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When we woke up, we received a phone all from Karl saying that he didn’t have the part in stock to fix the heater. So, we had to quickly change our plans on going to Maryland and West Virginia. We had already made plans to visit our friends Patrick and Allison in Charles Town, so I had to call and cancel.

We decided to go ahead and drive back to Concord, NC to Chris’ parent’s house. We were ready. We drove all the way back in one day and didn’t tell Chris’ parents that we were coming. We thought it would be funny to surprise them because they weren’t expecting us for a few days.

We arrived back in Concord to end Phase I of our trip on May 7, 2007. It was 6:40 pm. Our mileage was 164,481. We had driven a total of 19, 258 miles over 181 days, one day shy of 26 weeks. If you count how long we had been living in the van it would be 27 days more. And if you count the rental car in Vegas, driving around Houston with Matt and April and around other towns with family and friends, we surely drove over 20,000 miles. What an adventure.

In our Road Trip USA book, the author had mentioned that Lou Mitchell’s is one of the greatest breakfast and lunch places to eat at on the planet. That’s saying a lot and because he has never let us down, we had to try it. We made our way into Chicago and tried to find a parking space near the restaurant. It had the usual pink neon sign so it wasn’t hard to miss.

Once inside we were greeted by the hostess. She gave us each a complimentary doughnut hole and a box of Milk Duds for me and Bryce. I read that they only give them to women and kids—lucky us! And Bryce got some crayons and kid’s menu. It seems that doughnut holes and Milk Duds are their “thing.” Bryce got Milk Dud pancakes, Chris had an omelet and I had an egg with turkey sausage. Chris’ and mine both came with homemade hash browns and wheat, rye or German toast.

Before we were served our meal, the waitress brought us each a bowl with an orange slice and a prune. How weird! Then after we were done and boxed up (it was a lot of food) she brought us small cups of ice cream! I love this place. All the complimentary stuff was just way too cute. They also boasted the “best coffee in the world” and Chris wasn’t let down. It must have been strong because that’s the way he likes it!

After we left we toured the city, saw the Sears tower and went to Wrigley Field. We couldn’t get too close to it though because it looked like something was going on. Then on our way out of town we drove beside Lake Michigan for quite a while.
Chicago was a pretty city with great buildings and a nice downtown area. It was a good thing that we came through it on a Sunday. I can’t imagine what traffic would have been like otherwise.

It started with their welcome sign not being on the right hand side of the road. It had to be different and hang across the road, which made it hard for me to get a good picture of it. Oh yeah, we crossed Indiana. Not much to write about there.

Anyway, back to being weird. I got to thinking about the whole aviation thing. The state seems bitter about it. They just had to jump on the bandwagon and claim some of the aviation beginnings. They are the “birthplace of aviation,” BUT the men actually went to North Carolina to fly the planes. Doesn’t that say something? So, North Carolina was “first in flight.”

After Columbus we started looking for a place to get a RV site. We desperately needed a shower. I remember telling Frank and Renet that we wouldn’t be getting a shower until possibly Chicago. Well, we went farther than that into Columbus for a total of five days with no shower. We found one in Zanesville and kind of liked the little town. We stayed the night at Wolfie’s Kampground.

We left Dyersville and kept driving on a two-lane road into Illinois at Dubuque. So, that must be some sort of record or something. Four states in one day? I thought it was pretty funny. It seems like we are rushing back to the coast, but really, there is not much to see in this part of the country. There are no national parks. Unless you want to stop and look at cows or horses, you are out of luck. So, onward to Chicago.

Somewhere in Elgin (near Chicago) we stopped at a hospital. It was a really good spot because it was dark and quiet. And Bryce had fallen asleep so it was easy to get him into bed.

“This field, this game, is part of our past. It reminds us of all that was once good, and it could be good again. Oh people will come. People will most definitely come.”

And so we did. We followed James Earl Jones’ instructions, left the GRR and veered off to Dyersville. Dyersville’s claim to fame is that their town has the movie site for the film Fields of Dreams that came out in 1989 starring Kevin Costner. I had read about the town in one of our books and thought it would be neat to see.

The small town of Dyersville was just that—small. BUT the movie site was terrific. The house, ball field and surrounding buildings are all still there. The house is owned by the same family that owned it when the movie was filmed. The movie makers wanted a white house with a long drive and corn fields. The ball field was actually made for the movie. They don’t charge anything to get in, but they do have a gift shop. I wanted to get a picture sitting on the bleachers along right field, but they were being repaired and I couldn’t.

People come from all over to take pictures playing ball with their kids on the field. Reenactments are done all time with period costumes. It is quite the destination.

Last night we drove all the way across South Dakota and into Minnesota. The rest of South Dakota was pretty much the same landscape as before. It was dark when we got to Minnesota, but we found a McDonald’s/BP station in Albert Lea and “stealthed” for the night.

We got up and went to an Aldi grocery store that was nearby to stock up on some groceries for the next couple of days. From there we continued to cross Minnesota, which surprised us with a very hilly landscape. I can’t remember what I thought it would look like, but it was completely different. It was green and there were farms all over the place. Cows, horses and llamas were the scenery for much of the time.

When we got close to the edge of Minnesota, we veered off on a two-lane road to La Crosse, Wisconsin. That was the second time that we crossed the Mississippi River. After stopping for lunch at a playground park and letting Bryce play for a while, we started south along the Great River Road. The GRR follows the Mississippi River from beginning to end.

