Big glass, dead presidents and four thousand miles of road

Roadtrip. When I and a friend went to the US for the first time, we originally had planned to rent a car and drive. We ended up driving on the Greyhound. This Easter, I rented a car, and drove some 2500 km in 5 days. I had suspected it would be a really tiring experience, but much to my surprise, I found it quite easy. So when contemplating what to do this vacation, a roadtrip through the US for 3 weeks actually sounded quite appealing. A few weeks ago, I decided to go for it.
I would fly in to Chicago, and drive to Los Angeles and back. I found a suitable route. Googe maps reported it would be 4500 miles. Believe it or not, but it looked like a plan. 4500 miles in 3 weeks? No problems. Sure, some of the legs would be very long. But most would be very doable.
I have no plans to stop at every tourist attraction along the way. I only have a few "must-see" places. One thing I wanted to do, was to follow in George Ellory Hale's tracks. He founded 3 observatories with four of the largest telescopes (of their time) in the world. The Yerkes refractor outside of Chicago, the Mount Wilson observatory outside of Chicago, and finally Mount Palomar observatory outside of San Diego. Big glass, and I wanted to see them all.
I found that Mount Rushmore (the dead presidents on the rock face) was actually in South Dakota. Silly me, imagined it to be somewhere completely different. Like Arizona or something. And the Crazy Horse monument isn't far away. Two giant rocky monuments for the price of one drive. Not bad.
And then following Route 66 back to Chicago. Well, more or less. I wanted to check out Memphis and Nashville too. Just for fun. And because.
How many photos will I take? Have no idea. The whole point of this trip will be to just drive. Look at the landscape. The small towns. The highways and byways. See wherever the road takes me. And just enjoy the ride!
I will blog when I feel like it, and have something to write about. Maybe add some photos if I have them. Otherwise, just stories, thoughts and observations.

Ragnar
Roadtripper