RoadTrip Scan: Med School Tour, St. Joseph MI

Deciding to go on this RoadTrip came about in a roundabout way. Originally, I had plans to go camping with my brother and SiL, attend a family reunion, and go to S'cubiefest in August. One by one everything fell through. So, my immediate family decided to have a little reunion of our own in St. Joseph, MI. On the way there and back, I decided to stop by all the med schools I applied to that I haven't seen yet to see what they looked like and to get a vibe of each place.


This was my first opportunity to try out two things I wanted to do in all my future RoadTrips. One was to take Yuri with me. To this end, I did a little mini RoadTrip with him first, to see if he would take to it. I drove up to Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, VA and back on July 28th and 29th. Sadly, Yuri is not a RoadTripper. :( He was really good in the car, but he was really withdrawn the whole time. Besides, my car doesn't have enough room for him to run around and hold all my stuff. If I had a larger car or an RV, it might be different. Also, I think that traveling with a pet is really hard if you're all by myself. At any rate, when I took off for the RoadTrip proper, I put Yuri up for boarding.

The second thing I wanted to try was to stay at campsites rather than hotels along the way. Since I don't really most of the features of a hotel, and I love camping, and campsites are so much cheaper, I figured that it would work so much better all around. This did pan out; I hope use campsites in the future, barring extreme weather conditions, availability, or other misc reasons.

This is one of the campsites I stayed at.




This was a very fast paced RoadTrip, and the pictures are few and far between. I wish I had some fancy spy glasses that can take pictures, and at high speed, because when you're driving, you see all sorts of gorgeous landscapes but they pass by so quickly. And even if you pull off the road, it's not the same.


As for Edward Via Virginia, it looked fine. I saw the memorial at VA Tech for the shootings, but didn't take a picture because it didn't seem right. There were too many cops around the area for my taste, possibly because of the shooting. I stopped by this abandoned building to rearrange the contents of my car, and a cop was on my ass within 5 minutes. Southwestern VA is pretty, mountainous, rural, but with good infrastructure and access to resources. I don't have much more to say about it since I've been through here many times before.


Starting off on the RoadTrip proper, I left Greenville on the 5th and headed for Tennessee. Experienced 2 serious back ups before I got to Asheville. All in all, I lost about 4 hours. Got tedious. Turned out the first one was due to a produce truck and the second was a multi-car pileup. I still think that the fates were conspiring to not let me leave NC. ;)

Took this when all the traffic was stopped. I think this guy had the right idea.




After Asheville, it was pretty smooth going.

This is the view from Veterans Overlook, in Tennessee.




Got to Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
in Harrogate, TN in the evening. It was nice; the town was very, very small. Too small? I'm not sure. It was fine for high school, so maybe, but I don't know. I'm so difficult. I want rural, but not too rural. Heh. The town about 10 minutes away was larger and had all the typical shopping and services. Harrogate is right next to Cumberland Gap, which is very pretty.

Historical town of Cumberland Gap.




Camped for the night in Maynardsville, TN, then got up the next morning and drove on through the rest of Tennessee (passing the Museum of Appalachia) and Arkansas to Oklahoma. Arkansas and Oklahoma were both new states for me, so yay. I passed a guy on a motorcycle with really high handlebars on the way; I had never seen a bike like that before. Drove through Memphis and passed by the Pyramid Arena, which looked really shiny. Arkansas was nice swampy in the east with lots of agriculture. No corn though; interesting. Passed a nuclear power plant, I think. The Ozarks were real pretty. Reach the Oklahoma border in the evening.

Cool looking picnic tables at an Oklahoma rest stop.




Camped in Sallisaw, OK for the night. Stayed at a KOA for the first time. Slightly more expensive than public campgrounds, but the climate controlled bathrooms are definitely worth it in high summer if you're tent camping. Also, they have wireless! What more do you need, really?

Drove on to Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tulsa, OK the next morning. Tulsa is very big cityish, and I didn't really like it. The med school is on the opposite side of the river, which makes it a little better. There is a nice riverside park (on the wrong side of the river, unfortunately), and when you get outside of Tulsa, there's absolutely nothing but wilderness, which is very nice.

