Hello friends, we’re back! We’re not back on the road or anything like that, but the blog is being updated again! We’re pretty well settled into our house in Omaha. Izzy is doing great in first grade, while Charlotte and I work from home. There’s a new puppy to keep us all on our toes, and sadly, the truck and RV are gone. The blog is now over a year out of date, but I am going to attempt to finish chronicling our RV adventures. I’m hoping to get the details documented before we forget them.
Was (Not Was) - Walk The Dinosaur
August 11 – August 20, 2021
When last we left you, we had just wrapped up our adventures in Yellowstone and the Grand Teton area. We hitched up and headed south, hauling the rig through Jackson, Wyoming headed for the tiny-not-even-really-a-town of Boulder.
After a relatively short but pretty drive, we arrived at Wind River View Campground. This is not a terribly impressive park, but it was in the direction we needed to head and was only $10/night using our RPI membership. We stayed a week which allowed us to settle in, catch up on laundry, receive a couple of packages, and take a bit of a break after several pretty full weeks of exploring.
We were looking forward to an easy week, so we didn’t exactly fill our schedule while we were there. And there’s not a ton to do even if we wanted to. The couple times we left the rig, we went north to Pinedale, which had a nice outdoor burger stand, a park, an expensive grocery store, and a brewery.
Checking out the city park in Pinedale, WY.Izzy loved seeing this dog swimming through the pond at the park.
After our week was up, we headed south again, on our way to Vernal, Utah and Steinaker State Park.
It was another scenic drive. We got to drive over a dam, and we stopped for a nice picnic lunch on the way.
Does it really count as a picnic if you bring your house with you?
Steinaker State Park is pretty modern by state park standards and has some nice RV sites, but we still struggled a bit with parking in our curved pull-thru site. We had a nice gazebo though, and Izzy was able to play a bit with a kid in a neighboring RV.
We did a bit of exploring at the park, which is located on Steinaker Reservoir. I think it is a popular boating spot, but the water level was very low while we were there.
It must get wild on the lake during the summer.
We only stayed for three nights, but Charlotte was able to go into town, get her hair cut, and shop at a Walmart for the first time in several weeks.
The highlight of our stay was visiting Dinosaur National Monument. We drove to the park’s Quarry Visitor Center located in Utah, but this national monument is pretty big and has another visitor center in Colorado.
As the name suggests, this visitor center is focused on a quarry where they found a large number and variety of dinosaur fossils. Way back in 1915 fossil hunters realized what an amazing site they had and preserved a hill with partially excavated fossils. A building was built around the hill, and now visitors can walk through and see fossilized dinosaur bones in situ.
We rode a tram from the parking area up to the quarry.
It was very cool to see the fossils in place. The hill is large and there are a large number of species on display. There is also some cool technology to help visitors identify the bones they are looking at. There are also some displays to provide additional information.
After viewing the quarry, we hiked down the hill. On the way we spotted some petroglyphs and small animals.
Do you see it?
That’s it for our time in Wyoming and northern Utah. See you down the road!
Please enjoy some properly majestic music as we discuss one of the most beautiful, majestic places in America.
From our campground east of Yellowstone, we hauled our rig through the park itself, heading out the south gate directly into Grand Teton National Park.
It was a scenic drive, and we stopped for a picnic lunch on the shores of Yellowstone Lake.
A very nicely placed picnic table!
We exited the northern section of Grand Teton and arrived at our stop for the next three nights, Fireside Buffalo Valley RV Park. This park was not terribly impressive, but it does hold the distinction of being the most expensive campground we have ever paid for at around $93/night, which is why we only stayed here for three nights.
It at least had a convenient gas station on site where we fueled up for $4.09/gallon of diesel, which felt exorbitant at the time, but writing this in April 2022, I’d gladly pay today.
After setting up, we had some time to head back into the park. First, just past the park entrance we got our inflatable kayak inspected for zebra mussels and received a permit to allow us to paddle it inside the park. Then we visited the Colter Bay visitor’s center, picked up a Junior Ranger workbook for Izzy, and paid for additional boating permits.
The next day, we set out to explore. Grand Teton has plenty of wilderness and wildlife, but not like Yellowstone. The big draw for the park, in my humble opinion, are the gorgeous mountain views. Distant wildfires had been putting a haze in the air for the last few weeks, but had just cleared up, so we were actually able to see the Tetons.
One of the sites to visit in the park is an old barn. It doesn’t seem to be terribly historically significant, but it is well preserved, looks old and rustic, and has the mountains behind it, which is enough for it to claim to be the most photographed barn in the world (famous for being famous?) and to have it’s own Wikipedia page. Izzy was not impressed and is still quite vocal in her dislike for the old barn if you ask her about it today.
Don’t let her smile fool you, Izzy is no fan of old barns.
Next, we stopped by Kelly Warm Spring. At only 80° F, it is too cool to be a hot spring, but it is the right temperature for tropical fish. Over the years, some people have dumped their aquariums out here and there are now exotic fish you’d normally find at the pet store living in the spring.
After about a week straight of picnic lunches, we headed south of the park into the city of Jackson for lunch. On the way back, we stopped at the Jackson National Fish Hatchery to see some bigger, native fish. They have a little pond on site and allow fishing, so bring your pole if you visit.
Then we drove up Signal Mountain and ate a picnic dinner at the peak.
After dinner, we popped into Signal Mountain Marina to check it out for our planned kayaking trip the next day. On the way out, Izzy spotted this bull elk, one of the few big animals we saw at the park.
On the way back to the RV, we stopped at Oxbow Bend to enjoy magic hour.
The next day, we headed out early to get a parking spot at the Signal Mountain Marina. We inflated the kayak and hit the waters of Jackson Lake. Our little inflatable kayak moves like a brick through the water, so after some tough paddling, we stopped for a break on the rocky southern shore of an island called Donaho Point.
Despite the lack of vegetation there were a bunch of curious bees hanging out there, so we quickly put back into the water. Our views were fantastic as we were paddling towards the mountains. The weather was also great as it wasn’t too hot despite the sun.
