Road Trip Summer 2019 Week 1 3/7

On the road again!  (Cue the Willie Nelson)  Its sabbatical time again and we are hitting the road for another epic Erickson road trip!  I decided to revive the blog to keep track of the finer points of the trip, but I totally forgot how to format this program so it may turn out to be a mess.  Oh well, the memories are what count and they are real!  So over a year ago we bought a new trailer and a new Expedition to pull said trailer with the expectation we could actually take our road trip without breaking down.  Knock on wood!  So far so good, though its only been 10 days.  We fit pretty well, even though bodies have grown quite a bit since 2013.  And if you're interested in our 2013 trip then you can search this blog and find it.  I don't remember how to link it :)  We left on this trip June 14th, the day after school got out.  Kids weren't thrilled with the timing but I think they've come around now.  This will be our last huge trip as a family as kids are getting older and have responsibilities and activities they are committed to.  So we have to make it a good one!  Drew has 49 states, Mason has 48, and Darcy and Bree started the trip with 38.  By the time we're done they will all have 49, with Hawaii the only one they are all missing.  They are on their own for that one. 

For the first three days we had LONG stretches of driving.  Our first night was spent in Spokane, WA.  My home state.  So I won't say anything bad about it.  But just a warning, I have definite opinions on the states we traveled to and I don't mean to offend but there are some pretty wonky things going on out here in America!  I'll call it as I see it, with my own Pacific Northwest bias backing me up.  This beautiful river was along our site in Spokane.  We saw some guys crossing the footbridge with a guitar and some equipment and then saw them on the ridge above us after we had crossed over.  One guy started singing and we guessed a music video?  Nope!  Another guy was spreading flowers on the ground and it was a setup for a marriage proposal!  So cool!  I'd never witnessed one, other than my own, and it was a good one!  She said yes and all of us on the bank of the river clapped and whistled.

From Washington, we traveled to Montana.  A couple observations on Montana:  They don't leave their garbage cans outside and they don't travel with pets.  How do we know?  Our Rubber-Neckers game challenged us to find both for 5 points and it took FOREVER to find either one!  I always thought I remembered central/eastern Montana as brown and ugly.  I think we were there at the perfect time because it was neither.  Gorgeous rolling green scenery escorted us to North Dakota.  We had a killer thunderstorm that broke right over us that night in Bozeman too.  It was awesome!

The next night was spent in Bowman, ND so Bree and Darcy could pick up a state.   That was a nice area, too.  That is a hard state to get to and we took quite a round about way to Wyoming to get there for them.  And I'm not totally sure they care how many states they have been too.  It might just be me :)  They are so lucky to have me for a mom!  I've been pleasantly surprised at how many places have recycling along the way this time.  The last trip I felt horrible about all the water bottles we were throwing in the trash.  Well, ND must not have gotten the memo about saving the planet.  We had neighbors in our campground who were actually starting huge conflagrations with their Styrofoam.  Not an impressive moment to say the least.

The first real stop on our trip was Devils Tower in Wyoming.  Its been a bucket list item of mine for a while now.  It so didn't disappoint!  Its just this pillar of an extremely rare igneous rock (80 % of the world's supply is right there), and scientist aren't quite sure how it got there.  There are 3 main scenarios and I'm not sure which one I buy, but it is a really cool place.  A sacred place, too, to the Native American populations in the area.  Oh, side note, when we got to the campground it was a first come, first served place.  So we dropped a kid or two at one place we liked, moved on, and decided we needed to fill the tank with water before we set up in a spot.  Well, the spot we were in to fill up looked as good as any so we decided to just set up there.  Now this is totally our fault and I totally own that we were in the wrong, but we got all set up and I payed at the kiosk and when I went to put the tag on our post, I discovered there was already a tag for that night but no stuff around.  We were so distracted by the water and looking for a space that we didn't check the post.  About that time I was telling Paul it was already tagged, after we had already completely dropped the trailer and had it all set up.  A van drove up and the middle aged guy driving said it was their spot and the ranger was coming.  OK, couldn't we talk about it without calling in the authorities?  I apologized profusely because it totally was our mistake.  The ranger was nice, though there was no reason to get her involved. It just set kind of an ugly tone.  So I asked the fine gentleman if there was any way we could keep the spot and they move?  His answer? "No.  YOU can move."  Seriously?  They had a van.  No tent.  Two grown people.  No stuff.  And he made us move our massive caravan.  We got hooked up in record time, I was grumbling unrepeatable words, and as I was helping Paul back out, the woman had the gall to say, "My, that's a long one!"  I very passive-aggressively turned my back to her and walked away.  Once again, I own the mistake, but jeez.  What a jerk that guy was.  Fortunately it didn't ruin our experience at America's first National Monument, but it may have ruined theirs.  It was 2 in the afternoon when the incident took place and they never left the site after that.  I like to think I had a hand in scaring them enough that they were afraid to leave again.  Grrrrrr.   We did see some pretty cool prairie dog towns in the area also.  It was a very nice place and a great stop, once we found an unclaimed camping spot.

