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!