Day 80 - HOME SWEET HOME!!

After 12,964 miles and 26 states, we pulled into Berryville tonight (Monday, July 28). The kids were jumping for joy and running to see their friends. What an enormous blessing to have this sabbatical to enjoy the many amazing sites across the USA. This moment comes as a bitter sweet end to the trip. The sweet things I am looking forward to include a nice comfortable bed, room to spread out, and just being home. However, the one thing I will miss the most is waking up to a new adventure every day. Since May 10, I have seen new scenery for 80 days straight. Every day was a new adventure with something new to see. Some of the sights are on the top 20 places to see in the USA, and other adventures included meeting up with family and friends, whom I hadn't seen for years. This trip has created many new memories that we will cherish for a lifetime! Thanks for keeping up with us as we traveled across the country.

Pictures Tagged Along our Route

Internet access has been really poor (or non existent) across the mid-west so I haven't been able to upload pictures to Flickr. Here are a few that track part of our route.

Days 75, 76, and 77 - Rockford, IL to Detroit, Michigan

We've spent the last 3 days moving across the mid-west and visiting friends. On Wednesday we got together with a very good friend of mine that I have known since I was 4 years old. Tim Fee and his wife Sharon live in Freeport, Illinois with their two kids. We played at the park and my kids enjoyed wild scavenger hunts for Matthew Fee's (age 7) secret hideouts.

On Thursday, we didn't see any friends or relatives, but we spent the day on a beach on Lake Michigan. I didn't realize Lake Michigan's water was in the 60's. Most of the locals didn't appear to swim in the lake, maybe it warms up by September?

On Friday, we reached the Detroit area and met up with Sheri's cousin, Melissa Coburn. We had a great evening viewing pictures and watching the video I took when we told the kids about baby number 6. That was our first review of the video and it was worth a good laugh.

We've crossed the 12,000 mile point and we only have 3 more days to go! Here is a quick picture of the states we have visited (and will visit) on our trip. I missed marking North Carolina and it looks like we may spend a short stretch of interstate in Pennsylvania on the way home. The total state count for this trip will be 26!

Days 73 and 74 - Badlands to Rochester, Minnesota

We are on the home stretch as we come across the country. On Monday we drove from the Badlands to Sioux Falls and on Tuesday we drove to Rochester, Minnesota. We did take the opportunity to visit the Minuteman Mission Control Historical Site. From 1960 to 1993, the US had 1000 nuclear missiles across the Plain states. In the 1990s, the US government decommissioned about half the missiles. They turned one of the missile silos and mission control centers into a historical site. We toured both. What struck me about these sites is that they are within plain view of the interstate. If you are ever on Interstate 90 in South Dakota, you really need to take a tour of the mission control center. You get to go down into the bomb proof capsule that held the two missile officers. At any given moment they were ready to launch 10 missiles from that capsule.There were many other capsules around the west with direct control of the other missiles. Each missile had the power of 60 percent of the total firepower used in world war two. With 1000 missiles, major destruction could have taken place. Thankfully, not a single USSR or USA missile was fired.

Day 72 - Mt. Rushmore to Badlands South Dakota

Today we traveled 2 hours from the Mount Rushmore area to the Badlands area. We spent some time at the park but given the heat (102 degrees F), we decided to take advantage of the pool at the campground.
The really neat thing about the Badlands is that they let you climb all over them. This was lots of fun for the kids.

Days 69, 70, 71 - Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, and horseback riding

We spent the last 3 days in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills are a popular vacation destination and the sites here are pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the internet is painfully slow here so I won't be able to add pictures.

Crazy Horse monument is the largest sculpture in the world. They have already blasted about 8 million tons of rock since 1948, but the progress is painfully slow. Honestly, I couldn't tell much difference from 2007 to 2014. However, with the pictures in the gallery it does appear they have blasted more rock from the bottom of the mountain. Because it isn't complete, it just isn't as impressive as Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore took 14 years to create and the detail in the rock is quite impressive.

Wind Cave National Park is the 6th largest cave in the world. It has a unique rock formation called "boxwork", which looks like spiderweb rock that is formed by water dissolving the limestone but leaving behind other minerals.

Our final event here in the Black Hills was horseback riding. Bria has been begging to go horseback riding the whole trip, but most places require a minimum age of 8. When I found a place here that took kids age 6, I couldn't pass it up. We took a nice 1 hour stroll through the National Forest here next to Mount Rushmore. 

Days 67 and 68 - Medora, North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Have you ever been to a town where the whole city is dedicated to a single U.S. president? Take a trip to Medora, North Dakota if you really want to know about Theodore Roosevelt (T.R.). T.R. had two ranches in what is currently called "Theodore Roosevelt National Park". T.R. loved the outdoors and was an avid hunter. He vacationed at his cattle ranch and also employed folks to run it year round. The land he purchased was not typical of the other land here in North Dakota, it was the "badlands", which are hills with different layers and unique rock formations.

