We Made It to Illinois

Friday, October 28 – Today I added to my list of places I’ve been.  We crossed into Illinois and I saw the Mississippi River.  I’m up to 19 states and 3 major rivers – Columbia, Missouri, and Mississippi.

We arrived at Mom’s friend Kevin’s farm near Geneseo, Illinois.  Mom and Kevin went to High School together and Mom, Kevin, and his wife Karen are all went to Iowa State together.  They are really nice to let us stay here.  They have a really nice concrete pad for us to park the Winnebago and it has electricity and water.  It’s great.  So far, I like being a farm dog.  There are so many cool places to explore. 

After we got settled, we went for a drive.  We went to visit Grandma (Mom’s Mom).   Today would have been her 95^th Birthday.  I’m sorry that I didn’t get to meet her.

Saturday, October 29 – It's hard to believe we are in Illinois in late October.  It's sunny and 76. Mom says that is really rare for this time of year.

Today we drove to Kewanee to get Uncle Gary (Mom’s brother).   Mom, Dad, and Uncle Gary all went to lunch.  I got to ride along, but had to wait in the car.  Then we went for a ride past places where Mom and Uncle Gary went when they were kids.  

We also went to see a round barn.  It’s pretty unusual.  Sometimes there are barns with lots of sides, so they are close to round, but this one actually has bent wood so that it is perfectly round.  It was built in the early 1900's.  Here are some pictures of it…

It has a silo in the middle that is 90 feet tall…

Uncle Gary seemed to enjoy being out. 

Tonight Mom and Dad are having dinner in the house with Kevin and Karen.  I’m going to hang out here and eat my kibble.  I may try to sneak out and search for Kitty Roca.  It looks like Almond Roca, but tastier.  At least to me.  It's my favorite Illinois delicacy, so far.  Living on a farm with Barn Cats is so cool!!

Deadwood, South Dakota to Des Moines, Iowa

Saturday, October 22 – It was such a beautiful day as we were leaving Deadwood that we decided to visit more of the Black Hills.  First, we drove to Rapid City and set up camp at the Rapid City Elks Lodge.  Then, we took the Jeep and went for a drive.

First, we drove to Hill City and then south along the Needles Highway.  We’ve been to the Black Hills before, but we were in our old motor home then and we didn’t tow a car.  The Needles Highway has LOW and NARROW tunnels, so we couldn't go there.  This is a Suburban getting ready to go through one of the tunnels.

And a normal car in the same tunnel…

We never would have fit in the motor home.  Fortunately, we have the Jeep now and this is what we got to see.

After the Needles Highway, we headed for the Iron Mountain Highway.  In between, we saw several buffalo.  Notice that this little fellow’s feet are on the fog line at the edge of the road.  We are in the oncoming lane.  He was THAT close.  No zoom lens needed!!  Mom and Dad told me to keep my mouth shut while Dad rolled the window down to take this picture.  They didn’t have to tell me twice!!

This was the sign at the start of the Iron Mountain Road…

This is the view from one of the tunnels...

That's Mount Rushmore.  Wow!  While we only got 50 miles closer to Illinois, the extra miles exploring the Black Hills were great!

Sunday, October 23 – Today we left the Black Hills and headed east.   We drove about 265 miles to Mitchell, South Dakota.  The big event of the day was that we I saw the Missouri River for the first time!  I’ve never been this far east before.  At the rest stop overlooking the Missouri, there is a beautiful sculpture of Sacajawea.

. 

 Other than that, there was miles of road that looked like this…

And I mainly looked like this…

Monday, October 24 – Today we toured the World’s only Corn Palace, before we left Mitchell. 

The murals on the Corn Palace are made from several types of corn, other grains, and grasses.  Here is a close up of Willie Nelson’s guitar.  If you look closely, you can see a bird eating some of the guitar.

After touring the corn palace we continued on our way.  We stopped in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and walked around the falls.

Today I added TWO states to the list of states that I’ve visited - Minnesota and Iowa.  We left South Dakota and drove through part of Minnesota, before stopping in Forest City, Iowa for the night.  Today was a shorter day.  Only 250 miles.

