Upon leaving the Pacific Northwest and heading back towards the East coast, we knew we would be passing through some areas where our friends and family live. We plotted our course back across the country and made sure to pass through states where we had people to drop in on. It’s great to see new sites when you travel to a new state, but it’s even better to see friendly familiar faces when you venture into a new town. First, we headed into the Rockies, Montana to be exact, which contains the very hip and beautiful city of Missoula!
In Missoula, we got together with my father’s best friend Jack, who I have known since I was little. The last time we saw him was three years past at our wedding. As luck would have it, we arrived in Missoula on Jack’s birthday! Not only did we get to see him, but we got to see his entire family, his brother, Nat, his daughter Laura, and her whole gorgeous family. The dinner started with us saying either, “So great to see you again” or “How nice to finally meet you!” and then turned to “Do you remember when…?” and “Have you seen so-and-so?” After so long only in each other’s company, Mike and I thoroughly enjoyed being welcomed into the warm embrace of a big, funny, and loving family. Since my family’s and Jack’s goes way back, we spent the night trading jokes, telling stories, and sharing plans for the future. It made us feel at home. The next few days in Missoula, we spent more time with Jack and Laura, we checked out a local brewery and visited their homes, both have phenomenal views of the mountains surrounding the city. For as long as I’ve known Jack, which is a looong time, he’s always talked about how much he loves his
hometown, and we finally got to see why – it’s fantastic! Montana is awesome – it combines all the great things of the outdoors in summer and winter! It has great hiking trails for spring, summer, and fall and kick-ass ski resorts for winter. Why didn’t we visit this place sooner? It was hard to leave, but we’ll definitely be back.
We also stopped through Yellowstone, which was even better than we imagined - bison, bears, coyotes and deer! We even had a close encounter with a Mama Bear and her mischievous cubs, who waltzed in front of our car along a mostly deserted road in Yellowstone around dusk. Deer were everywhere and coyotes strolled along the roads around late evening. The animals are cool, but pale in comparison to the immaculate vistas Yellowstone provides its guests. The park is beyond beautiful and breath-taking. Old Faithful was pretty awesome too - definitely worth a second visit.
[ We did get to visit Yellowstone and got caught in a daily Yellowstone traffic jam]
After Montana, we cruised onto Cedar Rapids, South Dakota. I honestly did not think the
Dakotas had much to offer, except providing a lovely backdrop for the Little House of the Prairie books. I have never been more glad to be wrong. We primarily planned to see Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and the Badlands, all of which were stunning. I loved the drive to Mount Rushmore so much I recorded our drive up the mountain, which was extremely scenic.
We loved touring the Badlands and staying in Wall, SD the original location of Wall Drug! The Badlands appealed to us even more than the Grand Canyon and various parts of the Southwest. Mike loved the stark purity to the Badlands, since it felt more wild with fewer people around. It was a wilderness without tress, yet it still carried a sense of majesty. Obviously it was windy, so I had to mind my crazy curly hair from blowing all around and filling up with sand. Looking at our photos you can see why we found it so beautiful:
Three neat things we found in South Dakota was the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Facility, near Wall Drug and just outside the Badlands. The National Historic site contains a thorough and comprehensive museum on America's cold war and the lengths to which the US was willing to go to in order to win. Another site we found - the Sandford Underground Research Facility built in Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, SD. The Facility hosts a Large Underground Xenon Dark Matter Detector - the facility experiments trying to detect weakly interacting massive particle dark matter (heady stuff). We made at least two and a half passes through the museum and still did not fully understand what was happening hundreds of feet below our shoes. However you can hit golf balls off the patio into the mine (guaranteed hole in one every time!) Our third and maybe less scientific discovery in South Dakota was the Chapel on the Hill - a Norwegian designed tiny chapel mounted in the middle of the Black Hills. The intricate carvings and cozy size make it an adorable tourist attraction in Cedar Rapids, SD.
