Our Move, Day Three

Iowa was our destination for day two because of two reasons: Kristine and Ryan. While planning our drive, I decided to see how out of the way it would be to make a stop in the famed town of Storm Lake and to my great joy, it didn’t take out any time at all and would provide the perfect spot for a short visit with the Brandenbergers. 

Because of our stops in South Dakota, we made it to Iowa later than planned, but still with enough time for a walk around Storm Lake with Alexio, their puppy. We got to see where Kristine works, where they live, and share a small taste of life in Storm Lake.

One regret of our time there is that we didn’t take pictures the first day. For whatever reason, we left the cameras behind and didn’t pull them out once. Kristine taught me a thing or two about the manual setting on my camera, so I did get this great shot ;)

The next morning, after staying up way too late catching up, we enjoyed an amazing breakfast, which Kristine had ready by 5:30. We grabbed a few shots then, as Carson was loading the car and as we said our goodbyes. 

I did take a few pictures of the famed lake on the drive out. 

During our time there, we were offered Diet Mountain Dew numerous times, which for some reason, we kept refusing. So Kristine packed these things for our drive. Kristine, thank you! The Mountain Dew kept Carson awake!

Iowa as a whole was exactly what we expected in a state. There were fields upon fields, pastures full of smelly livestock, trucks full of stinky pigs. We enjoyed Storm Lake, because it held special people, but as a whole, we weren’t that impressed.

We crossed the Mississippi River in a somewhat less dramatic way than I recall the Wilder family making that same cross in Little House on the Prairie. 

Then we crossed another state line. Illinois brought us one state closer to our goal. It was there that we discovered the “joy” of toll roads for the first time. Suddenly, we were being corralled into lines with other cars of various shapes and sizes, with no warning other than “$1.10, have cash ready”. We didn’t have cash on hand, because it would have gotten lost in the already stuffed car. Somehow, thankfully, I turned my head and noticed the “Rainy Day fund” jar behind me. There were a few dollar bills in the neck that I was able to pull out with a straw. That jar saved us big time (at least we think so – we’ve heard that the fines can be rather hefty).

You might remember that earlier this year, we were really hoping that Carson would attend Notre Dame. So once we crossed the Indiana line, we headed for South Bend. The school was impressive, and Carson still wants to be there one day. Finding a gas station took quite some time, and we were in the city for longer than planned.

Ohio brought even more toll roads, which didn’t give us the best first impression. We watched another sunset in Ohio and saw the state from the freeway, providing us with an inaccurate view. We don’t have a picture of the moment that we arrived to our destination, because it wasn’t our house. It was too late to pick up the keys that night, so we stayed with my friend Rachel’s parents. We arrived a little after midnight (since we’d accidentally stayed almost 2 hours in South Bend), exhausted but finally in Ohio. 

Our Move, Day Two

On day two, we got up later than planned, which felt rather nice, after being in our completely stuffed car for so many hours the day before. We still started our trip before 7, so it wasn’t that bad, and gave us the chance to enjoy the hotel’s breakfast buffet.

We didn’t think we’d be able to make it to Mount Rushmore, because the park doesn’t open until 8am after August 11th (this was August 14th – so close!) but the hotel clerk assured us that we could see it from a vantage point anyway, so we decided to take that detour. I’m glad that we did. We saw a drive-through bear park on the way down and Carson desperately wanted to stop, but it cost more than we wanted to spend and it would have taken more time out of our day than we desired, so we took a picture and drove off.

We saw Mount Rushmore from far away, but it was still impressive. It’s a site we’d have regretted not seeing, and we felt very American and very touristy with our packed-out car, snapping away.

We stopped at Wall Drug on the way too. Apparently it’s famous, and I wasn’t aware of that, but Carson was, so we pulled in while I was asleep and then I woke up long enough to explore for a few minutes.

Minnesota was but a brief stop on our trip – we were there for just about 20 minutes before making it to Iowa, day two’s destination. 

Our Move, Day One

We left Spokane on Monday morning at 5:35am. The plan was originally to leave at 5:00, but that didn’t happen for a number of reason, the biggest being poor planning. We’d left our packed car in the garage of some friends so that it wasn’t a temptation for any passing pedestrians, and Carson drove over in the morning to go get it. While he was gone, my friend Jessie, who had been up half the night with her kids, drove over to be our send-off party. 

We packed up the car with the bike and the doormat on the back and left later than planned. The moon was still out and the sun hadn’t quite woken up yet.

We watched the sun rise as we drove through Idaho. It rose quicker than expected and though you only see a few pictures here, I took about fifteen.

We stopped for coffee, gas and food, but our stops were rather limited for the most part.

Montana was eternal. We drove through the “Big Sky Country” most of the day, seeing cattle and fields, hills, rocks and plains. It was beautiful country. We passed several advertisements for grizzly bear viewing and one of us was really tempted to turn in and see them, but we accidentally passed the exit and didn’t want to turn around.

We listened to Pride and Prejudice for a good amount of the trip

Wyoming had big hills, oil rigs and even more cows. It was beautiful too.

I didn’t get a picture of the sign welcoming us to South Dakota, but seeing it was a joy, because we planned to stop there for the night. We watched the sun set in South Dakota, and once it became dark, we were ready for bed. We found a reasonable hotel and stayed the night in Rapid City, a town north of Mount Rushmore. Our arrival was a bit later than planned, so we weren’t able to drive down and see the heads of our former presidents lit up that night.

The number for a pizza place was the first thing that we saw upon entering our room, so we called and made an order. I showered while Carson took a swim in the pool, and soon after, our pizza arrived. I have never seen us eat like that before. We each ate half of the size large pizza, and I’m sad to admit that Carson finished his pieces after me. Oops. We’ve recently gotten into the show Downton Abbey, so we watched an episode while eating, then turned off the light and drifted off for a good night’s sleep.