Aberdeen SD (Sept 13-14)

Just a quick overnight in a Walmart parking lot. On our way there, we went through a serious bug storm. Had to stop and wash the windshields twice in 15 miles just so we could see out. It was gross.

After setting up the slide at Walmart we couldn't get it back in !! The screw had broken on the gear thing but Vic was able to fix it ... Thank God. I really didn't want to spend one more night at Walmart, but they are very kind to travelers and its nice for a quick over night.

Hill City SD (Sept 7 - 12)

Found a wonderful RV campground with huge sites and open fields for Moe to run in right out side of Hill City, SD. We are now after Labor Weekend and got a 40 percent savings off from their standard rates. Planned to post up here for 3 nights but ended up staying 5 just because we loved the area and because I needed a grieving day after Jeff flew home on the 10th. He was an absolute joy to have along and we miss him so much. His enthusiasm and his willingness to help with the heavy stuff, as well as serving us pancakes and Eggs Benedict in bed .... will be missed for the rest of the trip. But I am glad he was able to join us for the time he did and now he is ready to get on with the next steps in his life. But Jeffy .... so you know ... we miss you every day. And yes, I am packing the car right.

We all went to visit Mt Rushmore the first day, once during the day and then back to the lighting ceremony in the evening. Lexi was hilarious, holloring out .... "Look guys ... its that Dude" when she was the first to catch the profile of Washington as we approached the top. The lighting ceremony was remarkable and a privilege for us to be a part of honoring our veterans in such a way. Very moving for both kids. Our neighbor Bob from California, at the RV park, is a Vietnam war vet, and we were able to convince him to join us for the lighting ceremony on September 11, 2010. He had tears in his eyes after the ceremony and told us it was the first time he had truly been welcomed home. I am so glad we got to be a part of that for him. Probably 250 vets went down on stage that night.

I made the reservations for Jeff to fly home the evening of the 8th for the 9th, or so I thought until the next morning, early, when I went to print him his boarding pass, only to find out his flight was on the 10th. Since we were up early, and its Jeff's favorite time of day, we decided to head out early morning through the Needles Highway Loop where the road is literally cut through the cliffs. It was amazing to see in the early morning light.

That evening we headed to the Badlands so Jeff could see them before he left the next morning. We brought Moe with us, which turned out to be a very good idea. Hit the Badlands about an hour before sunset and the colors where beautiful. Strange area though ... makes you wonder if you are still on planet earth. We had never seen anything like it. The trip home was quite eventful. Huge lightening storms over the entire sky with almost continuous strikes and heavy heavy rain. Went from 70 mph to 25 mph when it hit. Just crawled along the freeway, thinking that was safe than stopping, and we finally drove through it. Figured we had us all in the car, including Moe, so anything that happened to the RV would just be "stuff". But when we got back, it didn't look like the storm had hit camp.

Jeff left on an early morning flight the next day and after a few tears, we decided to just stay a few more days and relax. Lexi really wanted to go to Mt Rushmore to celebrate the anniversary of 9/11 and honor our vets again. We enjoyed it even more the second time around.

The taste treat of the week was fresh home made pie from the Purple Pie Place in Custer, SD. Bought an apple the first day and actually drove back for a peach the next day. They were unbelievably good.

Here's a few pics of our time in the Rushmore Area. I am going to be figuring out how to post a link to a Picassa Web album that will have the rest of the pictures.

Cody WY (Sep 3 - 6)

Finally got the pictures from the camera to the computer and had to go back and update this part of our trip with the pictures of our night out at Cassie's to celebrate our anniversary.
















Our camp site in Cody. Nice clean shiny bus !!!!



And that's what we call a good hair day in this household !!


