Day 27

We are home!!! And we are still friends.......that is even better!  We had a fantastic vacation.....really two very different vacations.  Neither one of us really thought we would get to travel Route 66 so that was a dream come true.  The trip back home was a retracing of past experiences such as Yellowstone and the Black Hills. We had been there 60 and 30 years ago with our parents and our husbands.  So much has changed, and we took our time seeing just what was a priority.  Our advice: don't ever give up your dreams, and don't be afraid to experience an adventure.

Thank you for reading our blog, and thank you for your prayers.  We were safe, and we had no car problems, but we also felt the touch of God several times as we traveled.

Day 26

We started our day at the Ashfall Fossil Beds, one of my favorite places in Nebraska.  Saw David and Joan Paulsrud this afternoon.  Joan is doing well after her surgery.  She is such a positive person. We are at Loren and Mary's tonight, and will leave for home late morning tomorrow.  It has been an outstanding trip!   I will need a few days to digest all we have seen.

I

Ashfall

Amazing place

Ashfall fossil Beds

Baby Rhino jaw

Day 25

We did not get to do everything we wanted to today so we will just pick it up tomorrow.  Wall South Dakota is a very small, but very interesting town.  We started the day at Wall Drug.  They have everything and everything you could ever wish for!   They also still give a free glass of ice water if you need one.  We then visited the Wounded Knee Museum.  A very sad and moving experience.  Our third stop was at the Minute Man Missile Museum.  We had hoped to take the tour, but they are only able to take a few people each day and the tour was already booked.  Mary and I had no idea there were so many missiles ready for launch in the upper Midwest. This one has been deactivated, but many, many more are in the ready. 

We had a time change so lost an hour. That made us too late for the Ashfall Fossil Park so we are staying in the area and will visit tomorrow. Then off to Sioux City.  We drove 400 miles today so are both a little tired, but looking forward to another day of adventure.

Day 24

We continue our round trip down Route 66, stop in CA, Yellowstone, The Black Hills, and now two quick stops to see family members on our last leg back to indiana.  We spent most of our day finishing our drive through the Black Hills.  We went back to Mount Rushmore for one more look in the morning light.  Then, to our surprise, we saw the faces through the trees and miles away one last time...awesome!  We finished our day with a drive through the Badlands.....another awesome experience.  We have some interesting plans for tomorrow, starting with a visit to Wall Drug Store!   The other plans we will let you in on tomorrow evening if they work out.
We did see some wild life today......buffalo, deer, burros, and big horn sheep.

The Badlands

The Needles Eye

Needles Tunnel

Mt Rushmore

It is late afternoon so the lighting is not good, but at least you know where we are today.  I feel very small.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Model

It will take 15 or more years to complete the actual sculpture.

Buffalo Jump

Day 22

Another good day.  Drove 350 miles, but saw many landscape changes.  Gillette Wyoming provides 40 percent of the coal for the US power plants.  I now know why they say black as coal....I have never seen coal like that being mined in the hillside.  Devils Tower was an experience as we were there to see 2 climbers reach the top and a 3rd almost there.  Mary was able to get up-close pictures of the Prairie Dogs.  Tomorrow the Black Hills!

Devils Tower

Day 21

This was a very special day for me. I had a quick look at Yellowstone 46 years ago, but Mary had explored more than once so she was a great guide.  The Hot Springs and the three falls were my favorite.  We didn't see any bear, but did see a few Elk and many Buffalo.  We thought it would be very quiet here with children back in school. Not so......the senior citizens
from all across the USA and the world are here by the bus loads!  We hear it changes in about a week, and some stores and restaurants have already closed.  Tomorrow is another day of driving as we head toward Indiana.  Still a 1,000 miles to go.

Buffalo along the road

People all over the road taking pictures!

Last one for today

Just one more

One more

Tower Falls Yellowstone

Yellowstone

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs. Yellowstone

Day 20

Just a quick note to let you know we had another wonderful day.  I had never seen theTetons before, and there is nothing like the grandeur!  We only had to wait 30 min. to see Old Faithful in all her beauty.  Saw buffalo and elk in Yellowstone, and part of the experience is waiting in a long line of cars, for 15 to 20 min. while, one by one, people take pictures of the animals.  Off to another day in Yellowstone tomorrow.  May be below freezing again tomorrow morning.

Old Faithful

Day 19

I hope you enjoyed the 3 pictures of The Creates of the Moon.  We spent some time driving through the park right next to all the lava rock.  Very, very interesting sight.  Much of the land we drove through today can only be used for grazing because of all the smaller lava rocks in the fields. There seems to be more water from the Snake River after we reached Idaho Falls so there is more irrigation and green alfalfa. We also saw thousands of acres of wheat which had just been harvested, and now they were bailing the straw.  Very interesting drive all day, but the most beautiful was driving into Jackson Wyoming. I think we found the last room in town!!!!for a price, but we already have our room for tomorrow night.  We will spend the next 2 days enjoying the Tetons, and Yellowstone.

Craters of the Moon

Day 18

No pictures today. We drove 500 miles today to move closer to our destination.  We have experienced at least two 101 degree days, and a couple 50 degree mornings. We have left CA and Nevada. Miles and miles, and more miles of dryness and wilderness.  We were so excited to see a few cattle enjoying some fresh water and green grass as we drove by.  For two farm girls it is hard to watch horses and cattle eating only crisp brown weeds and maybe some brown grass.  We hope to have some pictures for you tomorrow.  Travel is going great. Gas has been below $3 the whole trip, and CA was below $4. The lowest was $2:39.

Day 17

We have now left the busy highways of CA, and the last part of our drive enjoyed the beauty of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in CA.  We have adjusted our plans a little. We decided we would need another week if we drove up to Oregon and across. It was not a hard decision with fires still burning, and a new fire in Yosemite National Park today.  It was very sad to see so many dead trees in the drought areas. The areas where they are able to irrigate remain green, and appeared to be doing well. All the pasture land is brown......we did see a few cows and horses grazing.  The few people we talked to are still being very positive as all farmers have to be.   We live in an amazing country with amazing sights to see.  Everywhere we go we hear and meet travelers from outside the USA.

Near Reno

Caramel By The Sea

Tuesday September 8th

We had a wonderful weekend with family in CA, and now we have started the 2nd leg of our trip.  Leaving Susan's at 10 AM this morning it took us 1 hour and 45 min to get around LA!!!  We have decided to avoid any more big cities! 

Our drive along the ocean was lovely but slow.  We had a Delicious lunch in Solvang a Danish Village.  We drove much too late today and were very lucky to find a room for the night.  This is all part of the adventure, and we are now enjoying the best room they had.  There is a story to that also!!

All is well and we are still having a great adventure.

Elephant Seals

The shore from Highway 1in CA

Day 14

Just a note to tell everyone we are safely in PV with Wade and Susan.  We are relaxing, eating, showing Mary the area, and  going to 5:30 PM church.  It is nice to have a relaxing break from driving.  You won't hear from us until after Tuesday.  Hope all is well with our friends out there. 

Ramona and Mary

And now we are at a USC band tailgate party!

We made it!!!!

Day 12

This was our last day to spend the whole time on Route 66....250 miles.  It was a joy and so fun.  We had dinner and lunch in old Route 66 diners and loved talking to the people.  I hope you can get an idea of some of the quaint shops.  The land scape kept changing from mountains, to flat open spaces, to desert. Mary had the most scary drive through the mountains in western Arizona, but she seems to enjoy those hairpin curves.

We made it to CA, and tomorrow will get to Susan's.  We are a little tired each night, but ready to get started every morning.
We have a great country!

Almost out of Arizona