The stretch of highway that we were on was beautiful. The river was on the right, and beside it was a railroad track. On the left side of the road were high cliffs and cute little mountain homes. It was nothing what I thought Wisconsin would look like.

We weren’t in Wisconsin all that long when the GRR crossed over the Mississippi River again and proceeded to follow the banks in Iowa. The portion of Iowa that we were in was very pretty. It had the same hills, cliffs and houses in small towns. On one small mountain, we actually had to shift down into second gear. In Iowa? What’s up with that?

It is pretty easy to figure out how most national parks get their names. Rocky Mountain National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, etc. you get the picture. So how did Badlands National Park get its name? The Lakota people knew the place as mako sica. The French trappers called the place les mauvaises terres a traverser. Both mean bad lands.

Chris and I both agreed that Badlands National Park reminded us a lot of Death Valley except it was greener. Imagine green prairie covered buttes, peaks, gullies and valleys of different colors. On some of the hills there seemed to be a rainbow of color: yellow, orange, red and then where the hill stopped there was green grass.

There were prairies everywhere and then all of the sudden the flat, rolling hill would stop and out of nowhere would appear a butte with grass on top. Or, instead of a butte there would be a valley. It was absolutely a crazy landscape. Like nothing I’d ever seen.

We drove the entire loop road through the park, as well as the one side road that takes you down to a prairie dog town. There were prairie dog holes every twenty feet or so with a prairie dog sitting on top. They were running from hole to hole, making funny noises and seemingly having a good time. It looks like fun being a prairie dog.

Once we got to the visitor center, we knew that we were almost through the park. We had stopped at almost every overlook and seen a beautiful landscape throughout.

Bryce woke up on the wrong side of the sleeping bag today. He should’ve gone to sleep like I kept telling him to. We got him dressed and into Wall Drug to check it out. The café there boasts an impressive seating capacity of 530 people, so there was plenty of room for the three of us.

By the time that we left, the café was packed with old farmer men of the area. It was cute watching them all sit around, drinking 5 cent coffee and talking about the weather and crops. While eating a cheap breakfast, we read the brochure about Wall Drug. We learned how it was started and how it got its fame from an article called “Wall and Water” excerpted from a 1982 issue of Guideposts magazine.

To check it out for yourself, visit www.walldrug.com. It was quite an impressive array of stuff. It was definitely a huge tourist trap, but it was still fun to see.

We left Rapid City and drove east. The landscape was that out of a picture book—blue skies and green prairies. Not much else at all.

Almost as soon as we left Rapid City we started seeing signs for something called Wall Drug. They boasted 5 cent coffee, leather goods, Indian artifacts, a T-Rex, jackalopes, camping supplies, etc. They apparently had it all—and free ice water. And if you are a veteran you could get free coffee and doughnuts.

We had remembered somebody telling us to make sure that we stopped at something called Wall ______ but couldn’t remember who it was or what we were supposed to get there. It finally dawned on Chris that it was Frank that told us to get ice water at Wall Drug (or at least he thinks it was Frank) in Wall, South Dakota.

So, we rolled into Wall, SD right before dark and drove up the main drag to see this so-called Wall Drug. It was quite a sight. It took up the whole downtown practically. I was very excited to see it and couldn’t wait to go there the next morning. We parked at a gas station and got ready for bed.

Unfortunately, the wind in Wall was terrible. It shook the whole van most of the night and the rain came down as well. Bryce was adamant about sleeping with his new blimp. Let me give you a picture of this. He could hardly get his whole arm around it. It is about three feet long and stinks of new plastic, which I dislike tremendously.

So, needless to say, it took Bryce and me several hours to fall asleep. I finally had to take the blimp away and was surprised that he didn’t seem to care. He kept pinching it or something and it was making a squeaky noise. Chris was very tired according to the snores that were coming from underneath his pillows, and didn’t have any trouble falling asleep.

It was getting late, but we figured that we would still try to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial before dark. Most of the visitor centers are already starting to change over to their summer hours. We had to drive back south into the Black Hills (which are gorgeous by the way) about 20 miles.

We parked and I ran to the visitor center and was relieved to find that they were staying open until seven in preparation for the 10 pm summer hours. The lady told me that they like to change over gradually. When we got there it was a little overcast (remember the cave tour guide said that bad weather was coming . . .) and sprinkling. But, as usual, the bad lighting cleared up and out came the blue sky and big puffy clouds. It was great.

We saw the Avenue of Flags lining the walkway up to the Grand View Terrace. We walked the Presidential Trail around the base of the mountain and got some great views of Mount Rushmore. It really was weird seeing it in person. Both of us thought it was going to be much larger, but we were still in awe. It is truly American and everyone should come see it at some point in their lives.

Have you ever wondered why the four Presidents are up there? The four Presidents were chosen for different reasons by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum. George Washington was chosen because he represented the BIRTH of our country as the first president. Thomas Jefferson symbolized EXPANSION because he was largely responsible for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. He chose Abraham Lincoln because he embodies PRESERVATION of the union of the states in confronting the challenges of the Civil War. Theodore Roosevelt was chosen because, to Borglum, he represented DEVELOPMENT of our country with the construction of the Panama Canal.

The “big heads,” as my cousin Frank called them, were awesome. We really enjoyed our time there.