities I least want to drive because it is always a mess
• Any road construction project that delays drivers more than five minutes -- I encountered a bunch of them
• After my 1989 visit to Traverse City, I have long fondly remembered it as a quiet small town that was slow-paced. Today, it is filled with slow-moving traffic and businesses everywhere. A disappointment for something special that has been lost.
• This trip can be summed up with one four-letter word: R A I N....it rained on me every day and I hardly ever saw sunshine since every day was cloudy, despite traveling through eleven states!!! Temperatures in Michigan ran from 40 to 56. Only Arkansas was non-rain. It was even raining as I left home to begin this trip -- that maybe was an omen!!
• So many national park visitor centers still closed -- sometimes, given what the park is about, the visitor center is the only place to get any information and to view artifacts for the park focus. If the visitor center is closed, then cannot experience much about the park.

The Totals:

• Miles Driven: 4173 (fewer miles than expected since skipped some places in Minnesota and Iowa because it just kept raining)
• Driving: 76 hours in 9 days
• States: 12 -- Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri
• Pictures Taken: 708 (and deleted 60 of them)
• National Parks: 9 and 1 repeat -- Chickasaw, Hot Springs (repeat), Lincoln Birthplace, Hopewell Culture, First Ladies, River Raisin, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Father Marquette, Pictured Rocks, Apostle Islands, Saint Croix Riverway
  That makes 236 of 423 visited (although several had visitor center closed or need to photograph the park sign)
• College Signs: 13 -- Langston, Christian Brothers, Cumberland, Bellarmine, Southern Indiana, Mt.Vernon Nazarene, Ashland, Wooster, Mt. Union, Walsh, Heidelberg, Tiffin, Northland
  That makes 484 of 529 with sign locations identified

Remaining to Visit by State
• AL - DONE
• AK - DONE
• AZ - Some national park in the northeast part of the state to visit in 2023. Plus, will return on occasion as long as friends Diana and John live in the state
• AR - DONE
• CA - DONE but have yet to actually go into Lassen Volcanic National Park despite two attempts. Would still like to see JPL and Mt. Wilson near L.A.
• CO - Need to visit Yucca House national park in the extreme southwestern corner of the state
• CT - DONE
• DE - DONE
• FL - Likely visit Orlando where a high school classmate and a cousin both live, still want to take the ferry to Fort Matanzas, visit DeSoto National Memorial near Tamps, and, revisit a couple of places on the Gulf Coast: Sarasota (downtown), Pine Island and the Naples Botanical Gardens
• GA - DONE
• HI - DONE
• ID - DONE but would like to drive from Boise to Moscow to cover that part of the state to yet drive through
• IL - Chicago has some places yet to visit, also, maybe family history research in Danville and Pecatonica as well as Washington county (between St. Louis and Mt. Vernon)
• IN - Total eclipse in April 2024, family history research in Ft.Wayne plus maybe find ancestral cemeteries in Brown county
• IA - DONE unless family history research in various parts of the state. Also, would like to visit Effigy Mounds in the northeast part of the state (missed it this trip).
• KS - I currently live here
• KY - DONE
• LA - DONE unless visit cousins in New Orleans
• ME - Revisit Acadia National Park to photograph the park sign and just see the park again (was there in 1986), also visit the area around Eastport
• MD - DONE unless to visit some national battlefields
• MA - Visit Martha's Vineyard, also, family history research plus I know many fellow Toastmasters in Boston. And, a good friend lives in this state.
• MI - DONE but maybe someday see Keweenaw National Park (visitor center). Also, determine what (and where) scenic things can be seen in Pictured Rocks National Park
• MN - DONE unless go to Isle Royale National Park from Grand Portage (also a national park there)
• MS - DONE
• MO - DONE, but I live too close to KCMO to avoid it
• MT - DONE unless I try a fourth attempt someday to Glacier National Park to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road. MT does have gorgeous scenery.
• NE - DONE
• NV - DONE although I would like to live in southern New Hampshire in the summer months
• NH - DONE
• NJ - DONE
• NM - DONE but would like to drive from Deming to Alpine, Arizona to cover parts of those states I have yet to drive through
• NY - Many many places yet to revisit (from the 2015 trip) in this state
• NC - DONE but maybe a couple of unvisited national parks
• ND - DONE but would like to drive from Bowman to Rapid City, South Dakota to cover a part of those states I have yet to drive through
• OH - Family research in several towns, one cousin in Columbus
• OK - DONE
• OR - DONE
• PA - Family history research in the southeastern quarter of the state plus the north central part
• RI - DONE
• SC - DONE but maybe visit a couple of unvisited national parks in the state
• SD - DONE but would like to drive from Rapid City to Bowman North Dakota to cover a part of those states I have yet to drive through
• TN - DONE but would still like to drive through the mountains along the border of TN and NC (and visit the Lee University campus in Cleveland TN) -- two failed attempts at doing this. Two failed attempts to visit Stones River National Park too. But given how badly the highway system has treated me over the past three years, uncertain I ever want to go into this state again!
• TX - Brother lives in this state as does a friend, also, would like to drive from Amarillo through Lubbock and on to San Angelo to cover a big chunck on the state I have yet to drive through
• UT - Need to photograph the Zion park sign (despite two previous attempts to visit there) and actually go into the park
• VT - Want to drive entirely around Lake Champlaign, also, maybe some family history research
• VA - DONE but cousins live here
• WA - DONE but a friend lives in Seattle
• WV - DONE
• WI - DONE re-attempt (it was pouring rain years ago when there) to visit the House of the Rocks and Taliesman near the town of Spring Green
• WY - DONE but would like to drive through the central part of the state e.g. Casper through Dubois then south through Afton to Rock Springs
• AB - REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to see Banff National Park and Lake Louise someday near Calgary in Alberta
• BC - Love Vancouver and Butchart Gardens plus much more north along the coast to see on Vancouver Island all the way to Port Hardy
• LB - Newfoundland/Labrador is worth one visit someday but it is a big undertaking since it takes a day each way just to ferry from Nova Scotia
• MB - Winnepeg, Manitoba is worth one visit someday
• NB - New Brunswick was gorgeous with the fall colors and I liked the three highways I drove going across the province but I never really stopped to see anything. Want to see Saint Johns and along the coast northeast of it, also the Kouchibouguac national park
• NS - Missed much here and would like to return someday, two national parks to visit: Cape Breton and Kejimkujik (dark skies)
• ON - DONE since visited Toronto and Ottawa
• PE - DONE since Prince Edward Island was unimpressive, so likely done here although I did entirely miss the western half of the province
• QC - DONE since visited Montreal and Quebec city and some towns south of them, plus, drove the entire coastline so unknown if will return here -- do not like feeling ostricized with the French everywhere
• SK - Regina and Saskatoon in Saskatchwean are worth one visit someday
• YK - Yukon is iffy if it is worth a visit someday since it is a long way to there and really nothing in particular to see or do except the scenery. Ditton Nanuvut and the Northwest Territories.