Wednesday, June 29, 2011

PRAIRIE DOGS!!!!!

Well, we got on the road at about 10:30 a.m. this morning and after hours and hours of flat ground, and hours and hours of rolling hills in indian territory, we arrived at Badlands National Park around 6:30 p.m. (We also gained an hour with the time change. We are now 2 hours behind the east coast.)

Just outside the park we found a spot to stop and feed prairie dogs...excited would be an understatement.... We had seen pictures on post cards of what it looked like but nothing prepared us for what we saw as we approached the park gate:


We spent the next hour twisting and turning around the base's of these sharply cut peaks...right in the middle of it all. Every turn literally took our breath away, and we laughed at how each time we turned a corner we both gasped.

Further down the road, which continues to provide stunning views for miles and miles, we stumbled upon more prairie dogs and even more exciting BISON!

-Adam

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

So Long, Farewell...

Today was a day of preparing ourselves to get back on the road and begin the "real" trip.  We woke up to waves on the shore, laughter of children, and the knowledge that we would be leaving that today.  It was a beautiful day and we used the lake to our advantage; kayaking, fishing, and just enjoying the family, and sunshine.  

We are so thankful for everything that the "Minnesota family" did for us while we were visiting; welcoming us in with open arms, and sending us away with prayers, smiles, and "good lucks"...it was bittersweet, but we know that where we are headed is already leaving us speechless.  With anticipation we are on the open road again, and it is already exciting!   

As for now, we drive off into unknown lands with big smiles,  and lots of prairie in our sights!  Good night!

- Sierra 

Monday, June 27, 2011

Beautiful Place

Stayed up late last night talking. Sierra's family is so nice and everybody is so interesting to talk to. "Uncle John" is a famous fishing guide here, and took us out fishing last night. Even though it was raining it was worth it. All the uncles and Sierra's dad Mark have given us all kinds of advice on what routes to take and where to go...advice that we are very thankful for.

Slept in the living room last night and fell asleep to the loons calling and the waves crashing against the shore. Woke up today around 9 and just lazed around for a couple of hours drinking coffee and socializing. The lodge her family rented out is big and beautiful with a beautiful wood kitchen and 6 bedrooms including an amazing master bedroom and bath. 

"Uncle Mark" brought me and Sierra out on the boat today and we caught a couple fish...when I say we I mean Sierra and Mark...

Tomorrow we head out west and get into some serious terrain. In that aspect, the trip really hasn't even begun. Theres so much to see and do in the north west we won't have enough time to do everything we want. But the 4 or 5 weeks we spend out there will still be awesome.


Sunday, June 26, 2011

Lottery Tickets, Lakes, and Loons...


Well, I actually need to begin with last night at midnight when my dear road trip companion pulled over the car, pulled out birthday hats, candles, cupcakes, and sang happy birthday to me :)  Thanks Tudela!

Then, as we rounded the corner to Brainerd, fireworks started going off right in front of us....maybe they didn't plan it for me, but I like to think otherwise :)  We "surprised" my family by getting to Brainerd late last night, and went out with my dad at about 12:30am for coffee, pie, and a burger.  It was awesome!  This morning we woke up to kids, packing, and busyness as everybody was preparing for the big family reunion at Leech Lake.  We had two extra seat-belts in the van and they were full very quickly.  So we finished packing up and we headed off to a giant house on the lake with tons of cousins, Gramas spaghetti, and lots of fishing!
While here, my dad took me to the nearest gas station because I had to buy my first lottery ticket :) Though I did not win anything, the time spent listening to James Taylor, talking with my dad, and just enjoying his company was more than I could ever ask for.  I also was blessed with birthday cupcakes (again), gifts, family, and a special surprise present from Maine...Thanks Val :)  The night continues still as I listen to the loons in the quiet house, and the boys are exchanging stories in low whispers about travels they went on when they were "our age"...We have gotten a rough idea of a route and gathered lists for the western states, with the help of uncles, dads, ideas, and atlases...We are getting very excited.  This land is big, and though we are halfway there, we feel as though the adventure hasn't even begun yet.  We are blessed, excited, and ready to "head west"!  It is an adventure.


