Day One Traveling to The Last Frontier

Day one - Monday June 13, 2011
As we pulled out at 5 am from Maurice and Melissa's home we were tearing up and fighting through the pain in out hearts. We were all excited to be going back to the home we have missed for three years, but the family and friends we love so much made leaving a struggle.
The children were snuggled into their quilts from great grandpa Thomas, and I found solace wrapped in a blanket covered in signatures of my students from Cardinal. Gavin and I stared out the windshield knowing the road that lies ahead. We each have our dogs with us; his,Otis, in an urn under his seat, and mine crashed out in the floor board. Otis made this trip with us a few times and even though he is gone we could not bear the thought of leaving him behind.
We pulled out of Ottumwa and Gavin flicked on the radio to fill the quiet and silent tears slipping down our cheeks. The first thing on the radio were the words; " I'm at the starting line of the rest of my life I've got stars in my eyes and am ready as I've ever been." How fitting for the journey we are embarking.

The field of windmills in northern Iowa intrigued the kids enough that they wanted to journal about them. We have journals and colored pencils from Aunt Eileen the kids wanted to use to document the trip from their perspectives. Plus, it will give them some great memories after they write about it. The teacher in me is jumping for joy and smiling proudly that they want to use their brains.

We are married again! In Minnesota we exchanged vows in the woods on a little wooden bridge. It was beautiful and the silly vows included laughter and a kiss documented by our son, Nehemiah, as the photographer. The kids thought it was great and Evelyn even picked out honeysuckle as the flowers we needed to make it complete.

Once in SD the kids were excited about the teepee sculptures at all the rest stops. We had to take their pic in one . They got pins and a map of SD and were excited to write about the sculptures in their journals.

We made a game out of counting Wall Drug signs. As these signs are the only things that seem to break up the monotony of the plains of SD. However, when we fell asleep Gavin did not count so our accuracy with 35 is way off. These were seen only during my waking hours while not engrossed in my book of course.

The kids found the giant bulls head to be interesting, and worth documenting. In fact it was only after reading their journals that I realize I had missed the bull's head altogether. Nicholas Sparks tends to draw me into his stories, and evidently I did not even notice Gavin tapping me repeatedly or the ahhs and oohs as we passed this iconic symbol in SD because my nose was stuck in my book.

The enthusiasm and volume of joy increased greatly when we saw signs directing travelers to Demat SD the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder. They were exclaiming how cool it was because she wrote one of their favorite read alouds, Little House in the Big Woods. See the love of reading can be shared and it makes life more exciting, and not just for English teachers:-)

The very long, long, long state of SD was a little boring, until we saw yet another wall drug sign. The view was neat as you can see forever across the plains We did stop at a few rest-stops to stretch our legs. I enjoyed taking Olivia for walks until we stopped where a sign warning "beware of poisonous snakes " was posted. I then forced Gavin to walk Olivia at his own risk! Lol!

We rolled into the mountain time zone and gained an hour. For some reason this seemed to rejuvenate the whole sleepy bunch. As we entered into the Bad Lands we discussed the history of the land. It was really neat and Nehemiah shared his knowledge of the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Indians.

Next stop was a slight detour to the infamous Wall Drug. We married again in the chapel in Wall Drug. Evelyn was our photographer this time. Then we proceeded to purchase a coffee mug with advertisements for Wall Drug all over it. After some post cards for all our nieces and nephews we got out of the tourist trap as fast as possible. So glad we do not enjoy trinkets and money swallowing devices and could escape without having to sample everything the place had to offer. Yikes!
Evelyn said, "Wall Drug was awesome!"
Nehemiah stated it was"nifty and cool."
Lilyan said "It was awesome. It looked like there were tigers all brown all around" We believe she was referring to the pictures of buffalo or bison found all over the walls, t-shirts and other tourist "must haves."

We pressed on and drove through the Black Hills. It was definitely better than the endless plains, though the plains have a simple appeal too. The hills were pretty and the shadows seemed painted into the horizon. These hills with dark soil had an aesthetic appeal that was refreshing as they were not littered with the big billboards and advertisements, which fill the other parts of the state.

We made it to Rapid City and ate a quick dinner before checking in to the hotel for the night. At 8:30 p.m. it is time for the kids to go release some energy in the pool. They were starting to squirm and needed out of the truck. First we checked the room for bedbugs, and once safe we all piled into the small room that seemed really spacious in comparison to the cab of the truck. Lilyan is excited about the hair dryer, Evelyn wanted a bath, and Nehemiah turned on the news. Everyone is unwinding in their own way, and then hopefully we will get some rest before we head out to Mount Rushmore in the early morning.

Thank the Lord for our safe travels today and for watching out for us as we put 700 miles on the truck and trailer.