Trip Statistics

S0---
We travelled 9,581 miles
We used 441.5 Gallons of gas
We went to 11 National Parks, 2 State Parks and 1 island.
We crossed the Continental Divide 5 times
We saw a gazillion beautiful sights and stored beautiful memories
We took 3,383 pictures to help us remember
The stack of receipts is 4" high

As we travelled west and north and east and south, we marvelled at our beautiful country. Driving all that distance was an invaluable chance to see how earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers and erosion have changed our world. The changes in topography were sometimes subtle and sometimes striking, but always stunning! Even the snow was pretty!

A big thanks to Michelle and AAA for helping us plan the trip.

We hope you enjoyed this blog--it's become a journal for us.

Love to all..............

The Almost Zip Line Home......

We left Schaumburg at 4 am on Monday with the full intention of getting home Monday night. There has been a lot of rain in central Indiana, and many of the fields were flooded; some of the fields were so wet they have not been planted yet.
















We drove through the Smokey Mountains so we could see them while the Rockies were fresh in our minds. The Smokies are just small hills after our trip!

It was good to see palm trees again as we reached the Florida Welcome Center!

During our drive we got a call from George and Karen -- they were still at their new house in Ruskin FL (just north of Sarasota). We decided to go visit them and see the house, so we stayed in a motel one more night and had lunch with them on Tuesday.

They have a very nice house in a very nice development with
a golf course, two really nice pools and all the upscale

amenities.

Then we drove home and SLEPT IN OUR OWN BEDS LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!

It was the first night in a long time that we woke up knowing where we were and which way to the bathroom!

We miss you all while we say Welcome Home to us!

Visiting in Schaumburg

We had a ten day visit with our family and friends in Schaumburg.
Bob and Liz were on vacation, but we were able to spend time with our other four kid and all of our grand kids. We had lots of fun! We went to Robert's baseball game and watched Robert and Alexis swing.
We had pizza with Lori, Amanda and Sarah and we had Chinese with Tom, Mary Lou and their kids. We were also able to spend time with Phil, Sue and their kids. Sorry--no pictures of them.


We had time to see many of our friends, and we celebrated with Marv on his 77th Birthday

We went for a walk in our favorite Schaumburg Nature Center

We had a great time!

Our travel on the Oregon Trail from 5/25/10

On our way to the Tetons we came across a beautiful town named Montepelier, Idaho. We went to the Oregon Trail Museum there, and learned that the town used to be the mid point for settlers between Independence, MO and the Oregon Territory (includes what would become Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, California).
We learned we would be traveling for 6 1/2 months. We would need a wagon, 6 oxen, 20 lbs of coffee, 10 lbs of gun powder, a gun for every man woman and child, and food/water for the trip. The cost would be $1,500.00 -- $18,500 in today's dollars! The wagon weighed 1,000 lbs and we would be allowed to take 1,000 lbs with us.


Everybody walked. They slept under the wagon if it rained. Sometimes they had to throw their prized possessions (like china, crystal, furniture) out of the wagon if the hills were too much for the oxen.
All in all we are, once again, grateful to be cruising along with our horses under the hood and the air conditioning on!

The museum tour was conducted by "settlers" in period costumes and included a ride in a Conestoga Wagon (done hydraulically), stories, music and information about what it was like to travel the trail.

It was delightful!

Minnesota to Wisconsin - Family Fun

We stayed in Albert Lea MN two nights ago and made our way east into the central time zone and across the Mississippi River to Madison, WI. It was refreshing to see the thick, rich foliage of deciduous trees and rolling fields.







Many of the rivers and lakes are over their banks due to heavy snow pack over the winter months.






We went to visit Rodney and Darlene to find a big bulldozer in front of their house -- the road is being redone and right now it's all mud! But that did not keep us from enjoying breakfast with them at their MM Breakfast club. They meet with a large group of people for breakfast and have a good time. It's a great group of people and the owners of the restaurant are extraordinary!













Then we went to Russell and Jane's house and had lunch. We ended up staying till about 7pm just talking.



Neal has great brothers!


Tomorrow we will leave for Schaumburg. I think there's a baseball game (Robert's) and there is also the Belmont -- so we'll have to get there fast!

See you soon!

We stayed in Albert Lea MN two nights ago, and arrived in Madison WI yesterday.

So we left the Badlands today...The Badlands are still bad!
The Black Hills turned into gently rolling hills and then to the flat farmland of Minnesota.

We drove all day and arrived in Albert Lea MN just in time to have a great dinner.

Tomorrow we will travel to Richland Center to check on our friends there and then on to Madison to spend some time with Rodney and Darlene and Russell and Jane.

By Saturday evening we should be in Schaumburg and we are looking forward to seeing all of you!

PS -- Forgot to tell you we learned how to pan for gold in Rapid City SD. -- But we did not get rich doing it!

Bears, Crazy Horses and Wine......

We've had a busy few days here in Rapid City, South Dakota.


We went to Bear Country and saw lots of bears and a very bored looking mountain goat....











We've taken so many pictures (3,122) that we blew out the back up drive and we had to go get a new one!








We visited Crazy Horse to see the progress, but they have not gotten too much further since 2006. I'll compare pictures when we get back home.

The picture below is of the statue in the foreground and the actual mountain in the background.

We ended our afternoon with a trip to the local winery to sample their wines. After Wine Country X3, there's not much room in the car!

Tomorrow we will leave for Sioux Falls and then on to Madison to see Rodney and Russell. We plan on being in Schaumburg sometime Saturday evening. See you soon.......