Mom keeps watch.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Two Green Giants

Today
 started off as we said, trying to start the van with no luck.
Every time we tried to start it, fuel would spray onto the ground. Apparently, in the middle of the night after we parked the van…one of the fuel lines fell off its post. I went into Walmart as Sierra made breakfast. I returned with a crappy selection of hose clamps and a syphon because that was the only hose I could find in Walmart that might work for what I needed. In about 30 minutes we were on our way again with a temporary fix. We stopped at an auto parts store and made it a permanent fix with a little bit of hose and some elbow grease.

Next it was off to the Jolly Green Giant Statue in Blue Earth Minnesota, which is apparently the home of the ice cream sandwich as well…who knew? Back in the van ready to leave the Giant, the van gave us another scare when it wouldn't start…we gave it a few minutes and she started right up…she just can't be rushed.

Next stop for the day is the biggest ball of twine made by one man located in Darwin, MN. About ten miles outside of Darwin I squealed with joy and made a U-turn as Sierra excitedly said what?!?! Then she saw it….A giant snapping turtle trying to cross the road. We tried to save it and coerce it back into the marsh, but it could not be convinced. (look for a thrilling video on Facebook tomorrow) The ball of twine was awesome of course…so was the playground across the street from it. Sierra spun on the twirly thing as a little boy on the slide looked on with envy. Not to worry, Sierra noticed and invited him to play. A high-five was shared and I pushed them both on the twirly thing.

On our way to Brainerd where Sierra's family awaits. Will get their late tonight or early tomorrow am and stay a couple days.

-Adam


Iowa

Yesterday started out as a bright sunny day and ended in an array of mysterious events that left me to
write the blog this morning…or rather afternoon, as opposed to last night.  

We woke up in the cabin, cleaned up, packed up, and awaited the arrival of our mail, which would signal the time for us to leave.  When the mail came at about 1:30pm, we waved goodbye to camp and hit the highway for Davenport Iowa.  As we were heading out of town we stopped to grab some ice and we repacked the cooler and then we ended up having to pull over, not too far out of town, to put something else in the cooler, and when I lifted my arm rest, I sprayed Adam and the van with the fire extinguisher… I'm serious.  So that was the start of the day.  

We drove on and reached Davenport and the Worlds largest truck stop around 6pm.  The truck stop was really cool.  We stared in awe as we read a sign that said; "3rd floor for Truck-drivers with a movie theatre, chiropractor, dentist, etc."  We couldn't believe it.  The we drove for another hour or so until we found a state park on lake Macbride in Iowa. It had been a long day, and so we decided to button up the van and call that home for the night…however the camp ranger came knocking around 10:30pm telling us otherwise.  So, Adam said he wasn't tired and drove two more hours well I slept in the back until we reached a Walmart in Waverly, Iowa.  

This morning we woke up, went to the bathroom, were in our seats ready to take off and the van decided (to our delight)  that she still wanted to sleep… For more on this topic, read tonights blog!

-Sierra

Some pics while waiting for the mail:





The mail we waited for :) Will keep us safe on the trip, plus I 
I can spray my "friend" Brett in the face when I get back.

Very very sneaky...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Barely internet

Today we woke up around 11 a.m. Rather than gettting up and being productive, we decided to watch Inception (Sierra hadn't seen it yet.) I made pancakes and coffee...breakfast and a movie :p
Around 1 we started cleaning our camp a bit more. After an hour or so we decided we needed to go to town and get some bug bombs. The Walmart that was 40 minutes away turned out to be a building that looked like Walmart, yet was a mattress store...damn GPS. And I just updated the maps before we left. We went into Dollar General, got the bug bombs and about 40 dollars worth of other things...A gallon of Sunny D was only a buck...tell me how you can pass that up? Everything was so cheap! We got rice and mac and cheese and everything else you can think of. We shouldn't have to grocery shop for another three weeks at least.
We drove back to camp and set the bug bombs off and then cleaned out the van. Friends of our neighbor showed up and we chatted with them for a while. Next we took a walk and we saw 35 or so deer. The bugs were as bad, if not worse, than the peak of black fly season in Maine. Loads and loads of bug spray weren't even holding the bugs off. Our neighbors showed up with ATV and gave us a lift...THANK GOD! It's okay, I repaid them with spending an hour and a half fixing their garage after it got ran into by the ATV. I didn't mind though!
Now it is 11pm our time and 12am your time and we are cooking dinner. All and all a good day. Leaving after breakfast tomorrow.


