The catalyst for this trip was the
B Out West Social of Class B Motorhome (conversion van) enthusiasts that organized on RV.net. Attendees came from far points in the United States and Canada to Moab, Utah just to socialize for a few days and get acquainted.
We like most everyone else sandwiched the social with side trips coming and going. In our case we spent 19 days on the road covering 12 states and 4,397 miles. We started out slightly east, not west, with a quick overnight visit with our son's family in La Crosse, WI to see our 3 year old grandson march in the pre-school annual Oktoberfest parade on the University of Wisconsin La Crosse campus led by the university marching band. We went downtown and ate wood fired pizza at
Ebeneezer's located in the Holiday Inn the evening before the morning parade. Just an appetizer for you.
After the parade we headed west on I-90 and made it only as far as Luverne, MN and Blue Mounds State Park. We dined in the park. Nothing special. Brats as I remember on the Coleman grill. We struck out early in the morning hoping to see the bison herd in the park but they were at the far end of the grasslands. We left with this sunrise scene behind us.
If you have ever traveled west on I-90 in South Dakota you would know you would be blasted with incessant billboards about attractions. Two corny ones stand out. Wall Drug and the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. If you have never been to the Corn Palace you are missing a piece of Americana kitsch. They change it every year with embedded corn seeds and cobs on the walls. Here is the 2008 version.
Curious about the inside? Well here it is. It is a basketball arena and yes the walls are decorated with corn scenes as well.
We proceeded on to the Badlands National Park, got out and hiked in the park for a couple of hours. This is a view of our return and the welcoming B van in the distance.
Let's skip Wall Drug and the restaurant across the street that served us bison burgers. I would hate to spoil that experience for you.
At Wall Drug they still serve a free glass of water and if you are a veteran a free cup of coffee and a donut. We stayed in a campground in Wall just two blocks away from Wall Drug. It had full hookups, flush toilets and showers. We sacrifice sometimes.
In the morning we headed for Rapid City, the gateway to the Black Hills. We stopped at the Information Center to gather travel brochures. I asked the attendant for a good place for breakfast. After running through Perkins, Denny's, etc. just like waitrons do in bars with Bud Light, Miller Lite, etc., I stopped her and said I wanted local not national. She thought and came up with this place, the
Colonial House.
The Colonial House served us up these two interesting concoctions. Mine in the foreground had a 1/2 thick hunk of ham buried under there. I was satisfied. My wife was not happy the bisquits and gravy was light on meat in the gravy.
Next stop was
Mount Rushmore. Here is our travel method, the Class B motorhome parked in the foreground of Mount Rushmore.
We then moved on to
Crazy Horse. This is the progress to date. I look forward to comparing their progress to 10 years ago if I can find my old photos.
Here is what it is suppose to eventually look like. For comparison Mount Rushmore would fit in Crazy Horse's head.
We camped in Custer State Park that night. We settled in one campground and then got rousted out by a park ranger because the site was reserved (but not marked as such). We made it to another campground just in time to get the last site. We didn't know the park was having its annual bison roundup that weekend and the Blackhills was nearly booked solid. On our way out of the Blackhills we stopped at
Baker's Bakery & Cafe in Custer for breakfast. I would recommend this place. The breakfast selections were conventional but fresh.
We drove on to Rocky Mountain National Park. Once again we were surprised by events. It seemed that all of Denver poured out to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain. Why? We found out the park was free that weekend and the weather was superb. Also the Elk were rutting and the bulls were calling. The sound was an eery shrill cry that we heard constantly. We did manage to get a campground site in the park. We parked and took a walk to observe the elk in the Moraine Valley. On our return we found we didn't really have to walk so far. Four females had taken over our campsite.
We crossed the park the next morning with Steamboat Springs as our next destination. Here I am at the peak at 12,000 feet.
Steamboat Springs is a ski town full of condos. There is nothing special to report in the summer so let's head on to Dinosaur National Monument. This side trip was a quest for information for our dinosaur loving grandchildren. Boy what a disappointment. Most of the park had closed already except for a short one mile hike to see about three bones. The gift shop in a temporary trailer was pretty much depleted. If you want to see a bone fossil here it is. They even had to paint a white arrow so you would not miss it.
