Monday, October 12, 2009

road update

I cannot tell you how having my dad on this trip has made all the difference. He's a sport, and I'm glad I have someone to share this with.

We left arount 8 am on Wednesday, and about 10 minutes outside Buffalo, we got a flat tire. So we called AAA and they came 20 mintues after we rang them. if was all very fast. Good thing I had a full sized spare, or we could have really be behind schedule. Pennslyvania and Ohio were pretty unadventerous. We stopped just past Cleveland to eat at King Wah's Chinese Palace. King Wah himself greeted us at the door. Our waitress was caucasian, which really disapointed me.

I'm not a fan of Ohio or Indiana. They are both flat, flat flat. We did pass the RV hall of fame, but we had no time to go in. We passed the rime by listening to Gomez, Howie Day and an Ian Fleming book on cd. It's casino royale, and I like it just as much as the movie so far, but we shall see. Side note: Gary, Indiana was the ugliest city I have ever seen. If anybody I know moves there, I'm sorry, I will not be visiting you. If you're from there, I am truly sorry.

Spent about 2 hours in Chicago rush hour traffic in pouring rain. We made the best of it by dancing to Radar Love and Always Be My Baby and making jokes about Gary, Indiana. After dinner at Long John Silver's, we drove one more hour to Madison Wisconsin in rainy construction surrounded be semis. not my favorite driving conditions. We checked in to our hotel (which was a very pretty courtyard, of course) and slept like babies.

Day 2 was spent driving through the rest of Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. Wisconsin was surprisingly pretty and Minnesota is nothing by farms, as far as the eye can see. That got old real fast. As soon as we entered into South Dakota, a million billboards sprang up, literally. Every 100 feet there is another billboard advertising Wall Drug, which is 350 miles away, to the Corn Palace which was 100 miles away. Half of South Dakota is flat, and the other half is beautiful rolling hills. We passed the sign for the Laura Ingals Wilder house, but we had no time to stop.

We stopped at Wall Drug, which is world famous, for 20 minutes. It was a real tourist trap with a travellers chapel, cafe, museum, 20 specialty stores and enought kitsch to last a lifetime. After fueling up we drove past the National Buffalo Grasslands -no buffalo :( -the Badlands- stunning!- and the Black Hills- I want to live there.

We checked into our hotel which is connected to an indoor water park, and then had dinner at a steakhouse that was once a fire house. best steak I ever had, so good! Then bed, because we were weary travelers.

This morning we shall stop at Mount Rushmore, which is right down the street. Then coffee at the Dunn Bros (I hope we get a discount!). Later in Montana we will drive through a reservation. Only 500 mile to go to Gardiner!

Tomorrow I drop my Dad at the airport, then drive to Gardiner to check in for Yellowstone! all by 9am.

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