Day 9 - Tuesday, July 28 (Mickelson Trail)

We hiked just under 8 miles on the Mickelson Trail today, driving our usual hour plus transit after a leisurely breakfast - this time over 25 miles of dirt roads through some decidedly (and refreshingly) uncommercialized country to leave Jim and David's car at the Mystic trailhead and start our journey at Rochford. My Dad had walked a great deal of the trail with his friend Lyn Muchmore earlier this year and had encouraged us to ride our bikes on the trail, but we couldn't take the bikes and we wanted to enjoy the walk - which was stunning.

Along the way, South Dakota's first rails to trails project, we walked through a tunnel bored in the mountain, across bridges and trestles, and in valleys walled in with jagged rock faces and forests of ponderosa pine - while a stream rushed, tumbled and drifted along beside us. We were attacked by a squadron of persistent mosquitoes for a mile or so, but for most of the trail we followed, we enjoyed drinking in the view and taking pictures, talking with each other in different pairs, and even giving out piggy-back rides.

After we got back to Mystic, we enjoyed the most wonderful tasting picnic and company (especially the cherries) and celebrated making the hike before the rain hit (the weather had been threatening for the last couple of miles). It was the perfect way to end our visit with Jim and David in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

When we returned, Eli counted over 150 bikers gathering for the rally at Sturgis next week, and we listened to them raoring by the camp while Vicki and David prepared a wonderful supper of salmon, rice and salad, and we played Clue and Acquire. it has been so good to renew our family ties with Jim and David, and to enjoy the beauty of the Black Hills together. Tomorrow, we head for Yellowstone, via Devil's Tower!

Day 8 - Monday, July 27 (Wind Cave and the Mammoth Site)

We headed for the Wind Cave National Park because of the heavy rain today (Monday, July 27). They took us down several hundred feet to explore the labyrinthine chambers and passageways, and I felt my old claustrophobia rearing its ugly head as we ducked and shimmied through tight, dimly lit spaces. Native peoples still revere the cave system (the largest in the world - 135 miles of passageways mapped of an estimated 1300 miles!) and refuse to enter Wind Cave. I'm with them, even though I recovered my nerve sufficiently to enjoy the hour-long tour (we walked only half a mile, but climbed and descended over 9 stories).

In the mid-1850's two brothers discovered the cave while hunting, and began taking people from nearby Hot Springs on tours that began by squeezing through an entry hole smaller than a manhole. Our guide gave us an idea of what they experienced by dousing all of the lights except a candle. Then she blew that out! The inky blackness and profound silence made it hard to breathe, and our perky guide told us that our eyes would never adjust to this kind of darkness (in which, she quipped, all caves looked alike). We were thankful that she turned the lights back on before leading us back to the elevator shaft that took us back to the land of the living (nothing could live in the cave).

The regular cave tour was $9. For $27, you could gear up and take a cave tour that required crawling through tight little tunnels in the dark. They'd have to pay me to do that tour - they'd probably have to shoot me to do it.

When we emerged from the cave, it was raining like crazy. We waited it out in the gift shop and ate a picnic lunch in the van before driving to Hot Springs for a DQ stop. Then we went to the Mammoth Site, a 26,000 year old sink hole where they have found the remains of at least 58 mammoths that got trapped when they tried to drink water and couldn't climb back out. They were all adolescent males that had been driven from their matriarchal herds and didn't have much of a clue, according to the guide.

The original sink hole filled with calcified material that was much harder than the surrounding limestone, so that over time, the limestone eroded away and the sink hole became the crown of a hill. Excavators in bulldozers clearing land for a housing development accidentally uncovered the mammoth bones, which were identified by experts from a local college, and they built a building over the dig site, where they train youth and older adults to carefully expose more of the bones - although they don't typically remove them.

We enjoyed the tour and some of the displays before browsing - but not buying - in the gift shop and heading for home (via the Safeway for supper supplies). The rain had washed a bunch of mud onto the mat, but that cleaned up easily enough and nothing else got wet. Vicki cooked another wonderful meal and we finished the evening playing Cranium with Jim and David. This time, Jim, Vicki and Joy took the prize.

