Forgot to enter the mileage

I forgot to enter the mileage here, I did it on facebook and announced the winner was Barbara McGrath. She will receive a very special prize when we see her when she gets here on Wednesday! I'm glad she will be here early to help me with the party next Saturday!!!

Marty has some really fun games planned, you shouldn't miss it. All are welcome, bring a covered dish and a lawn chair. Music provided by Bear Hill Bluegrass!!

Look forward to seeing you all then.

Beginning Mileage

Back Home

It feels really good to be home, kinda. This vacation has been so good. Our memories will last forever, only at our ages we won't remember them until they are 20 years old.

Don't forget about the mileage challenge. We have a picture of the ending odometer, but we won't post it until you're given a chance to do the math. Don't forget there is a very special grand prize that will be awarded. The deadline for entering the contest will be Saturday May 15th at high noon! You can enter your guess right here by clicking on the comments button at the end of this post.

Thanks for coming along on our journey.

Pam & Marty

Made it to St. Louis

Well we made it to St. Louis, well just outside the city. We visited our friends Jeff and Trish. It was good to see them both. The last time we saw them was a couple of years ago at his parents 50th anniversary party. They built a very nice house and have started collecting animals. They have 5 horses, 4 dogs, 1 cats and assorted chickens. We've been wanting to get out to see Jeff's funeral home for quite a while. Pictures are below. He played a funny trick on Marty, as we walled in the door and down the hall he put Marty's name on the outside of one of the viewing rooms. I didn't notice, but it was kind of weird for Marty when he noticed. But that is the extent of a morticians sense of humor.

We didn't stay too long, got to meet the dogs, golden retrievers which made me miss Abel more. Anyway, we had a nice dinner and we hit the road, again. We did see the arch from the highway though.

Haven't done anything real interesting other than drive. We're getting excited to be home (see Abel really) as we are heading east.

As this trip winds down, I'm starting to appreciate this experience even more. Can't believe some of the sights we have seen. It is really hard to believe that Marty and I got along the whole time.

Thanks for checking in.
P.S. It's ok to write back to me.

Beautiful place

Branson MO

We got to Branson yesterday and since it was late we just hung out and went to bed early. What a nice comfy bed.
Got up early and walked thru town, then went to the toy museum.
Frank, remember your robot you used to scare me with? Had similar ones, but I guess I broke the last remaining one!
There was a barbie dream house like we used to have, it was made out of cardboard. But the display that brought back the memories was the case that had Mrs. Beasley doll and a Crissy doll. Nancy used to love her Mrs. Beasley more than anything. I used to play with the Crissy doll that had a button in her back and you could make her hair long or short. Those were the good ole days, we played with dolls, we didn't have to change poopy diapers!!!
Marty took me out for a nice dinner (he had a coupon), we had a seafood buffet. He looked all day for a coupon for dinner, then he forgot to use it. Now he knows how I feel when I go to the grocery with coupons. But I'm still glad it was him and not me.
We saw a magic show this evening. It was almost like a date, but don't tell him!
Going to head out in the morning and head towards St. Louis. At least right now that is what the plan is.
Good night.

No one told us which to to turn at the fork!?! (you will have to enlarge the picture)

Abandoned gold mining town

Pike's Peak

I can't believe I did this

Before leaving South Dakota, Marty and I visited Wind Cave. I enjoy going through the caves and stuff. We wanted to do jewel Cave also, but somewhere in the 15 miles that separate the two caves we changed our minds. big surprise huh?

We ended up near Pikes Peak. We also found ourselves back in the mountains, they seem to draw us in. Anyway, we camped at a nice campground that was nearly empty. We drove through a couple of abandoned gold mining towns. Part of the scenic drive included a loop through the towns, we also ended up in the area that they were actively mining. I don't think that was part of the route. Those truck are so big! One tire was bigger than Ruby. I drove over the Royal Gorge Bridge. You can't see in the picture, but it is a wooden suspension bridge that spans over the gorge 1,000 ft. That is not a type--1,000ft! Marty will tell you how I feel about wooden bridges, as well as low water bridges. Not my favorite!!

