Home Sweet Home

Hey everyone! We made it home in one piece and all has been a whirlwind since! The children have been having lots of play dates and sleepovers to catch up with friends and Sully and I are busy getting our lives back in order. We had such a great trip and will have wonderful memories of our "Wild West Road Trip" but we (and our pets) are happy to be home!

From White Castle to the Nile, Nile, Nile or at least Dayton

Well, here we are at a KOA campground outside of Dayton, Ohio. Very nice setting but noisy interstate traffic and a few creepy people. I think that we will all be very glad to be home tomorrow. Had a very nice visit with Sully's brother Jeff, wife Missy and children Rylee and Howie. Took a great walk around their beautiful community, enjoyed a yummy dinner and some cards. Got up early this am and hit the road. Took the scenic route to Milwaukee to see Lake Michigan. That completed our tally of all 5 great lakes. Headed down towards Chicago and ran into horrible traffic. I thought Sully, who was driving, was going to blow a gasket! Made it through okay. Stopped off at a White Castle for some sliders and rolled into Dayton around 7pm. Hoping to make it home tomorrow. It has been a great trip and we have enjoyed it immensely, but it is time to sleep in our own beds.

The Plains

470 miles today, nuf said.

Took a short little stroll in the Badlands and then hit the road. It is so beautiful there and our campground was superb. Definitely calls for a return visit. Except this time, we’re flying. Man, is this a big country! We

are

about 1/3 of the way across Minnesota in a place called Albert Lea, right near the town of Alden. The kids are becoming real pro's at traveling. We've decided that our days of "Are we there yet?" are over.

The Mount Rushmore Doh-See-Doh

Wow, what a day. Let me begin by saying that I am not a very good tourist. I hate tourist traps, large crowds and chintzy gift shops. However...when in Rome... After leaving Devil’s Tower we headed south into the Black Hills. We “did” Jewel Cave, which was very cool, 250 feet down and super chilly. The cave system is a series of tunnels and rooms stretching over 145 miles but within a 3 square mile area on the surface. Researchers predict that Jewel Cave will one day be discovered to be larger than Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the current world record holder.

From there we travelled to the Crazy Horse Monument in Crazy Horse, South Dakota. What an amazing undertaking. It is HUGE! Back in 1940’s this polish fellow, Korczak Ziokowski, who had been working on Mt. Rushmore, was asked by Lakota Elders to create a stone mountain monument celebrating the bravery of Crazy Horse. The project is still underway, directed by the original sculpter’s children. An amazing story and an amazing monument.

From there we zoomed over to Mt. Rushmore to take a peek.

OMG What a nightmare. It is Sturgis Bike Week here in this part

of the world and there are millions of hogs driving for Jesus.

And when I say millions, I am not joking.

There were bikers everywhere we went.

And when we got to the entrance to Mt. Rushmore

we had had enough. We ended up doing 3 U-turns

to get a good look and then parked illegally and

snuck in the back gate to take some pics.

Booked it out of there and found a great KOA Campground with Hot Showers!!!! a Pool!!!! and a laundromat!!! So now we are refreshed, fed, toileted (ha ha) and ready for a quiet evening of star gazing.

Checking out the Badlands in the am and then heading EAST!

Montana is HUGE!

In need of a clean windshield and a shower we are headed south to Jewel Cave and Mt. Rushmore. Did 440 miles yesterday through the Crow and Cheyenne Indian Reservations across Montana to Devil’s Tower. Stopped along the way in Broadus, Mt at the Powder River Stockman’s Club for a yummy dinner and a cold beer. The place was packed as their county fair and rodeo was getting underway the next day. What a place! The true “middle of nowhere”, very cool.

Arrived at Devil’s Tower in the dark. Could not see the tower even though we knew it was out there somewhere. Laid out under the milky way watching shooting stars until we could not hold our eyes open anymore. Woke up in the morning to discover that we were right at the foot of the tower...what a sight to behold. It is made even more amazing because it is the only thing like it for miles around. Took a short hike around the tower catching a glimpse here and there of the climbing nuts 100’s of feet above the ground!

Headed southeast today, to take in the sights of the badlands.

Heading East

So we made it to Yellowstone and spent the afternoon taking in the sights, sounds and sulfur smells. Saw a family of Elk snoozing in a meadow and a bunch of Bison. Had an extremely chilly night camping on the banks of the Gallitin River. Woke up this morning 43 degrees....brrr! Ate a quick breakfast and headed down to Montana White Water for a rafting trip down the river. What fun! The kids loved it and we all got soaked. We are in Bozeman now at a bookstore before a serious haul across Montana. Hoping to make it Devil’s Tower by nightfall. We could really use a laundromat and some hot showers!

Leaving Hills

Well, we spent our last day in Hills hanging out at the cabin playing scrabble and enjoying some summer rain showers. In the afternoon we made a quick trip into New Denver for some dinner fixin’s and one last dip in the lake. I just cannot say enough about how incredible Slocan Lake is! You can tread water and see your feet! Granted it is a bit cold for my taste but by the end of the week it truly felt good.

We left Hills Monday morning to lots of hugs and tears. It really bites that those guys live soooo far away. Ronato hitched a ride with us down the valley and after we left him (boo hoo again, he’s a keeper!) we cruised across the border and into Washington. The border patrol lady was super snarky and she confiscated Aunt Bay’s beautiful garlic braid (they let us keep the garlic though) but we made it through and back into the good ol’ U. S. of A.

Spent the night last night in a little campground on the banks of a beautiful river in Cataldo, Idaho. We are headed to Montana today, hoping to do some white water rafting in Gardener, Montana near Yellowstone. Looking forward to getting further south, it was 53 degrees this am, brrrr.