Trip Recap

We made it though the three weeks and without too much damage to the trail or ourselves. We trailed a total of 7053 miles, and through 18 states. These are only a couple of stats on the trip, so this last entry will detail these stats. I will also detail some best and worst of the trip.

As I stated, we traveled a total of 7053 miles. There were a couple of days that we didn’t do any travel, but of those days that we did travel by car, on day six we traveled 78 miles, which was the shortest time spent in the car. On day 2, we traveled 738 miles, which was more than any other day by at least 200 miles.

It cost $1168 in gas to make the trip. On day two, we spent $186, which was the most spent on a single day. There have been several days where we didn’t need to purchase gas. Of those days that we had to purchase gas, we spent $38 dollars on day 12, for the lowest total spent on gas for any single day. The average for gas was about $2.50. The lowest that we paid was $2.37 in Minnesota and the most was $2.92 in good old Lenwood, California.

There were 18 states that we traveled to excluding California. They are in the order that we visited. A couple states we crossed into a couple of times, such as Arizona and Illinois.

Arizona
New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Ohio
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
South Dakota
Wyoming
Montana
Colorado
Utah
Nevada

We went to eight different national parks and monuments. I didn’t include the Minuteman National Monument, which was closed when we arrived at the visitor center. The Crazy Horse Memorial and Meramec Caverns are not part of the National Park Service. The kids were able to get six Junior Ranger badges. They already had one from Zion National Park, and they didn’t have time to get it at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which is also known as the St. Louis Arch. They also could have gotten one at the Crazy Horse Memorial, but again time was a factor. The below list is the parks that we visited in the order that we saw them.

Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
Lincoln Home National Historical Site
Badlands National Park
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Devils Tower National Monument
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Arches National Park
Zion National Park

We had a lot of the best and worst on this trip, and I could probably go on for every, but I am going to keep it short. Some of the lists will have individual opinions and others will simply be lists.

What I liked best about the trip
I liked the going back to Columbus Ohio after 30 years, playing golf in Tomahawk and visiting the National Parks, especially Mount Rushmore.

Lisa liked spending time with her family and meeting people on my side of the family.

Miles liked the Mall of America the best.

Samantha liked Jakesville at my dad’s cousin’s farm outside of Columbus. She also liked picking blueberries in Tomahawk.

My Mom and Dad liked seeing my Aunt Jerry and visiting the National Parks

What I disliked the least about the trip
I didn’t care for the smell in Amarillo and the blowout on the trailer. I also didn't like that the Minuteman Monument was closed on Sundays.

Lisa didn’t like the long days. She wished that we able to spend more time seeing things. She felt like we were always in a rush.

Miles, Samantha and my parents didn’t like all the driving. They really are not very original.

Samantha didn’t like all the gas that Miles passed in the backseat.

Miles didn’t like all the games of Boggle that Samantha wanted him to play.

What was the funniest moment of the trip
I thought Miles “Mmmm. Wyoming’s air freshener” comment about a road kill skunk, was hilarious. The other moment was when my cousin Tom and I were betting on whose wife would call first, and I told him that Lisa will call and ask if we got lost, which is exactly what happened. I also enjoyed the Wall Drug billboards. You must go there one day.

Lisa thought when her cousin’s dog introduced himself to Miles by tackling him. The dog is a Saint Bernard. She also thought that little Mikey was hilarious when she tried to put some spay on his sun burnt cheeks and didn’t realize that it contained an aerosol. It started to burn his cheeks and he started to run around yelling “Get it off me! Get it of me!’

Samantha thought that it was funny that her grandmother had to go to the restroom all the time.

My dad thought it was funny that the bratwurst that we had in Tomahawk acted like a laxative.

My parents also thought it was funny when I fell on my butt and still saved the drinks that were in my hands. They also thought our visit with Ralph in Columbus was great. Ralph is a talker and he is very entertaining.

What was the scariest moment

The unanimous event was the wind storm that greeted us in Buffalo, Wyoming.

The best campgrounds that we stayed at
Springdale RV Campground, Springdale, Utah
Indian Trail Campground, Buffalo, Wyoming
Blake Ranch RV Park, Kingman, Arizona

Samantha liked the Blake Ranch RV Park because she liked there clean showers and bathrooms.

Miles liked the Springdale RV Campground because it had a pool or you could play in the Virgin River.

