The Big Bean Speaks!

Remember - the best guess as to how many miles Leah put on her blue Acura - traveling from the front door of ChocoLatte (Home of Bog Beans), to San Francisco, will win the guessee a $50 Chocolate Gift Basket. Of course, Leah did not make what you might call a Bean-Line, to the Golden Gates -but clues to her side trips and such, and the Google estimate of the direct route's total mileage, are all available on this site. So look it over, and make a guess. If you're from off Cape, send the guess by email to Dogd@Aol.com. If you're nearby, drop it off at ChocoLatte, 11 Cranberry Highway, Sagamore Massachusetts. -additional details about this, and related Bog Beans contests may be found within the first posting on this blog (see links to past postings on the right)

California, California, here we cooooome!

Hello again! We are in California, well we have been for longer than I let on. Our final destination is San Francisco but we aren't there yet. For the time being we are in Berkeley, which is home to UC Berkeley and now, Bog Beans. This is place is fun times and has lots of things going on, and the weather is pretty fab. I've included a giant picture of my face at a cafe where I need to use internet, and also a picture of downtown. Sweeeeet.

Salt Lake City and Nevada looks like Mars

Hi again! Sorry this posting is late. Wanted to let you know that Salt Lake City is between the mountains, big ones. Oh, and the Great Salt Lake itself could eat Rhode Island it's that big. But Bog Beans represented in front of the Church of Mormon. Nevada has a lot of casinos, and is very hot and like I said, it looks like Mars.

The Gigantic Midwest

Leah wrote: "Nebraska is cool too. It has a lot of fields but we finally found a road-side diner: Penny's rocked. Then we came across the Buffalo Bill Museum: it may have been closed but that didn't stop me from making sure their 'chuck wagon' was fully stocked with Bog Beans."

Lots of clues here, for figuring out the mileage. Was the really the Buffalo Bill Museum, or were they in North Platte, at Fort Cody?

Iowa (pronounced O-HI-O?)

Leah wrote: "Iowa has lots of farms. They appreciate their cows, which is why this cow fountain probably has some special meaning. I just thought it looked like it needed some chocolate-covered cranberries to keep it company."

It seems likely that this cow fountain can be found on a map, or reference to it found somewhere on the Internet.

Wisconsin is delicious

Leah wrote: "After we left Cleveland, we headed through Indiana, fought some traffic in Illinois around Chicago, and made our way to Wisconsin. When we got there we had a great home-cooked meal, and lots of cheese. Bog Beans are great to barter for cheese."

Are they any clues in the picture to tell you just where in Wisconsin Leah went - and how many miles out of the way? Maybe. Maybe not.

Carhenge, in Alliance, Nebraska

Look closely: you're not looking at the famous stones of southern England. The picture to the left is from Carhenge, a unique outdoor art museum of a sort, centered around a tribute to Stonehenge - but with cars. I'll place a link to the official Carhenge website in the section on the right. It proved a bit too far off the path, for Leah and the Bog Beans crew to visit (probably about an hour off the highway) but if anyone else is headed that way, it sounds a like cool place to stop.

Driving Directions from Sagamore, MA to Carhenge at 2141 County Road 59, Alliance, NE

And they're off: Day 1, Sagamore to..

Leah stopped by the store this morning, to stock up on Bog Beans, get a few final instructions, say goodbye to friends... oh, and get one last Latte before heading west. The picture above is her blue Acura, clean and shiny and rarin' to go. She's trying to make Cleveland by tonight, and late word was that she had reached the far western edge of New York state and given out her first Bog Beans (to another group of rolling marketers giving out samples of Red Bull). Actually, I think it was an even exchange, Bog Beans for Bull. An auspicious beginning. And yes, word has just come in from somewhere near Cleveland (a place called Buck's Grill & Bar) that Leah is now officially in the Midwest, and spreading the Bog Beans amongst the locals. Tomorrow (Sept. 2) they'll be deep in the Midwest, and may come across the 'Flying Saucer Gas Station" in Ashtabula, Ohio.