Our goal was to make it to Elk Island, but due to moving so slowly, we never made it. Instead we stopped at what we think was Marie Island. It’s so tiny it doesn’t even show up on most maps. We ate the lunch we packed with us and hiked around a bit.
Gotta have your boating hat on.
After lunch we headed back to the marina. The wind had picked up and luckily was pushing us back to shore which allowed us to make the trip in half the time. If we had to paddle against it, I’m not sure we we would have made it!
Several hours paddling in the sun left us exhausted, so after we hauled out we headed back to the rig to start packing up. Our time in Grand Teton was short, but very memorable!
After our adventures in South Dakota, we said goodbye to the Meiers and our new adopted home state and pointed Big Blue Truck west, with a destination of the world’s first national park. Or as our artist of the post, Whiskey Myers, (no relation to Dan and Susan, I don’t think) might put it, we “turned to ‘Stone”.
It’s hard to find music about Yellowstone without pulling up a bunch of information about the show of the same name. Even the song above is now associated with it. I understand it is very popular, but I’ve never watched it. Based on YouTube clips and descriptions that accompany the music, it seems to be about Kevin Costner’s very rich family who owns a whole bunch of land and likes to either dress fancy or cosplay as cowboys. They fly around in their helicopter as they struggle with wealthy landowner problems like the government and poor people. For some reason Yellowstone has very strong Paramount branding (other shows don’t seem to do this), but isn’t actually available to stream on Paramount+. Weird.
We had a couple of longer drive days, and stopped for a single night at an RV park along the way. The park was fairly unremarkable, but was within easy walking distance of a solid local fast food restaurant. Izzy tried some real fried chicken for the first time and was excited to inform her Lola that she now eats “chicken on the bone”.
We stopped at a couple of interesting rest areas along the way. The first had what appeared to be a family reunion going on. There was a playground and a few covered picnic areas, but it wasn’t that nice. There must be a serious lack of parks in the area.
We also stopped at a rest area that abutted the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting. The museum was closed, but we got to check out some of the planes through the fence.
After a scenic drive the second day, we arrived at Mountain View Resort & RV. I think this park is newly setup to host RVs and the site layout is a little odd. We ended up with a pull-in/back-out site, but there was enough room for our truck to pull all the way through. Once settled, it was a fine place to park and provided us with some great views.
Of course, our objective for the week was to explore Yellowstone, which is massive. We had about a 30 minute drive to get to the east entrance station and then another 40 minutes just to get to the main loop road that circles the park. We ended up spending a lot of time in the truck. On the days we headed out, we would pack a picnic lunch, leave as early as possible, and then head back in the late afternoon. We managed to see quite a bit of the park, but sadly not as many big animals as we would have liked. We learned a lot thanks to the Just Ahead app, which would chime in and give us the history of sites as we approached them. I’d highly recommend it or something similar when exploring the larger national parks.
From here, I’ll just let the photos to the talking, plugging in some captions where I can.
The Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.Getting some work done in the Junior Ranger booklet.We always saw bison driving through Hayden Valley.Wallowing.These little guys were play fighting.Exploring the mudpots.Dragon’s Mouth SpringThis guy was hanging out near the mudpots. How many bison get burned on all the crazy natural features?Expensive, mediocre milkshakes from the Lake General Store. The rocking chairs and porch overlooking the shores of Yellowstone Lake were nice though.Lunch near Mammoth Hot Springs.Don’t take your Camry off-roading through the shrubs in Yellowstone.We waited around for more than ten minutes waiting for this geyser to erupt.It started going off as soon as we drove away.Grand Prismatic SpringFinding a spot to view Old FaithfulHiking Pelican Creek Natre Trail
That was our adventure in Yellowstone. Join us next time as we head south to visit the majestic Grand Tetons. See you down the road!
“Take me back to the Black Hills, the Black Hills of Dakota,” sings Doris Day as the titular Calamity Jane. After spending two great weeks finding adventure in those hills we can relate, as we certainly want to be taken back there. Well, maybe not right now while things are probably still covered in snow, but once it warms up again, sure.
When we last we left you, we were outside of Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We hitched up and left the upper Dakota and headed almost straight south to the lesser Dakota, and the town of Hermosa, just outside of Rapid City.
Straight out of the Old West.Risk of what, exactly?
Eventually, we made it to our home for the week, Southern Hills RV Park & Campground just south of Rapid City. This park didn’t have any amenities other than a laundry room, but it was very well kept, had a decent little bar & grill within walking distance, and also was, for unknown reasons, home to giant busts of JFK, Reagan, and Bush Jr.
We got some nice sunsets.And a big rainbow.Pretty decent likenesses. Have you seen the Ronaldo bust?Enlarged to show texture.
For our first Black Hills adventure, Izzy and I visited Dinosaur Park, which is a dinosaur sculpture garden set on the top of a hill overlooking the Rapid City. These dinosaurs were built way back in 1936 by the WPA, and look a bit dated by modern paleontological standards (no protofeathers here). But dinosaurs are cool in any shape or form, these guys were big, and no one seemed to mind if kids climbed all over them. Now I’m no economist (though I do have a degree in economics), but maybe we should put people back to work by hiring them to build giant dinosaurs again.
Stegosaurus used to be my favorite dinosaur. Then I learned it was probably the dumbest dinosaur and now I’m not so sure.Absolute unit.Get out of here Dimetrodon, you’re not even a dinosaur.
We also braved the heat to visit Storybook Island, some kind of privately owned but free park/playground/copyright infringement zone.
You enter the park through this castle gate. Izzy is up there somewhere.
The park has playground equipment as well as a bunch of statues and things for kids to climb on.
We rode the train you can see in the background.
There are also lots of famous copyrighted characters decorating the park. Walt Disney must be spinning in his cryogenic head jar.