The worst campgrounds that we stayed at
Amarillo Ranch RV Park (the stench was really bad)
Terrace View Campground, Tomahawk Wisconsin
Joplin KOA, Joplin, Missouri

The states with the best rest stops
Oklahoma
Texas
Missouri

The states with the worst rest stops
Wisconsin
Ohio
Utah (All the stalls have half height walls, peek-a-boo)


The one thing that I would really like to do is spend more time in the Black Hills of South Dakota. There is a lot to see in the area. You could spend a week in this area alone to see everything, and two weeks would probably be more appropriate. If you get a chance to go to the Black Hills, you should take the opportunity, and do not miss the lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore.

The one thing that I would skip is visiting the Amish country. There really isn't much to see. If I did it again, I would take an organized tour through the area, which should be more interesting. They take you to farms and workshops owned by the Amish. They also arrange a lunch cooked by the Amish, so it would be more interesting than just touring the country side. If you go to Amish Country, take an organized tour to get more out of it.

Well, that's it. I hoped you enjoyed this blog. The trip was amazing and something I would do again, but with some changes. I would do it again only if we had a different trailer that wasn't a pop-up. I don't know how we did it when I was a kid. During one trip, we went cross country using a canvas tent that was really heavy. I do look forward to visiting many of the locales in the future to see how things change.

Day 23 (July 11th) – Springdale, Utah to Home

Today, we drive the last leg of the trip. This is a drive that we have made a few times before and are quite familiar with.

Over the past week the routine has been for me to get up shortly after 6:00 AM. I would take a shower and do some minor maintenance and make sure that the cooler has enough drinks in it for the day. I would then start to disconnect the water and sewer and turn off the propane to the trailer. Once Lisa got the inside of trailer squared away, and made lunch for the day, I would then ready the trailer to be hooked up to the car. Once everything was put away and the trailer’s roof was lowered. we would then hook up the trailer to the car and then start down the road shortly after 8 AM. Today is the last time that we would perform this routine, and I think that we are ready for a change in routine.

It didn’t take us long to cross into Arizona after we went through St. George, Utah. We were only in Arizona for about 27 miles as the interstate runs through the Virgin River Gorge, so we crossed into Nevada very quickly.

We passed through Las Vegas. The kids saw Circus Circus and wanted us to stop. They really love the carnival area of the hotel. But that’s like saying kids love ice cream. Their only problem is that Lisa and I had no desire to stop. So we continued down the road and crossed into California a short time later.

Our last stop was in beautiful Lenwood, California, which is the fast food capitol of the world. We did get gas there, but like most days on this trip, we made sandwiches to eat for lunch. I’m sure that the mayor of Lenwood is not happy with us.

We made it home in the mid afternoon, and proceeded to clean the trailer and move all our clothes and food back into our house. We made it through the three weeks without too much trouble. It’s good to be home.

We drove a total of 417 miles to day. We have driven a total of 7053 miles for the entire trip. We spent $69 on the purchase of gas today.

On Monday night, I will post the best and worst list for the trip. Who has the best and worst rest stops? The peeing public won't want to miss this. We will also have the best and worst moments and many more, so check back Monday night.

Day 22 (July 10th) – Springdale, Utah

The itinerary says that we should be going home today, but we decided to spend a whole day here in Springdale and Zion National Park. As I earlier stated, Lisa really loves Zion. Of all the places that we have been, this is the one place that she doesn’t mind visiting over and over again. I say this with great certainty, because at least a couple times a day she mentions how much she loves this place. She also uses words such as “Amazing”, “Incredible” and “Fantastic”. What makes Zion so extraordinary special? It is the not just the sheer cliffs and the colors in the cliffs. These cliffs are the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world. The Sandstone acts like a sponge, and the water slowly moves downward until forced out by either non porous rock or by an overhang. Some of the water that comes out of the rocks is about 4,000 years old.

We are used to being gypsies or nomads for the last three weeks, and especially over the last week, so it was nice to wake up and not have to get on the road. Lisa actually decided to cook breakfast for everyone. We all reveled in having a nice breakfast and have the time to savior it. While we ate breakfast, we decided not to do any hiking in Zion on this trip. We were all tired and don’t have the energy to do any hiking. So we decided that we would just ride the tram.

We went into Zion and boarded the first available tram. You can only take a car about a mile up the canyon. To view the rest of the canyon, you have to take a tram that makes about 8 stops. A round trip takes about 45 minutes. On the way back down the canyon, we got off the tram at the Zion Lodge. The adults wanted smoothies, and the kids said okay on one condition that they got ice cream. We spent some time downing our cool treats on the lodge’s lawn. After we finished or treats and looked around the gift shop, we got back on the tram to continue our way down the canyon.

