Halfway Home

Looking around the beauty of the Black Hills Mo asked me if I wanted to go on the short hike that she had scouted out. She wasn't that surprised when I said, "No." It was time for us to now start our journey back home. From here on out Bam Bam would be facing the rising sun with the setting sun glowing off all the stickers on her tailgate.

Our trip isn't totally over, and as I sit here at my in-laws place in Indianapolis I am relishing in the fact that I will not spend a moment behind a steering wheel but saddened that most of the the trip is only memories in our minds. I don't want to go through the whole reflection piece of this trip and what it has meant to each of us, rather I'd just like to sum up the last couple of days and then enjoy some more time just lying on a couch and watching television.

I was getting more and more tired of traveling and when we sat down and figured out the calendar we realized that we had to make a full day of activities while still in Western South Dakota.We had spent the night before at a campground surrounded by very well behaved bikers. One of them, an older guy from Tennessee, said he was packing up and heading home. He had been riding around Sturgis for the last fifteen days, all camped in the same spot away from most resources, and said he would never be coming back. Neither would I, at least not during Bike Week. 

Rushmore was not far away at all, and we were there before most of the bikers and the kids were probably the first junior rangers sworn in for the day less than an hour later. We decided to skip the uncompleted Crazy Horse Monument, not wanting to spend the time nor money there, but did get a little glimpse of the sculpture from the highway. All without being run down by any Harley's.

There are many parks around this area of South Dakota and we decided to visit one that was different than anything else we had done on this trip. The Wind Cave National Park looked very similar on the outside to the plains landscape but the uniqueness of the area is of course underground. There are supposed to be some bison above ground, which we did not see but already had our fill, so we weren't disappointed. A ranger lead a group of about twenty through the underground caverns along a lighted path for a little over an hour. Quinn liked it the best, especially when all the lights got turned off for a moment and it was without doubt the darkest place I have ever been. 

While the kids worked on their second ranger badge of the day, I spoke with another ranger. He told me the park is usually much busier but the bikers keep average vacationers away, and although there was plenty of chrome sparkling in the sunlight, most bikers did not travel this way. Sadly, he also informed me that he heard there had already been eight deaths on the road that week. It was Thursday. We were outta there. 

Really we had to head back north to get to Route 90 and head east and when I didn't see two wheels go flying past us, I was treated to billboards directing us toward Wall Drug.  I had to stop the bus at this famous armpit, I mean road side attraction as we were heading to the Black Hills National Park off the same exit. Bikers lined the road and tacky trinkets filled the store but since we stopped we got the kids ice cream and headed toward the park before I bought a crazy tiger 3D placemat or fuzzy key chain.

Our third park of the day and of course we got junior ranger program stuff as we entered the park. We only made a couple stops along the twenty four mile drive to the east side of the park. Bikers filled up most of the scenic spots so we pushed on in order to complete the ranger requirements before the visitor center closed. We were determined for Maggie and Quinn to get that third badge of the day, and their last of the trip. 

It was hard to pass up not walking into the multi-colored hills after the kids were sworn in, but it was six and we had no place to sleep and wanted to get as far East as possible. At this point, we knew we were really done with adventure for this trip. Sure, there are probably some adventures left on our journey home but not ones that we will be actively seeking.

After a crappy dinner at Taco John's, yes Taco John's. Not Taco Bell nor Papa John's Pizza, but Taco John's of which we had seen many and finally broke down to try somewhere in the middle of South Dakota. We decided to pull into a rest area for the night as lightning was flashing in the sky and we had just lost an hour crossing into a new time zone. One would think a rest area in the middle of South Dakota would be rather quiet, but between diesel engines running in the lot, Harleys traveling either to or away from Sturgis all night, it was a really awful night of sleep. We were a little bummed to be staying there hoping for at least one good night of star gazing away from lights, but there were once again too many clouds. 