We all took a bit of a road trip to the east to see a few different things. One was the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which is split into two locations. First we stopped at the Delta-09 silo and got to peer down it to see a Minuteman Missile.
They claim to have removed the 1.2 megaton nuclear warhead.
Then we drove to the visitor center where we watched an informational movie, walked through the museum, and Izzy earned a Junior Range badge.
Being a missileer is hard work. Got to have a comfy chair.
After that, we headed into Badlands National Park. We stopped at the visitor’s center to have a picnic lunch, get some information about the park and to pickup a Junior Ranger booklet.
It was hot that afternoon, over 100°, so we didn’t get out of the truck too much. We’ll have to come back to explore more thoroughly sometime. Even if you can’t stop, the views from the road are pretty great, so it’s worth a drive through the park.
It was nice to have some shade to eat under.Izzy and I “hiked” this short boardwalk trail.
The park exit led us right into Wall, South Dakota, which is famous for its drug store billboards. Of course we had to stop, grab a treat, and check things out. We ate some expensive homemade pie and ice cream and washed it down with 5¢ coffee in one of the cool dining rooms lined with old cowboy art.
Then we explored the rest of the Wall Drug, which is mostly tourist stuff, but actually does have a drug store in the middle.
If you want to get away with a cheap souvenir make sure to bring coins.
On the way back to the RV park we caught a rock to the windshield that developed into a big crack. So I got to spend $650 and half a day getting the last Super Duty windshield in Rapid City installed.
With the windshield fixed, we decided to cool off by going on a hike to a spot called the Devil’s Bathtub. This is a trail near the town of Spearfish that follows a little creek, crossing it several times, until you get to a big pool, apparently used by the devil to clean up or maybe just relax after a stressful day. We packed a lunch, strapped on our waterproof hiking boots (or Teva’s for Charlotte), and hit the trail.
It was fun to hike back and forth across the water, but it is a very popular trail and too crowded for our liking, especially at the bathtub itself. Also, in hindsight, boots were probably not the right choice of footwear, even if they were waterproof. Trying to stay out of the water lead to me putting a foot down on a slippery algae covered rock. My foot shot out from under me and I went down, taking Izzy with me. Luckily we were both okay, and I only bruised my pride and got wet.
After staying a week at Southern Hills, we moved RV parks. We only had to travel 12 miles, and there were a few hours between check-out at the old park and check-in at the new park, so for the first time, we took the RV to Walmart. The lot wasn’t huge but we managed to find some space. I will say, it was super convenient to load groceries straight from the shopping cart into the fridge!
After shopping and lunch, we headed to our home for the next week, Hart Ranch Camping Resort, also located south of Rapid City. We loved this park. It was also very clean and well kept. All the sites have full 50 amp hookups and a paved parking pad with patio, and most have shade. They don’t have any seasonal guests so sites stay uncluttered. The park offers tons of amenities and lots of free family activities. I rented a bike for the week, there were a couple of concerts, free s’mores, candy bar bingo, trivia night with taco buffet, horses, a kiddie train, and even a rodeo!
Even better than all of that was that our friends the Meiers – Dan, Susan, Roman, Eva, and Olivia – made the drive up from Nebraska to join us at the park. They don’t have an RV, but got a taste of the lifestyle by staying in one of the park’s rental units. Unfortunately, their rig was only 30 amp with a single air conditioner. Not great with temps peaking at 108°. So not the most comfortable introduction to RVing, but they didn’t complain and there was plenty to do outside the RV.
Hart Ranch has a fantastic swimming pool and because of the heat we spent a lot of time there. We also explored the activity center, mini-golf course, and playgrounds on property.
One afternoon while Charlotte was busy working, the rest of us piled into the Meier family van and made a short drive to Bear Country USA, a drive-thru wildlife park. This may look like a tourist trap, but it was actually a lot of fun on a hot day. As we slowly drove through the park we got to see elk, reindeer, wolves, big horn sheep, and of course, the bears. Animals could walk right up to your car if they wanted, and some of them did!
There were also a small zoo we walked through with more animals on display.
We then hit up the gift shop. Roman and Eva had been given a souvenir budget before their trip and agonized over what to purchase, while Izzy just asked me to buy her nearly every item in the store. In the end, I think no one bought anything! Gotta save those dollars. Who knows what the next gift shop will bring?
After we got back, Dan and I headed over to the in-park bar for a chance to meet the park manager. The manager wasn’t there, but we drank his or her complimentary beer anyway. Later, we headed over to the Meier RV for a delicious dinner Susan put together.
Lined up by age/size.
The next day was pretty chill. Roman and Eva attended some kind of story event hosted by the park. Then we spent a lot of time at the pool. Izzy and I played candy bar bingo. It took a long time before we won anything, but people kept giving Izzy their candy winnings. That evening we headed to downtown Rapid City for dinner. Dan and I both love cars and trucks as well as drinking craft beers, so we easily fell prey to the many billboards for Firehouse Brewing Company located around the area, which advertise cold beer and have a cool fire truck parked nearby. The food was okay, and the beer a bit disappointing. Not worth the drive into town, the search for parking, and the wait for a table.
The following morning we all headed out to see one of our nation’s most iconic sites, Mount Rushmore. After getting our fill of the impressive view, we hiked the Presidential Trail that brings you to the base of the mountain and puts you that much closer to the giant stone presidents. Along the way we chatted with a park ranger, and visited the sculptor’s studio where Izzy received a Junior Ranger badge.
Learning from a park ranger about the various carving tools like chisels, drills, and dynamite.
We escaped the rising morning heat by watching a move about the creation of the monument and the park, and of course we had to hit up the gift shop, where I believe some of the precious souvenir dollars were parted with.
A sculpture of the sculptor!
We then drove to the town of Custer, where we grabbed some lunch and a couple beers at Mt. Rushmore Brewing Company‘s restaurant called The “Pounding” Fathers (for real).