Day 7 - Sunday, July 26 (Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse)

In the Black Hills today, we visited Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial and drove on Needles Highway. Pictures do not capture the enormity of it all. The granite glistens with many different types of rock composites, reflecting the sunlight in dazzling ways. At Mt. Rushmore, we learned that the heads of the sculptures tower as high as six-story buildings! The eyes span 11 feet across and the noses about 20 feet. Two interesting factoids we discovered: originally, the artists carved Thomas Jefferson to the left of George Washington, but demolished it when they found rock deformities. Also, contrary to popular rumors, no more faces will be added, as Congress passed a decree stating that Mt. Rushmore is complete.

The National Park Service impressed us greatly on our visit. With four adults, each thinking the others had Eli, we got separated from him. After about 15 minutes of searching everywhere, I asked a park ranger if they had a meeting place for lost children. He took me to a ranger who got a description of Eli and sent it to all the rangers via walkie-talkie within a minute of my reporting him. Bo, of course, found Eli who had started walking toward the van when we got separated. But, I greatly appreciated the vigilance of the Park Service!

The story of the Crazy Horse Memorial fascinated us. Lakota chiefs approached the sculpture to design and build a memorial and he and his whole family committed their lives to it. They made a pledge not to take any government money, and we puzzled over that one. They certainly could have completed the memorial by now (they began in the 1940's) with government funding. Did they not want the strings they felt would be attached? Did they want to honor the Native Americans by not taking anything from a government that mistreated them? Was it simply based on a prideful sense of doing it ourselves? We really don't know. But, here 60 some years later, they have only completed the face. They still have the horse and the rest of the rider to carve.

We returned to camp for supper and played Cranium afterwards until late. How fun to be with Jim and David and just enjoy some play time. Tomorrow, because of the rainy forecast, we will head to the caves--either Wind Cave or Jewel Cave, and the geology museum. We feel so very grateful to have the opportunity to revel in God's creation!

Day 6 - Saturday, July 25 (Going West for Real)

We trekked 430 miles through vast oceans of prairie to the Black Hills of South Dakota, ascending 2000 more feet to 4000 at journey's end (Rapid City, South Dakota), where we picked up another hour of daylight and met our good friends Jim East and David Johns. Along the way, we took a side trip to the Badlands and marveled at the harsh moonscape, ancient "big pig" fossils and barking prairie dogs.

Of course, we had to stop by Wall Drug to get our free water and ice cream. It's more of a mall than a drug store, though after a serious search, we found a small nook where you could purchase things you might find in a drug store. We met an artist named David from Charlotte, NC who painted beautiful portraits of native Americans, and we bought one of his calendars after talking with him for a while.

While Vicki drove the first leg of the trip, until we crossed the wide Missouri River (it was pretty wide, oh Shannendoa), I wrote the following trip anecdotes...

(43.77 N by 99.31 W 1713 feet elevation (10 satellites) – crossing the Missouri River)

We’ve had a great time on the road together, mostly cranking out the miles while the non-drivers read, play PS2, DS, or GameBoy, and listening to comedians, musicals, and sundry playlists on the iPod. I’m not sure what we would do without the iPhone GPS keeping us on track and informed about everything from miles to go to our elevation – and how many satellites are in range. Which is a good thing, since cell towers have been scarce since we crossed the Mississippi.

Several camps now have touted “Free WiFi” which turned out to be a WiFi signal that reached about 20 feet from the camp office. I spent a couple of hours updating our trip blog and pictures last night while doing laundry for the first time (evening of day 5). Cell coverage is iffy and frustrating, so we make calls from the road when we get a good signal, and talk until we don’t. It’s hard to even want to stay in touch, because the trip, well into its first of four weeks, already feels like we’re in a parallel universe.

We don’t get much news (or any news), we’re out of touch with most people, save the occasional FaceBook comment (which we can’t answer), and it didn’t take long to forget (or forget to care about) what day it happens to be. The trip becomes its own kind of world, where 380 miles is a short distance and each mile brings new vistas to marvel at and horizons to swallow us whole. This part of the journey has been consumed with heading west. We wake up in Wisconsin and go to sleep 500 miles away. So much of what we notice happens on the road. Interstate 90, to be specific.