At one point in the night, I was woken by some extremely loud squealing noises and was afraid some unknown beast was dismembering a trucker. I had been warned back in Washington that bigfoot still exists but no one ever told me about the Dakota Demon. It wasn't until the morning when I saw in a nearby trailer a number of hogs, not the ones with chromes, probably taking their final ride of their lives. Either they were screaming in fear that night or just having a really good time before they become chops or bacon. 

We did have a destination in mind that morning, not one very adventurous but one we promised the kids. Mo had read them all the Little House on the Prairie books and we found out one of the towns she lived in has recreated some of the structures and elements of living on the prairie back in 1880. A little out of our way but easy driving and we got to DeSemet before the crowds. Well not really crowds but with a small staff and slow moving activities such as riding a wagon, washing clothes, attending a one room school house and making a corn cob doll, we were glad not to have to sit and wait our turn at any activity. The kids knew the stories all really well and Maggie got the biggest kick of all and we concluded that if she ever has trouble finding a job she can always move to South Dakota to work at this recreated homestead. 

 Although that stop took up a few hours of the day, the rest of it was spent riding in the bus. Our sights were set upon making it to Wisconsin as Mo has a friend in Madison who agreed to let us park in his driveway for the night. I allowed Mo to do most of the driving as I was pretty spent and navigating was easy, get back to route 90 and head east. Mo's friend, Mike Turner and his girlfriend Nichole were already hosting some friends for the night to attend a beer festival the next day. 

We arrived in Madison after dark, and after a late lunch/early dinner stop in Minnesota. Another new state for me and the kids and happy to add Wisconsin to the list as well. I was a little worried about blue laws when we arrived in Madison, and when we stopped at a convenience store just after nine, I was bummed to find locks on the beer coolers. UGH! It took a little effort to find Mike's house as few houses had numbers in a dark neighborhood. Very safe one indeed, and Mo was a little worried someone might actually call the police on us, driving around and stopping and leering at houses. We took a chance that we had the right house, knowing Mike and guests were all out for the night,and we opened the door after knocking and were met by two black labs. Very friendly, but one promptly threw up on just after I found a magazine on the floor with Mike's address on it. We called Mike to let him know we arrived and he told us to help ourselves to beer in the fridge and just do our best to clean up after his dog who was prone to regurgitate. 

In the morning we all met up back inside after a very good night sleep in the driveway. No Madison Monsters to wake me in the night. One of Mike's guests, Emily, was very jealous that Maggie got to Desmet as she was, and still is a huge Laura Ingalls fan. We had a nice breakfast out with Mike, who so sweetly gave our kids a couple of books and it was hard to get Maggie to eat as she was ingesting more words than calories. We dropped Mike off close to downtown and headed to the Chicago area to meet up with more of Mo's friends. 

I have been very surprised to enter a new state and find that it is really different than the previous one You'd think that the lines on the map were just lines but to see different and greater power lines along the Illinois highways meant that now Wisconsin was just also a memory of our journey. 

Sweetly Mo's friend Bridget O'Meara hosted us for lunch at her house in a suburb outside of Chicago. Her husband Brian and three boys were all very sweet to us although I had to spend more time defending Tom Brady. We were also joined by another of Mo's friends who lives just a couple blocks away, Ann Connally and her husband Mike and their son Rory. We stayed only a couple of hours but were very anxious to get back on the road as Indiana was only a few hours away. 

Yup, just a few hours later we were in Indianapolis as we were lucky with traffic around Chicago and were constantly on the move eastward. It felt so relieving to pull the bus into my in-laws driveway knowing that I had a bed waiting for us and did not need to drive again for a number of days. 

As I said earlier, I will talk more later on reflection and thoughts of this trip. Right now we are all happy to be with family here in Indiana. Of course that means that I have to defend Tom Brady's honor more than ever, but Maggie seems much more passionate than I in defense. We are still all family and this is still all one country and it is amazing that we can all live in peace and our only squabbles are about things ridiculous as air pressure in a football. God Bless America. 

