Got to the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn only to be disappointed. This was the first casualty of the government shutdown. So, not much to say except that if I had to miss this site due to a shutdown which the Democrats stupidly caused, so be it. I’m glad the GOP isn’t giving into their demands. They’re like Hamas!
On to Three Forks, Montana. Never been to Montana. All I can say at this point is that it’s BEAUTIFUL!
How’s this for starting your morning! I’ll just have to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind again!
From Devils Tower I drove to Sheridan, WY where I stopped in to see an old client of mine! (From 40 years ago, I was Roy Weatherby’s banker when Weatherby was located in South Gate (LA) California.
On to Three Forks, Montana tomorrow!
Time flies when you’re having fun! NOW I’m getting to where I wanna be! On Friday the 10th I left Mitchell, South Dakota well before dawn. (Miles to go before I sleep!) Destination: Spearfish, South Dakota by way of….wait for it….
The Badlands!
Wall Drug
Mount Rushmore
Deadwood, SD
then to Spearfish.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words…voila
I wasn’t even planning on stopping at Badlands but boy am I glad I did! Pictures don’t do it justice but here’s one just the same.
Now, when you enter South Dakota you start seeing signs for “Wall Drug”. Didn’t need any pharmacy, but it was worth the stop. The place is a huge emporium in the middle of nowhere!
I can only describe my next stop as one of the most emotional, moving and patriotic I’ve ever experienced. Dogs aren’t allowed past this point, but WE WERE THERE! And it was stirring, beautiful and filled me with an indescribable pride.
Then DEADWOOD. It’s not like the tv series, but it’s pretty darn authentic nonetheless. Again, a picture doesn’t do it justice but…
I’m not giving enough detail about these stops in my narrative…you’ll just have to come by once I get home and I’ll go through the greater collection of photos and videos and share the stories that go along with them!
There are two stories for today, well, maybe three.
Story 1 – The weather was absolutely spectacular.
Story 2 – The speed limit up here in South Dakota is 80 mph! It is also windy as hell! I now understand why there are so many wind turbine farms up here, but they’re still and eyesore/blight on the landscape and half of them aren’t working, a quarter of them are turning (on electricity, not wind!!!) and the balance is providing how much power???? And for whom???? Now, imagine flying down the road at 80 mph in an RV and one of those wind gusts comes along. Long story short, there is absolutely NO relaxing driving here…it’s white knuckle all the way – taxing on the nerves and exhausting!
Story 3 – I felt like a Mormon pioneer being infested with grasshoppers. They’re EVERYWHERE. I stepped out of the RV and they were jumping around like rice frying in a pan! Hudson thought they were fun to try to catch, but even he tired of them after a while. Oh, and they’re not the only bugs around… there are common, everyday flies in all sizes, stink bugs, ladybugs, wasps and a bunch of bugs I’ve never seen before. Like the people around here though, they’re all friendly and don’t really bother us much.
Tomorrow headed to Mt. Rushmore, my first target stop. It’s supposed to be overcast and cold, but at least I will have seen it and been there!
Think I bit off more than I can comfortably chew with over 300 miles per day. With stops for stretches and to drain Hudson’s radiator (and sometimes transmission!) everything takes longer than what Google Maps says! But we made it to Champaign, IL where I popped in on an old high school chum and his wife (they own a family farm in Champaign and just happened to be there – they live in Maryland!) Getting there was a chore! It rained cats (no dogs or Hudson would get upset) all day long. So driving 70 mph among 18 wheelers in the FOG and the Rain…..thank you God for keeping us safe!
Today was the longest day yet. We’re west of Des Moines, Iowa. Not a cloud in the sky today and the landscape is that of freshly harvested cornfields marred (maybe I should say scarred) by wind farms, half of the turbines inoperative…What a waste of money and what a blight on the otherwise serene beauty of the Great Plains!
Note to self – the gravel coming off the truck in front of you and hitting the windshield was NOT gravel! It was BUGS! Godzillions of them of every size shape and variety! What’s that old question…would you rather be the bug or the windshield? It’s going to take me 1/2 hour tomorrow morning at a truck stop to get them off!