I bet you think that I am going to talk about the kids getting their seventh Junior Ranger badge. Well, you would be wrong. They already got their badge on a previous visit to Zion. Miles did earn a second level on his badge, by spending half a day with some rangers removing alien plants from the canyon. He got an additional badge and a certificate, which he holds over Samantha’s head at every chance he gets. Samantha is definitely not happy about this.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in the Virgin River, or in the case of Samantha and Miles playing in the river. At one point, my mom brings out a raft so the kids could float down the river. They make several trips down a portion of the river until they get tired of caring the raft backup the river. After a period of time has passed, Samantha decided to go back down the river, but this time she wants to go down with my mom. The only problem is that my mom is afraid of water, except in a shower or bath. My mom is just about to agree to go down the river with Samantha when I tell my mom not to do it. I did it because I really didn’t want to pry my mom off the raft or a rock when she starts to panic. As it turns out, it would have been worse. As Samantha is going down the river, she hits a rock and the raft gets a hole. I would have had to race down the river and carried my mom to the shore. I dodged a huge bullet.

The funniest moment of the day was provided by yours truly. I went back to the trailer to get Lisa and I some drinks. As I started to get in the water, I hit a slick spot and started to slide. I tried to keep my balance, but I soon had both feet in the air and I was doomed to make a large splash. Somehow I was able to twist and land on my butt, while still being able to save the drinks by lifting by arms way above my head. It would have been a sin to drop the drinks or get river water in them. I did provide everyone with a good laugh.

We didn’t do any driving today. We have driven a total of 6636 miles for the entire trip. We didn’t purchase any gas today.

Day 21 (July 9th) – Moab, Utah to Springdale, Utah

The entrance to Arches National Park is on the north end of Moab, and since we are in Moab, we have to go see the park. Moab was an unscheduled stop, so seeing Arches wasn’t on the itinerary as well. But we have learned that when you do these types of trips the itinerary is just a guideline. So the first thing we did was explore Arches before it got to hot. When we pulled into Moab the day before the temperature was approaching 100 degrees. The temperature this morning was about 75 degrees, so it was perfect to explore Arches.

We had to continue moving closer to home, and we didn’t want to arrive late in the day at our next destination, so we spent a little under two hours at the Arches. The park isn’t very big so this was enough time to the North and South Windows, Balancing Rock, Wolfe Ranch, and Delicate Arch. Delicate Arch is the one that is on all the Utah license plates (it is also the one in the picture to the right). We also went through the visitor center. Two hours is enough time to see most of the sights. But if you have more time to do some hiking, you can see much more.

As this is a National Park, Miles and Samantha got their sixth Junior Ranger badge. In most instances, we had to wait around while they finished their work to get the ranger badge. I decided that this time that we would get the work booklet first thing. They could then complete the requirements as we saw the sights. It also helps to have the booklet when you are seeing the sights, because the booklets are designed for kids to learn about the park, and you really have to go see things to complete the assignments in the booklet. If you are not keeping count, Miles would gladly tell you that he has racked up six Junior Ranger badges on this trip. All he cares about is that he has more badges then his sister overall when you include previous trips. He started doing the Junior Rangers before Samantha. Samantha also has six badges for this trip. The ranger at Arches was impressed that she had completed the most difficult tasks in the booklet, which made Samantha smile.

Remember that I asked the question, “How many times could you watch a movie?” I asked the question in regards to Samantha watching Twilight or the bonus disk every time it was her turn to pick the movie. Well, it seems that we have our answer. The number seems to be about 30 times in a two week period. She started to watch other movies about a week ago. At about the same time, the subject of James Bond came up with Miles asking a question about one of the movies. I told him to watch the movies, since we have several of the Bond movies. From this point on, the two have been watching the James Bond movies. Although Miles today stated today that he was disappointed with the movies because he thought that they should have move action. Samantha so far has liked “You Only Live Twice” and “Goldfinger”. I am so happy that she has found something other than Twilight. But I know as soon as the next movie or book comes out. She will be all fanatically about it again. I am also sure as soon as we get home that she is going to turn on her computer and find out everything that Robert Pattenson did the past three weeks. Overall, I am just happy to have the answer to the question.

