Day Five - Progress 400 miles

We woke up this morning in a green meadow surrounded by black hills and outcroppings of rock poking out of the grass.  I (Cindy)  knew the kids were itching to climb, so off they went under Ian’s supervision. That way Carl could get some more rest…He’s been struggling through a bad cold and cough…But has not wanted to slow us down.

We are pressing on to Yellowstone today and I have not been any help with the driving because I do not have enough experience yet to negotiate the windy conditions we’ve been having.  Carl, on the other hand, has become a regular bus driver, taking it all in stride, even when getting pulled over by the New Castle, Wyoming police officer.  We have been a bit suspicious that the speedometer was off, so now we just calculate we are really going 15 mph over what it says!  No wonder we were making such good time…Oh yeah, we were very thankful that we got stopped by probably the nicest  officer in all of Wyoming,  who waited patiently while we hunted through drawers for registration and insurance cards…And then decided to just give us a warning. (I must admit I was very glad I was not the one driving!)

The eastern approach to Yellowstone was unfamiliar territory and at one critical point we had to choose between two different routes; we discovered that we had chosen the wrong one when a sign warned us of extremely steep grades.  Carl wisely turned around and went the other way.  I can’t imagine how rough that road would have been…The way we took was so steep that we had to stop and cool down our smoking brakes quite a few times.

During one of our motorhome rest periods we sat by a raging river feeling very small in a vast wilderness of both dangers and wonders; it was a very good time to remember how great God is, the creator of the rugged yet delicate world that now surrounded us and, frankly,  overwhelmed us.  We stood there, the five of us, thankful to be there.  We understood in a very concrete way that God is big and we are small, which makes his sacrificial love for us even more profound.

Well, we didn’t make it today, but with God’s help we’ll be there tomorrow…And Emma got to add 4 moose to her list.  Thanks for praying.  Ian was feeling sick today. Hopefully he’ll be back at it tomorrow.

Day Four - Progress 350 miles

While on vacation we get to do special things that we would never do in our everyday life; this includes eating barbeque for breakfast! We got the BBQ from Bob’s Cafe in Sioux Falls, SD. It is a highly rated takeout place. We had tried to eat there the night before, but it was closed.

On our way to the Badlands we hit a microburst of wind so powerful that the motorhome swerved 3 or 4 feet to the right. One of the vent caps was ripped off! After that, rain started smashing down on the windshield. The rain plus the wind made driving conditions problematic, but Dad prevailed through the storm. The rain stopped pretty soon, but we did have to battle wind all the way through South Dakota. I guess you could say we were “the little mobile house on the prairie”. 

A rainbow after the storm

Gordon and Emma in the Badlands

Gordon and Ian climbing in the Badlands

We didn't arrive to Mount Rushmore until after dark, but fortunately it is well lit until 11pm every night. We spent Memorial Day evening there, remembering and being thankful for all of the people that have served in the armed forces protecting our country and the security we have in Jesus.

Emma’s list of animal sightings expanded greatly, It now includes a rattlesnake (that we avoided on the road), some prairie dogs ducking into their holes, a herd of shedding mountain goats, and one prairie rabbit which reminded her of Nesbit, her bunny.

A herd of mountain goats

Day Three - Progress 600 miles

Current location Sioux Falls, SD

Today was mostly composed of driving, but we did stop somewhere in Wisconsin and went to a cheese shop to get some special cheeses and pastries. 

Back on the road I was amazed at how many windmills there were and how amazingly flat it was. Finally, we stopped to get coffee and ended up in what I thought was a park but turned out to be a school with really nice grounds. We got out and rested for a while. It was extremely pleasant and when a breeze would come across, it was very peaceful. Then we played kick ball in the well cut grass… I was surprised at how an uncompetitive game of kick ball could be so much fun.   

This is Ian Schartner signing of as we are parked at a Walmart, listening to an audio book.

 P.S. Mom drove the motorhome for the first time and we’re still alive.

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Day Two - Progress 300 mile

Today we went to the motor-home museum in Elkhart, Indiana (which is known as Motor-home Capital of the World)... So basically a bunch of super old RV’s were there and a few new ones that were really nice. Well, it's always kind of concerning when you see a motor-home in an antique show that’s about the same age as the one you’re on vacation with!

After that, we headed to Chicago where we parked in a giant semi-truck parking lot. We got out the bikes and took the lake shore trail to downtown Chicago.

Dad considers Giordano’s resturant a bucket-list class event, so we waited in line for 2 hours and had stuffed deep dish pizza... Definitely, one of the best things I’ve ever tasted – and explains why we occasionally add fresh spinach to our homemade pizza.  

This is Ian Schartner signing off as we're parking in a semi-truck weighing station to spend the night... I hope we don’t get towed while we’re sleeping....