Road Trip 2013, Week 7

Greetings from Billings, Montana!  We have been here for a few days now, through no choice of our own, but I’ll get to that later.  I’ll pick up where I left off last week, with us heading south from Missouri to pick up the last states on our list.  On the 22^nd we drove through the Ozarks in Missouri (I thought they were in Arkansas, which they are, but they are also in Missouri).  We camped right outside of Joplin, the city that was hit by the devastating tornado in 2011.  It was a bit disconcerting being there as there were severe thunderstorm warnings for the area and the sky was black.  But lightning never strikes the same place twice, right?  Same goes for tornadoes I told myself.  We dropped off the trailer and crossed over into Kansas, my 49^th state!  We were able to drive a bit of the original Route 66 and we found a cool store(?) I’m not really sure what it was but it had Mater from “Cars” so the kids were thrilled.

From Kansas we crossed into Oklahoma.  I was so excited, it meant that Paul and I had now been to all 50 of our beautiful states!  What an accomplishment.  Paul said he put his hand up to the windshield so he would cross before me and get his 50^th state first.  I love that guy, but I insist it was a tie.  We drove a little in Oklahoma and found a pit stop, then returned to Missouri.  From there, we went south about a half hour so we could cross into Arkansas for Bree and Darcy, who will never remember a thing about it.  We managed to escape all storms that night and were back on the road headed north the next day.

 The 23^rd we thought would be a driving day.  Our main goal was to get the heck out of Missouri.  I had never been there before this trip but now I can say we have seen pretty much the whole state.  We drove the entire east side, across the south, and up the west.  That afternoon we made it to Iowa, where we left the trailer and drove over to Nebraska for Bree and Darcy again.  We found a Lewis and Clark interpretive center on the Missouri river there.  It was a pretty neat place.  It has been fun following Lewis and Clark’s trail from the beginning, knowing we live at the end.  That was quite an undertaking back then.  We have our difficulties and we are in an air conditioned SUV!  I am very thankful for all those who went before us and made our life as amazing, and easy, as it is today.  Our ancestors worked harder than I can even imagine and I am very grateful.  We went back to our camp site in the Loess Hills of Iowa (hills made by wind-piled hills of loose soil, China is the only other place with hills like this) and the kids scrounged enough twigs to have a campfire and roast hotdogs for dinner.  We took a walk on the trail along the ridge of the hills and Mason had a horrible bloody nose.  We didn’t have any Kleenex or anything with us so we collected some leaves, hoping they weren’t poisonous, to wipe his face with.  There were bloody leaves everywhere when we left and I probably should have moved them off the beaten path.  The next person to come upon them probably thought a murder was committed there.  The hills were pretty but I’m not sure they are worthy of being a tourist destination (we stumbled upon them).

 On the 24^th we drove north to South Dakota, with a minor jog east so we could go to Minnesota for Darcy and Bree J.  I loved South Dakota!  For some reason I think it was my favorite state.  The sites were all kitschy and fun, with awesome wildlife and the weather was perfect.  We camped in Mitchell, SD, where the only Corn Palace in the world resides.  It is a large convention center place where they play basketball games, rodeos, concerts, conventions, etc.  The outside, and inside in places, is covered in corn murals that they change out every year.  It was pretty amazing the pictures they came up with only using corn.  We had fun there and got back to our site where we realized we had another flat tire.  That’s 3 now if anyone is counting.

 July 25^th we toured the Badlands National Park.  I was there 12 years ago and I loved it then, just like I loved it this time.  It is a strange place and when I was there last, the only thing that would come in on my radio was Indian chants and it was a very cool experience.  I was looking forward to that again this time but alas, radio reception has improved and we got a million stations but no Indian chants.  I was disappointed.  But we like the Badlands and the kids liked to climb on the rock formations, even though there were rattle snake warning signs everywhere.  Eh, you only live once right?  We also got to see some workers chipping away at fossils, as the badlands are a hotbed for fossils.  The ranger said our own John Day fossil beds in Oregon are more impressive than theirs.  We will have to check that out sometime because Mason was very impressed with it all.

 After the Badlands we finally made it to world famous(?) Wall Drug!  A huge store full of junk in the middle of the tiny town of Wall, SD.  We had fun exploring the craziness of it all and topped it off with an ice cream cone.  That was kind of fun I guess.

 Here is Paul with a hottie he was looking to hook up with at Wall Drug.  Actually, I know without a doubt that Paul loves us all dearly.  How do I know?  Because he empties our sewer every single day.  That is unconditional love.

On the 26^th we went to Mt Rushmore!  I love that place.  Did I mention I love South Dakota?  The Black Hills are beautiful and I just love the whole area.  I doubt I would ever live there but I could go back to visit over and over.  The kids all loved Mt Rushmore too.  We took a trail and hiked a bit, but poor Paul was on his worst day of the cold he caught from Mason so he was kind of miserable.  That is a great place though, one every American should visit.  We also saw the Crazy Horse monument which was started in the 1940’s and still has centuries to go before completion I bet.  I don’t know why its taking so long but that probably would have been explained to us if we had paid the entrance fee to the monument. Instead, we are cheap remember, we took a picture of it from a distance on the highway.  It worked just as well.  The Sturgis motorcycle rally is in a week so we saw quite a few bikers in the area.  

 We left Mt Rushmore and headed south to Custer State Park where we were promised a herd of buffalo.  We decided to try Wind Cave National Park just south of that first.  At the cave people were breaking down and Paul felt terrible so we decided to skip it.  They only had guided tours and they lasted over an hour and we felt like no one could handle it so we left.  On our drive up to Custer we were treated to prairie dog towns all over the prairie.  They are so cute!  What fun little animals.

