Home

Home is a wonderful place. After 5207 total miles we arrived home Sunday night at 9:15 P.M.. Sunday was a very long day driving from the west side of Chicago to Shelby in one day (14 hours and 750+ miles). We all collapsed in bed after stowing the camper and slept like the dead. Monday morning brought work, football practice and a return to "normal" life. Over the last two days I have had some time to reflect on our journey and am amazed at all we did and saw over the 16 days of our journey. We were blessed with safety and minimal mechanical difficulties. We were blessed with the opportunity to see and enjoy some beautiful and unique parts of God's creation. We were also blessed with the chance to share this experience with good friends. This adventure will certainly be one of the most memorable times of my life. I hope that this blog/journal has allowed others to get a feeling for what we saw and experienced and perhaps will encourage them to pursue their own adventure.

Independence Day

Today was truly a day of rest. We were disappointed to awaken to rain and clouds, but the weather allowed us a day of relaxing and naps. Shannon fixed wonderful ham, cheese, spinach, onion and mushroom omelets for breakfast and given the weather we simply sat around and talked. The kids were able to do some activities around the campground in between rain showers and the adults all took naps. Around 5:00 P.M. the sun finally came out and the rain stopped. We were able to grill out some hot dogs and brats and play some "corn hole" (the bean bag tossing game). Finally we had our last campfire, ate some strawberry/rhubarb pie and were able to watch some of the local fireworks before doing some preliminary packing and hitting the sack. We have a 12 hour drive ahead of us tomorrow back to Shelby. This will put us near the 5000 mile mark. We all are looking forward to being home.

The Windy City

We'll Dorothy we're not in Yellowstone anymore. Yesterday (July 3rd) we awoke early again and headed into Chicago for the day. We met up with Judy Davis (a colleague of Ben's that works in Chicago) and her boss Manny Gandhi. We first toured Manny's business that produces parts for power plants (very interesting) and then headed into downtown Chicago with Judy as our tour guide. We did encounter a delay at the train station as all the trains headed downtown were full by the time they arrived at our station. After two full trains bypassed our stop, we hopped into 2 taxis and were quickly on our way. We got out at Union Station and then proceeded by water taxi to Michigan Avenue. From Michigan Avenue we walked to the Navy Pier. There was a sea of people in the downtown area for the "Taste of Chicago" event and the fireworks that were planned for the evening of the 3rd. The crowds did make us long for the solitude of the areas we left behind out west, but the sights were worth making our way through the throngs. After walking around the Navy Pier (a large collection of shops and restaurants with a Ferris wheel on a large pier at the waterfront) we ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company (very good and we got to meet Forrest Gump himself!!). We then took a boat tour around the Chicago Harbor with good views of the Chicago skyline. After the boat tour we walked all around the Grant Park/Millennium Park area and then on to the Sears Tower. By that time the exhausted group walked back to Union Station and then rode the train back to our station and then drove back to Sycamore. En route we stopped for a deep dish pizza that was delicious. We arrived back at the campground around 11:00 P.M. for a good night's sleep. This very full day was tiring, but rewarding and we are all very thankful to Judy and Manny for their hospitality.

The Little House in the Big Woods

There was no post yesterday as we had no Internet connection last night. Yesterday we travelled from Wall, South Dakota to Lake City, Minnesota which was almost 500 miles. We camped at the Lake Pipen Campground on the shores of the Mississippi River. It was a nice stop for the evening, though somewhat cool (65 degrees when we arrived). After a dinner of hearty soup and a nice campfire we tucked in for the night. This morning we broke camp again and drove across the Mississippi to Pepin, Wisconsin and the Laura Ingalls Wilder birthplace. We saw a log cabin on the site of the "Little House in the Big Woods" that Laura was born in and wrote about in her books. The girls (and Millie!) were fascinated with the Little House connection. After touring the house and a small museum we headed out for Sycamore, Illinois on the outskirts of Chicago. We are staying in a campground with two small lakes with lots of activities for the kids. Tomorrow we are going into Chicago with a friend of Ben's. We are all excited about seeing the sights. It is hard to believe we are nearing the end of our adventure. It is amazing to think about all we have seen in such a short period of time. Today we passed the 4200 mile mark. We will be here through July 4th and then will head home on the 5th.

The Badlands

Today we visited our fourth national park (fifth if you count Mount Rushmore which is a national monument). We packed up and left Deadwood, South Dakota early this morning and drove straight to Wall, South Dakota. Wall is a tiny town on I-90, but is home to the famous Wall Drug. There are signs along I-90 that begin in Wyoming beckoning travelers to see Wall Drug. It is actually a large cafe/shopping complex that began as a drug store in 1931 and gradually expanded over the next several decades. Their claim to fame is free ice water (that was a big deal during the 1930's) and 5 cent cups of coffee. We ate lunch there and got the obligatory Wall Drug bumper sticker. Before lunch we dropped our campers at the campground and after eating we headed to Badlands National Park. The badlands are truly spectacular (I know I have used that description numerous times during our trip, but we have seen many spectacular sites). The barren nature of the topography combined with the stunningly beautiful rock formations are awe inspiring. The land has been carved by both water and wind and the colorful strata in the hills and canyons are difficult to describe. We drove through the park and also did a four and a half mile hike through the heart of the park. The vistas were amazing. We saw pronghorn antelope, huge prairie dog cities, blooming cacti and numerous varieties of wildflowers. The sun was intense, but we enjoyed the exercise. After our tour of the badlands we went back to Wall for a dinner at the Cactus Cafe across from Wall Drug (not much else in town). We then retired for the night as we have a long drive tomorrow to Lake City, Minnesota (almost 600 miles) and should come close to passing the 4000 mile mark on our journey. We hope everyone at home remains well.