Buffalo, Bikers and Bam Bam

Before we started this trip I knew the biker rally was happening about the time that we would be headed into South Dakota. What I really could not have imagined just how many motorcycles would actually be on the road and in the towns surrounding Sturgis. Whoever thought the most crowded I would feel on this trip would be in South Dakota?

I thought we had left the crowds behind after we had left Yellowstone a couple days ago. We did our best to avoid those inevitable crowds by staying an extra day with Dan and Laura Ginty, especially after they insisted we stay and enjoy the sometimes leisurely life of being on a ranch. It took us a couple hours from there place on Monday morning and even before we entered Yellowstone, after driving back through Teton, we spotted buffalo off in a field. Mo said we needed to stick around Yellowstone until we got good views of buffalo. I asked if this counted as we had to use binoculars and even then they were mostly just brown spots. She said no, which I agreed with her.

We drove on the east side of the park toward a couple valleys that had the potential for buffalo viewing. Before those valleys, we did see some elk on a spit of landing on Yellowstone Lake. We also saw people getting much too close, and moving closer to these beautiful animals. If you want a really good up close photograph of wildlife, buy one!

Well further up the road we suddenly hit a traffic jam. We feared another rock slide or accident but at least in the valley below us we could see a buffalo roaming along a river. Then as we slowly moved along, I realized that just over the bend in the road was a huge valley and I got my hopes up to see more than a singular buffalo.

When we finally rounded that bend we were treated to seeing hundreds of the majestic beasts. Of course a couple idiots got out of their vehicles and walked along the road toward them. Quinn was the most excited of all of us. The rangers did a great job keeping people slowly moving along and helping the beasts to get out of the road. Not an easy job for these rangers and we drove so close to some you could hear them breathing in the fresh Wyoming air.

Of course we had to stop further up the road so the kids could finish their junior ranger programs. They had already finished their Teton requirements earlier in the day and we stopped at a visitor center so they could attend a ranger program. Well Mo did misread the brochure and there wouldn't be a talk for over another hour, but sweetly one ranger gave us a worksheet for them to do together in the natural museum to fulfill the requirement. I was already a little irked that Yellowstone was the only park to charge for the books, and got even more irked when the next ranger was giving us and thus the kids a little hard time that they both didn't do the worksheet. He went ahead with giving them badges, as really the rangers do provide excellent customer service but you do need to have at least one who is a little sub par to remember how good the rest of them are.

Even though it was getting into the afternoon there was a hike we wanted to do up Mount Washburn before we left the park. About 2.5 up to over 10,000 feet sounded a little daunting but then once on the 'trail' we found it real easy going as it was actually an old road bed leading to the fire tower. We nearly made it to the top when we heard some heavy thunder. We didn't mess around, we headed down. There were a few other people who kept going and I talked with Maggie about taking responsibility of yourself in the wilderness.

As we really turned more east on our way out of the park and into Lamar Valley we were treated to seeing a huge herd of buffalo again. The road wasn't as packed as before and most were off in the distance but enough close to the road for a few more good photos.

Outside the park we found a campsite still in Wyoming. We had to unload all our food into a bear storage container and this gave us the chance to throw out some edibles that we just were not eating.

In the morning we, well I, drove us up Bear Tooth Pass toward Montana. Clouds lingered and some rain fell preventing us from totally enjoying a spectacular road. The rain picked up as we got to just under 11,000 feet and I was white knuckle driving making Mo a little uptight. These passes we've driven on are amazing and this one was probably the most stunning even in the clouds but I have never looked forward more to driving along the flat, straight roads in the Midwest more in my life.

The rains finally let up before we headed into Billings, Montana for lunch. The town kind of depressed us as we drove in following directions on the GPS to a restaurant Mo found on Yelp. But just off the main drag and past a hospital we found ourselves in a lovely neighborhood and were real surprised to find this restaurant sitting far away from any other businesses. Three gentlemen sitting at an outside table inquired a little about our journey and how we found this place. We decided to take a table next to them after placing our order and we had a great time talking sports and travel with them. Jake, Jerry and Robert gave Billings a real great name and some stories to remember and tell with people at another time.