Arrived in Cody WY on Friday of Labor Day Weekend. We were a little worried about getting a spot but had no problems. Pulled into Ponderosa RV park. Sites were a little close together but it worked out. We ended up taking 3 tent spots and actually had more room than if we had taken an RV spot. The last day a mobile service came and washed the RV. The guy that did it is a police officer from Cody and does this on the side. He was very impressed with Jeff's wax job. Got laundry completed, thanks to Lexi who did it all .... wash, dried, ironed, folded or hung up AND put away. While she was doing that we scoured the inside of the bus, treated all the wood and organized. Got great pictures of us all dressed up to go out to dinner but they are on the camera, so will post later. Had a wonderful steak dinner at Cassie's Steakhouse in Cody and Jeff and Lexi talked to the waiter without us knowing and had an anniversary dessert brought to the table. Made us so proud of them!!!!

Did not do the Buffalo Bill Museum and regretting it now.We just had a hard time because the only thing offered was a 2 day admission to 5 museums but Lexi and Jeff did go to the Dug Up Gun Museum.

The absolute best part of our journey to Cody was our day drive .... a 10 hour drive and too long on Moe to be left behind. He was good but missed us too much.

We started the driving going to Meeteetse, WY (population 250)and had a drink with Jeff at the Cowboy Saloon where Butch Cassidy was arrested on trumped up horse thieving charges and spent 18 months in jail. He was actually arrested for talking about planning on robbing the local bank, built in 1904 and still standing. It is now a museum but holds the distinction of having never been robbed.

We had seen a write up on "The Cowboy Chocolatier". His name is Tim Kellogg and he is a local rancher that opened up the chocolate store in Meeteetse. Not only is he fabulous at what he does, but he is an absolute stud too and we got to see him .... thought Lexi was going to swoon to the floor. Had the best treat there (other than the glimpse of Mr. Kellogg ... lol) ... Sea Salt Caramel covered in dark chocolate. Everything was good but that was the best. They don't allow pictures to be taken in the shop, but if you look him up, you will see what I mean.

We left Meeteetse and drove west on the main road for about 6 miles and then turned onto a gravel road for about 30 miles that ended as a 4 wheeling road going over and through streams. We made it fine in the tracker and Jeff had a good time driving it. Our destination was Kirwin, WY, a ghost mining town.



View of our drive up through the mountain gorge heading to Kirwin.



In 1907, Kirwin, at 9000 feet, had a population of 200 people and 38 buildings, when it was hit with a record snow storm that dumped 100 feet of snow on the town in 9 days of straight blizzards that got stuck in the gorge. An avalanche hit the town, destroying many buildings and killing 3 people. A rescue mission was sent up from Meeteetse, and every resident left immediately and no one has lived there since. The locals say that when the went back the next spring, dinner dishes with food had been left at the dining room tables of many homes. People left that quick. Amelia Erhart and her husband built there but their home site was abandoned following her disappearance.

We saw old log cabins, still standing from the early 1900's, the mine, which you can go into and look around and lots of old mining equipment. Jeff was so excited and had such a wonderful time that his whole attitude was contagious. He has such a passion for history and all things old. I will never forget that day and all the joy in watching him and listening to his excitement. What a great kid !! And the other one had a good time too and behaved herself.



Jeff and I at the entrance to the mine.


The Kirwin mine that survived the avalanche.

!!
Bother and sister trying out the double seater outhouse. For real.








Sorry that was a little long but was one of our absolute high lights. Will update from Cody on tomorrow. The sun has broke out of the clouds here and it is just absolutely gorgeous.



This a truck Jeff and Vic saw in Cody WY.

West Yellowstone (Aug 29 - Sep 3)

Arrived at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone on advice from Bob, a fellow RV-er in Ennis. Was told they had been turning down up to 50 RV's a day, but we lucked out and they had room for us.

The first few days were cold and rainy. We had bought a National Parks Pass at Glacier and it paid for itself by just Glacier and Yellowstone. We drove through Yellowstone and up to Old Faithful one day. Lexi completed the Young Scientist Program there, which is a Junior Ranger Program but a little more intense and really studied the rocks, geology and volcanic history of the Yellowstone Area. She did a good job and we all ended up learning a lot.

