Day 19: Home Sweet Home

Driving from western Pennsylvania to our home was no sweat.  Many folks have since asked us, "Was the trip all that you were hoping for?" Yes... and more.  We were much more spontaneous this time around, taking side trips and lingering in spots that called to us.  We appreciated each opportunity to learn more about the way people live, and the untouched beauty that is present in our diverse countryside.

Next year?  Maybe California's Yosemite.  Thanks for coming along on the trip with us!
~Kelly, Ron, Nick, & Greg

Day 17 & 18: Cedar Point Amusement Park

The Raptor

We took advantage of Early Entry to ride a couple of killer roller coasters: Maverick and Raptor. Maverick boasts a "Twisted Horseshoe Roll" maneuver and a 400-foot-long speed launch through a dark tunnel. This ride was, in fact, a dizzy experience. Raptor leaves your feet dangling below you and is one one of the tallest and fastest inverted coasters in the world, featuring six head-over-heels inversions.  Greg met the height restriction of 54" by an inch-and-a-half, so we were cleared to ride anything in the park!

Once Cedar Point opened to the public, we continued to tempt fate by riding four more coasters, in addition to other rides. After lunch, we relocated to the Soak City Water Park to partake in body slides, tube slides, and the lazy river. In the evening we rode a few more rides in the amusement park. The worst part of the evening occurred when we rode the lame-o bumper cars, and my car never moved. It was stuck in reverse while everyone shouted repeatedly, "Turn the wheel the whole way in the opposite direction." Meanwhile I was being pummeled by every other car in the rink. Not fun.

The next day began by Nick & Ron chickening out of riding "Dragster," the park's baddest of the bad roller coaster. This absurd ride goes 120 m.p.h., straight up, over one arch, and straight down (with some corkscrews thrown in for good measure). Truly sick. I encouraged Nick to pass because it just didn't look like a healthy choice for a growing boy. Ron's choice was on his own free will.

We left the park in the evening and drove eastward to a KOA Kampground in Grove City, Pennsylvania. This was actually quite a nice KOA, one we would go back to for a greater length of time. But at this point, we had one thing on our minds: tomorrow we would be home!

Day 16: Adel, Iowa to Sandusky, Ohio

This day consisted mostly of driving (again).  We had to cover some serious ground if we wanted the pay-off: two full days of fun at Cedar Point Amusement Park.  We finished off Iowa and raced onward through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.  Arriving at Cedar Point's Camper Village in the evening, we had a couple of hours to enjoy the hot tub & pool area.  We also became acclimated to the area, park hours, map, etc.  The campground is right at the outermost point of the peninsula that extends into Lake Erie, smack dab in the middle of the amusement park!  Roller coasters with screaming people are everywhere.  We had a nice meal of swordfish and corn-on-the-cob before heading to bed.  Ooooh, I forgot... this was our first night of cable television in over two weeks.  What a treat!

Day 15: The LONG Drive to Adel, Iowa

This was our longest driving day of the trip.  I'm not sure of the exact mileage, but over 700 miles to be sure.  Add to that the time change of moving one hour ahead, and you have an extremely long & tiring day!  One aspect of the day that kept us smiling was the Sturgis Bike Rally.  We passed right through the Black Hills of South Dakota where tens of thousands of motorcycles rule the road for one week per year.  Lucky us, we just happened to catch it in full swing.  It was a crazy scene, for sure!  We stopped for gas in South Dakota, and there must have been at least fifty bikers loitering in the parking lot.  One leather-clad gentleman swiped the last USA Today right from under me at the cash register.  I kept just a hint of bitterness with me after that episode because traveling 700 miles without a crossword puzzle is not fun for me.  Several games of UNO and mountain goat briefings (from Greg) later, we arrived at a KOA in Adel, Iowa.  We had been to this Campground of the Cornfields once before, so it felt like home... even though it was nearly dark when we arrived.  The boys and I went for a swim while Ron cooked dinner, then we all crashed.  Lights out.

Day 14: Horseback Riding in the Bighorn Mountains and Devil's Tower

The morning consisted of sleeping in, doing laundry, and cleaning the camper.  We departed the Sheridan, WY KOA at 11:00a.m. en route to South Fork Ranch in the town of Buffalo, WY.  We had to creep up about 8 miles on the eastern side of the Bighorn Mountains.  There we settled in for a two-hour trail ride.  Though we all enjoy horseback riding, it was a request from Greg that prompted this outing.  He just loves horses!  We mounted Harley (Ron), Silver (Kelly), Dandy (Nick), and Geronimo (Greg) and hit the trails with three guides and a "ranch dog" named Charlie.  The dog really cracked us up... He would run ahead of the horses and chase all the squirrels up the trees.  We traveled some scenic trails through the Bighorn National Forest, feeling a true sense of the "wild west."

After the trail ride, we ate lunch at the South Fork Ranch.  Ron & Nick rated their Thunder Burgers among the best burgers EVER, and Greg also gave high praise to his Buffalo Burger.  We were sad to leave this amazing ranch, thinking we would love to spend a whole week there.  After descending the mountain using the same  Rte. 16, we headed eastward for a three-hour ride to Devil's Tower National Monument.  This monument, which was the very first national monument established in 1906 (thanks to our friend, Teddy Roosevelt), sits in the extreme northeastern corner of Wyoming.

