November 5...Goodbye to Darcie and eastward bound (Long Branch State Rec. Area - Missouri)

(Kim's Perspective)
We woke up around 7:45 this morning. Darcie was already up with Gibbs so Bill let the Boys outside while I got dressed and made my way upstairs. Man that bed was comfortable. The best part - that was the warmest I've been in MONTHS. Literally. It was so nice not to go to bed freezing my butt off and shivering while I wait for my sleeping bag to warm me up. Or, to roll out of bed and not have to heat my clothes over the heating ducts. :) We have heat in the trailer, but it doesn't stay warm - it fluctuates drastically. I'm generally either chilly or downright cold. Unless I'm in my sleeping bag...but it's kind of hard to move around in a mummy bag. ;)

Bill made omelets for breakfast and Darcie said she had time to take us on a walk of the property. Wow. 300 acres is really big. We so need to move out here. The Boys had a blast. Gibbs romped around and bounded through the grass trying to keep up with the Boys. He's so cute and so smart. It's amazing to see what patient, kind, and thorough training can do for a puppy. Maybe I'll vacation in Nebraska when we get our next Belgian pup. :)

We got back to the house and chatted for a little longer before Darcie had to leave for work. We said our goodbyes and then headed downstairs for the most amazing shower. I'm not sure how long we were in there, but needless to say, it was longer than the 5 minute showers we had been taking. It was amazing too because there were two shower heads - a handheld massager thingy and then a big garden style shower head hanging from the ceiling. There was a huge air bath tub, and the shower was just in the corner of the room with no annoying doors so there was tons of room. No bashing your elbows in here - another thing we've dealt with for the last four months. Not complaining - the trailer shower does what it's supposed to do, but sometimes a hot, long shower is just in order. Ahhhhhhhh......

We dragged ourselves out, got dressed, packed our things and hitched up the trailer. I left a note for Darcie - a completely inadequate thank you for her hospitality - and we headed out around 1pm. How do you properly show your gratitude for something like that??? I've got to come up with something good.

The drive was nice. Since we got a late start, we didn't get very far, but we did manage to get through Iowa (ha!) and into Missouri.



This trip has been great for my appreciation of the Midwest states. Before, when we've driven through them trying to get to our destination for our week long vacation, they always annoyed me. It takes forever to drive through Kansas and Nebraska and some of those other flat, desolate states - and this always used to irritate me. I just wanted to get where I was going and I wanted to see something "grand and spectacular" along the way. You know, the metropolitan area attitude. This trip has given me new perspective on what is grand and spectacular. In fact, I kind of like it out here. I love seeing the farms and all the beautiful barns.














I told Bill that if I were given the choice of living in a multi-million dollar mansion on a beautifully landscaped lot or living in an old farm house on hundreds of acres of cropland, I'd take the farm any day. There's something "real" about this land. There are no pretenses - everything is as it seems. It's hard to put in words - I know what I feel and what I'm trying to say but it's not coming out right. It's just, well, it's America. It's simple and pure and good and a way of life that is honorable and meaningful and important. It's not about money or the stock market or home values. It's not about climbing the corporate ladder or advanced degrees and certifications or about mergers and acquisitions. It's something totally different and something that is very appealing to me.

Maybe my sister will want to come out here and start up her small farm. She's already got the help... ;) Whatcha' think, Sis? :)

We arrived at Long Branch just as the sun was setting for the evening. We quickly found a site, paid our fees and then took the Boys for a walk.



It was a really great day. I loved getting to know Darcie better and it was great to experience hospitality on a level that I never thought existed. The drive was beautiful and the conversation pleasant. The Boys were great - as they've been for this entire trip and life, well, life is just good.

November 4...SitStay!

(Kim's Perspective)
We drove into Lincoln today to find the SitStay store.


Background: SitStay.com is an online dog supply store that I've been shopping at for over a decade. I always thought the owners, Darcie and Kent, were extremely cool people. Obviously, I had never met them, but A) they run a dog supply store B) they have Belgians (Tervurens) and C) they ride motorcycles. Winners all around. Plus, they run a great store. Customer service rocks and I always enjoy being entertained by the newsletter and Darcie's blog. Their dogs test all the products (aka play and chew on) and they take their dogs to work with them every day. I wanted to be them. :)

Soooo...when we started planning this trip, I mentioned to Bill that I would like to go through Lincoln at some point and see if I could stop by their warehouse to meet them (remember - it's an online store). As you know, our trip was spontaneous and we just drove when and where we wanted to go. Over the summer, I wasn't sure if we would get to Nebraska, but then a few weeks ago, I got an email that SitStay was opening a RETAIL store in Lincoln. Wooohoooo! Someplace for me to go and have a legitimate reason for being there! You see, I didn't want to appear to be a stalker. Bill encouraged me to email Darcie, but I really felt weird doing that.
"Hi, you don't know me, but I'd like to meet you and check out your store and see what your thoughts are on doggie biscuits and me starting up my own dog bakery." I don't want to be a stalker and I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to take advantage of them.