-Adam

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

R&R

Well we are alive…don’t worry! We are safe and sound at camp in Illinois, enjoying some R&R, yummy food, and a nice shower. We drove for nearly eleven hours yesterday, not settling in until about 10pm, and then not eating dinner until about 11, therefore we were exhausted and fell asleep without writing the blog…sorry! But yesterday was basically what I said…eleven hours of driving. We did stumble past some very beautiful places, however, on our drive. Massive corn fields, and wind mills, horses, and cows were highlights of the day…as well as tornado warnings, massive winds and rain, and then as we were a half hour away from camp, a gorgeous sunset to welcome us in. Upon arriving at camp we realized we had a bit of clean-up to do, and spent the night at the beautiful next-door camp (thank you Mike), and today we found ourselves waking up and taking our time heading next door to vacuum and sweep. Overall it was a nice relaxing day, meeting new people, and enjoying the animals, birds, and other sounds of nature. Tomorrow we feel like we may just do the same, but perhaps take a drive and see how many deer we can count and maybe photograph, who knows…on this road trip, every second is an adventure. Well, hope you all are enjoying yourselves as much as we are!

Good Night!

- Sierra

Delicious bowl of chicken alfredo, the work of Sierra.
A rock from a good friend that Sierra left behind at the windmills.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Niagara and Carrousel's

We started out this long day about 30 miles outside Niagara falls at a rest area off I-90. When we got to Niagara, we were a little taken back by the amount of development and tourists...sad that such a beautiful place is overrun with sleazy sales people offering %50 on hotels, and souvenier shops everywhere you look. Even finding a spot to park ruined the atmosphere, the parking attendants wave orange flags at you and hold their hand out telling you stop and enter their lot, as if you have no choice, so that  you don't park in another lot. However, if you ignore the touristyness, the falls are pretty spectacular. We spent about an hour there and then moved on down the road to the carrousel museum.

The museum was interesting, but drinking a few old fashions cola's out of glass bottles and going on the carrousel ride was definitely the main event. We made lunch in the museum parking lot, chicken noodle soup, and then headed on our way towards illinois, windows down and James Taylor playing.

Route 90 hugs Lake Erie, naturally we had to get off and see it. We stopped for about an hour and let the waves lap against our bare feet. In town we stopped at a Walmart and picked up some supplies...We finally filled our cooler! Thanks Donna for the gift card! We've talked to so many random people about our trip already, people just smile at us at stop lights so we say hi...

Now we are stopping to make coffee and then we keep on trucking. A little over 500 miles to go before we get to the camp in illinois. Hoping to be there tomorrow afternoon.

-Adam

P.S. gas prices are 3.48 here...not to shabby.

A piece of sea plastic we found.

Sunday, June 19, 2011


There is something about driving down a highway unknown at night with a new destination in our minds…Niagara is next after an eventful, yet relaxing day. 
We awoke bright and early, threw our things in the van and headed to church with Donna, Rick, and Val.  Let’s just say it was a day of making dreams come true from the very beginning. Val and I rode in the back of the van playing guitar and braiding hair while Adam drove.  As we giggled and Val was so excited, he just smirked and rolled his eyes.  Who knew dreams were so easy to make come true.  After church, we blew bubbles in the church parking lot, making more dreams come true as little kids asked to try, and as they floated all around, we could see them trying to pop them, it was very fun and entertaining. 
We left from Donnas after a bit…(and thank you once again D-Train, for everything)…and followed Val’s interesting map towards the finger lakes of NY.  After a scenic drive through lots of wine country, we stumbled upon the house where our dear friends grew up. We followed the “map”, attempting to find an old cabin in the woods (on private property), but decided to turn around and head into Walkins Glen.  Once there, we found a beautiful gorge that our friends had told us about and we stumbled, climbed, and ventured up winding staircases built along massive ledges, through caves, and over bridges.  We simply giggled and found ourselves at a loss of words; it was amazing to say the least.  Eventually, we meandered back down, and hit the road again…now we sit off of 90 in a little rest area blogging to all you back home.  We miss you, but we are definitely enjoying ourselves.  Also Happy Fathers day to both our dads!!!  We agreed that we are both extremely blessed, thanks for all you do for us, we love you! 
A few tech tips: If you click on the pictures we post it will bring up a higher resolution version of them, so if they seem small, go ahead, click em. Also, when commenting, many people are using “anonymous”, this is either because they long to be mysterious, or because they don’t know the other way to do it… If it’s the latter, just click “name and URL” then put in your name or whatever you would like, and leave URL blank.
Well, I suppose that’s all for tonight…Niagara you better be ready for an old 85’ VW van!
Good Night all!
-Sierra