The next day we made it to Mt Rushmore, one of my favorite places in the nation.  I love South Dakota!  The Black Hills area is so beautiful.  We arrived at the memorial to a bit of rain but it moved out just as we got to the avenue of flags.  It held off the entire time we hiked around the faces and Sylvan Lake, where Cibola, the Lost City of Gold was set in the second National Treasure movie.  It was a stunning lake with another nice hike.  We also drove down to Custer State Park to see the bison and the friendly burros we met 6 years ago.  We drove the Needles Highway where we squeaked through 3 tunnels in the rock.  One was a pretty tight fit as the kids could reach out and touch the walls as we drove through.  Another gorgeous experience in the Black Hills.  As we drove back to the trailer the rain started to come down again.  It was perfect timing.  We had one big crack of thunder that night, too.  I love midwest thunder storms!  The black hills never get old to me.  

We finished off our adventures in SD with a stop at world famous Wall Drug (look it up) and a drive through the Badlands.  Another family favorite.  Once again, it was the perfect time of year to be there because the grass was dark green and there were beautiful wild flowers.  It was such a contrast between the dry rock and the vibrant foliage.  So gorgeous this time of year.  We were lucky to see it.  Its been kind of weird, taking the trip backward of what we did in 2013.  The weather this time has been completely opposite of our last trip.  We were dying of excessive heat from day 1 then, but we've been in pants and sweatshirts for most of this trip.  We're not complaining though!

We left SD and headed across the bottom of Minnesota on I90.  Minnesota has the best state welcome sign, but the very worst roads.  It was amazing how ripped up and pot-holed the freeway was!  We could feel the jarring in our bones every single mile across the state.  It was horrible.  Minnesota ought to be ashamed of itself.  We are training ourselves to gingerly open cupboards when we get back in the trailer after a day on the road because really, the roads have not improved a bit over 4 states now.  I know the midwest weather can do a number on roads but one would think they could come up with some type of surface that would work.  They are just unbelievably awful.  I promise I will never complain about Oregon roads again.   While in MN we stopped at the Spam museum.  It was Paul's idea!  It turned out to be a very friendly, bright, fun place.  I even bought two cans of weird types of Spam, though we haven't been brave enough to open them yet :)

We stayed 2 days in Wisconsin as Paul and his family lived near Milwaukee for a few years when he was young.  He has family in the area and we were treated to a great afternoon with Uncle Larry and Aunt Barbara.   They always take good care of us when we visit.  Its always nice to have someone else to talk to after a week on the road too!  Paul's cousin, Matt, loaned us a parking spot on his driveway and his theater room and laundry facilities for the night, even though he and his family were on vacation.  The Ericksons are great people and we just love them to death!  While in WI we went to Madison to check out the U of Wisconsin, an athletic favorite of some of us.  I tried to convince a kid to go to school there but didn't get any takers.  I can't say Wisconsin is my favorite state ever, though I do love the dairy farms and the squeaky cheese!  The people are pretty great too.  Darcy, Bree, and I ran through the state capitol building.  Now that is one place it would have been nice to spend more time.  It was amazing inside.  We also visited the Wisconsin Dells, the largest concentration of water parks in the US.  Unfortunately the weather was on the cool side for swimming all day so we played mini golf and took a jet boat ride on the Wisconsin River.  That was a ton of fun.  Our captain did all the tricks he could to get us wet!  We got to stop at a cool place called the Witches Gulch that was like nothing I've ever seen.  Paul took pictures of that place and I couldn't get them to load for this post so I'll make sure to get them on the next one.  We have seen some incredible scenery so far and we're only 10 days in!  We also took our own little tour of Lambeau Field in Green Bay.  I may just become a cheesehead!  That stadium was incredible.  I've never seen such a thing. 

Today we finished out our time in WI with church at Paul's old ward in Brookfield.  He didn't recognize any faces but did remember the building.  We also got to see his old schools and house he lived in for a few year.  Fun trip down memory lane.  We drove past Chicago today to camp at Indiana Dunes State Park and we'll go back to the city tomorrow.  Can I just say that Chicago drivers are insane?  Seriously, I've never experienced anything like it.  They drive out into the right shoulder to pass, just so they can get one car ahead.  And they merge at the very last millisecond from three lanes over and expect you to let them in.  It was so stressful getting though there as people were cutting off our huge caravan with no thought as to how we were supposed to slow enough to keep from hitting them.  It was seriously insane and I hope no one else ever has to experience it.  At that moment I was thinking I'd like to return to my little bubble in St Helens, OR.  Yikes!  Tonight we are in Indiana, and the humidity is in overdrive!  I think our fair weather has left us and the suffering is about to begin.  I feel like I'm in a tropical rain forest and should be looking out for alligators.  The rain is pouring too, which probably doesn't help.  I think, and I'm sorry if I offend, that the midwest is probably my least favorite region in the US.  But its nice to visit every 6 years I guess.

Things I've learned on the trip so far:

1.  Traveling with teenagers is quite different than traveling with young kids like the last time.  Not necessarily bad, but different.  We are a lot of big bodies now when we're all together and we take up a lot of space.  Wal Mart is a nightmare when we're all there together!  The kids are having a good time, I think, and going with the flow.  Bree is the most talkative and interested in each stop.  The others mostly like the WiFi.

2.  I can drive the caravan!  I actually drove for a couple of hours in Montana and didn't crash!  I never drove on our last trip.  Hopefully I can spell Paul a few hours here and there so he doesn't get too warn out.

3.  Paul is a rock star, but I already knew that.  He is amazing at how he handles the stress of driving each day, listening to me and my complaints and crazy conversations, and of course, the maneuvering of our trailer through many tight spots.  He's awesome.