Today, we were scheduled to stop over at Cedar City, Utah, but just like yesterday we decided to go a little further down the road. We made a decision to go to Springdale, Utah, which is the gateway city for Zion National Park. Zion is Lisa’s favorite park. I like it as well, but she likes it just a whole lot more than me. She is after all a Southwestern Girl. The kids really enjoy the park as well, although I think it is because of the Virgin River. They can play all day long in the river. We usually stay in the Watchmen Campground inside the park, but since we didn’t have reservations, we are staying at the campground in the town of Springdale. This campground is also along the Virgin River. It actually is just across the river from the Watchmen Campground, so it isn’t much of a change for us. Besides the vistas are still breath taking.

We drove a total of 345 miles to day. We have driven a total of 6636 miles for the entire trip. We spent $89 on the purchase of gas today.

Day 20 (July 8th) – Cheyenne, Wyoming to Moab, Utah

Hurrah! When we woke up today, everything was dry. This was a welcomed change over that last week. Every morning in the past week, the trailers and ground have been wet from either rain or dew. This made things miserable as we hooked up the trailers, but not today, everything was dry.

We started down the road and quickly crossed over into Colorado, and before we knew it we were going through Fort Collins. This is when one of the funniest moments of the day occurred. We have seen lots of road kill on this trip. We have seen plenty of deer on the side and in the middle of the road. Some looked like they just exploded on impact. We have also seen many badgers, raccoons, possums, birds and armadillos. We have seen what looked to be foxes and non household cats. We have even seen a couple of turtles, but the one animal that was plentiful along the highway was skunks. There have been an immeasurable number of skunks. As we passed one this morning, Miles says, “Mmmmm. Wyoming’s air freshener.” Lisa and I just started busting up, and then Lisa informed him that we were already in Colorado. Samantha then asks why no one told her that we were in Colorado. We simply explained to her that she just wasn’t paying attention.

The main event for this day was the Rockies. We made into Denver and took a right turn to go up into the Rockies. The drive up the Rockies wasn’t all that bad. Getting up over Vail Pass, which is about 10,800 feet above sea level, put a strain on the cars as they hauled the trailers behind them. It is here that we crossed the continental divide, and started down the west side of the mountain range. We did try to stop in Vail to look around, maybe do some shopping and ride the gondola up the mountain to get the panoramic view. There was only one problem, and we didn’t know about it ahead of time. Vail hates RVs in their town. They probably would outlaw them on the interstate if they could. The real problem is that there is only about five or six parking spots for RVs. I would call these spots, just so we don’t get sued spots. And all of the spots were already taken. This made my mom upset, as she wanted to really stop and pickup gifts for the grandkids. You can only give so many Vegas roulette wheels and slot machines. Our stay in Vail lasted as long as it takes to drive from the east end of the town to the west end of the town, which isn’t very long at all.

While we were in the Rockies, we came across the best name for a town. Over the many days, we have seen some real funny town names, such as Chugwater, Mechanicsville, Whipup and Crazy Woman. But the one that tops them all is No Name. I would really like to tell you the name of the town but I can’t. Even the town’s folk can’t tell you the name. So No Name wins the best town name for not actually having one. You think the town’s folk would care to name their town. This must be the most apathetic town in America.

After eating lunch along the Eagle river, we started our way down the mountain range. We soon met up with the Colorado River as we followed it down Glenwood Canyon. This canyon has some really great views and scenery. You can also raft the canyon, as we saw many rafts on the river. We stop at a rest stop to take in the scenery and shot some photos of the canyon and Colorado River. You really have to give it to the Colorado River. It has made some really beautiful places in the southwest.

Speaking of southwest, as we came out of the Rockies and into western Colorado, the scenery turned to the dry southwestern desert with its many bluffs, mesas and colors. Lisa immediately perks up and really starts enjoying the ride. Lisa really enjoys the dry heat of the desert and its beauty with the multitude of colorful rock formations that are offset by the desert vegetation. As she starts to really enjoy the beauty of the desert, I simple state that she is a Southwestern Girl.

Our plan called for us to stop in Grand Junction, Colorado, but we got there so early in the day that we decided to continue on to Moab, Utah. This development was caused by Vail’s anti RV stance. It may be our view, but they really need to add more RV parking somewhere near or in their town, instead of the token few spots. Okay, I’m done ranting.