After lunch we visited the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is not affiliated with the National Park Service, but they have a Junior Ranger program equivalent. So after watching a short documentary about the history of the memorial, Izzy and I ran all around the museum trying to fill out her booklet. She was pretty excited to become a Junior Scout and earn a rock that used to be part of the mountain until it was blasted away.
They’re making progress, but still have a long way to go.We couldn’t leave without getting a treat.
On the way back to the RV park, we took the highway through Custer State Park and had to stop for a buffalo jam.
Only cross the road at signed crossings.Izzy slept through all of this.
And because that wasn’t enough adventure for a single day, after we got home, we took a hay wagon ride out to the weekly rodeo on the edge of the RV park grounds.
Riding over to the rodeo.“Why, yes, this is my first rodeo,” Izzy, probably.
The next day we took advantage of more activities around the park. Dan, Roman, and I started the morning by hitting the driving range, because of course this RV park has an affiliated golf course. Then that evening, we got together to enjoy the park’s taco buffet and trivia night. They also had the bar open so Dan and I could try and check-in a few new beers. Despite that, we managed a respectable third place finish!
Fun Fact – Despite only being there a combined 12 nights, Dan and I account for roughly 10% of all the beer check-ins at Hart Ranch on Untappd.
It was amazing having friends come out and stay at the same RV park as us, but sadly, all good things must come to an end. We had to say our goodbyes as the Meiers hit the road back to Nebraska the next morning. We know vacation dollars and maybe more importantly, vacation days, can be hard to come by, so to have friends spend both of them to come hang out with us is pretty awesome. Thanks again, Dan and Susan, hope to see you guys soon.
A day after the Meiers left, we packed up ourselves and continued our journey out west.
We had a fantastic couple of weeks, and can’t wait to get back to the Black Hills of Dakota. Tune in next time as our adventures continue at America’s largest national park. See you down the road!
Before Ruff Ryders was established as a management company and record label, the Rough Riders were a US cavalry unit led by none other than Theodore Roosevelt. Ol’ Teddy would of course go on to even greater things, including plenty of strong conservation efforts. Those efforts and his ties to the North Dakota badlands eventually resulted in the only American national park named for a single person. Theodore Roosevelt National Park was our next destination, and would kick off our summer tour of several national parks across the western United State. So just like the pioneers of old, we hitched up our wagon and headed west.
It wasn’t long before our first stop. We pulled into a truck stop just off the interstate in Fargo where we got the truck and RV washed, ate some lunch, and had a quick visit and goodbye with my brother.
Waiting in line with the big boys at a Blue Beacon truck wash. There need to be more of these around.No fancy robot car wash here, just a bunch of dudes with pressure washers.
With our rig clean and our bellies full we hopped back onto the interstate. It’s a long way across North Dakota, so we stopped for the night at the Medina City Park Campground.
This wasn’t a dedicated campground, but a dozen or so parking spots with water and electric around the city park. It was great for just a quick overnight stay, and Izzy enjoyed the playground at the park.
We stayed hitched up to the truck overnight to get a quick start the next morning. We made our way to Belfield, ND and The Crossings Campground.
This was not a fancy RV resort or anything like that. It has zero amenities or extras. Just a fairly level place to park, hookups for water, sewer, and electric, and a dumpster in the back. This was a brand new park and they were still working out some of the kinks when we arrived. Our neighbor’s electric didn’t work properly so he was plugged into our pedestal. Another site’s water connection would spray everywhere if it was turned it on. The sewer hookups were oddly placed and installed. Our site had too many prickly weeds and not enough grass. They installed a big sign for the park while we were there and took a photo of it for their Facebook page so our rig might be immortalized forever in the background of their profile photo. We can’t complain too much though, as this campground was cheaper than most others in the area, and unlike some of the older campgrounds nearby, it has 50-amp electric which kept our two AC units working in the heat. And the spartan campground was fine for us, as we were there to visit the national park.
We got in and setup early enough that we were able to go out and explore, which is not normal for us on a travel day. Theodore Roosevelt National Park has three visitor centers. One each for the north and south units, and Painted Canyon Visitor Center one along I-94 that also functions as a rest area. Painted Canyon was only 10 miles away from our campground, so we headed over. We stopped by the visitor center to pickup a Junior Ranger workbook, looked out on a nice vista, and were lucky enough to to take in a ranger talk about the geology of the park.
After that we went on what was supposed to be a short easy hike. However, the elevation changes and heat (and our lack of conditioning) made it quite a bit more challenging.
The next day, we drove about an hour to visit the park’s north unit. Since we got there around noon, we stopped at the picnic area for some lunch. After our meal we got back into the truck and we’re trying to figure out what to see first when a couple of bison wandered through the parking lot.
After lunch, we braved the heat and hiked a short nature trail where we spotted some bison down in the river.
Izzy decked out in her full hiking outfit, checking out the bison in the river through her monocular.The monocular came with a little adapter to attach your phone for some blurry/shaky shots.
After our hike, we stopped to check out some interesting rock formations called cannonball concretions.
As we drove further into the park we spotted some more wildlife.
It was a hot day and this deer wanted to drink the gross water on the side of the road. She wasn’t scared off by traffic going past.
We drove to the end of the road stopped for the scenic vista at Oxbow Overlook above the Little Missouri river.
Charlotte and I enjoyed the view and Izzy enjoyed climbing around the shelter.
Charlotte then had a couple of days when she needed to work, so Izzy and I drove about 20 miles down the interstate to the city of Dickinson, ND where we visited the Badlands Dinosaur Museum. We enjoyed some great fossil displays, read a book, and worked on a dinosaur themed jigsaw puzzle.
The dinosaur mesum is part of the Dickinson Museum Center, and our admission included access to a whole campus of historic buildings on site. The nice lady at the admission counter encouraged us to take a tour, and for some reason, Izzy said she wanted to go. So she and I were led on a private tour of all the buildings, including interiors. Our tour guide was a young guy, maybe 18 or 19, but very knowledgeable. Izzy’s enthusiasm faded quickliy in the heat as we walked in the sun from one unairconditioned building to the other, but she made it through around eight exhibits alltogether. Her favorite part was climbing around on big pieces of petrified wood after the tour was over (allowed by park rules!).
