Saturday - across Minnesota and Wisconsin

I mentioned yesterday that Sioux Falls didn't live up to their advertising phot. The quartzite rock around the falls really is beautiful, and I'm sure the falls are in Spring or when it rains.

On Friday we drove across most of Minnesota to Rochester. On Saturday, we crossed the Mississippi River into Wisconsin. Remember Gretchen in Seattle? Her cousin, Kim, lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin with her husband Rick. They have two kids, Rosa (12) and Henry (8):




They live in a really neat house made of cobblestones:









Poppa parked the trailer in their yard for the night, and we had a really nice visit. On Sunday morning, they took us to Rick's parents' house where Nana and Poppa had a chance to cool off in the swimming pool before getting back on the road. I hope we get to visit them again. They like to camp,so Poppa invited them to come to Pittsburgh so we can show them Ohiopyle.

Sunday was the worst travel day of the entire trip. We tried to go south around Chicago on I-294. If you're going from Wisconsin to Indiana, go north to Sault St. Marie, maybe into Canada, and back south through Michigan. Or, go west to Iowa, south through Missouri and Arkansas, then up through Tennessee and Kentucky. DON'T take I294 around Chicago.

They are doing a lot of construction on I-294, but still have the nerve to charge money to drive on it. AND charge you again. And again. Every few miles we were forced to leave the road and cross 3 or 4 toll lanes to the "$ only" lane, wait in a long line, and be told "That'll be $4.25" or "That'll be $2.75." Then we had to merge back onto the highway. Then we got to an unattended toll booth - exact change required. Poppa threw a couple dollars at it in disgust. He thinks he'll probably get a nasty letter from Illinois asking for more money.

Finally, at another toll booth with an attendant, Poppa had to pay another $2.75. Poppa asked "How many miles will this buy me?" She said "This is the last toll booth in Illinois." Poppa said "Thank God! Get me out of Illinois!"

(That's not exactly what he said, but I'm not allowed to type the real words.)
Poppa was happier to get out of Illinois than Nana was to get out of the desert.

We stopped in Richmond, Indiana for a few days so Nana could visit her mom again:





Finally, on Thursday, July 12, we got home to Pittsburgh! Our trip was 2 days shy of 3 months, and covered 13,073 miles! And Poppa finally found the beer with the picture of a fish on it:





I'm glad he found it, because he had worked so hard looking for it. Nana celebrated the homecoming too:





And I celebrated it with a friend:




On Friday, Siggie and I sat back and watched Nana and Poppa run around the house:
"Where does this go?"
"Why don't we have enough hangers?"
"Look at all the weeds in the flower beds."
"All the grass is brown."
"Look at the wasp nest by the garage door."
"There goes the groundhog past the trailer."
"The turkeys are all over the back yard."
"Where does this go?"

So, my story is almost over. I still owe you pictures of Glacier, and I'll post some again when we see Autumn and Brenna on Tuesday.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Happy 4th of July! (and 5th and 6th)

(We had no phone service Wednesday evening and almost no WiFi. Thursday in Sioux Falls and Friday in Rochester MN it was too hot to do any blogging.)

On the 4th of July, hotter than a firecracker, we drove through the Badlands. They are well named, as you can see:









One brochure talked about "vibrant colors", but I don't think so. Remember ROY-G-BIV from our talks about rainbows? The spectrum here is more like RTY-T-TTT: a washed-out red, a tan, a washed-out yellow, and four more shades of tan.

The sculptured shapes are interesting. It looks like a pile of sugar that would melt in the rain. The history of the landscape is interesting and a lot of early mammal fossils have been found here.

I did find one vibrant green rock and thought I'd sit down for a rest:





Whoa!!!!




Leaving the Badlands National Park, we stopped at a museum commemorating Wounded Knee. It was very well done, very sad, and made the new Americans look pretty bad with the way they treated the old Americans:




On the other hand, Poppa is reading "Last of the Breed" by Louis L'Amour, in which a modern Sioux Indian is asked if he hates the white Americans. He replies "Why should I? My people came west from the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, and we conquered or overrode all that got in our path. We moved into the Dakotas, into Montana and Wyoming and Nebraska. The Kiowa had come down from the Black Hills, driving out those who were there before them. Then we drove them out."

