Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Oh My!

We are making our trek home.  It's just days of driving now with nothing to see but thousands of tolls in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.  Before we made our way out of Wisconsin yesterday, we bought some cheese because you have to.  It's Wisconsin.

Trying Wisconsin cheese curds. 

It was an uneventful drive except for all the tolls.  Seriously, Illinois must be the richest state ever.  We stopped in South Bend, IN for gas and saw signs for Notre Dame.  I wanted to go so bad!  Another trip later maybe.

We stopped over in Maumee, OH for the night.  We arrived late because there was a lot of traffic getting out of Wisconsin.  It added a lot of time, so it was about 830p when we rolled in last night.  We're up early again this morning trying to make it home this afternoon.  Hopefully we've seen the last of the weather for the trip although I hear it's raining back home too.  :/ Now to adjust back into real life.  Boo!

Wisconsin!

If you're ever looking to drive from South Dakota to Winconsin, all you have to do is get on 90 East for the rest of your life.  It was a straight shot.  Unfortunately, on our way we spotted a car that was painted with the words "Tornado Chasers."  It passed us.  Kevin and I laughed as I checked the weather.  It said partly cloudy and that was all.  The skies looked a bit gray though.  We got half way into Minnesota, and it started raining.  When I checked the weather again, it said there was a tornado watch issued until 10p that night.  We drove through some wicked rain, even having to pull over on the side of the road again.  There was no hail this time, so that was nice.

We were that little blue dot.

I kept the weather up alerting Kevin when he was about to enter a red cell again.  There was hardly any lightening or thunder, but my phone alarm went off to alert flash flood warnings also.  I had looked earlier for a campsite in La Crosse, WI after realizing that the Little House Museum was an hour out of the way.  I think I would've pushed more to get there if I had any avid Little House girls, but none of them were ever really taken with it even though we have all the books.  In the pouring down rain, we arrived at our campsite which was a stone's throw away from the Mississippi River (flood warnings, remember?).  

We set up shop, and Rory complained that the rug by the stove was wet and the rug on the walkway.  Kevin checked and found a leak.  He got our big towel and put it down.  He's keeping an eye on it, but there's nothing we can do about it until we get back.  The forecast had rain all night with some potential bad t-storms.  Luckily, after a couple of hours, it looked like it was going to be just rain.  That was after a huge thunder cracked, and the kids all ran down from their beds to huddle together.  We thought of grandma who always says how she likes listening to the rain to help her fall asleep.  

We made it to a cathedral for Mass this morning!  St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse was beautiful!  We ran to Walmart after for some essentials, to change, and have breakfast.  We're on the road now shooting for Toledo.  It's a late start and a long drive, so we'll see how far we make it. More storms are expected on our route.  I told Kevin that when people ask, we shouldn't say we went on a cross country RV vacation.  We should say we storm chased.  Let's recap.  1. tornado in OK 2. threat of tornado in WY 3. threat of tornado and bad storms in SD 4. threat of tornado and bad storms in MN/WI 

We named this trip the Big Bucy Bonanza, but Kevin renamed it the Big Bucy Blowout.  :)

South Dakota!

We made it to South Dakota around 6p Thursday evening.    The campground was nice and spacious, so our neighbor wasn't right next to us.  It was a huge place with a pool, playground, etc.  We checked out the facilities, had dinner, and played some games.  We started with Yahtzee  and switched to Spoons, the family favorite.  

We planned to wake early in the morning and get to Mount Rushmore before the rush.  ;) Kevin and I woke up at 530a, did prayers, gathered up all the cords, and left.  The kids were still in their beds.  We told them this was the one and only time we were going to do this, and it was to get there early while they could still sleep.  Kaelyn freaked out a little bit when I started to retract the slide out.  It was a little funny.  

We arrived 15 minutes later to Mount Rushmore.  There was no parking attendant at the gate, so Kevin got out and tried to find someone.  The guard said that since we were there so early, there was no one to take the money and to just go on in.  SCORE!  We parked right up front in the RV parking, and the kids woke up and got dressed.  We decided to check out the place first and then go back to the RV for some breakfast.  Marley has been sick since Wednesday, so she woke especially cranky, and we gave her some Motrin.  She has a cold though, so it was more to just try and soothe whatever ailments we could soothe.  There were only three other people there and one of them was washing the walkways.

We went back to the RV and had breakfast.  All the shops and such didn't open until 8a anyway.  This was one of those things where when you see it, you can be pretty much done.  We headed back out and joined the crowds.

There was a park ranger announcing a 30 minutes tour, so we went on it.

We learned the whole story of how Mount Rushmore came into existence.  The park ranger told lots of stories about the presidents chosen.  

He also told about how Jefferson has a crack across his cheek and lips, and that the sculptor faced his head only upwards, so the crack didn't go across his nose.  All the other presidents are at 90 degrees.  The park ranger's favorite president was Teddy Roosevelt.  He told a lot about his life and how he was responsible for making the Grand Canyon a National Park.  This made Marley all excited because we learned about Teddy at The Grand Canyon too, so she went and told the park ranger.  He thought it was cool.

Did you all know that we have Thomas Jefferson to thank for ice cream?  Apparently, Jefferson had some in Europe, and when he came to the states there was none, so he wrote down the first recipe for ice cream.  And guess what the park sells?!  Thomas Jefferson's ice cream.

