Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday, June 3rd

Saturday, June 2, 2007
Hello! We are finally on the road. We left Spring City, TN last night around midnight. Johnathon was so excited and stayed up until about 1:30 am. Finally, once he realized the landscape wasn’t changing that fast, he went to sleep. Stephen had fallen asleep around 10pm and didn’t even stir in the leaving process.

We woke up this morning in Illinois. Once everyone was awake, we stopped and had breakfast and walked my parents 2 dogs. They are Chihuahuas and so take up very little room. They actually ride under my dad’s seat. We crossed the Mississippi and the
Missouri rivers today. We did see The Arch in St. Louis from a distance. We will stop
there on the way back.

The boys have been a bit bored. They don’t do seated real well. We have recently started playing Yahtzee – thanks to a birthday gift from the Blakney’s. I finally beat Johnathon today!!! Yeah! We also have DVD players and game systems and that has helped to some degree. We did take a 2-3 hour break outside Kansas City, MO for Dad to sleep. We met a family traveling from Knoxville, TN. They are going out the same route as we are. They are also a homeschooling family. It was 3 teens traveling with their grandparents. We hope to see them again tomorrow at Mt Rushmore. The boys used the time at the rest area to skateboard a little on the sidewalks. The weather is beautiful. It has been nicely overcast with a breeze at the last rest stop. My sister, Leslie and I were enjoying a cup of coffee outside at a picnic table. Then everyone joined us. Dad woke up around 4 Central time and we were back on the road in about 25 minutes. We arrived at the Walmart in Souix Falls, Iowa last Saturday Night. Did some shopping - of course- and then crashed. Did some more shopping on Sunday morning and then got on the road again.

We arrived at Hill City, South Dakota after 6pm local time on Sunday. Finally, we are going to be in one place for awhile. We are staying at Crooked Creek Campground and it is really beautiful.

Monday morning rolled around and Dad was chomping at the bit to get us on the road to do some sight seeing. Our first stop was an overlook and as we were taking in the sights, I realized that we could see George Washington's profile from Mt. Rushmore. It was so cool. We continued on to Mt. Rushmore and did the whole tourist thing. It really was fascinating to see and Johnathon especially enjoyed it.

After that, we started driving through the Badlands. I was fascinated by the topography here. It seems to be more dirt than rock. We stopped for a picnic and the boys and Cloe, my niece, were climbing the mounds.

I am sorry that I haven't posted any pics yet. I hope to get that done on our next stop. I just need to raid them from my Dad's camera.

We head out in the morning and will be going through Wyoming and then onto Montana. I understand from John that we might be running into some snow. The boys are excited about that.

Here is some entries from Johnathon:
Hey dad you still sleeping alone? I don’t think you are. ( This is Terri interjecting here. Johnathon and I have a bet on how long it takes before John starts letting the dogs sleep with him. Just wanted to add a clarification to Johnathon’s question. J ) Yesterday seemed like it would never end. Hey will you email some of my skateboard pictures?

So chan chan have you been to the skate park yet? I can’t wait until your party in August! I might get you a pro board from flamingo sk8shop.see yah dude!!!

Hola zachy so have you gotten on that new skateboard you got or has your mom still kept you off huh?