So I guess lots of people have been mean to lots of other people. That's sad.

It's interesting to learn about this when we have just been in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, the Black Hills, and tomorrow will cross the Minnesota-Wisconsin border - the places this happened.

But I digress. The Wounded Knee museum is in Wall, South Dakota, population 818. Wall is known for "Wall Drug", a drug store purchased by Mr. & Mrs. Hustead in 1931. They needed a gimmick to get people to stop here, so they advertised free ice water, which was nice in 1931 when people didn't have air conditioning in their cars. They kept inventing gimmicks, and Wall Drug became famous. Now Wall has a block-long street with a dozen souvenir stores, several of them always advertising "going-out-of-business" sales.

Do you remember those cute little Miata sports cars that I saw in Moab back on May 6, "Moab to Virgin"? Well, Nana's cousin Mary Ellen and her husband Tom met us in Wall. They had driven their Miata from Indianapolis to California for their son's wedding and were driving back to Indianapolis when we met them in Wall. They had just driven through the Badlands on a gravel road with the top down!










Notice the license plate. We all had a nice lunch and did some souvenir shopping. Tom bought a nice jackalope ornament for their Christmas tree. I even got a ride in a covered wagon with Poppa chasing me:






We didn't get a picture of Tom, but Mary Ellen said she has a nice picture of him wearing a cowboy hat. I'll post it as soon as Mary Ellen sends it to Nana.

They left for Indianapolis and we headed back to our campground. On the way we stopped at a restored homestead from the early 1900s. This was similar to what Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in "Little House on the Prairie". It was a pretty hard way to make a living:





















On Thursday we drove to Sioux Falls. Poppa had seen a picture of a suspension bridge in a travel brochure. It looked really neat, so we drove country roads 30 miles out of our way to see it. Here it is (Nana isn't really smiling, she's gritting her teeth):





Friday morning, before we left Sioux Falls, we went to see the falls, which looked really big and beautiful in a travel brochure:





I think there's a lesson to be learned here about travel brochures.

Poppa asked me to post this winescape for Rich and Dave:




Posted from Nana's iPad

Custer, SD to Interior, SD

There was one picture I forgot to show you yesterday, from the restaurant where we ate lunch. Nana made me post this:




We only drove 120 miles today, so I thought this would be a short blog. Wrong - I feel like talking.

We left the scenic rocks around Custer and drove north to Rapid City, then turned east. The land got flat, dry, dusty, brown. OK - there were some rolling hills, but the rest is true.

Everything was brown. Even the few creeks we crossed had tan water. It was 100 degrees. You know how hot that is in Nana degrees. Very loud.

Sometimes we saw houses "crowded together" - only two miles between them!

In the last 70 miles, we passed one Prius (he pulled out right in front of Poppa, only a mile ahead with no warning!), and one truck passed us. He was probably in a hurry to get out of here.

We saw some horses in the fields, usually 1 or 2, just standing out in the middle, looking around and chatting. What is it with cows? We would see herds of 10 to 30, and they were always standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the corner of a fenced field - not out in the field, not along the fence, but in the CORNER of a fenced field. Think about how warm a cow's shoulder is. Aside from not being very good looking, I don't think they're as smart as horses.

We did see one cow standing at the edge of a hill by himself. We hollered "Don't jump!", but he just said "I can't take it here anymore!"

Remember the "cute" prairie dogs from yesterday? They may be cute, but I don't think they're cuddly. Today we saw signs that said "Prairie Dogs May Have Plague". Try googling "prairie dog plague", and look for "ferret" at the same time. Fascinating reading that has changed my snack preference from prairie dog back to Cherry Coke and Salt & Vinegar Chips.

We went through the corner of the Badlands National Park - you'll see pictures tomorrow that show how it got its name. Nana read that the Indians (old Americans) gave it that name.