We’ve seen more wind turbines that we can count. Just outside of Pipestone, Minnesota, we passed a turbine factory, where the propellers were lined up like planes at the gate. We’ve seen cornfields that stretch to the horizon in every direction, and soybean and wheat fields that do the same. Now that we’re making our way across South Dakota, we’ve seen Wall Drug signs every mile or so. We’ve seen trucks hauling a line of three trailers (that’s nearly a quarter of a million pounds!). And of course we’ve seen a nipsy-russle of RV’s of all shapes and sizes.

One thing we have not seen on this leg of the journey where the speed limit is 75: troopers, or anyone getting pulled, since we crossed the Mississippi.

Day 5 - Friday, July 24 (Drive to Pipestone, Minnesota)

We had an easy travel day today - only 430 miles! And the rain held off when we packed out so we didn't have to button up in the rain. Not a lot to say about the trip - we crossed the Mississippi around noon at Lake Onalaska and climbed steadily across Minnesota to 1500 feet. I phoned Jim and David - who we'll get to see tomorrow for the next few days in the Black Hills of South Dakota - and my parents. We saw the usual number of win turbines (scads).

The highlight of the trip was when I followed a truck up 94 when I was supposed to bear to the left and stay on 90. Thanks to GPS, I caught myself 10 miles or so after I missed the turn - or else we would have ended up in Eau Claire 70 miles to the north (we're heading west!). Cost us half an hour, but it could have been lots worse.

We arrived in Pipestone just before five, set up and went over to the Pipestone National Monument (where centuries of native American tribes quarried red stone for their sacred pipes), bought our annual National Park Pass and a peace pipe (!) and walked the trail through the quarry and prairie. We watched the sunset light up the sky while the prairie breeze refreshed us after a day on the road.

Day 4 - Thursday, July 23 (Wisconsin Dells)

We arrived in Baraboo, Wisconsin between 5 and 6 pm Wednesday, July 22, after driving 500 miles past Chicago, and set up, had supper and explored the campground. The next morning we drive 15 miles north to the Dells, named after a French word for the the layered rock formations exposed by an ice age flood along what is now known as the Wisconsin River.

We took a boat tour of the upper Dells, getting the low down from Claire, our University of Wisconsin tour guide and snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery. Though far more tame now that the dams have raised the water level 20 feet or so, the river is still beautiful - and the Dells have beckoned sightseers since the mid-1800's. We got to go ashore at a couple of stops - our favorite was the witch's gorge (which reminded us of the narrow walkways through the gorge near Seneca Lake) - and saw a pair of eagles nesting.

After the boat tour, we had lunch at Subway and drove home in a downpour. When we got to the trailer, we all napped while it rained off and on throughout the lazy afternoon. In the evening after supper, we rode into Baraboo and saw the winter quarters of the Ringling Brothers circus troupe before having an ice cream sundae at a local hangout.

Day 3 - Wednesday, July 22 (I-90 to Baraboo)

We got underway by 9:30, averting the threat of a morning thunderstorm that spit but did not soak us while we packed up the trailer. We traveled past Toledo and along the northern border of Indiana, and laughed when we passed through Gary and Eli realized a real city inspired the song from Music Man that Winthrop sang.

Vicki took over driving as we got a glimpse of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline, before intersecting I-90. We passed through Madison, Wisconsin and turned off the interstate 10 miles north of our second campsite, a few miles west of Baraboo, Wisconsin, our base for sightseeing at the Dells tomorrow, and the home of the Ringling Brothers, of circus fame.

Day Two - Tuesday, July 21 (Cedar Point Amusement Park)

Had a ball today going from 0-120 mph in 4 secs and climbing 420 feet before spiraling back to earth. This after 90 minutes of anticipation. It was worth it. We did old school and new style coasters all day long and had a blast feeling the wind in our hair and our raised hands and yelling our guts out as we took another plunge.

It was supposed to rain today but never did. I ordered the tix online at a coffee shop with free WiFi several miles from our campsite and we never stopped until suppertime (back at camp - chicken salad Vicki whipped up for us after we were whipped.

We rode standing up, or legs dangling, seatbelts securely fastened and holding into our hats over 420 foot and 310 foot crests and down vertical and 80 degree drops at speeds topping (in one case) 93 mph. We got soaked and slung and amazed - high-fiving each other after every ride. Vicki and I were glad for the hour-plus waits that gave us a chance to catch our breath -because each ride took our breath away.