Our trip to South Dakota wasn't just about seeing the sites, we also ran into some friends we made during our time in Texas. We caught up with Eric and Brit of RVWanderlust, who we met back in Fredericksburg, TX at the RVE 2018 Summit in February. They are such wonderfully friendly people and fellow full-time RVers. They are true champs since they have been on the road longer while running their businesses and have raised a beautiful little boy (#BabyNomad) while traveling. We got together in Hill City, SD outside of Custer State Park, and always being in touch with the local food scene, Eric and Brit recommended dinner at the Alpine Inn. They serve one thing – STEAK! Rare, medium, or well done, those are your options. When it’s the only thing they serve and the line to get in the place is long, you can bet it is a good steak! We all thoroughly enjoyed our filets, but the desserts were amazing too! (Check out Eric’s Instagram feed for pictures). We had a great time catching up with Eric and Brit and seeing how much #BabyNomad has grown! It was awesome to converse about the highs and lows of full-time RV life with people who know what you’re talking about. It seems every time we see them we leave pumped up for more adventure. We had a blast!
After touring the Badlands, we headed on to America’s Heartland – the steadfast Midwest. We came through northern Nebraska to visit Mike’s aunt and uncle in Allen, NB. I’ve never been to the Midwest before and the last time Mike visited his aunt and uncle’s farm he was eight years old. Back then he got fooled into trying to count pigs as they were being loaded into a truck. Poor little Mike was trying to be helpful to his uncle, who asked him to count the pigs after several were loaded several into the carrier and continued to load more. Needless to say, counting squirming multiplying pigs in a pen is like trying to count bees in a hive, they all look alike and won’t stop moving. His aunt, Barb and uncle, Duane, now retired from farming, were lovely and treated us to several home-cooked meals, particularly their recent crop of perfectly
ripe tomatoes.
It was great meeting them, but my favorite part of our visits was the farm cat living behind their house with a litter of 5-week-old kittens. I got to play with the five adorable kittens and their mama in their backyard, while Mike caught up with Barb, Duane, and his older cousin (their son) Ross, who is also a farmer (amongst many other things) and lives up the road. For one of our visits, they took us to Bob’s Burgers, where the main offering was hamburger’s the size of a dinner plate and where we got to meet some local color. Duane and Barb gave us a pickup truck tour of the area, particularly all the wind turbine construction. Apparently, that’s the latest cash crop, leasing your property for wind turbines. While exploring, we learned about their history in farming in this corner of Nebraska and how the area has changed over the years. It was eye-opening, to say the least.
We ventured further south in Nebraska towards Omaha and reunited with another couple we met at the RVE Summit , Bob and Sarah Orchard. They have currently suspended their travels and are living it up in Omaha. We met for dinner and drinks in the Old Market neighborhood, which they kindly escorted us around detailing the highlights of the area.
Our encounter was even more fortunate for us, since the Orchards are members of the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha and get two free passes, which they kindly offered to us. Sarah was away on a business trip the rest of the week, so Bob showed us around the Zoo, which was outstanding! With the addition of its aquarium, Omaha’s Zoo just might surpass the Memphis Zoo. We had a great time exploring the zoo and especially appreciated that we got to see it for free – thanks again Bob and Sarah!
Another long-awaited encounter took place in Omaha, after 17 years (sophomore year of high
school) I finally got to see my friend Megan again. Megan and I met in 10th grade when she participated in a student exchange between our Sacred Heart schools, she came to Newton County Day School in Newton, MA from the Duchesne Academy in Omaha, NB back in 2001. She stayed with my best friend in high school for seven weeks, and we have stayed connected this whole time. Facebook may have a lot of problems, but it does connect people over long distances and long separations. Mike and I got to meet her family, her partner Ben and their
bubbly daughter Ida, we caught up over dinner and drinks. We checked out the highlights of the Dundee neighborhood, then we headed over to the up and coming Blackstone neighborhood. Megan and Ben told us we had to try, Coneflower Creamery, since the ice-cream is delectable and they just happen to know the owner. They were correct and everyone in Omaha seems to know it, the line for the place was around the block, but worth the wait.
Seeing family and friends on the road is part of what our journey symbolized to us. We didn’t get to see all those we intended to visit, but we will so long as the country doesn’t sink into the sea, there’s always next year!