After making it through the museum we had to stop and cool off with some ice cream.
For our next adventure, we drove through the Old West town of Medora to get to the park’s southern unit.
Photos for this section will be a bit slim as I sadly lost everything I captured on our DSLR. The stand-alone camera with its big sensor and optical zoom lenses can take some great photos, but the workflow is much more complicated compared to our iPhones and mistakes can happen.
We started out by hitting up the visitor center at the entrance to the park. They had some interesting displays and you can visit Teddy’s old cabin. Izzy was also able to turn in her completed workbook and take the Junior Range pledge to earn her badge.
We out and back through almost the entire park. There is normally a loop you can drive, but the severe erosion had closed a section of the road a few years ago and they were still working on repairs.
We spotted some more bison, a couple of wild horses, and went on some hikes.
We found “Pride Rock”.We didn’t spot too many bison, but they left “evidence” of their presence all over the place.
We tried hiking through a prairie dog town. It was lightly sprinkling when we set off, but the rain picked up when we were about halfway through and we turned around.
On our way back to the park entrance, we decided to stop and do one last hike on the Wind Canyon trail. This is a short hike that climbs up a hill overlooking another bend in the Little Missouri River. It was a great view and the herd of bison we spotted earlier in the day had moved into the river. I know we got some great photos with the DSLR, which are now sadly lost.
Bison herd on the left.We never saw any snakes, but found this partial snake skin. Probably a rattler.
Finally, one night before we left we headed back to the Painted Canyon visitor’s center to see the sunset. It was worth the trip.
That will do it for our adventures in North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Park. See you down the road!
The Big Easy has been high on my list of things to see before they are destroyed by climate change (along with the glaciers at Glacier National Park, the Great Barrier Reef, northern California) You can certainly do a lot of walking once you get there, but I’m going to disagree with Mr. Domino (mind if I call you Fats?), and recommend you either fly down or do like we did and drive.
When last we left you, we were in Alabama, so to get to New Orleans we had to cross the state of Mississippi. We don’t have a hard goal of visiting all the states during our RV adventures but we are keeping track, so we stopped in the worst state in the union for a week to cross it off our list.
After an easy drive west on I-10, we arrived at TLC Wolf River Resort in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This was a pretty nice park and only $10 a night with our RPI membership.
Our site was right next to the playground.
There was also a little river in the park.
The park was close to the Gulf, so one afternoon we drove down to a nearby beach. It wasn’t nearly as nice as some of the Florida beaches we’ve been to, but Izzy still enjoyed it.
One day, the lizard that decided to live with us back in Destin, FL appeared on our hanging fruit basket. I managed to take the basket outside without startling him and now he’s a Mississippi resident, likely causing massive ecological havoc. Better than him continuing to live in our RV though.
Enjoy the magnolia state, little guy.
We got some pretty good rain while we were there, and the park flooded a bit. Izzy loved it because she got to wear her new to her rainboots (thanks Zach!).
We also got out our fishing rods, but only managed to get snagged.
Our time in Mississippi was pretty good. It probably wouldn’t come in last on a ranking of states to RV in, if we ever made one. We even found a surprisingly good Thai takeout restaurant not too far from the RV park.
Enjoying the Gulf water one last time.
After hitching up the rig, we headed out for another quick drive across I-10, this time to Robert, Louisiana and a Jellystone RV park.
I’m pretty sure Izzy had never seen or heard of Yogi Bear before coming here.
This was another nice RPI park. Izzy and I played some mini golf and took a paddle boat out onto the little lake.
Izzy was having a good time until……an angry goose thought we were too close to her nest and starting chasing us.
It rained here too, so there were more puddles to splash in.
Just outside the park, I saw a bit of Cajun innovation. How many times have you guys been driving in your car on a hot day, when you start getting thirsty and think to yourself, “I need a cool, refreshing beverage.” But not just any soft drink will do. You need something cold, something frozen, something sweet and fruity, but that will also take the edge off. A daiquiri! But who wants to pop into Applebee’s? Ain’t nobody got time for that! This is America. We demand convenience and absolutely minimal walking. Dear reader, let me tell you that our prayers have been answered. Behold! Also perfect for all those times you feel like your driving is a bit too good.
Photo taken around 1PM. Sadly, I never got the chance to try it out.
The food was pretty good, and the beignets were fantastic. I don’t know why you can’t get these things at any restaurant with a fryer.
After lunch, we hit the streets and started walking. We saw a few street corner bands, some of them very good, but Izzy thought they were all too loud. We browsed through a quaint little art shop and offered to buy Izzy a print to hang in her room. She couldn’t settle on anything, so we left emptyhanded. Izzy then complained about her lack of art for the rest of our time in the city.
Charlotte and I were enjoying just wandering the streets, checking out the interesting shops and restaurants, live music, weird people, and old architecture, but that’s not Izzy’s idea of a good time. So we walked into a more residential area and found a neighborhood playground.
She had a good time running around, attempting to hang from the monkey bars, and even found some kids to play with.
Might want to unmute this one. Oh, and she was okay.
After recharging at the playground, we did some more wandering, eventually ending up back at Jackson Square, where Izzy insisted on running around some more.
We then picked up some pralines (overrated, especially compared to beignets) and headed out. This time we took the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (because it’s free to drive in this direction), which claims to be the world’s longest bridge over a body of water. The world’s longest bridge is over four times longer, but apparently it goes over some dry land which we all know is pretty lame for a bridge. The drive was pretty odd. When the other side of the lake finally came into view we thought we had basically crossed the whole thing, but then had to keep driving for another 15 minutes before finally reaching the end.
Not much to see on The Causeway.
We then found a cool little restaurant that had a fenced in backyard with some toys and equipment for kids to play with. Izzy was able to run around and even found another girl about her age to play with.