Lisa didn’t get a good picture of the Utah sign due to a major bump in the road at the border. Shortly after this came the next funny moment, and it once again stars the family comedian, Miles. Miles asked us to pull over so he could use the bathroom. As luck would have it, we were coming up to a rest area as he makes the request. Now, he usually is very slow at getting out of the car. Lisa usually has to remind him to start getting ready way before we stop, but not this time. As soon as the car stops, he is out of the car and making his way to the restroom. He spots the sign that says women on it and figures that the men’s restroom is just on the other side and starts to make a run for it. He soon discovers that his assumption was incorrect. So he doubles back and heads to the other side of the building, where he finds the men’s bathroom. At this discovery, he raises his outstretched arms and hands above his head as in “Thank you, God” or “Eureka! I found it.” I guess that he really had to go this time.

We continued on to Moab without any other incidents or stops. As we were driving into town, the temperature was approaching 100 degrees and not a single cloud in the afternoon sky.

We drove a total of 463 miles to day. We have dri46ven a total of 6291 miles for the entire trip. We spent $56 on the purchase of gas today.

Day 19 (July 7th) – Buffalo, Wyoming to Cheyenne, Wyoming

There’s a brewing storm a coming.
I’ll just state right off the top that this day is a little less exciting than the last couple of days. You could say it is boring in comparison. We woke to a nice sunny day and hoped that we have seen the last of the bad weather, but we are always hoping for this, so I guess we should start praying. Last night was a different story. The wind blew kind of hard and it awoke me, so I started to stay alert because I didn’t know if we were in for a repeat performance of the earlier storm. Nothing materialized so I just loss some valuable sleep.

As I said, the day started out sunny as we headed northwest on I-90. Our destination was the Little Bighorn National Battlefield, which is better known as Custer’s Last Stand. I was there about thirty years ago, so I was interested in seeing if things changed like at Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. You know this is beginning to sound like a thirty year reunion tour. I didn’t plan it that way, but I am visiting many sights that I saw when my parents dragged me across America on one of the summer trips.

As we started up the road to the battlefield, Miles noticed that it was a National Monument, so naturally he goes awesome another Junior Ranger badge. We went through the visitor center and watched the film on the battle that took place and about the battlefield. After watching the film, we walked up Last Stand Hill. This is where Custer died along with the rest of his men under his direct command. The headstones mark the location where the soldiers died.

A new addition to the battlefield is the inclusion of headstones of the Indians that died. They also added a monument to the Indians that fought in the battle. The monument has the known names of the Indians that died during the battle. One interesting name of the Indians that died was Plenty Lice. I’m not kidding. It is engraved in marble on the monument.

The kids did get their Junior Ranger badge, which makes this badge number five on this trip. Miles is so happy about his badges. He wears them on his shirt. Samantha doesn’t want to be out done by her brother so she has put them on her cap.

The rest of the day was spent driving from the battlefield, which is in Montana to Cheyenne, Wyoming. This was a very long distance. It reminded me of the trips with my family. My dad used to always say that we had to go 500 miles a day. This made for some very long days in the back of a car squished between my siblings. We would always plead and beg to stop every time we saw a really good campground. It almost never worked. My dad used to tell us that we need to get to such and such town so that we could see everything. I now know what he meant. As a kid, you are on summer vacation and it lasts months, so taking extra day is no big deal, but when you are working, you have to fit everything in the time allotted.

It has been a really long two plus weeks and everyone is starting to get a little road weary. Samantha came down with it first. She came down with it even before we left. As the trip got closer, she would be more and more vocal about how unhappy she is about being on the road for three weeks. Lisa started to get weary as soon as she ran out of her favorite mocha drink, which was last week. Miles started up about the same time as Lisa or a little after her. It hit me today on the long drive to Cheyenne. We have only a few days left so hopefully some fun stuff will make it easier. We all want to sleep in our beds and take showers in our own home.

Like yesterday, the late afternoon saw the skies turn from sun to a dark dark gray, so much so that the car thought it was dusk and turned on the headlights. To get to Cheyenne we had to drive right through a squaw line. After yesterdays little storm, none of use was looking forward to driving through it or having to unhook the trailers in Cheyenne in the middle of a storm. The rain came down in big fat drops, it down poured and even a nice easy rain came down at times. The wind didn’t seem as bad as yesterday. As we got just outside of Cheyenne, the clouds broke and the sun was shining down on us. The campground that we stayed at was soaked and muddy, so we missed the rain in Cheyenne, which made me very happy.

We drove a total of 509 miles to day. We have driven a total of 5828 miles for the entire trip. We spent $97 on the purchase of gas today.

