Day 6: Kennebec, SD - Buffalo, WY

Day 6 – Kennebec, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming

YEAH!!! We are stopping at our first major point of interest today… Mount Rushmore. We left Kennebec around 8:30am and traveled West on I-90. The landscape began to change to the Badlands… just imagine a good old western movie. It’s amazing and breathtaking! We began seeing a few prong horn antelope and then a few more… probably several hundred to date. Some really nice trophy bucks right next to the road… gorgeous. Did you know that they are the second fastest mammal on earth next to the cheetah? There you have it…

Arrived Rapid City about 11am and as we were pulling off the exit, Drew noticed two B-1 stealth bombers circling and landing at Ellsworth A.F.B. Did you know that this air force base is one of two bases in North America to have B-1 bombers? The other base is in Alabama. During the Gulf Wars, these stealth bombers flew to Iraq, launched cruise missles and flew back within 24 hours. They are supersonic… wow!

We stopped at a fairly new South Dakota Visitor Center on the East side of Rapid City… stretched our legs, picked up some nice tourist brochures and got directions and local maps from a very nice center employee… eh. We traveled South out of Rapid City, through Keystone on Hwy. 16 to Mount Rushmore. The road was fairly steep and curvy and our motorhome struggled along… this thing weighs 12,000 pounds. Mom, Dad, my niece, Andrea and my nephew, Spencer and I traveled to Mount Rushmore about 40 years ago. Keystone has become very touristy and the simple park entrance to Mount Rushmore that I remembered at 12 years old is now an elaborate and expensive granite monument in itself. But the Presidents faces were just the same… impressive.

As we made our way towards the monument, there were four mountain goats near the walkway. It’s very unusual to see them near people and they were not fenced in. Drew asked one of the park rangers “what makes the goats stay in the area, do you feed them?” He said no, but there is a mountain lion in the area and they are less scared of people then they are of the mountain lion. They munched on the local fauna and crossed the path right in front of us.

A quick potty break for Brigit and Riley who were patiently waiting in the KeyZRV and we were back on the road for a quick stop to see the Crazy Horse Monument about 20 miles south. We then traveled north through the Black Hills National Forest and the small towns of Lead and Deadwood. Coming into Deadwood at the top of the mountain was an enormous working gold mine… I would love to have a piece of that. The town sure had some history… Drew and I thought of the Showtime series Deadwood and what life would have been like then. On to Sturgis and Spearfish and across the border into Wyoming.

Although we stopped at Mt. Rushmore and detoured through the Badlands and the Black Hills, we still traveled 445 miles and 9 hours on the road. The weather was chilly but sunny most of the day. We needed to make the time because stormy weather, along with some of the highest roads in the country was still ahead. We pulled into Buffalo, Wyoming about 7pm and stayed at the Twin Peaks RV Park. Uh oh... starting to rain and we know snow is falling in the Big Horn Mts.

Day 5: Nebraska City, NE to Kennebec, SD

Day 5 – Nebraska City, Nebraska – Kennebec, South Dakota

Woke up to frost on the ground in Nebraska City and still drizzling rain. A day of traveling in the rain and roads under construction. Much of the Interstate went from four lanes to two lanes of head on traffic. We watched several semi-trucks miss the merge on and off the four lanes… scary!!!

With the imminent cold and stormy weather that was in the forecast and soon to be ahead of us, Drew thought we better have an oil change and I asked for new wiper blades… not much to ask for right? We made a stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the Camping World to pick up an inverter for the laptop, a TV converter, leveling jacks for the slide out and some anti-freeze. Camping World is the same RV sales company that we bought our motorhome at in Ft. Myers, and also a major sponsor of the Nascar Truck Races. They were completely booked for oil changes but suggested we go to the Grease Monkey… just a five minute wait and we were in the bay… with not an inch more room to squeeze in on either side nor the top. Super efficient and nice guys… and yes, new wiper blades that were 2” longer the old ones… what a difference 2” makes.

