Trip of a Lifetime

A few days ago, Sam and I embarked on what he calls, our USRT (US Road Trip). We have driven through five states, several national forests, visited one national park (Yellowstone) and one national monument (Mt. Rushmore), and we are currently on our way to the St. Paul, Minnesota area to visit my Dad's side of the family.

So far, the weather has been incredibly nice, and the scenery even more so. We haven't killed each other yet, our Camry is a pretty comfortable ride, and we are getting really good gas mileage, 36-45 mpg! What more could one ask for?

As I write this, we are driving along I-90 through the very flat plains of grazing and farm lands of South Dakota, that stretch as far as the eye can see – and that's pretty far, because it's really windy today! At night, out here in the middle of nowhere, the sky is filled with more stars than I have ever seen, except maybe in Death Valley. When we left Yellowstone National Park two days ago, we were marveling at the beauty of our surroundings, and Sam made a remark that cracked me up. He said, “We sure have some beautiful places in this country! It makes me proud. I'm glad our forefathers took it all away from the Indians – brilliant move!” Well, I thought it was funny, but I'm used to his smart-alecky sense of humor! Good thing, since I have to spend four more weeks in the car with him!

Northern Nevada on our first day.

Black Hills of South Dakota

OK, I was going to send some more pix with this blog post, but I'm having trouble with the website, so they will have to wait. Hopefully, I will be able to write and send more pix soon!