Friends, fun, and almost home.

Hi all...

Haven't been able to post for a couple days, so this will catch me up.

Spent the past couple days in Indiana. On Thursday, we decided to just do nothing....relax and grill out, go to the pool and make a fire in the evening....just to enjoy camping. We have had the most incredible time on this trip, and we don't regret a second of it, but we really kept ourselves running all the time....not too much down time just to relax and read a book or take a snooze. So it felt wonderful to be lazy for a day.

Yesterday we headed to Losantville, IN to visit with an old friend of Chuck's from his union days. We had such a wonderful time visiting with Dan and his wife, Vicki, and their son and daughter-in-law, Dan and Judy, and their daughter, Dawn. Vicki made us all a delicious dinner, and we sat just BS-ing away until almost midnight! We camped out in their front yard overnight and enjoyed spending this morning with them, as well. It was so refreshing just sitting in their yard with nothing around but the beautiful countryside.




They had 4 of the most beautiful kittens, and I was so impressed with how affectionate they were. They just purred constantly and wanted to be held and petted. I was lovin' that! I wanted to take one home....













Then there was their dog, Chewie. What a sweetheart she was! Poor baby had such a big head, she had to keep resting it. LOL! :-) So cute.










This will be my last post to the blog, as we will be home safe and sound, Lord willing, by tomorrow afternoon. I can't tell you how blessed and grateful we are that we have been able to make this trip. It's been something we've talked about for years, truly a dream come true for us. God is good, and we are grateful!

Thanks to all of our friends and family who cared enough about us to want to read about our trip and keep up with our adventures each day. We love you all and hope that YOUR dreams, whatever they may be, come true someday, too.

Corn, anyone?

This morning we left Galesburg and continued eastward across the state of Illinois. I must say I have never seen so much corn in all my life!! Corn to the left, corn to the right....corn as far as the eye could see!!! Corn....corn....CORN!!






We also saw an awful lot of flooding. It took me a little while to realize that all those ponds and small lakes along the sides the road were, in fact, flooded out areas. There were many corn fields that were partially under water, as well. We had planned to camp around Springfield, IL this evening, but we decided to continue on into Indiana to higher ground. Once place that we had planned to stay was almost completely under water! And the weather report for tonight is again calling for strong storms. These poor folks need a break!










Before we headed out of Illinois, we decided to take a little detour back down to Historic Route 66 in and around Williamsville, Lincoln, Springfield, etc. What we found was a little depressing. Except for a few crazy old gas stations, there really wasn't much to see. Oh well.....





Tonight we parked the camper in Crawfordsville, Indiana. After another long day on the road, it sure felt good to stop and relax this evening. Tomorrow is another day. Good night, all.

Family fun!

Hi all...

Most of our day yesterday was spent in travel. We left North Sioux City, SD around noon and headed into Iowa.

Our nephew, Luke, and his significant other, Carissa, live in Des Moines, and we were so glad they were able to get together with us on such short notice. We hooked up with them around 7PM, and they showed us around downtown Des Moines. We had dinner at this really cool place called, El Bait Shop. This place had every imaginable type of beer on tap. Notice Chuck carefully checking it out. We had such a nice time visiting with them and were so sorry to see the evening come to an end. Thanks, Luke and Carissa for a great time. We love you!

After dinner, since it was late, we headed to the nearest rest area, but what we got was anything but rest! It was very noisy there.....too close to traffic and packed full of tractor trailers. So, today, we both are tired.....especially Chuck, who has done every bit of the driving the entire trip. We stopped early today in Galesburg, Illinois, had a nice lunch, took a nap, and are getting ready to head to the pool! Looking forward to a nice, relaxing RAIN FREE evening!

More history in South Dakota

We didn't plan it this way, but it just so happened that right across the road from our campground in Belvidere, SD, was 1880 Town - Dakota Territory. So, this morning, before we hit the road, we checked it out. You would think we would be tired of looking at "old" things, but we love learning about how things were in years past, so we really enjoyed our time there.











We had us a sarsaparilla while we watched a live show at the local saloon. It was very authentic.....I kept expecting Miss Kittie to come down the stairs. :-) Most of the buildings were
furnished as they would have been back then.....a jail, two beautiful old churches, a bank, doctor's office, school house....there was even an old homestead complete with clothes hanging on a clothesline, etc. It was very interesting. The movie, "Dances With Wolves" was filmed nearby and they had a lot of the movie props there. We had lunch in an old train dining car. It made me think of my grandson, David, because he LOVES The Polar Express and his favorite part is the "hot chocolate" scene.




