Tuesday, October 25 – Mom and Dad had some work stuff that they needed to do and we had good wi-fi, so they worked this morning.  Forest City, Iowa is where Winnebago motor homes are built.  Mom and Dad wanted to take a tour of the factory, so they did that in the afternoon.  I was going to go too, but I found out that you have to wear closed toe shoes to take the tour.  If you've followed me awhile, you know that I have a pair of shoes and I HATE them, so I didn’t go.  Mom and Dad had a fun time on the tour, but photos aren’t allowed, so no pictures today.

Wednesday, October 26 – Today we left Forest City and went to Ames, Iowa.  This is where Mom went to college at Iowa State University.  She hasn’t been back there in about 30 years and she wanted to see what was the same and what was different.  She and Dad took a walk around campus. 

After touring Iowa State we drove on to Des Moines and set up camp at the Elks Lodge.  This was the most fun Elks Lodge that we have visited.  The people here are really nice.

Thursday, October 27 – Mom lived in Des Moines for 2 ½ years, after she graduated from college and before she married Dad.  We went by the places where she lived and the place where she worked.  Mom and Dad also toured the Iowa State Capital building and the Des Moines Art Museum.  Then, we came back to the Elks Lodge and played fetch in the empty field next door. 

Gotta go.  It’s time for my dinner!!!!

Broadus, Montana to Deadwood, South Dakota

Well, today (Friday) didn't turn out as planned, in a good way.

We left Broadus with the plan to stop near the Black Hills and then take the Jeep to visit Sturgis and Deadwood.  Then, we were planning to go on farther down the road.

We made a pit stop in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.  There is a nice park, museum, and visitor center there.  Belle Fourche is the geographical center of the United States.   Mom was skeptical.  She thought it would be further south, but the sign explains it:

If you can't read it in the picture, in 1959, after admitting Alaska and Hawaii, the US Costal and Geodetic Survey determined that this spot is now the center of the US.  Including Alaska, it makes sense that it's this far north.  After I'd had my walk, I went back to the motor home and Mom and Dad went to look at the museum.  They said that it was well done and worth an hour or two to learn the history of the area.  They didn't take that long, because we had places to go and other things to see.

We arrived in Deadwood and saw this sign.

Mom wanted to see Kenny when he came to Tacoma earlier this year, but by the time she learned that he was coming, the only available seats were way in the back.  When Mom goes to a concert, she likes to actually be able to SEE the performer, so decided not to go.  She was disappointed at missing it because Kenny Rogers is 78 now and this is his farewell tour.  She didn't think she'd get another chance.  She checked on-line and found that there were a couple of good seats still available, so she bought them and we found a camp site to spend the night near Deadwood.

It was a pretty small venue and Mom and Dad had great seats near the front.  Mom took that picture from her seat, with her cell phone camera.  Mom and Dad both enjoyed the show.

Saturday - It's a beautiful day here.  It's already 60 degrees at 9 am.  Dad's out fixing the step on the RV.  It stopped coming out on Monday, so we've all had to jump out and climb into the motor home, since we haven't had any really good places for Dad to work on it.  Thank goodness, it's back working again.

Thought you all might like to see just where we have been.  Here's a map of our trip, so far.

View Full Size Map at Travel Map at Travellerspoint

Butte to Broadus, Montana

Thursday, October 20 – Where’s Broadus, Montana, you ask?  Don't ask me.  I’m here but I’m still not sure.  Mom says that we are about 150 miles northwest of Rapid City, South Dakota.  Rapid City is by Mount Rushmore.  We will leave Broadus in the morning and go toward Rapid City.  But first, I need to catch you up on what we’ve been doing.

We decided to spend Tuesday night and Wednesday night in Butte.  On Wednesday, Mom and Dad went to the World Museum of Mining.  They said that it was a very worthwhile stop.  The people who built the museum brought in lots of old buildings from the area and each one is furnished as a business that would have been in Butte at the time the mine was operating.  There was a bank, a barbershop, a ladies millenary shop, a railroad depot, funeral home, church, and school.  That’s what I could see from the parking lot, because I wasn’t allowed to go in.  Mom said there were lots more buildings full of cool stuff.