The food and drinks were good, but they didn’t have chicken tenders on the menu for Izzy. They did have fried catfish strips though and we learned that Izzy would eat those if we still called it chicken.
With our time in southern Louisiana over, we said goodbye to the Gulf of Mexico and headed north. Our next stop was Poverty Point Reservoir State Park in northern Louisana.
We stopped at a rest area for lunch on the way and of course had to play chase.
We haven’t stayed at too many state parks. This was just number two for us, after Topsail in Florida. Many state parks were built back when RVs weren’t so big, or don’t have full hookups, so they don’t work well for us. But Poverty Point is pretty new and has a very nice modern RV section. Since we were there over Easter, we dyed some eggs and hid them (several times) for Izzy to find.
Charlotte made Izzy’s Easter basket out of craft foam and hot glue.
The park even had a splash pad. And although it was too early in the season to be open, temperatures were hot, and one of the employees was nice enough to turn it on so Izzy could play.
We also visited the nearby Poverty Point State Historic Site, which is a US National Monument and a UNSECO World Heritage Site. This site showcases large ancient earthworks built nearly 3000 years ago by indigenous people that we know very little about. There was a surprisingly large city of thousands of people who lived here and built the mounds. They had an extensive trade network as evidenced by artifacts discovered here with origins from all over North America.
We toured a small museum, and then walked through and climbed some of the mounds.
Climbing the largest mound.And heading back down.
Wrapping your mind around the significance of this ancient stone age site and giant earthwork, which was the largest earthwork in North America until the modern era, is difficult, even for an adult, but Izzy did a great job of staying engaged. And since this site is run by the National Park Service, they had a Junior Ranger program and she was able to earn a badge.
Taking the Junior Ranger oath.
That’ll do it for our adventure in Mississippi and Louisiana. See you down the road!
After our laid back month in central Florida, it was time for some adventure, so we headed south to Will Smith’s fifth favorite city (according to his lyrics). We actually didn’t party, and the heat wasn’t exactly on, but we did have quite a few adventures. Charlotte took the week off of work, so we were basically on vacation. I realize our regular day-to-day is life already kind of vacation-like, but this was even more vacation-y.
We started the adventures on the drive down from Peace River RV park in Wauchula.
We found an old-school rest area on the side of a two-lane highway, where we stopped to eat lunch. It was just a clearing with some room to pull off the road, grass, picnic tables, and trash cans. Luckily, we had brought our bathroom with us.
Then, we stopped to explore the Swamp Visitor Center for Big Cypress National Preserve. They had a nice little boardwalk we explored. In the ranger station we got some great information about visiting Big Cypress as well as the two National Parks in the area. Izzy was able to pick up a Junior Ranger activity book which worked for all three parks.
This was our first time ever stopping at a place to do some exploring while towing the RV. We’re usually in a hurry and there’s not a place to park.
We then made it to Miami Everglades RV Resort, which has a Miami address, but is out in the weird agricultural suburbs. There are lots of small fields, some of them completely enclosed by netting growing mostly what looks like ornamental plants, along with some fruits and vegetables. Quite a difference from the big corn and bean fields in the middle of the country. The RV park first tried to put us in a site way too small for our rig. We didn’t even attempt to park in it. Luckily they weren’t too full and they quickly found us a better sized site.
The weather on our first full day in Miami didn’t look great for exploring outside, so we headed out to do some shopping. There was an IKEA about 30 minutes away, so of course we had to stop by.
Izzy’s Puppy, wearing his homemade collar and mask, visiting his brothers and sisters.Can’t visit IKEA without getting some meatballs.Izzy likes riding in the front of shopping carts now.Four wheel steering means you can drift the carts.
The next day, after a slow morning, we got out in the afternoon and made it to Everglades National Park. First we visited the Royal Palm Visitor Center and hiked the Anhinga Trail, where we saw all kinds of animals and got our first up close gator encounter.
This guy was almost resting on the hiking trail.A purple gallinule walking across lily pads, with its big ol’ feet.Headed back home with lunch?A bunch of anhingas hanging out in the trees behind us.
Anhingas are big birds that don’t seem to do much. They’re mostly known for spreading out their wings to dry out their feathers in the sun. But on our way back to the truck, we were lucky enough to see one in action. It dove underwater, caught some unlucky fish, then popped back up the the surface where it swallowed it whole.
The anhinga with its catch.Down the hatch.
After getting the fish down, it popped out of the water and up onto the railing by the trail to do the famous anhinga pose.
Just don’t block its sun.
Izzy saw and learned enough on the hike to complete several sections of her Junior Ranger activity book. On our way back out of the park, we stopped by the main visitor center where Izzy obtained her badge for the Everglades.
Quite a few alligators were just off the side of the road.We only saw a couple of them hanging out in the water.A proud mama gator, with her baby just to her right.Baby gator.
Izzy’s favorite part about the drive was that we were going so slowly that we allowed her to stick her head out the window to better spot animals.
After reaching the end of the loop road, we went to the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center. This was right on highway 41 which we had driven to get to Miami. It was a fairly unassuming building with a small pond or wetland between it and the highway, but there was quite a bit to see in that tiny amount of water.
The pond at Big Cypress Oasis visitor center with the highway in the background.Gators of course.
The water was very densely populated with fish of all kinds and sizes, and the water was clear enough to seem them easily. It was really odd to see in what I can only assume is a natural habitat.
Just some of the small fish.
There were also plenty of birds, including this one we caught flying overhead, which we assumed was a flamingo until we more closely examined the photo.
Of course, we also had to sit down to complete more pages in the activity book so Izzy could earn another Junior Ranger badge.
One of the park rangers put together a little scavenger hunt for Izzy. The ranger hid some toy animals among the trees and bushes for Izzy to find. They were all things that alligators like to eat. When Izzy found them she stuffed them into the mouth of a plush alligator.
The next day, we visited the third National Park in the area, Biscayne. This park’s territory is mostly out in the ocean, but they have a nice visitor center and a hiking trail along the shore.