Our destination for the day was to get to Nouth Dakota, so we pushed on and made it oh about another half an hour before we stopped again. This time at a national monument, Pompey's Pillar. This butte stands above the prairie and has the only physical proof anywhere that Lewis and Clark traveled across our nation over two hundred years ago. Clark carved his name into the sandstone, unfortunately so have many other people, but his carving is kept under glass as well as video surveillance.

Many hours later we finally crossed the border and into the forty-ninth state for Mo. She now only has to get to Hawaii for all fifty and well Bam Bam has been awesome but I don't think we'll be taking her to the islands anytime soon. Theodore Roosevelt NP was our destination in North Dakota and we were surprised to find all the campsites full in this remote park. Luckily there was a campsite close by not far from the Little Missouri River.

Up a little earlier than usual we wanted to beat the predicted heat of the day and got ourselves into the park before the visitor center opened. We were treated to seeing more buffalo in this park, a much smaller herd and we stopped for a few photos as they were right next to the road.

We found a place to hike hoping to do a loop trail roughly five miles. Very early on we had to take off shoes to wade across the muddy Missouri, well actually just Quinn and me, as Mo decided to walk her shoes dry and I carried Maggie across. Up the trail we passed by a prairie dog village who chirped at us when they weren't scurrying away and into their holes. The trail wasn't very pleasant and we didn't know what big reward it had to offer other than tramping through some field,cross more muddy streams and around some beautiful rock formations. Maybe we are getting a little wimpy on this trip so we turned around after about an hour deciding we would be seeing many vistas on our planned drive around the park. We did get in some rock skipping of course after we crossed the Missouri.

Back to the visitor center for junior ranger info and a little tour of Teddy's rebuilt cabin. The ensuing drive around the park was nice and gave the kids time to do their work and we did a couple pull offs for views. The last of which I could spot more buffalo.

After the kids got sworn in as junior rangers we left the park and headed south. Even though there was absolutely nothing around on the roads leading us into South Dakota it is amazing to look across miles and miles of countryside. Buttes lay off in the distance, fences keep herds of cattle grazing the  land and I thought it would be a great place for the state of Maine to put up some billboards to entice visitors to our state for their next vacation.

There were a few signs of the bike rally as we crossed into South Dakota but when we hit our first time we were stunned by the amount of bikers we saw. We weren't even that close to Sturgis yet and gas station parking lots, hotel and restaurant lots all sparkled with chrome and the roads thundered with the patented Harley howl.

The next town of Deadwood was even worse as the road was reduced to two lanes in this little historic town that we were hoping to grab a bite to eat in. Instead we ended up at a Subway in the next town of Lead. Really a sad little town that just was not benefiting as much as Deadwood from all the bikers.

We were hoping to get as close to Mount Rushmore as we could and the gas station owner in Deadwood told us we would be seeing even more bikers as we traveled south. Apparently it is the 75th anniversary of the rally and more than a million bikers were expected in the area. But what else could we do besides go where we wanted to go. Packs of bikers would cruise by us in the north bound lane and we were able to keep comfortably ahead of just a small pack of about five. I asked the kids if they have seen more bikers or buffalo the past couple of days and they agreed bikers far outnumbered the buffalo.

Mo of course had a lead for a free campsite but after the GPS didn't properly lead us to it we stumbled across a campground on a back road. Despite seeing a number of bikers we did see some open spots so we turned around. We had also just seen some amazing lightning so when we were told there was space and a ten o'clock quiet time we took a site.

The bikers were fine, the only real trouble here was the rain and lightning had us crammed inside the bus. It was blisteringly hot but we had to keep all closed in with all of us losing our patience. Our moods turned around once we got some cool air inside and the kids fell asleep just after reading time.

