Wyoming, you're up next

We made the short trip from Custer, SD to near a little town called Rozet, WY.  There is a small RV park near there, nice but not near anything.  From there though is just a short drive to the beautiful and majestic Devil's Tower.  This is an amazing landmark.  We did the hike around it, stopping occasionally to enjoy the views and snap some pictures.

Time to head south to our next Wyoming destination: Curt Gowdy State Park

South Dakota Highlights

Arrived in Custer, SD in early October.  A great time to visit- no crowds, great weather, and beautiful fall views everywhere you look. We did a lot of hiking, biking, and got to see Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore, buffaloes on the side of the road, and all kinds of other wildlife.  The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there.  

While we were there we had a few setbacks.  Shannon (my wife) got sick (flu or ?).  So far on our adventure (27 states and counting) it is the only serious sickness any of us have got.  We all have had the occasional stomach ache or headache but no flu or colds.  Crazy!

Then while she was sick and I was in town picking up groceries and pizza for dinner I got a call from my son that my daughter fell on her bike and chipped her 2 front (permanent) teeth.  And they were loose and bleeding.  Shannon was still sick and didn't want to be putting her hands in our daughter's mouth trying to stop the bleeding etc.  I hurried home and took a look.  She was shaken up but calmed down by the time I got back.  I called some dentists but it being a Saturday night in a small town I couldn't get ahold of anyone.  Our dentist from back home didn't answer either but the bleeding stopped and she was doing OK so I said let's call again in the morning to see what we need to do.  In the morning I did receive a call from the local dentist who said don't worry about it until you see a dentist in Colorado or back in Nebr. when we stop back (about a week or 2 later).  We ended up going to a dentist in Colo. and got the teeth repaired there.  My daughter's teeth looks good as new!

 Campsite in Custer, SD

 I dare you to touch me...

 Didn't try to take the camper through this one.  The truck's side mirrors barely fit.

 Obligatory President's heads photo

 Wild donkeys eating out of our hands

 "I know you have more in there"

 L, don't tell your mom you went that high

 Crazy Horse Monument, still a work in progress

Onward to Wyoming...

50 states of wine

When we hit the road, I decided to try to get a bottle of wine from every state, drink and enjoy it, and do a quick write up about that bottle.  So far we are 26 states into our adventure, and in only 1 state was I not able to procure a local bottle.  Still working on that state though, as we may be back close to it late summer.  Time to get some writing done.

First up:

This was a red "Oakwood Table Wine" from Schade Winery in Volga, SD.  I didn't get a chance to visit the winery itself, instead picking up the bottle from a local store in Custer, SD.  This was a $14 bottle, however the wine itself was not a very good red.  Drinkable but more along the lines of a $6 bottle.  Not a bad start to the 50 states of wine goal, but hopes are high.  Not a huge selection to choose from when I did try to find a South Dakota wine.
Next up: Wyoming.

A delicious 2012 Cab from Buffalo Jump Wines in Cody, WY.  Very approachable, deep and flavorful.  A delight to drink, and I wished I would have picked up another bottle or 3 before heading to Colorado.  I don't recall and couldn't find the price that I paid for this.

Side note: most of the bottles that I buy are in the $10-30 range.  Occasionally a little less than $10 if that is all that is available or looks appealing.  Also I mostly look for regular reds or whites- I'm not too adventurous yet to try things like Blackberry or Blueberry wine.  Maybe I should expand my horizons...

"L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs"

Time for an update.  I may have missed a day or two on this blog since we have been on the road (sarcasm).  We are currently in Montana.  We have been on the road since Oct. 1.  All is well.  Life is awesome.  26+ states down, many more to go!

A few pics from the 1st month of our trip:

 South Dakota

 Devil's Tower, Wyoming

Curt Gowdy State Park, WY

Many more updates coming soon.  I will try to catch up on our adventures.
See you soon!

(2nd) Run

I went on my 2nd South Dakota run in Custer State Park.  We moved from the Rapid City area to a park outside of Custer State Park by Custer, SD.  This park has more of an outdoorsy setting with better views.

The 1st South Dakota run was just down a road by our 1st campsite by Rapid City.  Not a lot of great trail-like views but good to get the legs stretched after 3 days of not doing a lot physically.

The Custer State Park run was on a trail around a lake (Stockade Lake) and then I hopped on the Centennial Trail, which is a trail that runs through the Black Hills.  It is approx. 111 miles long total.  Only going to hit just a few of those, though.  Ran by someone who asked if I was going the whole way.  No, I am not Scott Jurek.  

It was about a 40 minute run, maybe 4.5 miles.  Still getting used to the altitude.  Good run!

Getting Out of Town

Day 1:

The Plan: get up, run a few errands, load up, and be gone by noon at the latest, travel to Mitchell, SD for the night, then continue on to Rapid City and the Black Hills the next day.

Reality: go to Lincoln to drop off our extra vehicle, stop by to see my Dad in the hospital (he’s out and getting better), it’s now 12:30pm, dog has an issue and needs to see the vet, only time available is 3:15pm, I need to go to a Verizon store to get a SIM card, stop by accountants office…

                                                               Our home on wheels

We didn’t make it on the road until 5pm or later.  Made it to Onawa, IA and tried to get a spot at Lewis and Clark State Park (full) so we ended up at On-Ur-Way RV park.  Cost us more but had full hookups (electric, water, and sewer) and really nice bathrooms with showers.

You need to be flexible when you are living and traveling the way we do.  It takes a while to get the camper and everything ready to go in the morning before you leave and then when you arrive it also takes time to unload and set up.  Putting in 9 hours on the road is not really an option unless it is absolutely necessary.  We also don’t drive 80, which was the speed limit in South Dakota (good job, SD lawmakers).

Day2:

We spent the morning doing boring but necessary stuff like laundry and then drove to Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace. 

                                                    It's designed with corn, people. Corn!
We didn’t want to try and make the full trip to Rapid City- still probably 7-8 hours away.  Pulling a 32’ camper at 65 mph when it’s windy was not a lot of fun.  It didn’t help that I probably didn’t have the sway bar tight enough, and the back end of the camper was all over the place.  I drive looking at the side mirrors as much as looking out the windshield.

                                                           This view gets old...

We stayed at the lovely Famil-E-Fun campground.  Nice and quiet.

Day 3: Quick trip to the Corn Palace, fuel up, load up, then head for Rapid City.  I would have liked to be on the road by 11am, but somehow we can’t get moving some days.  It’s a good thing we are flexible and not on a real schedule.

A quick and necessary stop to Wall Drug, then arrived at Happy Holidays RV park in Rapid City.

Next up: fun times in the Black Hills…

"You should blog"

The short story on this blog- for those who don’t know about us:

This is about our journey of selling everything including our house, buying a big travel trailer and truck, and hitting the road for a year to show our kids the country and spend some time with them before they grow up and move out.  We plan on hitting every state for about a week.  I will post about the trip, the experiences along the way, and also the process of getting ready and selling everything and the work and planning that was involved and why.  I also plan on running and biking along the way and will post about those as well.  Hopefully it will be entertaining, and will help others follow their dreams. 

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you out there this year!