May 26- Keystone, SD – Empty Parking Lot

It was a busy day today - we took in 2 great sights and also panned for gold!

The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD is an active archeological dig in what was an old sinkhole. This sinkhole formed thousands of years ago and was filled with warm water from an underground spring. The warm water allowed grass to grow around the rim of the sinkhole year round and some of the mammoths and other critters that were drawn to it fell in. Archaeologists, thus far, have excavated about 1/3^rd of the site and found about 60 mammoths. They allow tourists to walk in and around the site and view the work in progress. Many of the skeletons are left on display laying in the sinkhole as they were when they were uncovered.

No trip to the Black Hills would be complete without a gold panning experience. Gold was what originally brought settlers to this area in the 1870’s. We went to Wade’s Gold Mill in Hill City. These folks are the real deal. They actually designed and built their own gold mill that they use during the summers to sift through dirt from their claim. They welcome visitors and for a nominal fee they will give you a gold panning lesson and all the dirt you want to pan. The kids loved it. Although they didn’t find any gold, they did find a bunch of garnets and neat looking rocks.

We also visited Mt. Rushmore. This is such a great piece of Americana. We visited about 4 years ago and it was just a spectacular the second time. We took time during this visit to take in the museum. Here they provide a lot of information about how the monument came to be and the details of its construction. Very interesting stuff. It goes without saying that the methods they used wouldn’t be up to OSHA’s standards! We visited the small town of Keystone in the evening and got a picture of our family in cowboy garb. We spent the night in the parking lot of a closed restaurant.



Yep - they are big!



Mammoth skull and tusks

Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln

Gold panning lessons

Trying to strike it rich



Eve carefully sifting through the contents of her pan 




Dirt, rocks and a stream - Zach says it's too good to be true!



May 25 – Sleepy Hollow RV Park – Wall, SD

How could you go through South Dakota and miss Wall Drugstore?? We couldn’t. This place is the quintessential tourist trap – they sell all kinds of souvenirs and have a bunch of attractions geared toward kids including props for pictures, a gold panning experience and a huge, fake T-Rex that comes alive every 15 minutes. Zach won’t forget him anytime soon! This is also the first stop on our visit to the Badlands of South Dakota and the Black Hills.

May 24 – Nebraska City, NE – Walmart

Today was a travel day and another glorious night spent in a Walmart parking lot. It seems appropriate that we camped next to a huge field of corn :).

May 23 – Lindsborg, KS – Ken and Sarah Moburg

Ken and Sarah are cousins on my mom’s side. They live in a log home that they built on 80 acres about 1 hour north of Wichita in a small Swedish town called Lindsborg. We enjoyed the opportunity to visit them and enjoy their rural homestead. For dinner we broke out the provisions that we brought from Maine including fiddleheads and brown bread. The rural setting provided another great opportunity for the dogs and kids to cut loose and spend some time outside. The next day we all made the 2 hour drive to Topeka to visit Sarah’s mom, Glenna, and her sister Susan and Susan’s kids Hannah and Jackson. We spent some time visiting and then headed to Bonkers, a Chucky Cheese equivalent, before we started driving north late in the evening.



The gang at Bonkers with Susan, Hannah and Jackson




Elizabeth on the Kansas prairie




Nancy, James and I with Glenna, Susan and Jackson





Ken, Sarah and the gang





I love this shot - the kids are helping Emily feed the chickens. This is a happy bunch!



May 20-22 – Wichita, KS – USI RV Park

We made it into Wichita in the late afternoon and found our way to a spot in the RV park that family friend, Pastor Mike Nolan, had reserved for us. We spent a couple months in Wichita about 4 years ago and were excited to make our way back here to check out some of the places we visited. While in town we ate at Texas Roadhouse – our favorite kid-friendly restaurant, hit the Gander Mountain store and took in a movie at Warren Theatres. We also went to The Alley where we did indoor go kart racing, bowling and a laser maze. Nancy and the kids also visited Tanganyika Wildlife Park - this is a small zoo where they allow you to actually pet some of the animals. The kids got to touch the giraffes and rhinos and they got to feed lemurs. Pretty awesome experience. We also had a great time in Wichita catching up with Pastor Mike who has been a great friend to our family. While in Wichita, I noticed that one of the front tires on the RV was wearing unevenly. I had it checked out and found that a ball joint had failed. A few hours later we were back on the road. Aside from a flat tire in Utah, this is the only equipment failure we’ve had on the trip – not too bad.









Luke inspects the Rhino's horn




Elizabeth feeds the lemurs








Pastor Mike and the kids



May 19 – Bentonville, AR – Walmart Flagship Store

Today was a travel day as we made our way toward Wichita. We managed to make it to Bentonville, home of Walmart, and spent the night in the parking lot of the flagship Walmart store. I tried unsuccessfully to locate a Walmart magnet to add to the collection that we are gathering from the various places we’ve been. We’ve got a pretty cool display put together in the RV that should serve as a reminder of our trip for years to come.

Check out the logo below. You really do "Live better" at Walmart...

May 17-18 – Paducah, KY – Auben and Darlene Goode

Auben and Darlene are good friends of Nancy's family and they welcomed us to their home in rural Paducah. We parked our RV in their driveway for a couple of days and got a chance to visit and stretch our legs a bit. The dogs got a rare chance to be off leash for an extended period of time and they loved it. We got a great tour of the town while we were here. Paducah is a river town located right on the Ohio - the riverfront is really nice and the town has done a lot to revitalize the downtown area in recent years. We also enjoyed some Kentucky barbeque from Starnes that Auben claims is the best you can get. I didn’t argue with him. We don’t get to see Auben and Darlene very often so Nancy and I spent most of our time out in the yard talking with them while the kids played yard games and canvassed the property looking for bugs, insects and animals to pester. We’ve found throughout our trip that the weather has been near perfect everywhere we’ve been. Kentucky was no exception – we enjoyed the 80 degree weather which was tempered with a nice breeze both days we were there.

James, Lucas and Zach on the riverfront

Auben, Darlene and the gang



Zach and Elizabeth playing in the yard