Amazingly, we managed to leave Union Springs, NY at 9:05am. We hit the road and two tolls later we crossed into Erie, PA and got gas for $3.01, the cheapest we'd get on the entire trip. We stopped for the afternoon at the Cleveland Zoo and then headed to our campsite at Pine Lake State Park on Lake Erie.

After a night at a campground that would prove quite nice, we headed out towards Chicago. After paying our way through the Ohio and Indiana Toll Roads, evading the $3.68 gas in Indiana by crossing over to Michigan and letting our lunch boil over in the rest area parking lot, we pulled into Chicago greeted by stop and go traffic. After finding a garage that would charge us only $21 for 3 hours, we got out and started looking for Dan, and after some trouble found him. The Bean, the 90-something story Hancock Tower and some authentic Chicago-style pizza rounded out the city and we headed up Lake Shore Dr. to Dan's house in Lincolnwood.

Before getting out of the city we hit up the Museum of Science and Industry with lots of big vehicles including a German U-Boat for me and baby chicks for Sara. After more traffic, we quickly found ourselves in the middle of nowhere: Iowa. Words cannot explain being the only car in sight on the interstate and seeing nothing but farmland for as far as the eye can see only occassionally interupted by a clump of trees and buildings. After what seemed like forever, we found Pine Lake State Park and had a tasty dinner of Spaghetti-O's and Beefaroni cooked over charcoal.

This is the point in the trip we got tired of flat nothingness. Iowa and Minnesota proved unexciting and we pulled into Sioux Falls with some daylight, so we checked out the falls before heading to the Royal Fork all-you-can-eat buffet and attempting to find a grocery store. We found a ShopKo which proved not to sell food, and were from there directed to a HyVee that was abandoned. After driving around for a while we finally found the new store before heading up to a rest stop for the night.

South Dakota is the land of tourist attractions. This was a big day with lots to see. First we hit up the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead. Next was the World's Largest Pheasant and then the Pioneer Auto Show, a collection of cars and stuff in 30 or so buildings including such gems as one of the Dukes of Hazzard cars and the grandfather of our vessel, a '61 Subaru wagon. Next was the "Ranch Store" which was thoroughly deserted, but had a bin of prarie dog food (peanuts) and lots of hungry prarie dogs.

Then on the Badlands National Park, which after appearing out of the rolling plains proved to be quite beautiful. After a stop at the famous and bloated Wall Drug we sped across the rest of South Dakota to catch the somewhat disappointing Mt. Rushmore light show. We didn't get to our campsite until after 10pm, only to find the only facilities were a hole in the ground and a muddy faucet tap outside.

We popped back up to see Mt. Rushmore in the daylight before heading over to Wind Cave National Monument where we took an elevator down into the world's fourth largest cave system with 120 miles of passages. We then popped into Wyoming to catch Devil's Tower in the middle of a thunderstorm before heading back east so we didn't run out of gas. Then we finally reached our first motel of the trip--quite a treat.

We took the quite scenic drive up through Sheridan towards Cody and only once got weird looks for lunching in a local hangout. After seeing Sara's first moose, we arrived at Yellowstone National Park and promptly saw a brown bear and cub wandering around near the road. We drove up in the canyon area of the park to see the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone" and saw buffalo progressively closer up, culminating in one walking through our campsite while we were roasting our chicken nuggets later that night.

We woke up, paid our fare for the showers and went to explore the geisers of Yellowstone. First was Old Faithful which went off only slightly behind schedule. "Geiser Country" was supposed to have over 200 geisers and it delivered. Though smelly, they proved quite beautiful with bubbling steam and vibrant colors. We then headed south into Grand Teton National Park with its one breathtaking vista of the mountains and lake. After a so-so Chinese dinner in a rural Wyoming cowboy town, we headed south.

We headed down into Colorado driving up through Estes Park and Nederland to see some mountains before heading to our motel. We went in search of a grocery store but instead ended up in a sketchy neighborhood. In desperation we found a WalMart SuperCenter and stocked up on some food. It was quite nice having a kitchenette for once and we made a nice little dinner.

The next morning we stopped by Hammond's Candy Factory for a tour and samples before checking out the pedestrian mall in downtown Denver. While we were walking around, it began to hail: first lightly, then harder until it hurt to go outside and there was a good 6 inches of ice on the ground. We eventually made it to the bus to get back to the car, but not before getting thoroughly soaked.

We managed to drive through the storm once, but had to stop at the Wonder Tower, a collection of random stuff and a tower where, on a nice day, you're supposed to be able to see 6 states. The place resembled a pack-rat's garage though the character that run it was amusing. We cooked up some of our 44-pack of fish sticks and drove until pulling over to sleep.

Across Kansas we went. We stopped in the somewhat sketchy Topeka to pay our respects to the deserted Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site before cruising into Kansas City and checking out the Nelson-Atkins Museum before getting some authentic Kansas City barbeque. We headed out of town and ended up on strange lettered Missouri highways before ending up on dirt roads. Luckily everything out there is a grid, and we managed to make our way to the $32 / night Sterrett Creek Motel.

Before heading out, we stopped by the Harry Truman Dam, an Army Corps of Engineers installation then shot back up to I-70 to check out St. Louis. We first hit up the Budweiser Brewery Tour, which proved very slick though we couldn't enjoy the hospitality room after. We then hoped to catch a riverboat ride on the Mississippi, though the boat was broken. The neck-craning Gateway Arch was neat precursor to our St. Louis-style pizza and fried ravioli. We then set out for our campsite at Lake Sara in southern Illiois.

This was a long day of driving and we did little but. The interstate was as fun as ever. We made it to St. Clairsville, OH and had a surprisingly tasty dinner at Bob Evans before I hit the pool and Sara played with a kitten.

The final leg was basically just that. We cruised back up north, now looking for gas stations instead of tourist traps and ate one more fast-food lunch before making it back to Union Springs. It was a long journey, but it turned out great.