Oh well, onward to Moab. We made it to the Riverside Oasis Campground on the banks of the Colorado River north of Moab and south of the Arches National Park entrance. This is what the trip was about. The gathering with 28 other Class B motorhomes. We had met many people at other rallies and also met many new westerners here.
That first evening we beat it to the Moab Brewery brew pub. We also later went to Eddie McStiff's, another self-claimed brew pub in Moab. There was nothing special about the food. The Moab Brewery wins on the brews if you pass through and want to stop. So let's digress and enjoy the scenery. We did a lot of hiking over three days in Arches National Park. I estimate we covered at least 10-12 miles over rugged rock.
Balanced Rock 
Delicate Arch. We tried this 1.5 mile in, 460 foot climb 10 years ago and didn't make it in 107 degree weather because we ran out of water. We made it this time.
Landscape Arch. If you want to see this one before it falls you better plan soon. It looks precarious. One arch fell in the park this year.
Back at the B Social we had a potluck dinner. I elected to make my family hot stew in a Dutch oven. I did this earlier this year at a Niobrara, NE B Social. This time I increased the recipe and to fill the pot. The campsite did not have fire rings and did not allow campfires. It is too dry in the area. So I dug a shallow hole in the gravel driveway for the charcoals and covered them up successfully later. It began to rain so I erected our screen tent to cover the area and it became quite the gathering place.
Here I am browning the stew meat.
And here is the stew just about ready to serve after simmering for 4 hours.
And here is my recipe.
Hot Stew for Potluck in 6 quart 12 inch diameter Dutch Oven
3.5 - 4 lbs. cubed stew meat
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 chopped yellow onions
5 chopped fresh garlic cloves
3 cubed Idaho potatoes
3 diced and de-seeded Jalapeno pepper
1 cup of chopped okra
2 chopped carrots
2 tablespoon of Paprika
Dash of salt and pepper to taste
2 cans of Leinenkugel's Original Lager (or any beer of choice)
4 chopped vine ripened tomatoes
Start at least four hours before serving time. Place pot on charcoals and brown meat with olive oil. After meat is browned add other ingredients and add lid with about 15 charcoals. BTW, I still did not make enough.
The next day we made another side trip not too far away. Instead of going to Canyonlands National Park (which we did later) we went to Utah's Dead Horse Point State Park adjacent. We did so for the unique and spectacular view that could rival the Grand Canyon and exceeds any in Canyonlands NP.
That evening our group all went to the Bar-M Chuckwagon live western show and cowboy supper. You arrive at about 6:30 PM and are first entertained with a faux western gun fight then settle in for a cattle drive inspired chuckwagon supper. On arrival we were greeted with a fast moving storm and double rainbow. This is when I realized the limitation of my camera. I could not get the full rainbow in as another fellow managed with a Nikon D300 digital SLR.
The food was nothing to write home about. It was served on a tin plate and consisted of a slab of roast beef or chicken, a baked potato wrapped in foil, vegetables, apple sauce and sourdough biscuit. Most of the people in attendance were French off a tour bus. I don't know what they thought of the food but the entertainment was pleasant with a four member ensemble singing traditional cowboy and western songs.
We broke from Moab after 6 days but not before having breakfast at the historic
Jailhouse Cafe, I had the southwestern chorizo scramble and Nancy had the southwestern eggs benedict. I highly recommend this place. They are only open for breakfast and close at noon.
Our next stop was brief at Canyonlands NP south of Moab and then on to
Monument Valley where all the John Ford directed, John Wayne acted westerns were made. You know and will recognize the place.
It is right on the Arizona and Utah border. We camped at the Gouldings campground and ate at our campsite. The Gouldings settled in the valley in 1924 and bought land there on the Utah side and invited John Ford. As a result more movies other than John Wayne movies were subsequently made there. But we were just passing through with the Grand Canyon south rim as our next destination.
Views of Grand Canyon are so common so as not to bore you I give you our sunrise photo we got up early to watch.