When his wife and his mother died on the same day, T.R. came to his ranch here to mourn and regain his strength. In the 1960s, the founder of Mr. Bubble (I forgot his name) decided to reinvest in the town of Medora to honor our great president. One of the unique ways he wanted to attract folks to the town was to create a broadway like musical production called the Medora Musical. It occurs each night here in the summer. If you travel to Medora, you attend the Medora Musical, it's just cultural. Personally, I thought it was a high quality production and well worth attending. Medora is a great little town well worth visiting.

Day 66 - 10,000 Miles Traveled

We've officially driven 10,000 miles in the first 66 days of our trip. Today we spent about 8 hours driving from Yellowstone to Miles City, Montana. If you happen to make it to Yellowstone (or any national park), be sure to check the road construction/closures. We lost about an hour due to road construction within the park.

Tomorrow we will head toward North Dakota to see Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This is a slight variation of our original route. By taking this detour, it will allow me to reach a personal milestone: driving through all 48 states that make up the continental USA. Bailey and Brandon will need only Oklahoma and Vermont. Sheri, Levi, and Seth are also missing Arkansas in addition to Oklahoma and Vermont.

Yellowstone National Park - Days 63 - 65

Yellowstone was a great experience. Most of you have heard about Yellowstone's unique features; Old Faithful geyser probably comes to mind. People come to Yellowstone to see the thermal features and the animals. There are only three places in the world where you can see concentrations of geysers and other th
ermal features: New Zealand, Eastern Russia, and Yellowstone. Of these locations, Yellowstone has more features than the other two combined. In fact, we learned that some of New Zealand's thermal features have ceased because the government decided to use the thermal energy for electrical power generation, which has disrupted the natural heat release that had occurred.
My personal favorite thermal feature are the mud pots. The kids just laughed as they watched the gas try to release through thick mud. If you ever visit Yellowstone, don't miss the Artists' Paint Pots. 

Our first day at Yellowstone was an excellent day for animal sightings. We witnessed Bison as close as 4 feet from the car, huge bull elk about 25 yards away, and a mother bear with three cubs about 50 yards from the road. We packed in a full day, which included a ranger talk about the Yellowstone Lake (ended at 10:30pm). The Cutthroat Trout is facing extinction because of an invasive species (Lake Trout). At one measuring spot they had over 70,000 of the Cutthroat Trout in 1970, but only 471 left 5 years ago. The Lake Trout invaded sometime in the 1980s or 1990s and have taken over the lake. In order to try and help the situation, they pay a company to commercial fish and kill about 300,000 Lake Trout per summer just to give the Cutthroat Trout a chance of survival. 

One of my favorite activities was hiking through the meadows. Unlike many of the other national parks, in Yellowstone you can blaze your own trail as long as you don't walk near the thermal areas. 

I really wanted to see wolves, so Levi, Seth, and I set out through the meadows blazing on our own trail looking for a herd of elk. The ranger told me that the wolves follow the elk, so the key to seeing wolves was to first find the elk. Unfortunately, we didn't see either, but we saw many bison, one even started approaching us slowly, but it turned out he just wanted to graze in our direction (whew!).  

Grand Teton National Park - Days 60 to 62

We spent three days in Grand Teton, which is just north of Jackson, Wyoming. Each National Park is unique for some reason, and the unique aspect of Grand Teton is the mountain range and its relation to the valley floor, which is about 7,000 to 8,000 feet of elevation change. Most mountains have some sort of gradual change, but these shoot right out of the ground. The highest we hiked from the valley floor was about 500 feet (Inspiration Point), and the views were amazing.

If I were completely transparent about our trip, the confined living quarters and the hours driving in the van make for many conflicts. There has been a constant need to remind the children to extend grace and forgiveness even when they believe it isn’t deserved. Despite these troubling moments, there are brief moments of true sibling community that remind me why this trip is so special. In Grand Teton, the kids worked together to build a raft out of large driftwood on Lake Jackson. Watching them be creative together as a team gave me hope that someday the warring factions will make peace.

We spotted lots of wildlife in Grand Teton: elk, pronghorn, sandhill cranes, and several hawks. The one animal we couldn’t find was the moose. We even got the whole crew up early in an attempt to spot them in the “popular viewing” area, but no luck.

Despite the warring factions, there are moments when we all enjoy a good laugh. One of my favorites was listening to Bria get tripped up on the word chipmunk. She says, “Chickmunk.” Even when we get her to say “chip” and “munk” separately, when they come together it becomes, “Chickmunk.”

Off the grid for six days

Just letting everyone know that in Grand Teton and Yellowstone I will not have internet coverage. I will have a lot to talk about when I reconnect!

Day 59 - Twin Falls, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming

If the Ford E-350 engine was ever going to fail, I would have expected that today. We climbed from about 5,000 feet up to 8,500 feet at a 10 percent grade and then back down again. Thankfully, the engine held together and the brakes didn't burn up on the way down. We've driven over 9,000 miles and have had no problems with the Ford E-350 (Praise God for that!). I estimate that we've got about another 4,000 to 6,000 miles remaining in the final 22 days.