It will be interesting to see just how many more bikers we may see around this area but we will be heading back east after our couple stops here in this area.

Believe it or not, this is a brief summary

I don't know when I really lost track of the days of the week but as we were mapping out our route last week, I sadly became aware that we would be going into Yellowstone on the weekend. I haven't been a fan of the crowds at the parks. For a while I didn't mind too much as I took the approach that at least I was still with the people that I wanted to be there with the most. But thinking about being in probably the most visited park in the nation had me rather disgruntled.

We seemed to escape the many of the crowds the previous weekend by heading to the North Cascades National Park in northern Washington. It was less than a couple hours away from thus far our only hotel stay to get to a campsite just outside the park. A cheap site where I was told by the host that there were many animals in the woods that could kill me including bigfoot. And if I happened to visit in the winter than I might be able to see some of the alien ships flying over the closed down park. He also told me many people went missing in the area and the only thing they would find were their shoes with their feet still inside them. So I asked  him I about going for a run in the morning should I go barefoot in order to ensure my return.

 I did skip the run and instead we drove down a long dirt road for a hike up to a ridge line. The weather wasn't very cooperative but the trail up was wonderful and we all easily cruised up the three plus miles turning back just short of the ridge line as the cloud cover was now raining on us a little and we didn't want to wait it out hoping for a view. All in all we had a great time being together and were fortunate to get some views of a glacier just off the primitive parking lot.

The big thrill of the day was I was able to finally shift Bam Bam into a lower gear to ease us down a rather steep grade. We didn't drive much farther and easily got a campsite in the park and made plans for the next morning.

Some great views of beautifully colored rivers and lakes had us hopeful that we might get some views of the clouded in mountains later in the day. Another seven mile hike awaited just outside of the park and even though it was clouded in we decided that we should give it a go. We were greeted by a moose in the parking lot, an animal our campsite host said there were very few of in the area.

The trail was tougher but the kids were having no problem making the ascent getting up above treeline. My greatest concern was that I didn't think the auto focus on the camera was working properly. I had to face the reality that my eyes were the trouble and that I probably need reading glasses for something other than books or maps.

Up to our first pass we were rewarded with some of the best mountain views I have ever experienced. The views kept getting better getting to another pass and along a ridge line. Glaciers and snow fields were all over peaks near and far and my only further wish was that we could do more hikes like this if we make a trip like this in a few more years.

Back to the bus a couple hours later and the kids were in great spirits and anxious to get to watch movies on the long drive we would be making on our way to Glacier National Park. Mo found us a campsite in Idaho and we woke up to a beautiful lake visited by Canadian geese.

Still a long way away, Mo found out about the forest fires in Glacier. The park was open but roads were closed and we were hopeful that we could still get in some good hikes. After a stop at the visitor center we got a site outside the park as expected it was filled. The kids had fun playing with some other kids and we were treated to views of a double rainbow across the road. I kind of hoped for more rain to help with the fires which were being well handled by crews.

In the morning we found out the main road was being opened up a little farther so we quickly changed hiking plans and drove up to Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road. A beautiful road but one that made me very nervous and only looking straight ahead. It was an easy hike to an overlook of Hidden Lake. A newspaper reporter took a picture of Quinn and I while the girls moved up ahead. While out ahead of us a young grizzly crossed the trail, which Mo did see as well as many other hikers on the trail and a nearby ranger. Quinn and I did catch sight of him as well when he headed to some bushes. No one was really scared or feeling threatened and only Maggie was a little sad that she didn't get a good view. On the way back many people could see him feeding across the open meadow. Kind of neat but really the coolest thing to see was the rugged peaks.

Almost back to the visitor center I heard someone say they could see mountain goats, so I whipped out our little binoculars and got a view. After the kids finished another junior ranger badge we were just about to walk back to the car when someone spotted big horn sheep on a nearby peak. I ran to the car for the good binoculars and despite how well they blended in the rocks we got to view about four or five of the sheep. Pretty outstanding to see all these animals in the matter of about an hour without walking through a zoo.