Also, we didn't have a particular timeline as to when we'd be anywhere so I didn't want to commit to a meet and greet when we could potentially be delayed by something (you know, such as a tire replacement or hitch repair). :( So...we just decided to visit the retail shop and hope that Darcie would be there.

We were in luck. We made it to the shop late morning. We had to first swing by a Dodge dealership for yet another oil change (the third since we left home). Oy.

I mentioned that Darcie has Tervs - but she lost a very special girl by the name of Dancer awhile back and she just loves the Belgian breed. When we walked into the store, her eyes lit up. Not because we were new customers walking into the new shop, but because we of course had Merlin and Twist with us. :)

She had her new puppy, Gibbs, with her. She's training him to be a service dog. I could never do that - I'm waaay too selfish and wouldn't want to give him up.

Anyway...we spent a couple hours at the store chatting with her. As we were getting ready to leave she asked if we had a place to stay the night. We told her we were camped at Louisville State Rec Area where the train chugged by every 20 minutes and where we were awoken by gunshots (presumably hunters) at 5:30 this morning. Much to my amazement, she offered her house up to us. Huh? Uhhhmmm...okay. What happened next was even weirder - she gave us directions, the code to the garage, and told us to go make ourselves comfortable and she'd see us later tonight when she got home.

Wait a minute...you just met us and you're offering your house for us to use in your absence? WHO ARE YOU? No one does that. Do they? Well, apparently they do, because that's exactly what she did. I just didn't know what to make of it, but the idea of sleeping in a real bed after 4 months of sleeping on a 4 inch thick foam mattress kind of appealed to me. Truthfully, it was more about the fact that she has a good size chunk of property and the Boys could run free and play. I really like giving them the opportunity to do that, and while there have been a few places where they've been able to have a lot of freedom, I'd like them to have more. They're so happy when they can be off leash and running free. When they're happy, I'm happy.

So...despite the fact that we had already paid for another night at the campground, we took her up on her offer. We drove back to the campground, ate a quick lunch, hitched up and headed to her house. Wow. It was even more amazing than we pictured. The half mile driveway led to a beautiful lake and an amazing home in the center of the 300 acre property. Uh, yeah, this will do. We were so wigged out by the idea of going into her house when she wasn't there that we just took advantage of the lake and the field and spent the evening in the trailer.





She got home around 10:30 (she's a crazy busy woman) and asked us to come in and check out the house. It was amazing. Easily the nicest house we've ever been in. Definitely the coolest we've ever been in (it's an "underground" dome house - hard to explain, but the majority of the house is literally underground). Brilliant if you ask me. Especially if you live in tornado ridden Nebraska! :P

We offered her our roasted vegetable leftovers for dinner and we spent a few hours sitting by the fire and chatting. She's a phenomenal person. Truly, the most gracious, trusting and hospitable person I've ever met. Again, who offers up their house to complete strangers??? She does. And it's very cool. I only wish that I was so trusting. I am not. I'm the type of person that will always clean my own house because I could never trust a cleaning service to come in when I'm not there. Sad, I know.

Anyway, she gave us her bedroom with the gigantic and ridiculously comfortable king size bed and the monstrous master bath (we were SOOOO looking forward to a real shower!). Again, who gives up their own bed for perfect strangers?

We got to bed around 1:30 and we looked over at each other - shocked that we had forgotten how large a real bed is - and smiled big, big smiles at each other. Is this really happening? :)

November 3...Louisville State Recreation Area (Nebraska)

(Kim's Perspective)
We begrudgingly left the wildlife and the Badlands behind as we headed onward to our next destination. We weren't really sure what/where that would be, but we knew it would be someplace east of where we were. Good enough. We had all day to figure out the rest.

We gassed up in Wall and then jumped on the highway (90) to make some miles. It was SOOOO windy. Driving was difficult as Bill had to keep one hand on the wheel and one hand on the trailer brake controller for when the trailer started to sway. We were both uncomfortable at times, but we managed to make pretty good time (thankfully the wind was coming from the NNW and we were heading E/SE).

