Day 26-29: The rocky road home.

We were heading to Omaha, Nebraska...going to spend a day there.  I had a two night reservation at the Omaha KOA but plans changed.  A couple hours down the road, there was a large noise coming from behind the RV in the vicinity of the car dolly.   We pulled over.  It was not good.  We had lost part of the hub which keeps the whole thing together.  By the grace of God, we caught it before the car flew off the back and killed someone!  We were on the side of the road in nowhere, Nebraska.  There were no businesses open because it was a Sunday.  Luckily, there are some amazing people that  live in Nebraska!
There was a house way off the road that we were sitting on.  The man who owned the house stopped to see if we needed any help.  When Kevin told him our situation, he gave him the number to a friend of his who owned an auto parts store.  This nice man came and picked Kevin up and for over an hour, they looked for the parts to fix the dolly with no luck.  This man called another man who said he could find the parts on Monday so we were stuck for the night.
The Omaha KOA was nice and agreed not to charge us for that night and we found a small, locally owned campground in Chadron.  Unless you want to go to Walmart, there is not much to do there so we watched old episodes of Lost and a movie and Kevin picked up pizza.
The next morning, this third man helping us was having trouble finding what we needed but around noon, he called Kevin and said we should be good to go in about 45 minutes.  A wave of relief went over all of us!
We were on the road by one and got to Omaha about 10:00 that night...not really a good time for sightseeing.  At this point, Kevin was ready to get home.  The stresses of driving and missing work were catching up to him and he was on a mission.  We are on our third day of driving and should be home tonight.  We have driven through Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky....but we are NC bound.
Thanks for joining us on our travels!  Our family has been to 47 states now!  It is stressful traveling on an RV for a month with 5 people and 2 dogs but I believe the rewards overshadow that part.  My hope is that my children will look back on these adventures with fondness and tell their children about them.  I look forward to being home but it has been so special to have this time away from the distractions of every day life to spend with my family.  These children who were so young when we started RVing are growing up fast and in three years, Zack will graduate.  This is time that we will never forget....

Day 25: Keystone & Rapid City, SD

Today we stayed pretty busy on our last day in South Dakota.  After breakfast, we went to the Crazy Horse Monument.  It is a very interesting story.  The monument was built as a legacy to the Native American people and was started in 1948 by one man, Korczak Ziolkowski.  For the first five years, he worked on it alone every day, climbing up 741 steps to the top and when his old air compressor would die on him, he had to climb all the way down and start it again.  One day, he did this 9 times!  He was determined and his entire family joined in on the project.  He passed away some years ago and the monument is still under construction with no estimated date for completion.  The head is finished and they are working on the arm and the head of his horse.  This monument is so massive, all four heads from Mt. Rushmore could fit into the head of Crazy Horse.  Here are a few photos:

Our next stop was a quick trip back to Mount Rushmore so I could get some better photos in the daylight.  I didn't feel my others did it justice!

After our second Mount Rushmore visit, we drove to Rapid City which is called the city of Presidents.  All former presidents are represented on street corners by bronze statues.  Lily did the scavenger hunt where there are certain items the presidents are holding or are on their person that you have to locate and you get a free presidential soda.  It was interesting to see all the statues personifying the different presidents.  

We also visited the Pawnseum, a combination pawn shop and museum.  Kevin loved it!  He bought some binoculars and we saw an original Michael Jackson glove (eat your heart out Walt!) as well as the worlds smallest dog which looked like a toy!

We drove back to Keystone for dinner after debating on whether or not to drive to Sturgis to see all the bikers.  Lily wanted to go but the boys didn't and Kevin and I were on the fence.  We were told you have to see it to believe it but we also knew that traffic would be crazy and the kids might see some things we didn't want them to see, so we passed it up and bought some 75th anniversary Sturgis tees in Keystone.

Today we are driving all day to Omaha, Nebraska.  Thanks for traveling along with us!

Day 23 & 24: Cody, WY and Mount Rushmore, SD

Cody is evidently the rodeo capital of the west.  They have a rodeo every night of the summer and we were able to enjoy one last night.  It was the kids and my first time at a rodeo but Lily and I made sure to dress the part.  We picked up some new cowboy hats and boots (thanks Daddy!) to blend in with the rodeo crowd.  We got to sit on a live bull with an awesome nose ring!  The rodeo was fun--there was bucking bronco riding, calf roping, barrel racing and bull riding (which was our favorite!)  Here are a few pictures from our night at the rodeo.

The morning after Cody, we drove to Custer, SD which is about 20 miles from Mount Rushmore.  We drove into Keystone where Mount Rushmore is located to have dinner before seeing the night program where they light up the faces of the presidents.  I don't think I have mentioned yet that in nearby Sturgis, it is the 75th annual biker rally which draws over a million bikers to the area.  There are motorcycles everywhere you go!  So the crowds are an interesting mix to say the least!

We got to Mount Rushmore around dusk so it was getting dark.  My photos didn't come out quite as good as I had hoped so we may ride by there again today to get some in the daylight but I will say this--as we approached the entrance and saw those faces before we even got inside the park, it was awe-inspiring.  You have seen photos all your life, but it's not the same as seeing them in person.  It was beautiful and patriotic and a great experience overall!