All of this is over a real mine!  This is the headframe for the mine and some of the other buildings and equipment that are left from the days when the mine was running.  The headframe has the pulleys that run the elevators up and down the shafts to get ore out of the mine.  Mom and Dad learned that the bigger the head frame, the deeper the mine.  They also learned that Butte is a mile high (like Denver) and has mines that are a mile deep under it, so the people of Butte consider themselves well balanced.  

Mom and Dad added on the optional Underground Mine tour, so got to go into a real Copper Mine.  One of the things that Mom found most interesting was that all the mines were linked underground.  That way, if there was an accident, the miners had a chance to escape through another mine and up the elevators at the other mine.  A really smart thing to do, but still pretty amazing since the mines were competitors.  There are over 10,000 miles of tunnels under Butte.  This is a picture of Mom and Dad getting ready to go into the mine and another picture taken in the mine when the guide explained how the ore was taken out of the mines on elevators.

The mountains around Butte are getting snow.  In fact, it snowed for a little while when we first got to the museum, but it didn’t last long and the ground was warm enough that it didn’t stick.

After the museum, we went for a drive to see some of the sights around town.  There were some beautiful homes built by the Copper Barons for their families and other interesting buildings.  In the evening, Mom and Dad went out to dinner at Casagranada’s Steakhouse which they would highly recommend to anyone traveling through Butte.

Thursday morning we left Butte and spent the day driving.  We drove 393 miles to get to Broadus.  Broadus is a nice, old west town.  We are parked at the City Park.  

Lewiston, Idaho to Butte, Montana

The last two days have been more like vacation.  I forgot to mention that we drove 375 miles the day we got to Lewiston, Idaho.  That was a LONG day.  We stayed at the Elks lodge in Lewiston.  Great place.

Monday we drove along the Clearwater River over Lolo Pass and it was beautiful.  Lots of pretty fall colors.  Dad enjoyed seeing all these cool old trucks. 

This was our lunch stop.

Then we got to Montana, with some snow on the pass.

We spent the night in Missoula, Montana.  Today we only went about 200 miles, so a much easier day.

Today (Tuesday) first thing this morning we left the Winnebago in Missoula and drove out to the Garnet Ghost town.  I didn't see a single ghost, so it wasn’t scary at all.  There were lots of old buildings from when people came to Montana and mined for gold.   Speaking of gold, there gold fall colors were pretty.    

This is the ghost town.  The ghost town is on Bureau of Land Management Land and there are free range cattle in the area.  I’ve never had Montana cow poop.  It was delicious. 

Ghosts must be short.  I checked and they weren’t home.

After the ghost town, we went back to Missoula and got the Winnebago and drove to Butte.  That was only 120 miles, so an even more fun day.  Once we got to Butte, we parked the Winnebago for the night and went into Butte.  Mom and Dad took a look at the Berkley Pit.  It’s from a copper mine that operated in Butte from 1955 – 1982.

After driving around Butte for a little while, we came back to the Winnebago for dinner.  Mom and Dad had baked potatoes with BBQ and I had kibble.

Tomorrow, Mom and Dad are planning to go to the World Museum of Mining here in Butte.  I think I may take a nap.

We are on our way!

It's been another busy week.  All the preparations were so exhausting for me that Thursday I had a spa day.  After a bath, haircut, shave, and a mani/pedi, I felt much better.

My calm didn't last long because Thursday night we had thunder and lightning almost all night.  That's really unusual for us and I don't mind telling you that all the booming scares me.  I slept under Mom and Dad's bed.

I was a frazzled nervous wreck again by Friday morning.  Watching Mom and Dad load the last of our stuff in the Jeep got me so confused, I was scared that there wouldn't be room for me.