A nice spot to complete the Junior Ranger activity book.
After completing all the requirements in her activity book, Izzy earned the Junior Ranger badge for Biscayne. She was also awarded a special patch for earning badges at all three area National Parks. As a reward for all her hard work on the badges, we bought her a Junior Ranger vest at the giftshop.
Showing off her new vest and badges.A week or so later, Izzy and her friend were able to meet up, wear their vests together, and show off their south Florida patches.
On the way back to the RV that evening, we stopped by famous south Florida fruitstand, Robert Is Here. This place sells a wide variety of fresh fruits, as well as fresh fruit smoothies. They also have some vintage tractors for kids to climb on, and animals on display.
On Friday, we ventured down just a little ways into the Florida Keys. Maybe next year we can get one of the coveted Thousand Trails reservations out in Key West. This time, we spent most of the day at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
We went to Cannon Beach, and found a nice spot with some shade. The sand was certainly not as nice as Siesta Key, but Izzy still had a good time playing while Charlotte and I relaxed. After a while we had a picnic lunch.
Full picnic spread: blanket, table, cooler, and picnic chairs.Several of these ibises kept poking around, probably hoping we would drop some food.
After lunch Izzy and I decided to test our our new snorkeling gear. After getting her toes in the water, Izzy decided it was too cold and went back to playing in the sand. We had seen something coming up out of the water occasionally, and thought they must be dolphins, so I went out to investigate.
Izzy playing in the sand while I snorkel in the background.
I hadn’t been snorkeling in a long time, my swimming skills had deteriorated due to lack of practice, and the water was cold enough to make my body want to hyperventilate. The beach dropped off very sharply, with the light colored sand at the bottom giving way suddenly to darkness. All I could see were rays of light shining down at an angle through the cloudy water in front of me. Earlier, I overheard someone mention that it wasn’t dolphins but tarpon jumping out of the water, so now I was afraid a giant aggressive fish was going to jump out of the murk and into view just inches from my face. I kept at it though, convincing myself that snorkeling is a fun cool activity and I wouldn’t have another chance to do it again anytime soon. I never did find whatever was breaching the water, but I did spot the sunken cannons the beach is named after.
There’s an ice cream stand nearby but it was closed, so Izzy had to settle for an overpriced drumstick from the gift shop.
After getting cleaned up and changed, we headed into Key Largo to find a place with outdoor seating for dinner. We ended up at Skippers Dockside, which is a typical beach town bar and grill, with plenty of seafood options. They had a huge outdoor seating area overlooking a nice canal, the food was good, the beer was cold, and there was even some solid live music. We had a great meal, and even took home a slice of Key lime pie.
A lemon for my fish, but the lemon is wearing pantyhose?
For our last day in Miami, we decided not to battle any weekend crowds or rain and just took it easy, staying at the RV park. Izzy and I checked out the pool once it cleared up, and after I found a creative solution to a frustrating problem purchasing laundry cards, we got our clothes washed. Overall, it was a great park, and we’ll likely be back for some more adventures in the future.
Our neighbor at the RV park decided to park their truck right next to ours for some reason.
So that wraps up our week in Miami. Quite a few adventures for just a single week! Tune in next time as we head back to central Florida.
The next stop in our search for adventure and warm weather was Tennessee, the home of country music, Volunteers, the Sun Sphere, smooth whiskey, Rocky Top (whatever that is), and of course, the lovely Ms. Dolly Parton.
We spent nearly the entire month of October in Dolly’s hometown of Sevierville, on the north edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. Instead of staying in an RV park as we normally do, we found a parking spot with full hookups on a small farm just a few miles away from the main highway.
Our parking spot was up on the edge of a hill, which gave us great views of the trees as the turned colors, and of any wildlife (wild turkeys, whitetail deer, a newt) that wandered through the little valley below. It was nice and quiet, and the owners were great hosts. Izzy missed having other kids or a playground nearby, but did enjoy feeding the chickens that lived on the property.
Izzy’s bread crusts didn’t go to waste.
The towns of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg are aligned north to south, and have one major highway that runs through them. This is a gorgeous area, and as a result, it draws a lot of tourists, especially in October when the weather is mild and the leaves are turning colors. Unfortunately, this results in a lot of traffic regardless of the time of day or day of the week.
The typical view going anywhere.
It also means that most of the business in the area cater to the tourists. While sitting in traffic, your eyes are in for a visual assault as all the dinner shows, amusement parks, knife stores, strange museums, go-kart tracks, pancake houses, and moonshineries are advertised to you. It’s pretty much an Appalachian Vegas, which didn’t have much appeal to us. Everything is bold and bright and in your face, and they all seem to cost at least $40 per person.
A “Dinner Feud” shack.Not sure how they sailed the Titanic to Tennessee.John Wayne, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and I think Charlie Chaplin, Mount Rushmore-style outside the a Hollywood Wax Museum. A wizard’s castle is to the left, along with a country music dinner theater. King Kong looks on from the side of a skyscraper in the background.
We skipped the tourist stuff, and spent most of our time enjoying some quiet farm living.
Farm fresh scrambled eggs (thanks Carlie and chickens!) for dinner.Izzy was very excited for jack-o’-lanterns.Spooky!Charlotte got a telescope!Time for a haircut. Photo by Izzy.
We did manage to get in a few adventures, though.
After a lot of time in traffic, Charlotte and Izzy found a really nice playground.Costco pizza tailgate lunch.The WigsphereSunsphere in Knoxville.
Izzy was very excited for Halloween. She wanted to wear her costume and get some candy. She doesn’t like talking to strangers so we had to practice saying “trick or treat” quite a bit. In the middle of a pandemic and in a new town, we decided not to do any door-to-door trick-or-treating and instead, got tickets for “Boo at the Zoo” in Knoxville about a week before actual Halloween. Izzy had a great time and was very happy when other people knew she was Spiderman. She was definitely focused on the Halloween aspects of the visit, but we did manage to see a couple of animals as well.
