THE TRIP TO STATE COLLEGE 8-27-11 TO 8-30-11

Travel day to Jackson, MN.  The picture above is a field of sunflowers.  Sunflower fields as far as the eye could see.  We saw a sight at our campground, not for the first time on our trip, but the first time with all the people out of the "vehicle".  The front half is a bus and the back is rows of bunk beds, each with a small porthole window like on a boat.  You gain access to the bedroom area via steps that are put into place after the bus stops for the day.  On the opposite side of the bus from the bunk access is a cooking area of about 3 ft by 8 ft than folds down and is accessed from the outside of the bus.  Tom is guessing he saw 20 people having breakfast.  Our drive today is through northern plain area.  Hay and sunflowers is about all there is to see.  We went by Rosebud  which is the site of one of the missions we support at St Paul's.  It is really windy today.  We don't know if that is all the time, but it's making for a tense drive for Tom.  We asked at a gas stop and IT'S ALWAYS WINDY HERE.  And by the way are getting only 8.5 miles per gallon.

Happy Birthday, Tom.  Travel day to Madison, WI.  Much corn, many wind farms and cows, cows, cows.  All in all one of those West Texas days.  We did have hamburgers and fresh corn for Tom's birthday dinner followed by Babcock Hall ice cream.  Babcock Hall is like PSU's creamery. 

8-29-11

For some reason my blog doesn't want me to load any more pictures so I'll finish off with text.  This is travel day to Indiana and the first day of our entire summer that we do not have a specific destination.  We are now on I-80 and we are anxious to be home. Four states today - Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. This was our longest driving day.  

8-30-11

The last leg of our journey.  We saw "the bus" for the third time.  We camped with them at Mt Rushmore. saw them at a Walmart where we stopped and now they are in our campground in Toledo. OH.  They are from Germany.  And now we've seen them a 4th time at a service plaza.  It took $50.00 in tolls to get through Indiana and Ohio.  We've travelled 11,600 miles on our 11 week journey and now our rolling hotel will get tucked away until March.

TRAVEL DAY TO INTERIOR/BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Travel day to Interior SD and the Badlands NP.  Not a long drive, but pretty plain with miles of plains for scenery.  We stopped at the visitors center and saw the orientation film and, of course, I got my Passport stamped.  We dropped the trailer off and basically drove around the park on the Badlands scenic loop.  Very strangely beautiful landscape.  We visited Wall Drug in Wall - the west's version of "South of the Border".  We got home at 3:00 PM and had a nap.  It's very fitting that Tom is getting to watch his first football game of the season.

TRAVEL DAY/MOUNT RUSHMORE 8/25/11

Travel day to Custer and the most common sight were Proghorn.  They aren't Antelope, they are Proghorn.  There are permanent signs everywhere that say when the lights are flashing the road is closed and return to the town you just came from.  A hint is all the heavy duty snow fences.  Mt Rushmore was very interesting.  They have recently upgraded a lot of the area.  We went on a ranger led tour and saw the artist models of the faces.  They really are not completed, but when the money ran out, the artist stopped.  And why did they create the monument??  To promote tourism in the area.  And why were these people chosen??  The sculptor chose them. 

TRAVEL DAY-CASPER WY 8-24-11

Travel day to Casper.  Ranches, ranches, ranches, horses, horses, horses and huge Indian Reservation - Wind River.  Wyoming ranks 9th among the states in sq miles (97,100) and 50th in population (522,800).  We saw Antelope - hooray.  We missed them in the parks, but right alongside the highway we saw them and they are everywhere.  What cute critters!  We got set up in the Casper KOA and headed out to see the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.  It was a great experience.  Most of the trails west went through Casper.