You have to look the other way to capture the view.
How about food in the Grand Canyon right in the park? Excellent I would have to say. After all this time of year I think Europeans and Japanese out attend Americans about 10 to 1 it seemed. I rarely heard English spoken. The Kanterra Group probably had to upgrade standards to serve an international clientele. For example, I had this half pound Angus beef cheeseburger at the Arizona Room at the Bright Angel Lodge. It was excellent.
Before striking out from the Grand Canyon after having hiked from rim to rim out and back probably over 10 miles in two days we had this hearty breakfast at the Bright Angel Lodge.
Our next destination was to head back east via Taos, NM. In the middle of nowhere, Winslow, AZ on I-40 we stopped at a
Flying J truck stop for fuel and had this pork tenderloin sandwich for lunch. OK, OK, you knew sooner or later I would have to get one in.
They called it a pork fritter and it was a special they were running for three months. Maybe they will put it on their permanent menu some day.
In Taos we camped near town and did the customary walking around looking at shops and galleries. We sampled all the brews at the Eske's Brew Pub in town and then struck out for
Taos Pueblo, a pueblo settlement that is the oldest in the nation. There were lots of outdoor earthen ovens and Indian vendors. We bought this pumpkin bread fresh out of the oven. In this photo we had already ripped off the top for tasting.
We decided for dinner we would eat at the
Tiwa Kitchen Taos Pueblo Home Cooking on the road outside Taos Pueblo. This was perhaps our most interesting food stop.
The Tiwa Kitchen 
The Tiwa Kitchen interior 
Outside where the bread is baked in an earth oven
A fry bread with chokecherry appetizer
My Phien-Thae bison meat dinner
Nancy's traditional Pueblo Meal
After one night we again left early to enjoy the sunrise. Looking back the sun shone on this Aspen mountainside in full fall golden color. Actually we pulled over because we were being tailgated by a pickup truck.
Hungry again we started looking for a breakfast place after going through the mountains. By luck we found this one in tiny Springer, NM just off I-25, another middle of nowhere place but recommended.
Elida's Cafe 
Nancy's stuffed sopapilla
My Huervo Rancheros
We drove the old Sante Fe Trail through the pan handle of Oklahoma into Kansas and stopped at a KOA campground near Salina, KS. I gave Missouri one more chance to announce their best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich they promised in October. No such luck, but on the trip I learned of Iowa's winner and headed for it and about a 150 mile detour from heading directly home.
Once we crossed into Iowa we stopped at the first rest stop and info center. Iowa rest stops have free WiFi. I was able to get the phone number of the restaurant and my GPS, though 175 miles away said we would arrive about 5:18 PM. So I allowed for another pit stop and called the Augustana Restaurant in Oxford, IA to make a reservation for 5:30 PM. They said they couldn't take reservations because of the BPT publicity and that they were swamped. I explained I was coming from 500 miles away for this sandwich and needed assurance. Actually I was concerned with finding a campsite before sundown. That did not cut it with them. So I reluctantly pulled out my hole card and told them I was the porktenderloinsandwich.com website owner. I don't normally pre-announce my visits. They evidently were well aware of my website. That changed the tone. When we arrived, despite the place being swamped with bikers, there was a table waiting for us conveniently next to the window when we arrived at 5:29 PM.
The Augustana Restaurant
http://www.augustarestaurant.net/ is owned by Jeri and Ben Halperin, former New Orleans residents driven out by Hurricane Katrina. It was Iowa's gain. The Iowa Pork Producer's Association got this one right this year. Their pork tenderloin sandwich is the best of the best of all the previous Iowa winners. The BPT was actually an anomaly on the menu. The menu was strongly New Orleans Cajun influenced. So we started off with...
Crawfish Beignets 
And to end our trip we present you with the IPPA 2008 best breaded pork tenderloin sandwich accompanied with homemade sweet potato chips.
We were tempted to try their desserts but unfortunately they were out of all their specialties so we reluctantly passed but luckily because of that disappointment found a campsite at a county park about 6 miles away after sundown but still light enough to find one.