After about a two hour necessary delay, we made our way North on I-29 to Sioux City, Iowa and crossed the Missouri River once again and headed North to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. From there, we got on I-90 and headed due West to Kennebec, SD. We had planned to drive as far as Wall but that was another 125 miles or two hours. Along the way, we saw quite a few white tail deer, a rafter of wild turkeys and a huge owl near the RV park that we were unable to identify but we could hear him at night when we walked the dogs... it was much larger then a barn owl.

We stayed at the Kennebec KOA with full hook up and pulled in just in time to watch Survivor. We made meatball sandwiches with the leftover sauce from the night before… we are really roughing it. The temperature was dropping and by morning the outside connection on the water hose had frozen solid. We even left the faucet on the kitchen sink trickling to keep it from freezing… no problem with that… it just forces the motorhome water pump to function on the inside. Everyone still stayed nice and cozy.

Total miles today… 390, and eight hours from Nebraska to South Dakota.

Day 4 - Goreville, IL - Nebraska City, NE

Day 4 – Goreville, IL – Nebraska City, NE

WHEW – long days of driving... 511 miles and 9 hours of driving. I keep asking Drew if he wants me to drive but he says he wants to make time… so I guess that means no. Besides he would have to be the one to hold on to Maye if and when she had to use the potty. The only time we stopped was to get gas and that was also the same potty break for Drew, Brigit and Riley.

So we made our way out of Illinois and crossed the entire state of Missouri on I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City. Still love seeing the St. Louis arch but the city itself shows blight… many of the buildings of the inner city are abandoned and marked with graffiti. Once on the West side of St. Louis the countryside was beautiful, marked with corn fields and nice farm houses.

It began raining in the Kansas City area and continued as we headed North on I-29 to Iowa. Although we would continue our trip through Iowa, we crossed the Missouri River (for about the 5th time that day) and stayed that evening at the Victorian Acres RV Park & Campground in Nebraska City. Angie and her black lab were super nice waiting in the office for us to show up… it was close to 7pm. I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and we opened up a bottle of 2004 red wine (a very earthy pinot noir) that we had purchased in a quaint little shop near the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy in April of 2008. Boy did that taste good… we are really enjoying the motorhome experience. It was raining, cold and damp… but who cares! We did a couple of loads of laundry, straightened up the “digs” and we all got a good night’s sleep.

P.S. Mom’s goose egg looks so much better… the color of her cheek goes from dark eggplant to greenish-grey… much of it pocketed under her eye and the top of her cheekbone. She’s scares herself when she looks in the mirror.

Day 3 - Forsyth, GA - Goreville, IL

Day 3 – Forsyth, Georgia to Goreville, Illinois

Another good trek to Goreville, Illinois… 493 miles at 7.5 hours. We missed the early morning Atlanta rush hour traffic, crossed the state of Tennessee on I-24 through Chattanooga and Nashville and also crossed the West side of Kentucky near the Land Between the Lakes. There is a dam and an extremely high or tall lock near Paducah on the Ohio River. We thought of our friends Greg and Michelle… so we had to call and leave Michelle a voice mail and out of the blue, Greg called. He said we were in his old stomping grounds.

We stopped for the night in Goreville at the Ferne Clyffe State Park. We parked in a grove of gold leaf birch trees and sat outside enjoying the 60 degree weather. Brigit was entertained by the numerous squirrels running around the park and I think they purposely stayed just far enough away to tease her.

Day 2 - Palm City, FL - Forsyth, Georgia

Day 2 – Palm City, Florida to Forsyth, Georgia

I’ve decided another reason why we are so behind on our blog postings is because of the view. The oversized picture windows on the motorhome provide a beautiful view of our country. I can’t stop looking out the windows long enough to finish a post… sorry about that.

We made good time today… 501 miles and 8 hours of driving. We stayed at L & D RV Park which was tucked in the rolling hills of Georgia just north of Macon. We got a taste of the pretty color change of the leaves during the drive. Still working out our “arrival” and “departure” checklists.