Took one day and just stayed home (the boys went out to play pool) and got caught up on her schooling. I am finding that it is too easy to forget about math and spelling and such when we are surrounded by such amazing history and nature. We have decided that at least one day a week will be for the other subjects and for recording our lessons. She is having a blast learning. The only real issue we are having is the internet math program but she is ahead of schedule on that now too.

The geysers were amazing. We ended up seeing a bald eagle take off right by us from a river bed, squirrels, a swan, a coyote, bluebirds, geese, lots of elk and of course, buffalo. Jeff was excited to see the buffalo as they walk right beside, or over, the road without a care in the world. One our way out of Yellowstone, by Yellowstone Lake, we saw a young bear cub. It came up from the ditch, saw the RV and turned right around and hid again.

We hadn't planned initially on going through Yellowstone but I am so thankful we did. Both kids enjoyed it very much

Ennis, MT (Aug 27-29)

We spent 2 days in Ennis, MT after a gorgeous drive from Glacier down. Went to Virginia City and Nevada City and walked through all the old historic buildings we could. Rainy and cool but we enjoyed ourselves.

Best part of our stay in Ennis was the surprise of going out to eat at a little diner called "The Continental Divide". Was expecting meat loaf and mashed potatoes, and instead it was a gourmet, 5 star restaurant opened by a European chef that had moved to that area to be closer to his family. Amazing dinner. Lexi learned that she didn't like escargot (more for the rest of us) and Jeffy learned he LOVED it (oops, maybe not so much left afterall). Jeff had the best rib eye I have ever tasted, Vic had elk steak that was so good I ate half of it. Lexi had her fill of artichokes and Caesar salad and I had scallops. We shared 2 of their desserts, which were decadent. We got to meet the chef. Left our credit card there and didn't realize it until we were in West Yellowstone and the chef was kind enough to over night mail it down to us so we didn't have to backtrack.

Will edit this post and add pictures when the camera pictures are available.

More from Montana (Aug 20-27)

Jeffrey at our camp in Hungry Horse. Taking a break after setting camp.



Jeff and Lexi at the reservoir above Hungry Horse Dam.



Same spot. Jeffrey taught Lexi how to skip a rock !!



Can you say "Hurry up and throw the stick Jeff"?



Lexi and Jeff on the Going to the Sun Road in Glacier.





Hi all. Trying to get everything updated today with pictures. Still haven't got the cord to transfer photos from my camera to the computer, but we have a lot of cell phone pix so at least you can see what we are doing.

We stayed in Hungry Horse for a week. We ALL ended up going on the zip line tour at Whitefish .... what a RUSH !!! Three hour guided tour and 6 zip lines. It was a little spendy but an amazing time. The picture above is at the Swinging Bridge outside of Libby MT. Jeff had been there before and wanted us to see it. Lots of fun except for when he was rocking the bridge and I was trying to walk across.

Weather was cool but sunny and hot on the day of the zip line tours. We had plenty of room for Jeff to set up the tent in our camp and he slept out there every night but one. Lexi and I tried to sleep out there one night with the cover off so we could see the stars. She woke up in the middle of the night afraid. When I asked why, she said in a shook-up voice .... "I can see EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING can see ME!!" So we went back into the RV.

Hello from Hungry Horse

Hello all. We arrived safely in Hungry Horse MT, about 5 miles from the west entrance to Glacier National Park. We spent one day driving over Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road ... Jeffy did all the driving and it was beautiful but oh so cold at the top. Yesterday was a rest day and today we are headed to Whitefish to ride the zip line. At least they are going to. We will see if I am brave enough to do it. We have a great place at Mountainview RV Park in an end site with about 40 yards of trees and brush out our front door before the next site and road. Moe has done well without a chain and is adjusting to having different people and animals around.

Will post pictures when we get them transferred to the computer. We plan to leave here Friday morning heading south towards Yellowstone, then through Wyoming to South Dakota, a small change in plans but all part of the journey as we take advice from everyone we can.

Lexi is doing a great job getting school work done every day. Jeffy will continue with us until after Labor Day weekend for sure. It has been a HUGE help having him along.

More later along with pictures.