Driving across Nebraska on highway 4, it’s hard to miss the big building sitting at the top of the hill. From below, it looks like a plow blade cutting through the prairie soil. And, of course, that’s exactly what the architect intended. The visitor center at the Homestead National Monument brings together stories and artifacts from across the continent […]
By Tom and Patti Burkett The first time we pulled into the Blue Heron Visitor Center the place was buzzing. Food tents were up, children were chasing big metal and wooden hoops down the road, women were walking around in dresses from the early 1900s, and a bluegrass band was picking away to accompany it all. It […]Read More
By Tom & Patti Burkett Driving across Nebraska on highway 4, it’s hard to miss the big building sitting at the top of the hill. From below, it looks like a plow blade cutting through the prairie soil. And, of course, that’s exactly what the architect intended. The visitor center at the Homestead National Monument brings together stories and […]Read More
By Tom and Patti Burkett We were looking forward to a stop in Lindsborg, Kansas. Many of Tom's ancestors are Swedish, and we maintain a number of Swedish traditions, especially around holidays. There are a number of Scandinavian heritage towns in the Midwest, and this is one of the most enthusiastic. It was clear from the moment we […]Read More
Southern Illinois is nestled between two of the biggest rivers on the continent. Historically, regular floods of both the Ohio and the Mississippi left the region covered deep in silt, fantastically fertile soil. Until the early twentieth century, most of our country’s wheat was grown here. Settlers arrived here early, brought in by the rivers and the […]Read More
By Tom & Patti Burkett Off the beaten path travel is all about small towns. The last generation highways and two-lane roads that wind through every state go right down the main street of every county seat, shipping terminal, and stringtown strip built since we began to travel on four wheels. Transportation, too, has had […]Read More
Do you remember that scene when Maria runs across the mountain meadow singing “the hills are alive?” We never knew the Sound of Music was based on a true story. When the von Trapps left Austria in 1939, they were assisted by their family priest who helped them organize a singing tour, first in the US, then […]Read More
New Haven Connecticut is probably best known as he home of Yale University, and if you go there, you would certainly enjoy a walk around that iconic campus. But New Haven has some other things to offer that are not quite as obvious. Connecticut is nicknamed the nutmeg state. Early ship captains, and some industrious […]Read More
If you're someone who enjoys boondocking, you're sure to have discovered the treasures to be found in the US National Forests. Some of these tracts are huge, and most of them include at least some variety of campsites. The Wayne National Forest, in our home state of Ohio, is small compared to some of the […]Read More
If you're someone who enjoys boondocking, you're sure to have discovered the treasures to be found in the US National Forests. Some of these tracts are huge, and most of them include at least some variety of campsites. The Wayne National Forest, in our home state of Ohio, is small compared to some of the […]Read More
It seems that every major urban area has a favored natural retreat that draws its residents when it comes to getting away for a while. For Angelinos it's the beach. Atlantans head for the family ‘camp' on a lake somewhere, and New Yorkers head upstate. If you live in Chicago, or anywhere in northern Illinois […]Read More
We were meandering in the Hill Country of Texas and did what we often do, pulled off in the next small town and went into the library. We found a quiet and comfortable place to sit, a nice big table to work on, power for the laptop, clean bathrooms, and free Wi-Fi. This was the […]Read More
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