Day 18 (July 6th) – Black Hills, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming

We started our day with a visit to the Crazy Horse Monument. It is a short distance from Mount Rushmore. When I lost saw this monument, which was thirty years ago, there was nothing but a hole in the mountain. You could tell where his head and arm would be. In that time, they have blasted away a lot of rock. You can see his face and the arm is better defined. The hole is still there and its 10 stories tall. The size of the monument dwarfs Mount Rushmore. In fact, Mount Rushmore could fit in Crazy Horse’s head.

The monument was started in 1948 by Corczak Ziolkowski. He had worked on Mount Rushmore and was commissioned to do Crazy Horse by Chief Henry Standing Bear of the Lakota. He worked on the mountain alone for many years. His children eventually helped him. He and his wife had ten children. After he died, his wife and seven of his children have continued to work on the sculpture.

Miles thought Crazy Horse was much more impressive, but I don’t think he understands that Mount Rushmore was created in the same manner. He probably liked Crazy Horse more because the movie at the visitor center showed the many blasts that have occurred. Miles was hoping to see a blast while we were there. He wasn’t so lucky. We did see the 1/34^th scale model of the sculpture that I saw so many years ago.

There was some decision on what are next stop should be. We could either go to Jewel Cave or Deadwood. My dad really wanted to go to Deadwood, so we went there. Deadwood is an old 1800s town that has tried to keep its charm. This is also the place where the assassin who killed Wild Bill Hickok was found and shot to death in a saloon.

We walked around town and Lisa tired to find a ring made of Black Hill Gold, but she didn’t find anything that she liked. I expected this since she really doesn’t like to wear jewelry. We ran across an old time photo store, and Lisa thought my mom and dad should have their picture. In particular, she wanted my dad in a bath tub and my mom dressed in bloomers pouring soap in the tub. My dad laughed but he really didn’t want to do it. I don’t blame him.

Our last stop of the day was Devils Tower Monument in Wyoming. This was the first monument in the US. Before reaching the visitor center, there was a field that had numerous prairie dogs. This just reinforced Samantha’s desire to have one as a pet. While we were at the visitor center, you could see a couple of climbers going up the tower. As this is a monument, the kids got the chance to be a Junior Ranger for Devils Tower. If you are counting, and Miles is, this is badge number four.

My mom decided to tell Miles and Samantha the significance of the tower, and that significance is that it is where the alien mother ship lands in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. She tried to explain the movie and what happens at the tower. Since it didn’t have vampires that sparkle, Samantha didn’t care. Miles was intrigued once my mom stated talking about space ships. As we were leaving the clouds started to build around the tower and I stated that “we shouldn’t leave until the mother ship lands.” No one got it, and this is after my mom goes through the whole plot line for the movie. The clouds came in quickly. It was sunny when we arrived and clouds surrounded the tower when we left.

As we headed into Buffalo, Wyoming, a storm was about to hit the town. As we unhooked the trailers, the wind started to gust. Several times I had to duck for cover as the wind would gust even higher and start to blow debris everywhere. As the campground had several trees, I told Lisa to take the kids into the main building. I stayed and battened down the hatches. The wind at this time really kicked up and I had to take cover a couple more times. Several small branches from the trees went flying by me during a couple gusts. Once I got everything situated, I met everyone at the main building. To pass the time while we waited for the storm to blow over, we went and ate some pizza. After dinner, the wind had died down, but you could still here the thunder and see flashes of lightening. The campground was littered with down branches. Most of them were small and nothing that could cause any real damage.

We drove a total of 295 miles to day. We have driven a total of 5319 miles for the entire trip. We spent $56 on the purchase of gas today.

Day 17 (July 5th) – Jackson, Minnesota to Black Hills, South Dakota

Wow! What a day this was. This was packed from the minute we got up to the time that we went to bed. It is not the amount of driving that we did, and we did quite a bit of it. We saw lots of fun things and not so fun things. Who am I kidding, it was all good today, unless your name is Lisa. She was tired and is starting to want to be back at home.

We got going a little after 8 AM and started down Interstate 90 heading west. It didn’t take us long to come to another physics experiment. This gentleman decided to try to see what would happened when you go off the road with a trailer. The result is what you might expect. The truck is upright and the trailer is on its side still attached to the truck. The only good news here is that the gentleman was kind enough to do his physics experiments on a Sunday morning. There was no traffic backup due to this one fact. Lisa tried to take a picture of the trailer, but didn’t get the shot.