Everyone but Rory got TJ's ice cream.  They had strawberry cheesecake ice cream, so Rory chose that.  The folks who had it said it tasted a bit carmelized and creamier.  No one finished their ice creams by the way.  This was at 10a when they opened.

We found the Maryland flag and took a pic.

This was a staircase down that no one knew where it led, so we went down it.  It was a little cave where you could look up and see just Washington.

We shopped for souvenirs.  Marley added to her stuffed animal collection.  She has bought a stuffed animal from each place we've stopped.  Mount Rushmore's Link is the teddy on the far left, then there's Daniel the sea lion from San Fran with Clawser the crab on his lap, then S'more the owl from Oklahoma, and Brighty the donkey from The Grand Canyon with a postcard.

While we were shopping for souvenirs, we came across animal totems.  They were animal necklaces shaped out of stones with meanings of what each animal symbolized.  There was one pig totem, and Rory went crazy.  She had no money left if you remember.  She was trying to find it to show to me, but she had lost it on the display.  While she's searching frantically for it, Logan appears with it and had bought it for her (enter tears from a proud momma).  

They embraced and for a few moments and actually liked and appreciated each other.  Don't worry, it didn't last long.  ;)

We were done at Mount Rushmore before lunch, so we went to Walmart to get some things.  I grabbed a bucket of fried chicken from Walmart's hot bar while we were at it.  We got back to the campground, and the kids had lunch outside.

Kevin and I did laundry and then had some lunch too.  I am short on meals, so after lunch I made some food for me.  We relaxed a bit finishing up laundry and decided to head into Hill City for some shopping and a nice family dinner.

We went to some quaint little shops where little souvenirs were bought here and there.  We finally ended up at an early dinner.

Sorry it's so blurry.  It's a selfie fail!

We tried a steakhouse thinking we might get lucky like we did in Pawhuska, but we didn't.  I decided to throw caution to the wind.  I asked for just salt on my steak and to grill it.  I ordered sweet potato fries even though they were cooked in soy oil, and I got broccolini for my side.  I figured that since I was being so particular in asking just for salt, the waitress would order the other food with just salt.  Nope.  The broccolini had all sorts of stuff on it, and the sweet potato fries did too.  I just went with it so I could enjoy a meal with my family.

By the way, Kaelyn had on her swanky sunglasses, and I noticed that she was walking with a swagger.  She says she was singing a song in her head and that's why she was swaggering, but I don't believe her.  It was the new sunglasses.

We got back to the campground, and Kevin, Logan, Marley and me walked to the store to buy some firewood.  We've been on this trip forever, and we haven't had one campfire. Kevin started up a fire, we broke out some more ice cream (no one wanted smores), and played some more spoons.

It was a great night.  Unfortunately I got no sleep last night from my stomach being upset.  :( We got up this morning, packed it up, packed it in, and we're heading to La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Salt Lake City! Wyoming!

Yesterday was a straight driving day to Salt Lake City.  We woke at 530a, unhooked and were on the road by 630a.  My google maps took us by Kevin's old stomping grounds, so he told us all the stories of his time living in Scaggs Island.  

Driving days are hard because we make sure the kids are buckled up, but they have plenty of room to stretch out.  Rory gets sick riding at the table, so she has a permanent spot on the couch.  Logan doesn't like sitting on the couch (unless there's a movie on), so I just rotate Kaelyn and Marley between the couch and table.  The sweet spot is the seat on the couch right behind me because then they can lean on the back of my seat for extra room for positioning.  

When we started the trip, Kaelyn and Rory slept in the bunkbeds.  Rory on top, and Kaelyn on the bottom.  Logan and Marley slept in the loft over the driver and passenger seating.  By the second night, Rory was sleeping on the jackknife pull-out couch instead of her bunk.  The past few nights, Logan has taken over her top bunk.  Poor Kaelyn is on the bottom bunk, so we call it the Kaelyn roll for her to get out of bed.

Here are some other pics from the "cabin."

We're discovering that it's worth the extra $40 to stay in RV Parks for the night.  We reserved a spot at a resort in Salt Lake City last night complete with 24 hour laundry which was fantastic.  We put the kids to bed, and Kevin and I went and did laundry.  Oh, and don't think we drove right through the salt flats without stopping for Kaelyn.  With her salt deficiency, it was a must.  We pulled over at a rest stop that had killer bees.  You laugh and think I'm joking, but there were a ton of bees and they flew up to attack you.  Kevin was much chagrined that he didn't get me running around screaming on video.  I think Kaelyn enjoyed herself.

"Hello Lovah"

She was soaking wet with salt water when she got up and left a white residue wherever she went which was straight into the shower!

The kids all have books to read, and we keep telling them to put them down and look out the window!

The Rockies still snowcapped

These are the plains of Wyoming.  

It's beautiful here, but we stopped at a gas station and the attendant was rude, so Kevin marked this off of his places to live.  Every now and then he'll see a view and say he likes it enough to live here again.  ;) I like the views, but I don't see myself living here.  

This view a couple of hours ago wasn't great.  The strip lining was flapping in the wind, so Kevin pulled over and fixed it.  It seems to stick for now, but we'll have to keep an eye on it.  

After this trip of the RV hauling us all around, curving up and down deadly mountains, protecting us from tornadoes and storms, she's been dubbed Lola, to us at least.  She's Nana and Papa's though, so they might call her something else.  She's worked really well for us and will hopefully get us home with no more problems.