We found the promised buffalo at Custer SP, along with more prairie dogs, pronghorns, coyotes, and “friendly burros.”  These burros were begging from all the cars on the road.  A pretty white one approached our car and I guess Bree couldn’t see the burros from her window and she was also oblivious to our long and boisterous conversation about all the fun burros around the car, but when this white one all of a sudden stuck its head through her window she screamed and freaked out!  It was hilarious!  Poor Bree, she has been our best entertainment when it comes to animal interactions on this trip.  

 Saturday, July 25^th, we saw a bit of Wyoming, though we had all been there before, on our way into Montana.  We drove in southeast Montana, in the middle of nowhere for a few hours, and we finally made it to the freeway, where the Battle of Little Bighorn monument is.  I was impressed by the place.  We were able to stand at the top of the hill where Custer and his men made their last stand, and the black marker in the picture shows where his body was found after the battle.  It was a pretty sobering and scary place.  You are at the top of a bald hill, with rolling prairie all around you, and its easy to imagine the Indian “army” swarming up the hill from all sides.  Custer and his men never had a chance.  I can’t even imagine the horror of it all.  We missed the informational movie at the visitor center because they only play it at certain times during the day.  Even though its only 25 minutes.  And their theater room is tiny and is packed to overflowing with watchers.  Seems like a very easy solution to have the film play every half hour but what do I know?   I have all kinds of suggestions for all kinds of places we have visited to make them better J

After Little Bighorn we were trying to get past Billings and camp for the night.  Well, at the top of a hill on the freeway Max gave out again.  I thought (I hoped) it was a blown tire, but when Paul popped the hood we saw all the radiator fluid pouring out and knew it wasn’t good.  We called our third tow truck (UGH) and waited, and waited.  We were on the side of the road for 4 hours!  Crimony!  The driver was very safety conscious, which is good, and for some reason his cords couldn’t reach our trailer so we didn’t have tail lights and it was getting dark.  So we had to wait for his buddy to get there and tail us and act as our lights.  On the way I was complaining to the driver about the outrageous RV park prices in Billings.  Seriously, Billings is in the middle of nowhere and they charge sky-high prices!  Much more than we paid in D.C. or Stone Mountain, GA.  So our nice driver said we could stay at their tow lot, free of charge, with water and electricity.  So here we sit.  We have been here since Saturday night and it is now almost 11am on Tuesday the 30^th.  Max needs a new clutch fan and radiator and his work should be completed today.  No matter what time it is, we are out of here!  We need to find a sewage dump, its getting kind of ripe in here.  This last break down was pretty bad.  We had a great trip after our Texas breakdowns but this has kind of put a sour taste in our mouths.  Mason and I had no desire to get home before this, but now that we are so close and we can’t get there we just want to go home.  Hopefully we will be out of here soon.  We have had a Harry Potter marathon over the last few days, and yesterday we walked to Burger King for an ice cream cone but their machine was broken.  Bree decided to pee her pants on the toy equipment so we headed home dejected.  Did I mention Billings isn’t my favorite place?  We are planning to walk to McDonalds for lunch and free internet so I can post this in a few minutes.  Hopefully the next time I check in it will be from HOME!

Things I have learned this last week on the road:

1)       Missouri could save a ton of money if they didn’t have mile markers on their freeways every 2/10 of a mile.  Totally unnecessary and sooo annoying.

2)      Drew has a bloodhound-like tendency when it comes to cold water bottles.  She can somehow sense when one is about to be opened and she is right there on you, begging for a drink.  Not a sip, a long drink.  I shouldn't complain, before the trip she would never drink water.

3)      The best state welcome sign award goes to Minnesota.  It was a huge rock shaped like the state with Minnesota written in cursive fancy writing.  Much better than some of the signs we saw with stickers on them or falling off the road side.  Well done Minnesota.

4)      The best rest area award goes to Missouri.  If you are ever on I-44 around milepost 110, heading west, stop for a rest.  They had a cool welcome center with the map of Route 66 on the floor, and then outside they had a mini Route 66 running through the trees, with little false Route 66 store fronts with picnic tables inside.  Cool place.  Well done Missouri.

5)      NEVER buy a Ford Excursion again!

A list of our duties on the road:

Paul is the driver.  He is amazing!  He has done all the driving so far, except when I need to drive to the laundry facilities.  He also does all the hooking up of the trailer to Max.  He also gets the privilege of dumping all our waste water.  What a guy.  We use Mason’s birthday walkie-talkies and I direct Paul into our camping spots and also the hitch to the trailer.  The walkie-talkies have saved out marriage.  I hook up the power as soon as we stop, in order to get the AC running, and I also hook up and unhook the water hose when we arrive and depart.  Its also my job to put down the chock blocks and make sure we are level.  Its also my job to oversee the pushing of the buttons for the three slide-outs.  I say oversee because it can turn into a brawl.  At first Paul and I did it but we weren't careful enough and we caught a few cupboards and toys in the process, so Paul assigned the task to Drew, who is much more careful than we are.  She did so well at it that the others wanted to try and now its whoever gets there first, or cries the loudest, that gets to do it.  I also clean the car out every morning.  At first it was Drew and Mason’s job but I discovered I was much more efficient at it so I just do it now.  I also make sure we have cold drinks in the cooler and snacks in the bag.  The kids are responsible for their backpacks and keeping their room clean.  It is a system that has kept us sane for the last 50 days so I guess it works.

Sorry for the screwy format again!  I did what I could to get this posted :)