Jackson, Wyoming is quite a popular vacation town in both the winter and the summer. The town has what is best described as an old western feel, with modern upgrades. It's very much a vacation destination for the wealthy and the town shops reflect that clientele. If you like fly fishing, rafting, or other outdoor sports, you'd enjoy Jackson.

The highlight of Jackson is the nightly shootout. Every evening (except Sunday), the local actors perform a shootout for anyone willing to watch. It's great free entertainment, and a fresh reminder of life in the old wild west. If you are in Jackson, don't miss the shootout!

Day 58 - Baker City, Oregon to Twin Falls, Idaho (Bonus: Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Shoshone Falls)

Although I made every effort to plan our trip to the fullest, we also try our best to maintain some flexibility. Today we used up all the flexibility we could imagine by leaving the campsite at 9:30 am and making it to our new destination around 9:10 pm. The actual drive time was only about 5 hours, but we used the remaining time to visit two sites that the local folks recommended: the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Shoshone Falls. The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center is in Baker City, Oregon. It's something to see if you are in the area. The museum appears new and some of the exhibits are interactive. I learned quite a bit. Somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 people made the journey from east of the Missouri River to Oregon, in search of a better life. One out of 10 travelers didn't make it, most died from injury, malnutrition (or starvation), or sickness. The actual Oregon Trail route is very similar to the present route of interstate 84 route for much of the western portion of the trail.

Shoshone falls is often called "The Niagra of the West". The water falls a higher distance than Niagra, but the volume is less. The falls are very close to a stunt location where Ed Beckley will attempt to use a motorcycle to jump across the Snake river canyon in September 2014, something Evel Knievel attempted in 1974 but failed to complete (braking parachute malfunctioned and went off during the jump). If you are passing through Twin Falls, Idaho it's only 15 minutes off the interstate and well worth the visit.

Day 57 - Hood River to Baker City, Oregon

Today (Saturday), we traveled from Hood River to Baker City. Most of the interstate was built next to the Columbia River so the drive was quite pleasant. Western Oregon is wet and green, but eastern Oregon is dry until you climb up into the Blue Mountains where the dry desert looking environment changes to a high altitude forest. As we arrived at our campground, the nice lady at the reception told us about the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (a government museum about the Oregon Trail). We'll hit that tomorrow on our way to Idaho.

Days 54 - 56: Hood River with the Mayo Clan

We continued our west coast reunion in Hood River where Keith and Laura Mayo live with their son Lukas (3). In addition to my bother's family, my Mom, Dad, and sister were also there.

We had lots of fun hanging out in Hood River and enjoying the local activities. We watched Keith kiteboard (Hood River is the kiteboarding capital of the US because of the consistent wind in the Columbia River Gorge). Keith took Levi, Seth, and me on a 12 mile mountain bike trail. We ended the reunion with 4th of July fireworks set off on the Columbia River.

I guess you can say that I discovered why Keith and Laura enjoy living in Hood River. The weather is wonderful (the houses don't need air conditioning), and the outdoor activities are plentiful.  

 

Day 53 - Mt. St. Helens

Today we drove the 2 hour drive from Hoquiam, Washington to Castle Rock, Washington and spent the afternoon at Mt. St. Helens. For those of you who may have received a copy of my planned itinerary in May, this was a late change to the agenda. We decided to skip Mt. Rainer and went to Mt. St. Helens instead. I'm really glad we chose to visit Mt. St. Helens, it turned out to be an impressive site to see. Volcanic eruptions of the size of Mt. St. Helens don't come around very often, and this one happened in my lifetime (May 18, 1980). When you stand just a 1/2 a mile from the base of the mountain and witness the destruction of the landslide and blast zone, the event becomes very real. If you are ever driving up interstate 5, the site is only about one hour from the interstate and it is an impressive site to see. The mountain was decreased by 1,300 feet as a result of the eruption.
57 people died in the volcanic eruption, and it probably would have been fewer. Unfortunately, the predicted blast zone was much smaller than the actual blast zone. What was even more amazing is the ash cloud that spewed out. The town of Yakima was as dark as night during the day because the sun was completely blocked by the ash. In fact, Yakima had to divert all of their sewage to the river (without treatment) because the ash backed up the entire wastewater system.

Day 52 - Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park is one of my favorite parks because of the unique foliage that you witness walking through the rainforest. It's the only rainforest in the lower 48 states. I asked the ranger what the rainfall requirement was for the rainforest. She said there was no real cutoff,  but about 140 inches or more was the general rule. Apparently, there are other requirements such as the presence of certain species of moss and the Sitka Spruce.

I think in 2007, I was completely blown away by the rainforest because it was so dramatically different from any forest on the east coast and it was the first west coast dense forest I had seen.. However, walking through the rainforest this time reminded me of the Redwood forest in Northern California. It wasn't as shocking this time because I had just been in the Redwood forest, but it is still impressive in a different way. The trees are covered with moss, and the nurse logs provide the only viable area for new trees to grow.

If you do go to Olympic National Park, I'd spend at least 3 days there and take in Crescent Lake, the Hoh rainforest, and some of the other sites. The drive time from one side of the park to the other is over 3 hours, so camping on opposite sides of the park is probably a good idea.