From Buffalo, we made it over to Devil's Tower (Close Encounters, anyone?) and just across the eastern border of Wyoming to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. Ill let the pictures speak for themselves:
*The first vehicle we saw upon entering South Dakota*
From Wyoming, we drove down to Denver for a brief night stint at our friend Jess Carson's house for Jimmy's 25th birthday (quarter of a century!)...we hit up Oskar Blues & Stranahan's, learned how to successfully roll cigarettes that Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino would be jealous of, had all kinds of very delicious whiskey, and got lost about 14 times...thank you Jess, we had a blast & we'll definitely see you soon!
From Denver, we made the most terrible drive in the world...I am of course talking about the 9-hour straight shot east on the I70 through Kansas to Kansas City, MO. Through the heatwave, the humidity, and the exotically exhilarating landscape, suicide was pretty eminent around hour 7...so we give due thanks to Jared Melillo & his satellite radio, because without them there may have been some serious issues.
We finally made it to Kansas City the evening of the 15th, and officially entered into what they call "humidity". We swam over to a restaurant called "Jack's Stack", where we met up with the lovely gentleman with whom we couchsurfed that evening, and enjoyed our first bites of the best barbeque in the world (although little did we know it would only get better from there...). We stayed in his very cool apartment overlooking the downtown area, and hit the hay after an awesome blues bar & a quick tour of the city center's highlights, not knowing what was going to hit us at 10 am the following morning...
And then the morning. On our way out of town, we hit up the very famous Arthur Bryant's for some real authentic KC barbeque...upon stepping inside the hole-in-the-wall restaurant that very closely resembled a set from the Blues Brothers, we knew we had entered heaven. We would both fly cross-country at a moments notice for a burnt ends sandwich from this place...I have had several religious experiences with food, but never to this degree. You must go to find out. And while you're there, get us some more sauce!
From our pork & tomato-based barbeque sauce paradise, we made it over to St. Louis to stay with Mr. Stephen Gee for a few days. After about 5 minutes, we were on our way to go camping in the heart of the Ozarks :) We stayed on some beautiful property overlooking a creek and swimming hole that probably saved our lives in the heat. We had an amazing time with some very amazing & gracious people, and again I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Back in the city the next day, we decided to brave the weather and St. Louis Botanical Garden it up, which was both a poor and awesome idea since the gardens are gorgeous, even at a heat index of 400 degrees. From there, we rode some segways (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15915619, for those of you Facebookers), and finally went to go hear some absolutely incredible Irish fiddling in a little pub to wrap a great part of the trip. Awesome city & awesome tour guide...thanks Gee :)
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