Thursday, June 3, Day 85 - We're Home-UPDATE

We made it home today! A short 700 mile drive from West Wendover Nevada to Fresno and the grand adventure comes to an end. It was a mixture of emotions. Sad that we are done, but happy to be back home. Nice to be able to all fit around the table!

Well, it turned out to be a full 12 weeks, just short of 3 calendar months. By the stats: 12,429 RV miles, 35 states, 2 other countries (Mexico and Canada), plus Washington DC. California to Florida, to Maine. We stayed in 66 different spots over the 84 nights. (12 times we spent more than one night in a spot (about once a week). Gas prices from over $3 a gallon in California to $2.41 a gallon in Ohio. Topics covered everything from early American Indian, to the Revolution, Civil War, western expansion, geology, natural sciences, social issues and politics. Over 100 National Parks, museums and tours. Nearly 75 bird and mammals identifiied and entered into our nature log. 2,728 useable pictures (more than 13GB/the equivilent of 76 rolls of film!). 64 blog posts. And now it comes to an end.

For those who have followed us, we hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have! We were thankful for the opportunity, and glad we took advantage of it.

We made it home in time to celebrate Luke's birthday on June 6!

Now we settle back in, try to dig through all the mail and other issues.

Was it worth it? Oh Yeah! We are still married, and still can account for the 3 kids! Family jokes for the rest of our lives.

What's next? Back to real life. Lord willing we would like to take a much shorter trip with possibly a trailer through the Pacific Northwest in the next few years.

Greg for the Smiths

Wednesday, June 2, Day 83

National Trails Interpretive Center, Casper WY.

We learned that the California, Oregon and Mormon Trails, as well as the Pony Express all passed through Casper. The center did a good job of showing the history of the trails and providing a feel for crossings.

We even experienced a simulated river crossing in a moving wagon. "Whatever you do, hang on in there!"


After riding in the stage coach, pushing a hand cart and a few other experiences we loaded into our own "Prairie Schooner" and headed for independence rock. So named because if you made it there by July 4, you had a good shot at making it to your destination before the early snows closed the trails. Some of us climbed to the top of the rock and inspected the markings made by travelers in the 1850's on the rock.

We were not facing snow, but as we pushed to get home tomorrow night, we drove on to Salt Lake for another stop. At Antelope State Park, we took a partial dip into the high concentration salt water, as well filled some bottles with salt water according to Luke's request. (Once home the water will evaporate and we will see how much salt remains!).

After 575 miles we crossed over into Nevada and called it a night.

Tuesday June 1, Day 83

We continued our push home today with over 300 miles of driving, but did work a few good stops in. First up was Mt. Rushmore. Amanda and I were really surprised how many changes they had to the park (we had both been here separately when much younger). It now has a very developed visitor center complex. The kids completed another Jr. Ranger program at Rushmore.

After Rushmore, we drove through Lead and Deadwood on up to Devils Tower National Monument. I kept having flashbacks to the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind! I resisted the sudden urges to gather a giant mound of clay in the RV and sculpt the tower!

As the weather degraded we changed plans again (about 3 times today) and finally decided not to pass through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Instead we turned south pushed hard for Casper Wyoming. Like wagon travelers of the 1800's, we spent the night along the Platte River just outside Fort Casper.

Monday May 31, Day 82

Got the RV fixed this afternoon and headed out about 4 pm. Perfect timing for some late afternoon light at nearby Badlands.



In addition to the multicolored hillsides, we also took in prairie dogs, swift fox, meadowlarks and a few other birds and mammals along the way.



We exited Badlands near Wall Drug and make the required stop after watching the signs for the last 300 miles. (For those who have not been, Wall Drug started as a small drug store out in the middle of "nowhere", and as a result of some creative marketing (signs for miles advertising free ice water), it is now quite a large store and restaurant selling a host of items, as well as a tourist attraction in its own right. We sampled the buffalo burger and donuts.





We decided to press on past Rapid City as we make our way home quickly. We found a forest service campground around about 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore and called it a night. It was one of our latest nights on the trip.

Saturday-Sunday, May 29/30, Day 80/81

620 miles today, and took in some sights. It was our longest day as we make our way home.


We made our first stop at the Lewis and Clark State Park along the Missouri River, where we saw a replica of the keel boats used on the expedition.

We drove on from Iowa to S. Dakota, with a short trip through part of Nebraska. We also made a stop at the "world famous", "worlds only Corn Palace". For those who have not had the experience, every year the "Palace" is decorated with corn art.

Next up was a quick stop at the Missouri River overlook. The area is full of Lewis and Clark history.

As we neared the Badlands of South Dakota, we had some trouble with the RV that will require some repairs. After the long week, we were planning on taking a break anyways. So we sitting near the White River just south of the main area of Badlands National Park.

Sunday, we had family church in the RV, caught up on a few things and relaxed enjoying the nice weather. We also watched the old movie "Around the world in 80 Days" which we thought was appropriate given the length of time we have been on the road.

Friday, May 28, Day 79 , "Indy 500"

Road Day!
Amanda and kids made me a nice birthday breakfast.