Day 21 & 22: Yellowstone National Park

We woke up to a nice surprise our first morning in Yellowstone.  We had a puppy with an upset tummy and she had pooped on the floor.  I had already cleaned it up by the time everyone got up but we still smelled it.  When Kevin went to pull back the curtains from the dashboard, he found a huge pile of poop and pee on the dashboard right in front of his seat!  There was urine on his work book and even after cleaning it, when the sun comes in the window and warms it just right, the smell is still in the air!
After a rough start to the morning, we headed in to Yellowstone.   Our plan--go see Old Faithful.  When we arrived at Old Faithful, it had just erupted so we missed it.  We decided to walk around, check out the visitors center, get some ice cream and come back 10 minutes before it erupted next.  Guess what?  It erupted early so we missed it again. At this point, the kids were ready to bag it but I thought what a shame it would be to come all the way here and miss it so we messed around another hour or so and made sure to be back in time to see it.  Of course it was 15 minutes late but it was really cool and I'm happy we stayed!  Here's what we saw:

We also saw some other thermals--steam coming right out of the ground--and some hot springs and mud pools.  It was very interesting to see:

As for wildlife, we saw a bison, elk, and moose the first day but the next day, on the way to Cody, Wyoming, we saw herds of bison!   It was so cool--there must have been hundreds!  There were  a couple blocking the road and the rangers had to guide them off the road so traffic could resume.  Lulu and Sammi were having a fit to get to those bison!  I don't know what they would have done since Lulu is afraid of everything but it was funny to watch!

Got to Cody yesterday--I'll fill you in on that in the next post!  Thanks for traveling along with us!

Day 18, 19 & 20: Oregon and on to Idaho

We had a beautiful day in Warm Springs at Kah-Nee-Ta Resort.  Although we were told it was 100 degrees the week before, it was pleasantly in the 70's during our stay.  Kevin, Lily and I took a horseback ride up into the mountains and the views were amazing.  We even saw a coyote!
I had a massage that day and we took the kids to the giant pool which is warmed by natural mineral hot springs!  They actually have to cool the water down some for swimming.
We ate at the resort and Kevin and the kids got a game of tag football going in the field beside our campsite.  It was a great, laid back kind of day.
We left the next morning and drove to Boise, Idaho.  We didn't get there until evening so we just caught up on laundry and hung around the campground.  Today we have arrived at our campground which is 22 miles outside of Yellowstone.  Tomorrow we plan on spending the day enjoying the park and hopefully, catch a glimpse of Old Faithful!

Day 17: Warm Springs, Oregon

So we are headed back towards home!  Tonight we are at the Kah-née-Tah Resort which is in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.  What a beautiful place!  It's crazy because there are so many beautiful places in this country!  The campground is nestled between numerous mountains and has a huge pool with water slides, horseback riding, hiking, a spa and a couple of restaurants.
Tonight we went to a traditional Native American salmon bake where we we entertained with some music and dance in the traditional Native American clothing.  Even the very young children participated.  It was a cool thing to experience, and the kids really enjoyed the traditional fry bread with huckleberry jam! (And Kevin too!)
Tomorrow our plan is to stay on the resort and give everyone a break from the constant traveling and touring.  I am going to get a massage and the kids are going to swim in the pool which is heated underground by mineral hot springs.  We may go for a horseback ride or just have a laid back day on the resort but we'll be back on the road the day after.  Next state, Idaho.

Day 15 & 16: Seattle, WA

We arrived in Seattle yesterday and took a drive down to Pier 57 for dinner.  We were looking forward to some fresh Seattle seafood.  Kevin was pretty tired after driving that day so we headed back to the RV after dinner for some down time.
Today, we enjoyed the day in Seattle starting at the Pike Place Market.  I had no idea how large it was but it is 9 acres of food, flowers, crafts and flying fish!  We had some awesome clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl for lunch and we visited the gum wall.  We all contributed a piece of gum to the wall before leaving for the Space Needle.  While waiting for our time slot to ride up to the top, we visited the EMP museum next door which is music, entertainment and pop culture.  The kids really enjoyed that including a Star Wars exhibit with many costumes from the movies on display.
At 5:30 we took our ride to the top of the Space Needle.  There were some amazing views of Seattle in all directions!  We couldn't come to Seattle without visiting the Space Needle, the most iconic symbol of Seattle.
We are back at our home on wheels now and will be leaving in the morning for Oregon!

Day 14: Passing through Idaho & Spokane, WA

Well, we made it!  We are all the way across the country in Washington state.  Today we made a stopover in Spokane and tomorrow it's on to Seattle!
Since we already took in some bears in Michigan, we got the lions and tigers here in Washington at Cat Tales Zoological Park.  As you can guess from the name, it's all big cats..and one bear.  They had white tigers, bengal tigers, bobcats, mountain lions and more.  We even got to feed a large Siberian tiger named Kushka--through a plastic wall of course--but that was pretty cool...

After feeding the kitties, we drove to the Riverfront Park in Spokane and took a gondola ride over the Spokane Falls.  Unfortunately, every time a car was loaded the gondolas stopped so it was kind of a slow ride and the kids were pretty bored.  Tonight we are staying put in Spokane and looking forward to our time in Seattle!