The rest of the day was spent in travel, as we head eastward. We did, however, succumb to curiosity and take a little break in Mitchell, SD to check out the Corn Palace. How could we pass up an opportunity to see a palace made of corn???? Believe it or not, a good part of both the inside and outside of the building are made of different colors of corn cobs and husks. They re-do the "corn" parts of the buildings every year and they've been doing this for over 100 years.












Tonight we are camping in North Sioux City, SD. Until tomorrow.....

Custer State Park and the awesome Badlands

6-19-10

Today, we took a beautiful ride through Custer State Park before we headed off to the Badlands. It was so cool.....a group of buffalo decided to cross the road right in front of us. We've seen so many of them on this trip, but still get so excited when they are so close. We were so close to them today, you could hear them snorting. Here's a short video........that's me talking in the background....I was on the phone with my mom...

We saw some antelope and deer up pretty close, too. I really enjoyed seeing the little prairie dogs popping their heads up out of their holes as we drove by. They are so hard to see because they are the same color as the ground. There were signs throughout the park warning tourists that prairie dogs carry the plague!! Who knew!!!








Then it was off to the Badlands. I thought I had seen it all on this trip, but the Badlands were beyond my wildest imagination. Standing at one of the viewpoints and looking out over a distance you could easily imagine that you were standing on the moon. Absolutely incredible.


























As we headed eastward, we stopped in Wall, SD to check out the Wall Drug Store, supposedly the largest drug store in the world. It was sort of neat.....actually a bunch of little shops all connected together, and you could walk right through from one shop to another. They have an old-fashioned soda fountain and they are famous for their home-made ice cream and donuts, so we chilled out for a little while and had root beer floats and donuts. Yum!


Tonight we sleep in Belvidere, SD. Good night to all back home!

Camping in the Black Hills

6-17-10

Hi all...

We're camping tonight and tomorrow in Hill City, South Dakota which is in the Black Hills National Forest. We're about 12 miles from Mount Rushmore and fairly close to the Crazy Horse Memorial and Custer State Park.

It is so windy here!! 50+ mph gusts! Makes it very difficult to sight-see on a motorcycle. The roads inside the campground are gravel and when the wind gusts, it kicks up so much white dust it looks like it's snowing outside!! We even lost power for a couple hours. LOL! Our campground is called Horsethief Campground and I can certainly understand why. No one would ever find you here, that's for sure!! There's no cell phone service here, no cable tv, and a very limited internet connection. Gosh, I didn't know we'd be truly "roughing it" on this trip. ;-) I probably won't be posting today's or tomorrow's adventures until we move on because the internet connection is so poor.

We did venture out on the bike, despite the weather, to see Mount Rushmore. It really is something to see. There really are no words.......just amazing.
























On the way back, we went into downtown Hill City to pick up some groceries. Hill City is yet another neat little western town......little shops, neat restaurants.....really great little town. I love being out west. Westerners know how to take life at a slower pace and seem to enjoy and appreciate the simpler things in life. Patriotism and respect for the flag are huge out here. And people are openly proud of their Christianity and do not hesitate to show it publicly.

Tomorrow it's off to the Crazy Horse Memorial and Custer State Park....





6-18-10

Good morning everyone....this morning we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. It is hard to believe that they have been working on it for over 60 years and so far only the head is done. It is going to be GI-NORNMOUS! The head is so big that all four of the Mount Rushmore heads would fit on his face alone! Here's a few pics of what it looks like now and what it will look like when it's completed. If you look carefully, you will see where they have drawn the horse's head on the side of the mountain to use as a guide. It will never be completed in my lifetime.....perhaps our children will someday see it complete.




Next stop was to be Custer State Park, but it was so windy, the bike was blowing all over the road, so we had to turn around and head back to camp. Better safe than sorry.

After dinner we decided to take a walk in the woods behind the campground, and we're so glad we did! It was beautiful! The tall, dark Ponderosa pines give the illusion of "black hills" when viewed from a distance. Most of the "foliage" is on the top 1/3 of the tree. We hadn't gotten too far when we started seeing large rocks here and there and pretty soon, there was a huge rock formation looming in front of us. We climbed to the very top and it was such an amazing view. We were as high as the tops of some of the pines. One of the things I found to be so amazing is that the sun would set where we are so it would be dark, but the mountains all around are so high that it would still be sunny on the mountain.















The other thing that I loved about this area is that the hillsides are full of granite and quartz and when the sun shines on them, they sparkle like diamonds. How beautiful.....





What a perfect end to a perfect day. Tomorrow it's goodbye to the Black Hills and on to the Badlands.