We stopped in at Greenfield IN to visit the warehouse there. The kids had fun sitting in Dave's old car. Then it was back on the road again. We had a great lunch stop at the Beef House Restaurant.

We had our own "Indy 500" today. We passed through Indianapolis, and we drove over 500 miles! We went from Indiana, to Illinois, to Iowa.

We found a spot right next to the interstate, complete with burger stand, gas station, and RV sites out in the corn field! I was served a special dinner and then opened a host of presents, mainly from the US Air Force Museum. I have my reading cut out for me!

Wednesday/Thursday, May 26/27, Day 77/78 - Creation and USAF Museum

We spent the morning driving in the RV. The kids have done very well spending long hours on the road.

We stopped today at the Creation Museum, south of Cincinnati in northern Kentucky. We were surprised the number of people and how well done it was. It even included a large garden/park outside. We also appreciated how it told the whole story and connected creation with Jesus, and God's plan. The kids wanted to go back through it again. I especially got a kick out of the kids asking an animatronics "Noah" questions about the ark. (The kids would select a question from a computer and Noah would answer it). For more pictures and information on the museum, see http://creationmuseum.org/

We drove on to Dayton area, and spent the night at John Bryan State Park. A quiet spot with raccoons and places for the kids to ride their bikes.


Next up, the US Air Force Museum. We spent several hours looking at hundreds of airplanes and the large gift shop. They had a great selection of significant aircraft, and even planes like Boxscar, one of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan that ended WWII.

In the background of the picture with the kids you can see of P40, and a B25 of Doolittle Raider fame.

We also had fun seeing some of the planes that Grandpa Ted flew in air force and national guard such as the F86 fighter jet, and KC97 air refueling tanker.

After the museum, we stopped in at another Wright Brothers site. It has been fun to visit several different sites of the Wright Brothers and learn a lot more about the birth of powered flight.

We ended the day just across the border in Richmond Indiana at a KOA. Although there are cheaper places, and even some better places, we have found the KOA's provide a repeatable experience with playground, laundry, WiFi and usually a fairly natural setting with trees.

With the Ohio stops out of the way, we are going to be pushing hard towards the Mount Rushmore area, as we make our way back home. We have now started our 12th week on the road. You can see our progress through the East up to Dayton on the following marked map.

Tuesday May 25, Day 76 - Niagara Falls - Canada

Saw the falls this morning, both the American falls, and Horseshoe/Canadian falls. It is pretty amazing to see nearly a million gallons of water a second go over!

As we peered down, we contemplated such deep questions as - "Do you think the water is scared as just as it goes over the edge?"

We enjoyed walking around Goat Island, and working our way over to the Maid of Mist boat tour site. The kids really loved the fashionable blue rain gear (aka a trash bag), but the jokes all stopped as we moved into the mist under the falls. The boat ride was a fun 1/2 hour. (If you enlarge the top picture of the falls, you can make out two of the boats on the water beneath the falls)

We decided to go ahead and walk over to CANADA. The kids got a kick out of standing one foot in each country on the bridge. We had a memorable lunch in Canada before returning back to the US and our RV.

We drove on and spent the night in Ohio (south of Cleveland). We had a bit of scare when Hope hit her head on the playground and got a large goose-egg bump. (All was OK, although the swelling lasted several days).

Sunday/Monday, May 23/24, Day 74/75

Sunday - We found a small church not far from the campground this morning (In Massachusetts). It was good to worship God with others.


We also found a Trader Joe's, which made Amanda's day! We drove on to the west a ways before settling down for the night in upstate New York. We found a great spot right along a beautiful river. The kids had fun playing in the playground and in river (only fell in a few times!).



Monday - At the campground, we also found out that across the street is a "diamond" mine you can mine at. It has been featured on the Travel Channel, and I think I have actually seen part of the segment. So we decided to try our hand at mining for diamonds. Even Red got in on the mining. We found that if you picked the right rocks, and hit them hard enough, they might just crack open revealing small quartz like crystals ("Diamonds"). We found some and had a great fun.

In the afternoon we drove on to the Buffalo NY area to visit Niagara Falls tomorrow. Dined on Amish noodles and barbecued kielbasa sausage!

Saturday, May 22, Day 73 -New Hampshire, Vermont

After paying some bills and trying to get caught up on the blog, we left Maine by back roads. Scenic drive through New Hampshire before entering Vermont. It was beautiful, but would be really nice in the fall.

Amanda-I quickly jumped out of the RV to catch this picture of us going through the covered bridge. Most of them we tried to avoid because as you can see, clearance can be an issue.

We went to a local cheese and syrup farm, Sugarbush Farm, in Quechee, VT. I think Vermont cows are happy too from the taste of that cheese!

We learned all about the syrup making process. One tree yields 30-40 gallons of the sap that is evaporated down into 1 gallon of syrup. A lot of work for a small yield. We enjoyed tasting the different the grades, graded for the time in the season the sap is yielded. The kids answered a question sheet and became Junior Sugarmakers. So, even though we aren't woking in our books much, the learning process keeps going.