We crossed a couple bodies of water - that had white caps on them from the wind whipping them into a froth. The pictures don't do it justice.





Even when the day is spent just traveling from point A to point B on the highway, there are always interesting things to see. Some are weird...





Some are funny....




Some are strange...Uh...Where are we again??!??


Some are pretty...


And some are just classic Americana...



We made it into Nebraska...


And encountered a little traffic in Omaha..

It's going to be hard to get used to traffic again.

The sun was setting as we arrived at the campground.

It was largely vacant. Sweet.

We set up in a jiff, made some dinner, and then I worked on the blog. Merlin helped... :)


It was a long day and we thanked God He granted us safe travels. It's always good to have God on your side. :)

November 2...Badlands National Park (Day 3)

(Kim's Perspective)
We left the Boys at the trailer so we could do a hike today. We left the campground and made the drive via the southerly route through Interior.

I took more pics of the buffalo...they're so handsome...


and tried to capture this coyote/prairie dog interaction.

There are so many prairie dogs, it must be like a buffet for the coyotes and the birds of prey. Well, provided they're fast enough to catch the little boogers before they dodge into their burrows. :)

We got to the parking lot for the trail head and did the Notch Trail first. It was a short 2 mile round trip hike that was quite entertaining.


It had a cool log ladder that we had to climb...


and a few places that required a careful step...


The color of the formations is so bright that a lot of them look fake...


There was great opportunity for shadow pictures. Here, we do a 70's disco dance... :)


And here, we went off trail and found a dead end. This is a puddle at the base of a small cliff (about 20 or 25 feet).

BTW...Off trail is allowed in this park. In fact, you can hike anywhere your heart's content in the Badlands. Now THAT'S cool. Not too many national parks let you do that.

After the Notch Trail, we walked across the parking lot to the Castle Trail. This is a 10 mile round trip hike through the Badland formations and prairie grasses.

A couple miles in, we encountered this guy.

In fact, we walked within inches of him before he warned us with his rattle. When we walked past him, he was coiled in the grass right on the edge of the dirt path. After we passed and turned to look at him, he slithered onto the path and gave us a little show. I'm fine with snakes - just not poisonous ones that I walk right by without spotting. Yo! You have a rattle - how about you warn me BEFORE I approach. Stupid snake.

The trail offered more variety than I expected...


and definitely more wildlife than I figured we'd see. As we approached this small butte, we noticed this ram. He walked to the edge to inspect us below.


I continued to walk around the butte and saw two little faces that quickly dashed off. Bill was on the other side and watched them jump down and scamper off. They were soooo cute. A perfect little family.


At the trail junction, we decided to bag the full Castle Trail since A) it was just an out and back and B) it would be a long day for the Boys if we did the whole thing. We took a side trip on the Saddle Pass trail for a few hundred yards so we could take in the view.


We returned to the trail junction and took the Medicine Root loop which connected to the Castle Trail closer to the trailhead. This loop consisted of more narrow singletrack paths...




...with snakes. This guy scared the crap out of me. I was leading and yet again, he let me walk right beside him before giving a shake of his rattle. He didn't stick around. He slithered into his hole pretty quick (thus the lousy picture), but I was able to get a short video. It too is lousy, but was more for the sound than anything.


The rest of the hike was uneventful. We had a pretty aggressive pace the whole time thinking we were going to do the full 10 mile out and back on the Castle Trail. We ended up doing the Castle/Medicine Root loop (6.6 miles) in 2 hours and 37 minutes - pictures, snakes, video and all - which was nearly a full hour less than the advertised round trip time of 3.5 hours. Sweet. We'll call that exercise.




After we got back to the trailer, we let the Boys out to romp and walked them down to the creek. It was funny to watch them sink in the mud and look surprised by their predicament. They're supposed to be smart dogs.... :)

We played for awhile and I sat outside with the Boys enjoying the warm weather and reading my Kindle. We had an early dinner (an uber salad to stay with the healthy/exercise mentality for the day), and I worked on the blog for a couple of hours while Bill read.

We bundled up again and went outside to watch the stars. Unfortunately, there was cloud cover that prevented us from seeing them horizon to horizon, but the clouds were moving quickly so we eventually got to gaze at the full spectrum of light. I put the camera on the tripod and tried to get some shots.


FAIL. I really need to get a nice camera and take a photography class. :)

So, yet another great day at Badlands National Park. I'm so glad we extended the trip to visit South Dakota. It's proved to be a pretty cool state. Who would have thunk it? ;)