DRAFTSIGHT 2018 OPENS FOR 1 SECOND PLUS

This morning we headed back east for the first time of the trip. Times we failed to get ice at the gas station: 3 Hopefully all that chattering will not continue through the night. Supposedly bison wander through the campground all the time so we are looking forward to that. When we hit 65 mph on the old gravel, curvy farming road, all I could do was hang on for dear life. For the first time of the road trip, Noah scared me to death with his driving. Tonight is our last night camping and we are spending it a free, very remote campsite in the South Dakota Badlands.

He ranked it in his top ten of best burgers ever so we were both happy with our lunch. Mine had cream cheese and a fried egg because why not? Noah chose the Double D, which basically just means a normal bacon burger on steroids. Those burgers were definitely worth a little backtracking. I was a little frustrated with myself for backtracking until we got back to the town we had passed through and had lunch. I didnвЂ™t have my GPS going when we left Mount Rushmore so I just went back the way we came.

DRAFTSIGHT 2018 OPENS FOR 1 SECOND PLUS

At $12, a signed copy of his book was a great souvenir, plus it was cool to just talk with him. I was glad I did because inside there was a guy who worked on Mount Rushmore from 1938-1940. Noah tried to block my view of the gift shop but he was unsuccessful so he retreated to the car while I made a quick peek. I also told Noah that I thought this would be the last photo he had to be in for the trip: I couldnвЂ™t stop myself from taking a photo every step closer we got. Noah was sleeping and I had planned to wake him up as soon as we got there, but just as I turned to do so he opened his eyes and saw this view: We made good time this morning and arrived at an important stop. As soon as I got out, it was a pleasant 60 degrees. I woke up this morning feeling like I was being cooked in an oven but it turns out that was just my tent. She (and I) wouldnвЂ™t have it any other way. The front is now covered in thousand of Wyoming and South Dakota bugs, the back is covered in Badlands dust, and the inside is littered with jolly rancher rappers. My old car finished its third and final cross-country road trip with me in style. Noah doubled his number of states visited, successfully caught fish in three of those states, and went from Interstate-driving novice to pro.Д«ut even better was all the stuff you just canвЂ™t quantify: visiting a whole new part of the country, being in awe of all the natural beauty, seeing the most majestic animals in their natural habitat, spending so much time with my oldest nephew who is slowly becoming a good man right before my eyes, seeing how many pictures I can take before NoahвЂ™s head explodes, the list goes onвЂ¦ I can also say that I have successfully slept in a tent in nature eight days in a row. IвЂ™ve now been to every state except Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont and IвЂ™m already mentally planning those three trips. This road trip was amazing for so many reasons. Yum! After that we cruised home in record time. Most of the time these days that means medium rare, but MurryвЂ™s took it as a challenge and it was possibly the rarest steak I have ever eaten. I always tell restaurants to cook my steak as rare as they are willing to do it. MurryвЂ™s steak sandwich may now cost $3 more than it did then, but it was just as incredibly delicious.

Once youвЂ™ve gotten used to going ** mph (IвЂ™m censuring the number to preserve my parentsвЂ™ sanity), itвЂ™s hard to go back.Д«esides making it home safely, my priority of the day was to stop at my favorite restaurant during my undergraduate days in Columbia, MO. The day before we said a sad farewell to 80 mph Interstate speed limits, so it felt a little slow. We set off the next morning for our last leg of the trip. Noah and I both enjoyed showering and sleeping in a real bed again and waking up to pancakes really completed the perfection. We stayed with my friend KateвЂ™s parents in Kansas City, who I have stayed with so many times by now on road trips that I think I can just call them my friends Cathy and Rob. I wanted to do something in every state and Noah managed to make that thing involve some sort of food almost every time. The next day we drove all the way to Kansas City, KS, going through Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri along the way. Last time I left off we had prairie dogs as neighbors in South Dakota. IвЂ™m combining our last two days into one because it was basically one long race home. Well itвЂ™s been a week so I guess you all figured out that we made it back. Miles driven: 687.9 (second to last day) + 416.9 (last day)

Draftsight 2018 opens for 1 second