Drove on to the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in Kansas. Kansas was also a new state for me, yay. Driving through Oklahoma and Kansas was absolutely fabulous, with rolling hills, all wild and lonely. I found the preserve, at least I think I did, but unfortunately, I couldn't find the park headquarters. There were no signs, and the map I printed from the site didn't match up with the landmarks I found. The only thing I did find was a scenic overlook with some informational sign boards written for small children. I started to run low on time, so I finally gave up and continued on my way. I'm kind of bummed though. I hope I have the opportunity to go back at some point.




































Artsy Shot.




I had hoped to end up camping some where near Kirksville, MO, but once I got through Kansas City, I realized that my trip tik was messed up, so I had to back track. By the time I got heading in the right direction, it was getting late, so I camped near Kansas City for the night.

In the morning, I drove to A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO. Kirksville was nice, kind of a biggish small town, with two universities (Truman State University is also here).

I'm eternally amused by this gas chain. Heh.




Drove on to Des Moines in the afternoon. On my way passed though Bloomfield, IA and saw this, which I believe is the town hall, though I'm not sure. It looks more like the Haunted Mansion to me:





Got to Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines, IA mid afternoon. For a biggish city, Des Moines is really nice. Neat, clean, organized, with wide streets. Not bad.

Drove on to my brother and SiL's house in Chicago, getting there in the late evening. While I was there, I saw Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University in
Downers Grove, IL, which is in a really nice suburb, so it's not too bad. Campus is completely self contained, one entrance with a guard house and all that. It's right next to the Lyman Forest Preserve, which is interesting. I also went to an RV show at a nearby county fairgrounds.

Eventually, we, along with my parents, went on to St. Joseph, MO. Beaches aren't really my thing, but it is a nice pretty town.

I stopped at the South Bend Chocolate Company when I was there. Delicious.

The private beach and area near the house we rented.

























I have no idea what this is






Downtown St. Joseph had a whole bunch of these little cars all around town. According to my SiL, the theme changes. Last year it was bears.




There was also all sorts of cool pieces of art all around town, like this one.




The Lake Bluff Park in town was pretty.




There were a lot of memorials for various things, but I liked this one the best. It's the Berrin County Law Enforcement Memorial.






This fountain is pretty




There were lots of chalk drawings on the ground, some simple, some very detailed.










Views from Lake Bluff Park.







On the waterfront. Mostly artsy shots.







St. Joseph Lighthouse.




Rocky Gap Beach. Mostly artsy shots.













After a couple days, I took off again. I passed by the RV Hall of Fame Elkhart, IN, which I'm not sure if I want to visit. On a tip from my SiL, I got bagels from Barry Bagels in Toledo. Delicious. I highly recommend them.

In the evening, I arrived at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, OH. Met with a friend there who took me out to dinner and gave me a very thorough tour of the campus and town. Athens is a very nice, small town, with a big university, but it does have everything you need.

Drove on to Jackson, OH, where I spent the night.

Last stop on the med school tour was Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine in Pikeville, KY, which has been voted one of the 100 best small towns in America by some one. Also, it's host to Dairy Cheer, which is home of the smashburger. I don't really know what that means. Very nice mountain town. Narrow, narrow streets through, particularly on the mountainsides. Yikes.

Afterwards, I drove on back to Greenville, arriving home in the late evening.

Things I learned on this trip:
*There are no merging lanes for the entrance ramps in Oklahoma (or at least not in eastern OK). When the sign says yield, take them at their word.
*Missouri uses a letter code for their highway exits. It didn't really make much sense to me.
*Some rest stops, particularly in Iowa, are offering wireless now. I have a feeling that's going to be standard before long. Not sure if there's a charge.
*Indiana has motion detectors along the side of the highway to detect any nearby wild life. Interesting.

Total mileage:
4015 miles + the distance to Blacksburg and back, I forgot to check.


Current mood: busy