It was a rainy, windy weekend.  The remnants of a typhoon in Japan made it's way across the Pacific and the forecast was 65 MPH winds.  Fortunately, the winds wasn't that strong.  Mom and Dad had a good visit with their friends in the Puget Sounders RV group.  I mainly hung out in the motor home and waited for them to come back to me.  We all had a fun time.

Today (Sunday) we drove over the mountains on Hwy 12.  I slept most of the way.  Mom said it was really pretty.  Once we crossed White Pass, the larches were golden among the green pines and firs.  There were lots of other trees giving pretty fall color.  It was cloudy, but sun breaks made the yellows glow.

Tonight we are in Lewiston, Idaho.  We are camping next to the Elks Lodge, which is on a bluff overlooking the Snake River.  This is our camp site -

I'm not sure why they call it the Snake River.  It's a water river, just like other rivers.  Whatever the humans call it, it's pretty here with all the rolling hills and the river.  Now that it is dark, we are looking across the river at the twinkling lights of all the houses in Clarkston, Washington.

Tomorrow we will continue on.  Talk to you soon!

Our Next Adventure

It's been a busy a busy couple of weeks for us.  We are preparing for our next adventure.  Most important, I've added a new feature to my blog.  It's there just to the right.  You can type in your email address.  Then, when I post something new, it will come to you as an email.  You don't need to keep track of the link to this page.  The first email that you get should come in a few minutes.  When you get it, be sure to click on the link to finish getting you signed up.  Then, we can keep in touch all winter.  Don't forget to "Follow" me, too!    

While I've been working on my blog, Dad has taken the Winnebago in for an oil & filter change, washed & waxed it and the Jeep, and defrosted the refrigerator in the Winnebago.  He's also worked on getting the house ready for us to be gone for 3+ months.  Mom has been washing sheets and towels and rugs and going through cabinets in the Winnebago, taking things out and putting things in, and making lists.  There are lists everywhere.  Dad has them, too.  It's been quite a flurry of activity and I find it exhausting to watch.   I got in trouble for trying to eat one of the lists.  I was just trying to help.

On top of everything else, Friday morning we got a text from Uncle Frank.  Uncle Frank lives in the apartment at the RV garage.  He said that a tree blew down with the high winds on Thursday night, so Dad and Mom had to be lumberjacks.  Dad used the chain saw and cut the tree into pieces.  Mom pretty much kept up with him, hauling it off the driveway.  This is Dad in his lumberjack clothes.

In addition to making improvements to my blog, I've been to the doctor to get my vaccinations and started on preventative meds for all the things that might make me sick on my trip to foreign lands.   Flea preventative, check!  Tick preventative, check!  Heartworm preventative, check!  I'm glad that I live in Washington where I don't normally have to worry about all these vermin.  ALMOST made me lose my appetite to think about all the critters that might attack me, but I got over it when they brought out cookies.  I love the vet's office.

Where are we going, you ask?  Mom and Dad haven't given me a lot of details, but I know that we are going to cross the Mississippi River and meet Uncle Gary and my cousin Vinnie.  Gary is Mom's brother.  Vinnie's Mom is my Mom's first cousin once removed.  I'm not sure what that makes me and Vinnie, but Vinnie is another poodle twig on our family tree and I'm excited to meet him.  They all live in Illinois.  My toe is getting tired typing all those "i's" and "double consonants".  Where do they come up with names like Mississippi, Illinois, and Vinnie!

We are leaving this Friday, the 14th.  Our first stop will be the Toutle River RV Park here in Washington.  It's near Mt St Helens.  We will spend the weekend with our friends in the Puget Sounders RV club.   Sunday morning we will wish them all a wonderful winter and say "see ya in April" as we head east over the mountains toward Idaho.

The only other thing I know is that Mom and Dad expect to be in Illinois in early November and then in Ft Worth with Dad's family for Christmas.  I think we will be back home in late January.  Other than that, we are going to be nomads.  Since I've never been farther east than South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, I'll be adding a lot of states to the list of places that I've been.  Stay tuned!!!

Oh, and if you are new here, and want to see all the places I've been, you can check out my Archive.