We passed the town of Scenic - Poppa is considering filing a law suit against them. (Poppa says "rimshot", whatever that means.)

Remember "old Americans/new Americans" from our day at Little Bighorn? Sometimes they're called "Indians/white men" or "native Americans/settlers". Anyway, in 1868, the new Americans promised the old Americans that they could keep the western half of South Dakota "as long as the rivers run and the grass grows." (Have Mommy show you on the wall map where South Dakota is.)

Well, in 1874, the new Americans found all of their piggy banks were empty, and needed new, free land to live on. South Dakota, here we come!! (A guy named Custer - remember him? - also just happened to have some geologists with him when he passed through here in 1864, and they found GOLD. How convenient.)

So, in 1876, the old Americans kicked new American butt, but (no pun intended) lost out in the long run. If you ask an old American "did the new Americans steal your land?", he would say "Yes." If he's honest, he would also say "But we stole it from the Crow Indians and they stole it from someone else."

Just for grins, you might Google "dakota nakota lakota".

When we checked in at the campground, the woman at the desk, Kim, asked "Are you Steeler fans?" She had seen that we are from Pittsburgh.
Poppa said "YES!" Kim told us that her cousin married Joe Greene, and that she (Kim) was a flower girl in the wedding!




"Mean Joe Greene", aside from being one of the greatest football players EVER (and a REALLY nice guy off the field), was in one of the best advertisements EVER in the history of television.

I also got to ride a horse:




There would be a very exciting video here of me riding this beautiful mustang across the plains, but local WiFi limits and YouTube stupidity that requires reentering all info precludes posting it.

After setting up at the campground, Poppa stayed with me while I typed and Nana went to do laundry and cool off in the pool.

Do you know the difference between a "swift" and a "swallow"? Neither did we. Until we saw something on the bridge next to the campground and had to check it out. After asking Google, we still don't know. Maybe you can help us. Lots of very fast (swift) birds were flying around in the air around the bridge over the White River. When we walked over there, we saw lots of bugs, probably because of the water nearby. Here are some pictures from under the bridge:



Can you see the cone-shaped nests the birds build?




Tomorrow we take a tour of the Badlands and meet Nana's cousin Mary Ellen. Do you remember that I mentioned her when we were in Moab? I don't now if she will be driving her cute little car.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Monday south of Custer, South Dakota

I finally got a picture of prairie dogs:




Today we went to Wind Cave. This is the 6th longest cave in the world, at 130 or so miles of underground tunnels. AND, all of it is under 1 square mile of the park. AND, they think less than 5% of the tunnels have been mapped! I guess if you got one of those natural sponges at the store and started crawling through every little opening, that's what it would be like underground here. It gets its name because it breathes in or out depending on the high or low pressure systems in the outside weather. Today it was breathing in. It can have a 70 mph wind at its little entrance. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the natural entrance. I would fit through it, as would Autumn, Quinn, Tessa, and Brenna. Poppa and Nana? Nope - they had to go through a big revolving door.

Here is a picture from inside the cave:



After Wind Cave, we went to The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. Mammoths used to live here, and about 26,000 years ago some fell into a pond and got covered up. Paleontologists are digging up their bones now. The whole site is inside a building:









Mammoths looked a lot like elephants, but bigger. An elephant would only reach up to this ones chin:




When we got back to the campground, Poppa said this was a great
remuda, whatever that is:




Poppa asked me to include this wine-scape for Rich and Dave. I'm not sure that's how the nursery rhyme goes :




Posted from Nana's iPad

Location:Beaver Lake Rd,Custer,United States

Sunday: Custer State Park and Mt. Rushmore

Today we started out driving the "Wildlife Loop" through Custer State Park. We saw the most bison so far:




The park has about 950 bison. When the babies arrive in June, that goes up to about 1,450. In the Fall, they round them up in a corral and auction off about 500 to ranchers who want to raise them or for meat. This keeps the herd at the right size for the grass available in the park. I'm coming back for the auction - yum! We're having bison burgers for dinner tonight.