Saturday, June 18, 2011

Pictures from today/tonight





Forgot to post to the blog last night...I hope you all were able to sleep...we'll try not to let it happen again :p

Yesterday morning, I awoke to a frantic and wide-eyed Sierra. She let me know how happy she was that I was awake, as a half hour prior, somebody was apparently banging on the side of the van...

We arrived at Donna's yesterday morning around 10:30 and found a roomy, quiet and cool house all to our selves for the day. After we revitalized our bodies and spirits with a little hot water and soap we ventured out to Carquest about 20 minutes from Donna's abode. We stopped at Walmart to pick up some supplies, and McDonalds for coffee. Naturally the van stalled in the McDonalds drive-thru with a line of cars behind us. An embarrassing minute passed by before the van had had enough fun at our expense, and it started once again.

We picked up a part at Carquest and then headed back to Donna's. Soon Donna arrived, followed by her significant other, EHE (e-harmony Eric), and we chatted and watched TV for a while. After dark we had a fire out back for about 5 hours. Val and Rick arrived at 12 am and we sat by the fire for about another hour, and finally got to sleep around 1:50 am.

Today, Sierra and I awoke to the pleasant ritual of Donna and Val doing "steam roller!" on Sierra. After an appropriate amount of lazing around, we got up and went to work on the van while Rick and Val started remodeling the kitchen (their reason for coming). Sierra and I spent an ample amount of time scrubbing the van with soap and water, it now looks marginally better. While Sierra reorganized the entire van I changed the cap and rotor hoping to fix the stalling problem....no go. I then spent a very frustrating hour and a half changing the thermostat. At least now we feel a little more confident in the van. Still a few more quirks to work out...For instance, the heat is stuck on...something I thought I fixed with a shut off valve. However, it seems when we use the valve, the heat goes away as desired, but the van overheats. Hoping to fix that charming little addition to the van. If not, Nevada and California and such may be a bit warm....

Our plan is to stay here tonight and head out tomorrow for Niagara Falls. From Niagara, we are off to Illinois and than Minnesota. Then out west!

-Adam

Thursday, June 16, 2011

An Adventurous Day Two....

 Well, this morning we woke up in a Walmart parking lot, and now, after an eventful day, we find ourselves in another one, tucked in and ready for some shut-eye.  The day began with reorganizing and getting some misc. supplies, chowing down on some oatmeal, and doing dishes directly in the lot.  We then set out for Salem.  In Salem, we found ourselves meandering around and going in and out of different "bewitching" shops simply smiling and giggling at the freedom we have.  Later, we stopped by a witch dungeon museum and enjoyed a reenactment of one of the trials as well as a tour of the dungeon.  Next, we set out for what we thought would be a nice trip to Amherst on the way to Albany, but instead we spent the entire afternoon getting lost, thanks to the GPS, but maps ultimately prevailed....after a lot of confusion and u-turns.... we also were blessed at an intersection when the gas  pedal disconnected from its linkage, we stalled at the busy light. People honked and yelled and eventually Adam drove us away using his right hand on the gas pedal linkage and his left foot on the clutch, as I attempted to shift....not our best moment. But we managed to stop to play on a swing set, and then eventually found our way to route 90.

As we get into a routine, we think we are going to try and post to the blog every night with a select few photographs. Throughout the day, you might also find quick updates via facebook, and maybe even a larger photo array at some point.

Good Night!

-Sierra




Waaaayyyyy to much ice cream.
All buttoned up and ready to sleep.