We just had to stop for some huckleberry pie after we left the park and headed to the southern part of Montana. A good friend of Mo's, Ann Rose, goes to Montana every summer to visit her mother in her summer place. We had stop for the night outside of Bozeman at a state park where the Missouri, Jefferson and Madison Rivers converge. On a morning run, I found out that Lewis and Clark had been camped in the area exactly two hundred and ten years before. A very peaceful place where I saw more migratory birds, including pelicans, yes pelicans, than people.

We stopped in Bozeman for brunch before making a drive on dirt roads to meet up with Ann, her husband Dan and Ann's mother Jane. A fabulous place surrounded by peaks and a river stocked with fish just down the hill. The kids loved playing in the house and with the Rose's puppy Lucy. We enjoyed sharing memories of our trip with the Roses and getting to know Jane. We all took a little walk on a trail and even though Jane is eighty and forgot to change into her hiking shoes from her boat shoes we got to a river to skip some stones.

I got in a little run the next morning to a ridge that wasn't much of a run but more of push through some really high grass but all worth it to see some deer hopping through the grass and 360 degree views. After trying our best to convey our appreciation to our hosts we got back in Bam Bam and headed for Yellowstone.

I knew there would be crowds arriving on a Friday, especially after noon but after our first stop to check out Mammoth Springs, I was really ready to get out of the park as quick as possible. We made a few stops on our way toward Old Faithful and I will admit the park is very cool with all the thermal activity but I found it all much too accessible and wanted to escape.

Our timing coming into Old Faithful was great as we only had to wait about ten minutes for it to erupt. The kids weren't too impressed so I didn't feel all that bad that my own feelings about the crowds. We had no definite plans on a place to sleep for the night but knew that in Jackson Hole one of the kids favorite plays was being performed that night.

It became our mission to get there and Mo secured us some tickets only about forty minutes before the play. Oh yah, which play you are wondering. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the kids had seen performed at Bowdoin College and I managed to find a DVD copy of the movie, which they have probably watched six or seven time on this trip. They were thrilled when we told them and we were thrilled that we were actually able to make it out of Yellowstone and all the way to Jackson Hole before the show started.

The show was fantastic, although I wanted to get our money back for Quinn's seat as he never used it watching the whole performance on his feet. The show didn't get over until about 10:30 and we had no place to stay. Mo followed one lead to a campsite which was now posted for no overnight camping. I didn't want to drive all over northern Wyoming that night so I found a K-Mart and we popped the top. Although safe and legal it was not a good site and we, especially Mo had one of our worst nights sleep.

Nicely, I contacted an old friend who lives in Idaho just over a pass from Jackson and so we knew as we drove to Teton National Park that we had a place to stay the next night. I was thrilled to return to the Tetons and we had a real pleasant hike to a couple of lakes with nice views of the mountains.

After a little shopping around Jackson we headed into Idaho were Dan and his wife Laura welcomed us into their home. We all went out for pizza meeting some friends of theirs and had a great time laughing the hardest we had in a long time.

The next morning Laura sweetly let the kids ride on one of her horses which I hope they will remember even more than the play which was turning into their big highlight of the trip. We were starting to pack up the bus around noon when Dan invited us to stay another night. I was in no rush to head back to Yellowstone, where we will be heading next no matter what, and Mo was easily convinced as well. So we spent the day on their nice eight acre ranch with Quinn getting to ride on a four wheeler and both kids watching HGTV. A nice easy day with more laughs and no crowds!

Well from here we will be starting our drive back east. We've got just a little over a week left before we want to get back to Indianapolis and then onto Maine. Still we don't know exactly where we'll sleep next but that's alright. I just don't want it to be in a K-Mart again, especially in a crowded one with people waiting to see a geyser.