Our first stop of the day was the Corn Palace. As soon as we entered South Dakota we started seeing signs for this little gem. The Corn Palace is a little place in Mitchell, South Dakota. Its claim to fame is that it is decorated with murals made out of corn. They change the murals each year, and they are done by different artists. I don’t think any of these will ever be displayed at the Getty, but they are interesting. They also have a mascot that is an ear of corn. Lisa says it looks a little creepy, so we had the kids get a hug from the ear of corn and had a picture taken with them and the ear of corn. Thanks to DW who alerted me to this little gem. It was a nice diversion.

We crossed the Missouri River on to our next stop, which is the Minuteman National Monument. As we pulled up to the visitor center, there were lots of people looking around. We soon found out why they we outside the center. It is closed on Sundays, as well as the Minuteman Missile Silo a little further down the road. Don’t you feel good that the National Park Service doesn’t work on Sunday? This made me a little mad, because I really wanted to see the missile silo. We did get to see some information displays that were outside the visitor center. I’m just glad the military doesn’t take Sundays off.

Since we struck out with Minuteman National Monument, we decided to take the Badlands National Park loop. The Badlands is an area in South Dakota that the weather has worn away layers of sediment to produce some unique rock formations. This area is also very hot in the summer time. The loop itself is about 35 miles long. During this little detour, we stopped at the visitor center and looked at the exhibits and watched a film about the Badlands. The kids did what they needed to do for the Junior Ranger program. This is badge number two for the trip. Not long after we left the visitor center, we came across a field that was full of prairie dogs. And no, it wasn’t people in cubicles who would pop their head up every now and then to see what’s going on around them. These are the real live furry little creatures. Samantha wanted to take one home with her because she thought that they were nice and cute. They are until they start digging holes in your lawn and floor bed then it is good-bye rose bushes hello mounds.

Our next stop was just outside the Badlands National Park in a town called Wall. Just like the Corn Palace, we started to see signs for Wall Drug as we entered South Dakota. They were even kind enough to let you know that you had some 300+ miles to go to get there. I never knew that Wall Drug was “the” destination of our trip. I am so glad that they let me know, because I would have hated to miss it. They had signs all along I-90. It seemed that there was one almost every two miles. The signs ranged from free ice water and five cent coffee to a T-Rex out back. With all these signs it was kind of hard not to get excited along the way. It got to a point that we pulled a map out to make sure that if we did the Badlands loop that we wouldn’t miss Wall Drug.

As we got close to Wall Drug, you started to sense that we weren’t the only ones that were whipped into a frenzy. The place was packed. We are talking about Saturday afternoon Costco. There was no reason for anyone to go to Wall, South Dakota, except to see Wall Drug, which as it turns out is a drug store. It is also a souvenir shop, restaurant, soda fountain, bakery, doughnut shop, a keeper of a T-Rex and much more. The place kind of reminded me of a National Park. The employees were from all over the globe. I really didn’t expect that. We did buy some homemade ice cream and doughnuts. Lisa didn’t want to wait for her five cent coffee, but I did get my free cup of ice water. A man has to have principles, besides the ice cream made me thirsty.

Our goal today was to get to the Black Hills of South Dakota. This is where Mount Rushmore is located. Lisa had mentioned that my dad was anxious to get to Mount Rushmore, so as we left Wall Drug I took the shortest route to Mount Rushmore, which at this point was still about 90 miles away. As you can probably guess about now, things are starting to go awry. I start to make a turn and Lisa and I notice my dad wants to go straight. As I am turning, Lisa turns to me and asks “Are we going to the camp site?” I am now puzzled by this because I thought everyone want to see Mount Rushmore first. As soon as I can, I pull over to talk to my dad who wants to go to the campsite first. He has it programmed in his GPS so I tell him that I will follow him. The only problem is that we are on the road to the monument, so what happens next? You remember that I told you about the time we were in New York and my dad points out the Statue of Liberty as we drive out of town? History has a funny way of repeating itself. We drive by Mount Rushmore and point it out to Miles and Samantha. They both commented that it doesn’t look that big. My dad mentions the Statue of Liberty incident to me after dinner and the resemblance of driving by Mount Rushmore. I laughed and told him the only difference is that we will be going back to see it closer.