This unique "igneous intrusion" was formed underground by molten magma.  Over time, the sedimentary rock around it eroded, leaving the formation of columns exposed.  Devil's Tower rises 867 ft. from its base and offers a nice mile-and-a-half walking path around its perimeter.  Giant boulders are piled around the base of the tower, so the boys enjoyed climbing them as Ron & I took in the glorious sunset that bathed the tower in a golden hue.  We observed some rock climbers coming down from the day's climb.

We camped at the Belle Fourche, a well-kept campground within the monument's property.  Ron and I attempted to play Scrabble while overhearing a couple engaged in a heated argument next door.  The argument was in Spanish, which made it difficult to decipher anything but the swears.

Day 13: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

The drive from Great Falls, Montana to Sheridan, Wyoming was pretty uneventful, except for finding a biker's wallet left behind at a gas pump.  It was loaded with cash, credit cards, and Harley Davidson Club Membership Cards, so we were reluctant to give it to the gas station clerk for fear that some money would disappear.  So we did our good deed for the day and tracked down a police officer to turn in the wallet.

We arrived at the Battle of Little Bighorn National Monument around 3:00p.m.  The Visitor's Center had some really cool displays of the battle scenes, clothing, weapons, etc.  A short film also illustrated the movement of troops involved in this 2-day battle, which were more complex than I had realized.  Next we attended a SUPERB Ranger Program narrated by an ex-teacher, football coach, and Vietnam Vet who confessed to being obsessed with this battle since visiting the park at age 14.  Now retired, he explained that he was living his dream by retelling the story to visitors.  I must say that certain people just stand out due to their passion, and this was one of those occasions where we felt blessed to have spent time with this extraordinary (st)ranger!

Greg and our Favorite Ranger

Long story short, more than 260 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George Custer of the 7th Cavalry, died in this valley of the Little Bighorn River in June of 1876 as the Northern Plains Indians (Lakota & Cheyenne) made one last effort to preserve their way of life.  On Last Stand Hill, Custer and his 41 men shot their horses to use as shields, but they were ultimately surrounded and defeated.  As I recall the ranger's description, Custer's mutilated body had been shot in the chest and slashed in the thigh.  One finger was chopped off, and his ears had been pierced several times with sewing needles to symbolize that he wasn't listening to the Indians' message.

The Ranger felt strongly that Custer was misunderstood by most Americans.  He explained that the 36-year-old Custer wasn't the cocky maverick that many people believe him to be.  Rather, he was a product of his surroundings, a leader who often charged way ahead of his men during Civil War Battles, always seeking to be an inspiration to his troops.  The Ranger drew parallels between Custer and Crazy Horse, the Lakota Warrior whose horsemanship and bravery inspired many.

Well, we ended our visit to the monument by taking both the walking and driving tours.  The landscape looks eerily similar to the way it might have been 134 years ago.  You could practically see the battle being fought if you used your imagination.  We spent that evening at the Sheridan, WY, KOA, where some nasty storms prevented the boys from fishing.

Day 12: Going to the Sun Road

We chose to spend this day traversing Glacier National Park the easy way: on the free shuttle!  We boarded a large van to drive westward from St. Mary's Visitor's Center to Logan's Pass, which is close to the geographic center of the park.  The 52-mile Going to the Sun Road is an amazing feat of engineering.  Built in 1933, the narrow road runs along some treacherous terrain.  Approaching Logan's Pass, riders have an amazing view of the heart of the park- the deepest and most magnificent valley carved out by glaciers long ago.  Every June the park's workers use heavy machinery to locate and clear the road beneath many, many feet of snow.  In fact, the shuttle only operates from July through Labor Day due to weather.

We were happy to see a variety of wild life in the Logan's Pass area.  We saw several mountain goats from a distance and about 6 big-horned sheep, which were loitering in the parking lot!!  We watched a short ranger program about What constitutes a glacier?  She explained how the layers build up over time, and how the pressure actually changes the structure of the molecules via glacial crystalization. She also explained that some melting on the bottom causes glaciers to move (slowly), carrying bits of the ground.  A large portion of her lecture involved some astonishing "then vs. now" photographs of glaciers in the park.

We boarded yet another shuttle to travel to the extreme western side of the park, the Apgar Station.  There we saw the beautiful Lake McDonald and did a bit of shopping.  Huckleberry ice cream was a must!  On the return shuttle we were lucky enough to see an elusive black bear.  This huge fellow was munching on some berries roadside, and wasn't the least bit spooked by the shuttle bus.

The return trip eastward took longer than we wanted it to.  We were freezing cold in our shorts & sandals, and we just wanted to be back at the camper to eat the leftover steak from the night before.  While eating these leftovers, we observed two Ranger Cars zooming out of St. Mary's Visitor's Center with their lights flashing.  We speculated that perhaps there was an accident, a bear mauling, etc.  The next day we read the newspaper and found out that two fugitives (one escaped convict and his fiancee from Arizona) were spotted at a St. Mary's restaurant at the exact time that we saw the squad cars speed off.  How cool is that to know that a nation-wide manhunt was literally a mile away from us, and we were oblivious.

We drove for a few hours towards home in the evening and decided to boon dock at a Walmart in Great Falls since it was so late.  This was one camper-friendly Walmart with 21 other R.V.s  in the lot that night (yes, we counted).  It was so strange to see people sitting in lawn chairs and walking their dogs around the Walmart Parking Lot.  Not my cup of tea... but who knew?