Don't look for a Cedar Point sticker on the back of our trailer, though, because stickers have apparently gone the way of the wooden coaster. We settled instead for a carved wooden sign we can hang from the trailer that says simply: "The Gordy-Stiths" with a pop-up beside it.

Tomorrow morning, we'll pack up and head for the Wisconsin Dells, 480 miles down the road. And on day four, we're heading to Noah's Ark water park!

Some memorable moments: after an hour of waiting, the Top Speed Dragster malfunctioned and they stopped catapulting us 420 feet into the sky. No one left the line, and within 15 minutes they started the ride back up again (after, presumably, repairing it); the announcer at the Mean Streak told us that it was the tallest, fastest, and highest wooden roller coaster in the... Cedar Point park; Joy and Eli played checkers on the porch of the General Store in Frontiertown; Vicki and Joy got drenched so thoroughly that five people asked what the two of them had ridden so that they could avoid it; and everybody did the Cha Cha Slide when the music played while we were waiting in line to ride the Millennium Force.

First Leg - Monday, July 20 (Drive to Sandusky, Ohio)

We arrived at camp #1 just before 6 pm and set up in record time. There's a set of train tracks nearby and Joy and Eli walked near them through a field of wildflowers to take pictures and to wave at the conductor (who waved back and blew his horn). We feasted on Vicki's awesome fajitas and drove to Lake Erie to watch the sunset (beautiful). The weather report calls for thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, so we're going to make a Go-No Go decision about Cedar Point tomorrow morning. If not roller coasters, we might go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, or a nature center on the shore of the Lake.

What a huge lake. Why not call it an inland ocean? I've seen lakes before. Just walking along a pier while the waves slapped the pilings below impressed me. We could see Cedar Point from where we watched the sunset. I hope we can ride tomorrow, but if not, the Gordy-Stiths will always find a way.

Some stats for the day: 460.5 miles - 20 mpg - 3 stops - 8 hrs 45 minutes - Ohio turnpike $7.75 - gas prices in Ohio: $2.25 - Vicki saw license tags from 25 states today and would have lost all of her cows if we had been counting. Joy and Eli helped us set a record for setting up the camper (other campers noticed and commended us!) - there's a skate rink within 7 miles of camp but I'm not going - the kids played Battlefront on the PS2 but did not watch a movie. And best of all - camp slave boy did not make an appearance (think the sad clown on the Sims).

As we get ready for bed, I can hear the faint sounds of trucks and cars on the turnpike, calling me to hit the road again.

Trip Begins

After a big breakfast (bacon and "freedom" toast (;-) we got underway at 0915. Took our time packin the van and saying goodbye to Nicole. Rigged the PS2 up and took a pile of DVDs and snacks.

And an extra thermos of coffee.

Four hours later, we're 200 miles down the road to Sandusky, Ohio and stopped for gas and coffee. They're calling for 50% chance of rain tomorrow when we plan to go to Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Means the lines will be shorter ;-)

Peace,
Bo

pbogs@gordy-stith.com
pastors@skylinechurch.net
302-373-5143
Matthew 28.20b

Trip Itinerary

We're getting ready for the biggest family trip of our lives - from Wilmington, Delaware, to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks, and lots of wonderful points in between. The trip will take 28 days, half of which will be spent getting to where we're going - averaging 450 miles - and half of which will be spent playing and exploring some of the most beautiful spots in the country.

The van and the trailer have been serviced, and AAA has made us up a Trip Tik package. We've been washing clothes, sheets, and towels - cleaning the van and the trailer out, and making lists for clothing, games, and food. We leave Monday morning, July 20, and plan to return on Monday, August 17.

There have been lots of last minute things to do at church, but Ruthann DeJuliis, our great friend and Pastor of Congregational Care at Skyline, will be preaching and providing pastoral care in our absence, and we know that together with Pat Foster, our Admin. Asst. and many great lay leaders at Skyline, we can relax and enjoy every moment of the trip.

All the reservations have been made at the dozen places we plan to overnight, and we're on track to pack and launch on schedule. We have lots of room for pictures and videos, friends have given the kids travel journals, and we plan to keep this blog updated throughout the course of our adventure.

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