We saw prairie dogs, but they're too small to get a good picture. We saw pronghorn, but they're too far away. The burros were just right - big and close:






We left the park and followed the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway to Mt. Rushmore. It was definitely the curviest road we've been on. I got dizzy on the Pigtail Bridge, but it was cool.

On the way, we got this early view of George, Tom, Teddy, and Abe. You have to look really closely:




We visited a museum that told about Gutzon Borglum, the man who carved Mt. Rushmore. I had my picture taken with one of his sculptures:





After we visited Mt. Rushmore, Poppa stopped to get gas and saw this Dodge Matador. Look at those fins:





A big problem they have here is the pine bark beetle, which burrows under the bark of pine trees and kills them. The dead trees have to be cut down and moved so they don't add to the forest fire problem. It also helps kill 80% of the new beetles and slow their spread.





Another thing that helps slow them down is this little bird:





Some of the bison that live in town dress really strangely:









Back at the campground, another HUGE 5th wheel was pulling in. I hope they don't park next to us - it will be like a solar eclipse.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Saturday: Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota

On Friday, after seeing the battlefield, we had lunch at the Little Big Horn Trading Post. Poppa had something called "fry bread", which is better than it sounds, especially after drizzling some honey on it. Poppa had read about it in Tony Hillerman novels and wanted to try it.

When we came out of the trading post, Poppa saw a strange looking cloud in the distance. It was puffy and white, like a lot of pretty clouds, but it seemed to reach to the ground. He decided to get a closer look. We drove about 25 miles east on RT 212. The cloud didn't change much and was still pretty far off, so we turned around and headed back to the campground. We were still thinking about how strange it looked. When we got back, Nana turned on the news and found out that the cloud was the Ash Creek wildfire, about 35 miles from where we had turned around. There was already a fire called the Dahl Fire that was burning north of the campground when we arrived, one of the worst ever in Montana. Colorado has it's worst wildfire ever.

This is an interesting article about the people who fight wildfires.

You might consider signing this petition.

Yesterday we drove from Hardin, Montana to Custer, South Dakota. The wind had blown the smoke from the Ash Creek fire all the way down to I-90, and it made our eyes burn.

We stopped at a Walmart in Sheridan, Wyoming to get Nana's glasses fixed. The nice lady there used to live in Weirton, West Virginia.

We saw a lot of signs that said "Road closed ahead when lights are flashing. Return to ...", where "..." was whatever town we had just gone through. There were also gates that came down over the road, like at a railroad crossing. The gates had their own signs, promising jail time and a $750 fine to violators. Poppa says either they get a lot of snow here, or the local Chambers of Commerce have cooked up a good way to get travelers to spend more time in these little towns.

As we drove across Wyoming, we saw another strange looking cloud. We made a little detour to see The devil's Tower National Monument:





Then we watched the cloud as we drove down RT 585 and RT 85. As we got to Newcastle, we took these pictures:










A lot of people were stopped by the roadside watching it. It was probably 20 miles west of us, in the Thunder Basin National Grasslands. We haven't seen anything about it on the news.

Time to go explore South Dakota!

Posted from Nana's iPad

Little Bighorn, the Sioux are too smart for Custer's Luck

Today we visited the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. New Americans wanted to expand across the country (Manifest Destiny, courtesy of President polk), but old Americans were in their way. What to do? Push the old Americans out of the way.

One of the new American soldiers sent to do that wasn't as smart as he thought, and the old Americans taught him a lesson.






But ultimately there were too many new Americans, and the old Americans were pushed out of the way.

We drove through the land where this happened and saw some horses. Can you see the foal with its Mommy?




Here is a nice pinto (that means its coat is spotted brown/white/black)




When we came back, it was 1:30, which must be nap time for foals:





We got back to the campground and it was over 100 degrees. What's a Tigger to do? Head for the pool!





Notice how I'm still working on my Spanish in case Nana and Poppa invite me on their Peru trip in September? I think they'll fall for it.

Tomorrow we're off to see something called Mt. Rushmore.

Posted from Nana's iPad