13 States, 19 Days, 9 Stops

Since we live in the central part of the states and our families live at opposite ends it provides interesting opportunities. Last year we drove East to New Hampshire for a family wedding. We tried to vacation along the way and fortunately remember the good times. This year Nick had a conference in Montana and there was a family wedding in Utah the same week. It just happened that his half brother lives less than an hour from the conference. So we felt there was sufficient reason to make another big trip and try to vacation along the way. Hopefully we will eventually remember only the good parts. I cannot condense the trip any other way than giving brief points of the highlights, interesting things and funnies.

It will still be a long list but keep in mind this list covers 13 states, 9 different overnight (or longer) stops and 19 days.

For those interested here are the states: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

Just days before the trip my mom had a fall and broke her neck (2 vertebrae C 1 and C2, same as Christopher Reeve’s injury). Everything was put on hold to find out if we needed to change plans. Fortunately her surgery went well. It changed things a bit once we arrived in Utah as we could go visit her in the rehabilitation facility rather than hanging out at the house. Our visits were short. We are grateful she is progressing although it must feel like forever for her.

We drove through horrible rains getting out of Michigan June 18^th to begin our trip, white knuckle driving!

Just about got killed on the expressway going through Chicago with some strange traffic and a car stopped in our lane ahead of us but no visible warning as we rounded a corner and were blinded by the semi to the one side.

Saw a barge up close on the Mississippi just after crossing into Minnesota, at the welcome center.

Saw a stray peacock wandering along the side of I-90 in Minnesota.

Stopped at our first hotel dying to swim but pool was closed due to potential dangerous weather. Just when they called to say the pool was opening the power went out. Tornadoes touched down east of us in the city we had passed through just prior to where we were staying.

We were entranced with the HUGE wind turbine farms. Dan must have taken over 200 pictures. We were trying to figure out just how big they are. On the way home we saw two semis carrying a blade each for a wind turbine. Not sure if we just missed the third semi or what. These blades were longer than one semi bed more like two and easily as wide as the bed. It was overwhelmingly HUGE. I just looked up on Wikipedia and it says they can be anywhere from 65 – 130 feet. I’m guessing these were some of those larger end ones. Just found a picture of something similar to what we saw. The angle doesn’t make it look as large but you can tell the width and also notice the extension on the truck bed!

South Dakota gets the award for most billboards! Wall Drug gets the award for hogging most of the billboards. Yes, we got suckered into Wall Drug but when you have seen billboards for over 300 miles for something you gotta find out what its about. We must admit it was kind of fun.

Had fun seeing Mt Rushmore. Tip for anyone planning to go there. Go first thing in the morning at 8:00 when they open. The place gets extremely crowded by 10. We were glad to be the smart ones who were early. We left soon after the crowds began pouring in!

Montana gets the award for stupidest road construction planning and communication. Huge dips in the road unannounced. Exiting a work zone speed changed back to 75 and no lie, less than a min later we were back to 45 for another work zone. Um, we hadn’t even gotten back up to 65 when we saw the next sign. This is only one small example.

Had a great time visiting with Nick’s half brother Ryan, his wife Sadie (Sarah) and daughter Rosie, and mother Sally (Sarah) – yes three Sarah’s in the room. Also Nick’s half sister Erin flew in from Maryland to see us. That was so kind and what a reunion. I had never met this part of the family and Nick hadn’t seen them since they were little kids. That is well more than 2 decades.

Played in Big Sky MT and managed to have the pool with the 90 foot water slide all to ourselves for a total of 6 hours between two days. It wasn’t the fanciest indoor pool setup but it was just right for us.

Went to Yellowstone for Sam’s birthday with my sister and brother in law, without Nick. Nick attended his conference, did a poster session and a bit of networking.

Enjoyed some wedding festivities for Joseph (Sarah’s nephew) and Marie. Discovered Red Butte Gardens and the cool children’s gardens.

Spent a little bit of time with family for little bits here and there, catching up. Had to visit mom at the rehabilitation facility, which is very nice. The house was SO quiet!

Visited Angel’s grave, fixed our letterbox and also took pictures of every page in our log book. WOW so many people have visited Angel’s grave this past year. So fun. Also got to see the grave stone that was placed next to Angel for my dad.

Of the 6 days we spent in Utah 4 of them were without our car. We were blessed that it made it to where we had help and access to another car. A seal for the transmission blew. Fortunately we got it to the shop before all fluid was gone - barely. There was just enough to not kill the transmission totally. But that fix along with several others found along the way were enough to double the cost of our trip. Heavy sigh! At least the car is working and none too soon. We picked up the car from the shop about 12 hours before we headed back home.

Tortured ourselves with a drive through Wyoming on I-80 until we reached Cheyenne, then headed South to Denver. A gas and potty stop well before Cheyenne was at the most desolate place I have ever seen. It was also the windiest place. There were permanent signs indicating high winds for about a 5 mile stretch. I could only see this gas station. No other civilization in site besides cars traveling.

Kansas wasn’t my favorite place either but aside from our scary experience in Chicago – which is almost expected, I HATED Kansas City. If you want to simply stay on I-70 and drive straight through its kind of like being a mouse with a piece of cheese (the occasional I-70 sign) dangling just barely ahead of you directing you to this lane or that lane. I found myself closing my eyes and chanting “I love Mt Pleasant, I love Mt Pleasant”. We made the mistake of NOT skirting downtown St Louis and doing something similar. At least this way the kids got to see the arch again. Not that they haven't seen it before. But I guess it has been a few years.

We stopped on I-70 in Illinois, east of St Louis for lunch at a place called Blue Springs (I think) home of the mile high pies. They were huge and must admit the lemon meringue pie was quite heavenly. But upon returning to our car it had been taken over by little jumping spiders. There must have been more than 100 of them. It was a bit creepy and I HATE spiders!

Arrived home or to our old home of Champaign, tired and weary but excited to be back in a familiar place. After checking into our cool hotel, the best deal of the trip, we headed straight to the library to finally see the new library that began construction while we lived there. WOW we loved it. Best part was walking into the Children’s area and having the librarian recognize us and show excitement to see us again!

Spent the rainiest 4^th of July I can ever remember making the rounds and visiting with several dear friends. Unfortunately we also missed visiting with several dear friends as well. Sometimes timing just doesn’t work out.

Arrived home on July 5^th so excited that we had to take a picture of the house from the car when we pulled in. Home Sweet Home!