Amazing views

Since our trip began, we have had an amazing opportunity to see the country, and this most recent leg of our journey has been some of the most beautiful of all that we have seen. While Thor worked on the RV, we visited the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan, where the kids attempted to sand-sled as we did in White Sands. The sands are Warren Dune were less conducive to sledding, as it is thicker and not as soft, but they certainly made a valiant effort before abandoning the sleds for swimwear and a float in Lake Michigan.

Before leaving Elkhart, I felt like we needed to check out the area and the Visitor's bureau (which happened to be just across from our hotel) had a great CD tour of the Amish towns and businesses in the area and we took a great drive around checking it out. We bought some cheese, and a few little toys and the kids actually enjoyed the journey much more than I expected them to.

Once we returned to the RV, several days later than expected, we ventured only as far north as Great Lakes, IL. First off, my directions were horrid and I turned in to the wrong gate, the one for boot camp, where I proceeded to get stuck, kind of at rush hour as everyone was leaving their offices for the day. Then, once freed, I made it to the RV park, only to find that it was electric only, and we had to get water down at the marina and the sewer dump was also near the marina. It wasn't a huge deal, but I had looked forward to just settling in for a few days, and that wasn't in the cards. We did take the opportunity while at the marina to fill up our propane tank, which we had run since we left Nellis AFB in Nevada (the first time) without refilling. Not bad!

After Great Lakes, we wandered up into Wisconsin, then down into Iowa for a night, and then into Minnesota. The RV seems to be running smoothly and we sailed smoothly out to Ellsworth AFB so that we could explore the long awaited Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. We, of course, stopped along the way at Wall, SD for the infamous Wall Drug. After 104 signs directing us there, I think C's head would have exploded if we didn't stop.

Ellsworth AFB was a nice little base, with a small commissary and exchange that allowed us to restock things that we hadn't had a chance to fill up while the RV was in the shop. We mostly used it as a base to visit Mount Rushmore, Wind Caves, Jewel Caves and Devil's Tower. The kids did Junior Ranger badges for each of these and we had a nice time touring the caves and hiking around the attractions. We ended up spending an extra night on base due to a day of extremely high winds and advisories not to drive high profile vehicles. I think it was a good call, since the area we stayed in next was fairly open and provided little in the way of wind breaks.

We headed to the Badlands, after consulting our map, and decided to go with the primitive camp to the west, because a) it was free and b) promises of buffalo wandering through camp. What the map didn't say, or perhaps I misunderstood, was that the unpaved road was so bumpy that we had to take the 12 mile trek at about 10 miles an hour! Needless to say, we unhooked the car and drove that around until it was time to leave. We only stayed one night, but the kids were so excited when the rangers told them that not only is going off trail allowed, it is encouraged! We went on several small hikes off trail and the views of the Badlands were just amazing. I would absolutely go back at least a dozen times, and our trip to the Badlands was, sadly, too short.

We left the Badlands and traveled south, though the lower portion of South Dakota and past the Wounded Knee memorial. I tried to convey to the kids the hubris of early American settlers and the way our nation treated the First Nation people (or Native Americans, or Indians), but it was hard to explain between the glorified account of Wounded Knee on the memorial signs and the Lakota people who are at the venue trying to sell things. I literally had zero cash with me or I might have purchased something, but it was very sad to hear their lamentations about the 89% unemployment rate in the area, and I was again saddened that I was unable to help at all.

We wandered down through farm country in the hills and valleys of southern South Dakota and northern Nebraska, which was a fairly brutal day of driving for me. Ended up at a small roadside RV park in Ogallala, where we had a chance to refresh and regroup. Yesterday we drove east, destination fairly unknown, and ended up driving over 400 miles. We will not be doing that again, particularly when my GPS cannot keep up with us, and left us 3 miles away from some pretty necessary turns, that would have kept us on a paved road, but instead had us wander into miles of unpaved cornfield roads, in the dark,  I kept envisioning Malachi from Children of the Corn stepping out in front of the RV as we drove, it was just that bad. I eventually managed to find roads that would get us back on pavement and in the right direction, only to have GPS fail, again, and we drove right past our scheduled stop. By that point, I had had enough and decided to continue on to the next real town and a hotel for the night. There is never a dull moment in this life, and I am just grateful to be living the dream!

Back on the road

Following our break at the grandparents', we headed out on our trip to the Thor repair facility in Elkhart, IN. Along the way, we stopped in Pennsylvania for a few nights, so we could visit what is, apparently an iconic place in the region, Knoebels Amusement park and Crystal Pool. We took advantage of their free tickets for military families, and went on a few rides, but spent most of the roasty day at the water park, going on slides and swimming and jumping from the diving boards. We finished the evening on the ferris wheel, that reaffirmed H's desire never to ride on one again.

I know that I have driven through PA before, but I guess it is just different in the RV, taking well over an entire day to cross the state. We took advantage of another discounted RV site just inside the western border of PA (Mercer) for another good break, which allowed us to make it all the way through northern Ohio and into Michigan to visit with friends, new and old, a friend from boot camp who must be way older than I, as her daughter is heading out to college this week and they had a celebration party for her graduation.

Following that, we headed to Indiana and moved into a hotel for a week while the technicians at Thor rebuilt our jacking system and windshield wiper systems as well as fixing some cosmetic issues and repairing our broken slide. They added a rail that will allegedly help ensure that the slide doesn't break again. They also replaced the door that surrounds the girls' bunks that had been broken a few times, and glued and broken again.

While the repairs took place, we celebrated another birthday, this one was spent at the American Girl Store in Chicago, which was about perfect for the now nine year old girly-pants. Her dolls had their hair done and she got a few new things for them and generally just enjoyed the experience. We snuck cupcakes from Crumbs into a corner in the mall and lit a quick candle for her to blow out. In all, she was happy about it.

Our general plan while at the hotel was to spend one day active and one day vegging at the hotel, in the pool, playing Wii and watching really bad TV. Our second adventure involved a trip to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, where the younger two got Junior Ranger badges, and then Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan, where we both slid on the dunes with our sleds from White Sands and swam in Lake Michigan. The third day of exploration involved a drive through the Amish areas of northern Indiana. The kids enjoyed that more than I expected, and we bought some cheese and candies and ate ice cream and enjoyed the countryside.

In all, I think Thor did a good job and I guess I wasn't sure what to expect, but I came away feeling like it is just a matter of time until things break again, but I guess we'll see. So far, the jacks have worked properly twice in five attempts.