Speaking of Ruby, don't forget about the mileage challenge. I will give you a hint, she is due for another oil change.

We headed east yesterday morning, nothing real exciting, drove half way thru Kansas and stopped for the night. Today we finished Kansas. Very flat.

We are in Branson Missouri now, we will be here for two nights. Probably just do some exploring and planning our day tomorrow. There are a couple of parks and scenic drives in the morning and maybe a show and buffet in the evening. Then we should be off to St. Louis on Friday morning. All plans subject to change any second!

Nice to see mountains again. The Ozarks.

Rachel, I hope you had a nice birthday! I miss you.

Andy, Jody, Darin and Kendra, thanks for taking such good care of Abel. Kendra you are exercising him too much, I don't know if I can keep up with him when we get back. hahaha

Happy belated birthday to Bob. I hope you enjoyed your surprise visit from Scott.

We're off to explore, talk to you soon.

Pictures Bear Country & Mt. Rushmore

What a sight

Babies

Lynx

Sleeping grizzly-best kind

Black bear

Grizzly-hide-n-seek

Dressed up for halloween-Statue of Liberty

Arctic wolf-tough

Quite the rack!

This is what they call wet & slushy

Greetings from Custer South Dakota

Yesterday was quite a busy day. We visited Bear Country USA, which is a drive thru wildlife park. We saw Arctic wolves, wolves, coyote, buffalo and both black and grizzly bear. I am just fascinated with the bear, they were all over the place. We were really lucky they opened for the season at 8:00am and we were there about 8:15. Things are looking up. It was only flurrying, but there was a high wind warning.

We found a bagel shop here in Rapid City, Marty was so excited. I know a long way to go for a bagel, but what the heck.

After breakfast we headed to Mt. Rushmore via the Needles Highway (thanks Andy for the tips on Bear Country and Needles Hwy), anyway, as we drove aroound a bend, there it was, we were both speachless, what a sight! It just appeared in the sky, incredible. Of course then we drove to the monument itself. What a work of art.

From there we drove to Badlands National Park. What a ride that was. It is hard to believe that we were on the same planet. We did a loop (scenic) ride around the park. We took a short walk down a trail, but is was really really windy so we ended up back in the van.

It was getting late, so we decided to head towards a state park that we wanted to visit, Custer State Park. On the way, we stopped in a little town called Wall, we walked around a little, just to stretch. The road to the park was a blast, it was one of those roads with the whoop-de-whoop humps. It felt like a roller coaster (or what I imagine a roller coaster to feel like since I don't ride them). They manage to hide them so you don't know exactly when they are coming up. Since the speed limit was 70 and the road was ours.....I laughed until I cried and I caught Marty doing the same. When we got there the timing was perfect, it was dusk, so we took the wildlife scenic loop thru the park. Saw more mule deer and lots of buffalo, we saw what we think was a pronghorn, but he was on the move and wouldn't stand still for a picture. We also came across some wild burros, one was much more cooperative, he stood still and posed for what seemed like 5 minutes.

It was dark by now so we headed to find a room. We couldn't find anyplace to eat, so we pulled out our camping food, which I am glad we had. I ate peanut butter and jelly yummy. Marty ate a sardine sandwich, yuk.

There are a couple of parks we wanted to visit today, but I don't know the weather is supposed to be snowy and windy again today. Somebody, anybody please turn the switch and let them know it's spring.

I know that it isn't quite the season for parks and all but I can't believe that these beautiful parks are so empty. People don't know what there missing! It seems to be mainly the state parks. Especially when we were in New Mexico, they were closing all but about 17 of the state parks.

For some reason my connection here isn't allowing me to publish pictures, so you will have to use your imagination for now.

On the road again.......