We do finally make it to the campsite, and I ask the person working the desk about the hours for Mount Rushmore. She mentions that they have a lighting ceremony at 9 PM. The current time is 6:30, so I start to calculate in my head that we can make the lighting ceremony. Yippee!!! After we unhook the trailers and eat dinner, it is back in the car to Mount Rushmore, which is only about eight miles away. If you go see Mount Rushmore, you need to stay for the Lighting Ceremony. It really is incredible and moving. Lisa shed a tear or two. Before we left Mount Rushmore, the kids got there third Junior Ranger badge of the trip and the second of the day. Miles and Samantha said that they weren’t impressed. Miles also states it is just a mountain, and the best part was that he was able to get another Junior Ranger badge. Samantha expected it to be bigger. I was impressed and this is my second time seeing it. I was impressed the first time. It was a long and incredible day, so at 10 PM we made our way back to the campsite to go to bed.

We drove a total of 495 miles to day. We have driven a total of 5024 miles for the entire trip. We spent $145 on the purchase of gas today.

Day 16 (July 4th) – Minneapolis, Minnesota to Jackson, Minnesota

We have had all types of weather on this trip. We have gone through thunderstorms in New Mexico and Texas, sweltering heat in Missouri and Illinois, great weather in Ohio, high winds in Indiana and Chicago, cold and drizzly in Chicago, cold and gloomy in Wisconsin and now rainy in Minnesota. I only hope snow and hail, which both are unlikely, will stay away. Last night, it started to rain a little and as we were hooking up the trailers it started to poor. Anyone who has camped and packed up in the rain can tell you that it is the worst. Camping in the rain is no fun and can turn people off to camping. When I was a kid we actually camped in the snow, and even when there was a snow storm. I have no plans to ever do that again.

As I stated, we were planning to go from Tomahawk, Wisconsin to Sioux Falls, South Dakota today. My dad didn’t want to go that far originally, so we changed it to Jackson, Minnesota. But as I explained before, we changed are plans so that my dad could take a look at a book in a museum that was closed. This meant that we are only traveling about 180 miles today, which is a short two and half-hour ride. We got to Jackson, Minnesota without any trouble. Most people are at home celebrating the 4th of July, so there weren’t many cars on the road. We got to Jackson at 12:30 PM, and at least it has stopped raining so we could unhook the trailers.

The day is wet and gloom. There have been a few sprinkles this afternoon and a light breeze, so it has put a damper on any 4th of July celebrations. The kids were able to go into the pool, but Samantha could only stay in it for a short period, since the water was cold and the outside temperature isn’t much warmer.

We did go into town, because we need some milk, and Lisa wanted some salad for dinner. On our way back, we decided to check out “Historic Fort Belmont.” This is their words, not mine. The museum was closed, but I was able to take a couple of pictures of the one building fort. It wasn’t used by the military from what I can gather, but by traders.

In the late evening, the clouds parted and the sun came out, so this meant that we would be able to see fireworks. The unfortunate thing was that the town of Jackson doesn’t have a fireworks display. They do have a race track that decided to do fireworks after the races were done. I’m not into car racing and really didn’t want to wait until the races where done. This meant that I need to find an alternative. The campground office said that Spirit Lake has a display and was about 20 miles away. I found out that the display was going to start at 10:07 PM. I’m not sure why 10:07 and not 10:00 or 10:15. I do know that it starts that late because that is when dusk is.

On the way to Spirit Lake, we saw a movie drive-in. I can’t tell you the last time that I saw a drive-in. They were playing the new Transformers movie. The movie started at 10:00 and not 10:07. I saw the “Kum & Go” convenience store and gas station prior to this, but didn’t take a picture of the sign. There is a chain of these stores. The Wisconsin scuba diving billboard was funny, but this is the funniest business name that I have seen so far.

The fireworks display was on Lake Okoboji, Iowa. A certain native of Iowa, SL, told me before the trip that I should stop in the Spirit Lake area. They said it was really nice. We weren’t there that long, but from what we saw, they were right. Iowa wasn’t a state that we intended to visit either, but fate has a funny way of making things happen. Before the main event, many people had their own fireworks and they were letting them off like crazy. These aren’t the safe and sane ones either. Some had shells whilet others had purchased a large amount of fireworks. The main display over the lake was really well done, and the number of boats on the lake lit the lake up. The worst part of this little detour was the bugs. They would kamikaze you. Overall, we were in Iowa for only two hours.

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July, and got to see plenty of fireworks.

We drove a total of 227 miles to day. We have driven a total of 4529 miles for the entire trip. We didn’t purchase any gas today.