Our biggest adventure while in Tennessee was a trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Traffic was awful all the way to the park and then got worse around the visitor center. This scared us out of going any further into the park, but we still managed to get in a great little hike.
Crossing a stream on a fallen log.Cataract Falls
Before we knew it, our month was up, the weather was getting cold, and it was time to head south. See you down the road.
Finally! I’ve been waiting to use this title since we started the blog. For those who may be unaware, Eastbound and Down is a song made famous by 1977’s number one movie (no, not Star Wars) Smokey and the Bandit. The movie is about mustache-inspiration Burt Reynolds driving a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (Bandit) at high speeds to escort a semi-truck smuggling a trailer full of Coors beer from Texarkana, TX to Atlanta, GA, which was illegal at the time for some reason, avoiding law enforcement (Smokies) all the way. Now Coors isn’t awful beer, but it’s certainly not worth smuggling anywhere. I guess the lure of the forbidden was just too strong. As to the title and lyrics of the song, Atlanta is east of Texarkana, but actually a bit further north, so the song should really be called Eastbound and Slightly Up. But what are you gonna do? The seventies must have been a wild time for outlaw country singer/songwriters, so I suppose a lapse in Jerry Reed’s geographic knowledge can be forgiven.
Anyway… this post will cover our travel both eastbound and down from Wisconsin to Kentucky. We made the trip driving at legal speeds and I’m pretty sure the small amount of beer we carried was 50-state legal, but I was wearing a mustache.
Mostly down, but a little eastbound.
We rolled out of Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort on Wednesday, September 23, headed south to Illinois. Our stopping point was Galesburg East Campground, which we arrived at after an uneventful drive. We don’t like traveling too quickly, and had some work to get done on Thursday, so we stayed until Saturday. We didn’t leave the park for any adventures, but enjoyed some of the amenities available on site including a mini-golf course and a small fishing pond, which seemed to be full of tiny starving bluegills.
Lower hook, reel in fish.Izzy was also excited about their Halloween display.
On Saturday, we packed up and hit the road again, headed for a new state. Our home for the next six nights was Horseshoe Lakes RV Campground in Clinton, Indiana. This is a very pretty property, which as the name implies, has a few lakes.
Horseshoe Lakes is part of the Thousand Trails network, which is very popular with families that are on the road fulltime. We were able to meet a couple of them with kids Izzy’s age and arrange for some playground playdates and a nice evening around the firepit.
Izzy and a new friend flying the octopus kite over the playground.
She and I had some fun by ourselves too, when other kids weren’t available.
For a while, Izzy called these roundabouts and it was pretty cute.
All too soon, it was time to head out again, this time driving across Indiana and Kentucky. We spotted a few interesting things on this drive.
There might not be a whole lot going on in Terre Haute.The first nuclear plant with big cooling towers I had ever seen, outside of The Simpsons.
We made it to Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City, Kentucky for a short two-night stay. In addition to breaking up what would otherwise be a long drive, we were here to finally visit our first national park. Somehow, we hadn’t managed to visit any of our nation’s greatest parks in nearly a year of living on the road. We certainly wanted to, but our previous travels hadn’t taken us close enough or given us the time to visit them. Some of my coworkers in San Francisco even gave me a very thoughtful and generous going away gift in the form of an REI gift card with enough funds to purchase an annual national parks pass. It turns out, however, that you don’t need a pass to visit Mammoth Cave National Park, as they are funded by fees charged for cave tours.
We had a reservation to enter the cave at a specific time, but arrived early to check things out. We hit up the gift shop and spoke to one of the park rangers about the National Park Service Junior Ranger program. Due to COVID concerns, the program was structured a little differently from normal. Izzy received a workbook and a badge, and could become a Mammoth Cave Junior Park Ranger, by completing activities in the workbook. She was a little confused as to why she had to actually learn about the park. After all, she already had the badge! But we did get them done over the next couple of days.
Then we found a nice quiet area of the park for a picnic.
Lunch by the Mammoth Cave train car.According to Izzy, any open area calls for a game of “merry-go-round.”
After lunch it was time to enter the cave! Due to the pandemic, the rangers weren’t leading any tours, but were still allowing visitors to enter and guide themselves.
We started out with a quick meeting briefing from a ranger along with everyone else in our time slot about what to expect in the cave (not bathrooms). We then went on a short hike through the pretty Kentucky forest, before arriving at the main entrance of the cave and climbing down a large set of stairs. Once underground, there was a long tunnel, before the cave really became mammoth.
On our way to the cave.
Stepping out of the tunnel into the first large cavern is quite impressive. It is a huge space, carved out of the rock, with a mostly flat floor, steep walls and a very tall curving ceiling. There are well placed electric lights to see in what would otherwise be pitch black, and allow you to really appreciate the grandeur of it all.
Pictures don’t do it justice, and the dim lighting makes photos difficult, but we still tried.
The conditions in the cave made my glasses fog constantly.
We walked on sidewalks above the floor of the cave and visited several caverns. The most surprising thing for me was that it didn’t feel like a cave inside. It was cool, but it wasn’t damp or dank. It was actually completely dry without any water dripping anywhere, so there were no stalactites or stalagmites as you may assume a giant cave would be full of. We also didn’t see any plants, animals, or Mole Men in the cave, although the system is supposed to contain bats, some insects, and if you go deep enough to find the underground lakes and rivers, blind cave fish and shrimp.
Although this was her first cave, Izzy never seemed terribly impressed. So after exploring a good portion of the caverns open to us, she was getting kind of tired, so we decided not to push her any further and headed back to the surface world.
The light at the end of the tunnel.
After exiting the cave, we had to walk through a shallow tray of disinfectant to prevent the spread of a fungal bat disease. Of course, Izzy thought this was very exciting and it was probably her favorite part of the tour. After that we hiked up a hill to make a stop at for some ice cream before heading back to the RV park.
Next up: our adventures in Tennessee. Until then, see you down the road!