After this we drove to a campground in Whately, MA. First time we had trouble finding a campground. One was full, several weren't open yet, and there weren't very many along the road. We will try to plan better on the way home since people are starting to come out!

Friday May 21, Day 72- Turning the Corner

We found the northern New England coast to be beautiful. We drove up a coast road and just drove up from New Hampshire to Maine, going by beaches, beautiful houses (some mansions), light houses, and little sea side villages. Still quiet on a Friday morning this time of year.

We stopped at a beach to play on the sand. Boy was that water cold!

Found a nice park at Nubble Lighthouse, where we rock hopped and looked around in tide pools. Then we had lunch from a little sea food shack. Lobster bisque, lobster roll, fish and chips, fish sandwich and cole slaw, split family style in the RV. A very nice drive this morning.

For the after noon we drove on to L.L. Bean in Freeport. It is a very nice series of stores covering everything from bikes, to housewares, clothing, to fishing and hunting.

This was also our "turning point", as we round the corner and start heading for home, albeit 3000+ miles away. We expect to make a much quicker trip home, maybe in time for Luke's birthday.

We also made a not too glamorous stop at a laundromat, and found a Chinese food restaurant for easy dinner. The Dunkin Donut shop provided some food for tomorrows breakfast. One stop shopping!

Found a campground not too far away and called it a night.

P.S. I am also including some additional pictures from Boston, since I have only figured out how to put a max of 5 pictures per post.

The solider memorial was fun because the kids recognized it. We had seen a plaster version in the Smithsonian, and then we came around the corner in Boston and found the Bronze. It was a tribute to the black soldiers in the Civil War, and the white officers who took a risk in leading them.

The other picture is of Paul Revere's house.

Thursday, May 20, Day 71 - Boston

We found ourselves at Plymouth Rock bright and early this morning as work our way into Boston. Very cool to be in the area where the Pilgrims landed so long ago. It also looks like a fun town to visit, although probably jammed with tourists during the right season. This morning it was just a beautiful sleepy sea side village, mostly shut down.

Our Boston research said "furgetaboutit" "don't even tink about driving the RV downtown, take the train in". So we drove to the end of a subway/tramway line, parked the RV and made the journey into downtown Boston.

It turned out to be a longer trip than expected since a tree fell down on the tracks and we had to get off! Fortunately there was another rail line nearby that point that walked to.

Once we hit Boston Commons, we started the "Freedom Trail" which was a fun several miles of walking and seeing history.

Everything from the site of the Boston Massacre, the graves of John Hancock, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams (and a host of others), Paul Reveres house, the church where the lights were hung to indicate that the British were coming, and more. Plus the kids just liked following the red line/bricks all over town.

By the time we got near "old Ironsides", the USS Constitution, we were pretty worn out (It was also a pretty full week!). Along the last leg we stopped for some root beer floats to fortify the troops. It worked and we eventually made it back to a Metro station for our ride back out of the city.

As we rolled on the train for nearly an hour, the kids started busting into a rap. It was pretty humorous as the picture shows.

We departed Boston, only to get stuck in rush hour traffic before breaking away to New Hampshire to camp for the night. However, if you are going to get stuck in traffic, it may as well be in a motor home, when you really do not care exactly what time you get wherever you end up for the night!

Wednesday May 19, Day 70, NYC

Woke up this morning and found out that the pops we heard last night were in fact fireworks over the statue of Liberty (Luke woke up and looked out the window!).

We started off planning not to go to New York City, but when we got up in the morning and noticed a ferry terminal 100 yards from the RV, we decided to go get on it!

We bought a ticket for pier 11 around the other side, but since we were tourists we got on the wrong ferry. So we started our New York tour at the financial trade center instead. Merrill Lynch was one of the first buildings we passed, then American Express, before finding ourselves at the construction site where the World Trade Towers used to stand. Amanda and I had both been up in the towers years earlier, so it was something to stand there and consider 9/11, and then try to explain that to the kids. We walked around the site, and passed a memorial on the wall of the fire station, which was sobering, and chilling as we remembered that day.

We navigated across Broadway and onto Wall Street, running right into the Federal Hall National Memorial, where General George Washington took the oath to become the first President of the United States. We hurried on to catch the last published ferry back to our RV spot, only to find that the schedule was wrong and we missed the last ferry by a few minutes. So we took an extended walking tour of the city as we made our way back to the financial trade center to catch a train across to Jersey City. Along the way, we stopped at the famous bull (along with a bus load of persistent picture taking Chinese tourists), and the departure point for the statue tours, as well as a few other sites along the way. We also figured out that the funny looking building we could see from the RV spot was actually Ellis Island!

Since we actually planned to make our way to the Boston area today, we jumped in the RV and hit the road. It turned out to be a state crossing day. We started in New Jersey, went to New York, back to New Jersey, then New York, on through Connecticut, Rhode Island, and finally Massachusetts. We found a place near Plymouth Rock, and found that as we move further north, we are moving back to being early tourists. Not to mention flowers are blooming again. Another long but good day. We have now completed 10 weeks on the road, and we are starting to feel it a little bit as we head into week 11.