How the west won me over

Apparently, the amiable caf owner, also its number one cook, had been out of state and won $8,000 in a tournament. As I sat in the only open caf in an out-of- season tourist town, waiting for my eggs and hash browns, surrounded by portraits of long-gone local cowboys and stuffed deer trophies, my thoughts also turned to gambling. Should I risk driving 200 miles in freshly fallen snow on roads that I have no knowledge of or should I "stick" and wait for the snow to clear?

I took the gamble. That's the trouble with moving on each day, you have no choice if you want to be back where you started, and on time.

This road trip started in Chicago, our first stop was Madison, a university town, which seems to have been built only yesterday. In Wisconsin, an underrated state, our route was on an empty highway through small towns with farms dotted in between. Some looked very poor and I began to wonder if the rusty second-hand machinery, up for sale on the roadside, would ever sell. The economic downturn didn't look too bad in modern Madison but out here, it looked deep.

Nearly every place in America lays claim to the world's tallest, shortest, deepest, largest. On the trip we were to see the world's tallest free standing mast, the world's largest ball of sisal twine, the world's largest collection of geological box work and the world's biggest railway marshalling yard.

Fuelling the rental car was almost a daily event and it was when paying for "gas" in an easily forgotten small town in North Dakota that I began to worry. An assistant at the fuel station checked my Traveller's Cheque signature against the one in my passport and asked why a man from England was in North Dakota. With the wind picking up from the north and the mercury hovering around zero, I asked myself the same question. This was the start of the cold front being pushed down from the Arctic across Canada that was to bring snow and record low temperatures.

Snow was falling as we left the Lewis and Clark interpretive centre near Washburn in North Dakota to visit the explorers' winter quarters at Fort Mandan.

The snow had gone, for the time being, as we headed along the Enchanted Highway, a rural road that runs south to a small town called Regent and what makes it so special are the giant metal sculptures along the route by artist Gary Greff.

Onwards, ever closer to more snow, we made our way to Medora next to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the Badlands of North Dakota, a beautiful place to visit. Winding roads bring you to vistas of sculptured land occupied by prairie dogs, deer and bison. Easy walking paths take you deeper into the Badlands for more dramatic views of the area.

When summer ends, the visitors disappear and Medora settles back to its quiet way of life. The one bar open at night and the one caf open in the morning gathered locals and visitors alike. We awoke to see a blanket of snow on the ground that made the small town even more charming.

Turning south on a minor road we faced a challenge just seeing where the road was in the whiteness. After 60 miles the worst was behind us.

The road took us to Deadwood, South Dakota, still a place to play cards, and Mount Rushmore, the giant stone carvings of past presidents, one of the most recognisable places in the US.

We crossed into Nebraska and to visit one of the more interesting roadside attractions. Car Henge is a reproduction of Stonehenge made from the best and worst of what Detroit offered. Bridgeport, on the North Platte River, was showing signs of desertion as we arrived at the Meadowlark Motel and restaurant on a cold and grey afternoon. Brenda, our "server for the night", reckoned that we might be the only customers. No sooner had she said that when a grizzled, and grizzly, old man stepped inside for a burger and fries. He had them finished before our main course arrived; maybe that's what they mean by fast food.

Travellers on the great migration of the 19th century might have been happy to see Bridgeport and Chimney Rock close by which marked the first 500 miles of their 1,500 mile trek to the west.

Deeper into Nebraska we arrived at the home of Buffalo Bill, North Platte, with the world's largest rail marshalling yard.

We crossed into Kansas whose centre is a place called Lebanon. Follow a rural road and a small, understated obelisk marks the spot. Another roadside oddity was not far away. In Cawker City, you will find that record-breaking ball of twine.

Oklahoma beckoned and a chance to drive some of the original sections of Route 66. The road took latter-day westwards migrants from the dustbowl of the Mid-West to California, their old jalopies piled high with possessions. Close to Route 66 near Foyil is another oddity. Ed Galloway spent his retirement working on creating concrete Totem poles. You've guessed it. One of them is the world's tallest.

We journeyed on through the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas to Hot Springs where old bath houses have been refurbished. The National Park service has its headquarters in one of them and nearby you can enjoy the warm natural spring water. From Arkansas we tasted the Deep South as we entered Mississippi with its riverside casinos at Tunica and another famous road, Highway 61. Blacks travelled this road north to Chicago taking the Blues with them. Soon we were in Tennessee and Memphis.

Getting lost downtown took us past the Lorraine Motel, scene of Martin Luther King Jr's murder in 1968 and now part of the National Civil Rights Museum.

This was to be a day of visiting six states. We were soon in Kentucky for a ferry crossing to Missouri across the wide Mississippi. In Illinois, Metropolis boasts a giant statue Superman.

Our journey had turned north to Chicago as we visited Indianapolis and its Speedway race track. A ride around the track is on offer for $3.

There was just one last town, South Bend in Indiana, home to Notre Dame University and the beginning of the American car industry.

We had been immersed in the back roads and small towns of the American Mid-West for nearly three weeks, covering 5,000 miles. I'm glad that I took that gamble. After all, where else would you get to see a nine-ton ball of string?

FACTFILE

Mike Cowling used his air miles in Economy Plus (more leg room) with United Airlines from London Heathrow to Chicago,

www.unitedairlines.co.uk

He booked motels in advance using the internet and the dollar exchange rate was about $1.55 to 1. Petrol was about $2.50 per gallon.