Day 1 - Marathon, FL to Palm City, FL

YES, we are on the road after lots of planning and deliberation. Had to prepare for a three week trip... want to be comfortable with all of the creature comforts and those that we have become accustom to. Did you know Stone Crab season just opened in the Keys? So before we left town, I picked up 6lbs. of stone crab from Captain Karl... couldn't wait to return for that delicacy.

October 18th... We decided to leave on Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning because we wanted to beat the rush hour traffic through Miami, Ft. Lauderdale & West Palm. Our plan was to leave as close to 2pm as possible... but with the trip to ER, we pulled out of the driveway at 4:05... not bad considering at one point... that moment when I saw Mom laying on the asphalt surrounded by people with an ice bag placed on her head. The days of planning flashed before me... we were NOT going to be able to go.

Now this whole cross-country trip was planned for Maye. Don't get me wrong, it's a trip of a lifetime for Drew and I too. We are so fortunate to have been able to travel and take the time to do it. But now we have Brigit and Riley (a rescued puppy mill Standard Poodle and her black Goldendoodle son) and we hate to leave them even for a few days. And Mom is at the point in her life that she can't or does not want to travel by plane on her own.

Maye is originally from Ogden, Utah where she lived most of her life, raised her family of five and adored her husband Spencer. Mom and Dad had been married for 56 years before he passed away of his third bout with cancer in 1996. It was quite a surprise to Mom when I told her I was leaving Utah to move to the Florida Keys in October of 1998. She visited several times and in 2001 decided to permanently move to the fabulous Florida Keys where she lives in a 1957 conch house next to me.

OK OK get to the point.... Mom isn't getting any younger and she really wanted to go back to Utah and not in a casket (those were her words, not mine). Well she also wanted to see her sons in Victoria, BC and Utah, her daughter in Idaho and while we're at it... she wants to play bridge with her girlfriends in Ogden... those that are still alive... come on, let's be honest. Add to that... her younger brother and a niece in Washington state, etc. etc. So we decided to buy a motorhome, take Maye on a cross country trip to visit friends and family in her 89th year. What an adventure it's going to be!

Back to Day 1 - Drew drove 206 miles in 4 hours to Palm City, Florida. We have some friends that own some property in Palm City that they are developing around some beautiful little lakes... it's going to be a water skiing community. We arrived after dark, unlocked the Masterlock bolt and drove in to a flat spot... all alone.

A nice bottle of Beringer voiginer, stone crab for dinner... settled in for our first night of trippin' in our KeyZRV.

Preface:

Preface – We must apologize… it’s day 5 and I can finally start our blog. You would think that there would be plenty of time to sit and type on the laptop but I think it’s almost been more work taking care of Mom, managing the abundance of “stuff” in the motor home, stepping over the dogs and working out the squeaks and rattles of a new “used” motorhome. We are traveling across America or should I say diagonal in a 31 foot Gulfstream Yellowstone Class C motorhome and it takes some getting used to. We hope you enjoy reading about our travels from Marathon in the Florida Keys all the way to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada… 7200 miles round trip. Let’s see how close we are to that. Please ignore the typos, spelling and grammar errors.

Oh and one last thing to mention… we were having a hard time thinking of just the right name for our blog. Well it just seems fitting to start out by Trippin’… on the afternoon we were going to start our adventure that we had been preparing for at least a month, Maye to you, or Mom to us, tripped at the Dog Park Barktoberfest event. She went down hard, landed her left hip, elbow and immediately got the largest goose egg on her forehead that I have ever seen. This was approximately 12:55 pm on Sunday, October 18th. Drew rushed her to Fishermans Hospital where they did a complete examination and tests. NO broken hip. NO fractured skull. NO broken bones. At 89 years old, Maye is one tough woman. By the time she was released, the egg had already started to drain into her eye and cheek. Lots of ice packs and we were on the road at about 4pm.