Hudson is going a little nuts with all the sites, sounds and SMELLS! He can’t get enough of it all!
Gotta crash…gained an hour today so am now Central Time.
PS how’s the above for a harvest moon? Taken around 9PM on October 7th in Champaign.
Construction, construction…you haven’t lived until you’ve shared narrow roads with 18 wheelers going 70 mph! Exhausting day…full adrenalin infusions all day long. But made it to Buckeye. Hudson wondering when it will all end but enjoying all the new smells (not sure about the sights!). Gonna rain tonight…gotta button up.
All the way to Champaign, IL tomorrow. Oh, by the way, spoke to my son who has decided to fly out and meet me in Whitefish, Montana and spend 4 days on the road with me. What a wonderful surprise and he will no doubt be a better conversationalist than Hudson!
You’re not a truck, you’re not a car…you’re an RV! The truckers hate you, the cars hate you. Only the other people in RV’s smile as you go by. Of course, having a Golden Retriever sitting in the shotgun seat helps.
It’s not the sewer lines coming from the other RV’s in the park that smell. It’s the damn skunk who made his way around it overnight! Oh, well, that’s nature.
Beautiful day, aside from the refrigerator door flying open during the trip (now have it battened down!) pretty uneventful. Getting 9.4 mpg meant a first $85 gas bill…
My first encounter with REAL AMERICA. Walked onto the park/camp store and treated myself to a Huge Arizona Iced Tea. Walked up to the counter expecting to pay $5.00 for it. “That’ll be 99 cents sir,” said the girl behind the counter. I just smiled and said, “Thank you ma’am!”
And the STARS!!! and SHOOTING STARS! Just like in the movies!
Onward to Ohio tomorrow!
PS am not far from Penn State. Locals not happy they lost yesterday!
“In search of American Goodness.”
Some of you have asked, “Where are you going?” Here’s my prospective itinerary:
Total Mileage: ~7,600 Total Driving Hours: ~132 Total Days: ~30-31
I’m going to take the month of October to road trip around the US (see map above) in an RV with my dog ‘Hudson” – a bucket list trip to see some of the great wonders of America, including many of the National Parks.
But the trip is also to get the hell away from the Northeast and meet REAL people, traditional people, God-fearing people, good-natured people, and sample and hopefully savor what’s left of some of the sights and sounds of the America I grew up with. I fear they’ve been so diminished by the Leftist orthodoxy and anti-American rot that seems to have permeated so much of our society I’d better get out there before either we have a civil war or we slip down the remainder of the slippery slope to oblivion. (Even though the tide may already be turning, it’s going to take some time to rid ourselves of the cancer.)
Anyhow, I’ve planned to keep in touch via Satellite (Starlink, thank you Elon), and I’m hopeful my iPhone will be able to grab a signal at least while I’m on highways so those of you who are my personal friends, family and acquaintances, please feel free to reach out.
I hope to see that God really has blessed America and pray He’ll continue to do so, the crazies and leftist idiots notwithstanding.
Wish me luck!
Treadstone
Aren’t you tired enough yet of all this transgender idiocy? It’s not just my opinion…it’s a FACT, has always been a FACT and always will be a FACT that there are only 2 sexes, and 2 GENDERS! The Left in its attempt to draw attention to, raise money for and use as a political cudgel on the Right, continue to:
If our society continues to tolerate, much less support these soul-crushing Leftist ideas, these aberrations of nature desperate to find meaning and self actualization with their “woe is me” or “power to the people” or BLM, Occupy Wall Street screeds…we will continue down the slippery slope of debauchery, anarchy and self-destruction. Ultimately, we’ll suffer the same fate as all the other great civilizations that doomed themselves in the very same way.
If, on the other hand, we throw the BS flag each and every time this evil rears its head, courageously call out the idiocy and “just say no” to the Leftist verbal diarrhea, turn off the drivel on the airwaves and ethernet, and stand up for what’s right, we really will be able to take our country back.
