A Wrap Up

Monday 7/7/2014

Home

The last entry for this fantastic trip; we arrived home around 5:30 pm exactly one month from the day we left.  And what an adventure it  has been; 30 days of living in different motels almost every night; 30 days riding for hours with 2 small children; 30 days of seeing some of the most beautiful sights this wonderful country has to offer; doing laundry on the road and repacking suitcases; playing hide and seek at rest stops; teaching Todd how to check motel rooms for cleanliness; and the list goes on and on.  Seeing buffalo, new born deer, bears, wolves and other animals through the eyes of a 4 and 6 year old makes you appreciate the world more.  We traveled 7700 miles and the cost - well this trip was priceless.  Now I just need to download the 1000 plus pictures I took to a DVD and print a few so they can remember and share this experience.       

Koolwink Motel A Great Little Place In West Virginia

Sunday 7/6/2014

Romney WV

Got to sleep in this morning since we only had about 150 miles to go but it was all on route 50 which is a great road especially on motorcycles all twists and turns up and down the mountains but you cannot make very good time.  I have traveled route 50 and West Virginia many times and I wanted to stop by Blackwater Falls and show the kids but somehow we got on the wrong road and never did find it; they must have moved the falls!  I know the windmills seemed to be on the wrong mountains too and we got on roads we have never been on before and I thought we had ridden every WV road.  Anyway, getting back on 50 we got to Romney and wanted to find the train station because we planned to ride the Potomac Eagle Scenic Railroad but not finding the station we went directly to Koolwink Motel and asked the owner while checking in.  The train only runs on Saturdays.  Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and head south on 220 to 33 east and then follow 33 through the valley to Gordonsville Virginia and visit Grandmom Yowell’s grave and then head home. The kids have never seen where Don’s family came from and it feels like home to us as well so we want to share it with them.   Tonight is our last night in a motel.      

The Wilds

Saturday 7/5/2014

Mineral Wells WV

The Wilds in Cumberland Ohio was our destination today and what a wonderful place.  Don and I visited The Wilds several years ago with the United Tour Riders and I was excited to show the kids all the animals while riding in an open air safari bus.  I had reserved tickets for the 12 noon bus but we arrived at 10:17 and they had room on the 11 am bus so we took it.  Bumpy roads with dust flying and animals all around some near the roads; some in the water and some off in the distance.  The kids got to see giraffes, rhinos, camel, antelope, oryx, sheep, African painted dogs, several breeds of donkeys, several breeds of deer, bison and a lot of other animals.  At one stop we got to enter a huge cage filled with birds and we could hold a stick with bird seeds on it and the birds would land on your hand or arm and eat.  Zoey spooked when she felt the little claws of the bird on her hand but she was fine standing in the cage while I let them sit on my hand.  Of course we had to go to the gift shop after the 3 hour tour and then back in the car to ride 50 miles to Mineral Wells to our hotel.  The kids had fallen asleep just 3 or 4 miles down the road.  Arriving at the Microtel in Mineral Wells they have a Cracker Barrel right across the parking lot so guess where we ate and of course we gave them more money for toys.  I don’t think we can walk through Cracker Barrel without buying something other than food.      

Just Riding Along

Friday 7/4/2014

Columbus OH

A day of riding and we are now within 80 miles of The Wilds where we have reservations for an open air bus to tour the wildlife preserve.  Not much happened today other than we again went to Cracker Barrel for dinner and of course just like me they had to shop.  I’d rather get things for them than for myself anyway.  I did notice while riding today Indiana must hold the record for wind farms.  At one point we were completely surrounded by windmills spreading from the edge of the highway across the fields as far as you could see. 

Camden Playground Great Place For Kids

Thursday 7/3/2014

Janesville, WI

Searching the Internet I found Camden Playground listed as the number 1 attraction in Janesville.  This playground is listed as being 80% handicap accessible; all made of wood with a castle, slides (even a slide made of conveyor rollers), swings, poles to slide down like firemen all kinds of things to climb on climb under and climb through.   There was also a wading pool with a large mushroom with water spraying out but we avoided that because of Zoey’s ears and while it was warm the wind was blowing.  After a couple of hours of playing the kids were ready to go find lunch and head out to our next destination.  After we crossed the Mighty Mississippi River I noticed some major differences in the country.  Instead of rolling hills of wide open spaces with cattle we saw corn fields as far as the eye can see.  The horizon is not near as wide open because there are lots of trees and there is a lot more traffic.  On the west we could drive for hours and not see another vehicle or maybe one truck pulling a horse trailer but on the east side – well we sat in a traffic jam barely moving more than 5 mph for over 2 hours on I90 in Chicago.  We finally started moving and made it to Hobart IN for the night.  And now we are seeing Cracker Barrel Restaurants so I introduced the kids to this magnificent place.  Every place we went they wanted to visit the gift shops well when they opened the door to the restaurant their eyes lit up.  Of course they had to buy something!  After sitting in the Chicago traffic jam they deserved a toy.  Back to the hotel we were preparing for bed and we began to hear boom boom and a look out the window and we saw a beautiful fireworks display for over an hour.  What a nice way to end the day. 

Mosquito Attack

Wednesday 7/2/2014

Tomah, WI

We are slowing down, in the beginning we were out of the hotel by 7:30 and now it is 9:30 or 10 before we get out of town.  But even with the late start we covered over 400 miles today heading for Janesville WI.  Got a Microtel Inn for tonight and as soon as we walked into the room Todd was excited.  Microtel is the one with the window seat (where he slept on the window seat and fell off during the night).  However, 3 weeks and he has forgotten how it scared him and he wants to sleep on the window seat tonight.  I guess he is a slow learner!  We stopped a couple of times for the kids to play and at one rest stop they had a playground and a walking path.  The kids and I started down the walking path and ran into a swarm of mosquitoes so as we slapped and walked back Zoey asked what they did.  I said they suck your blood.  She said if they suck all your blood you will die and have to go to heaven.  I said that is right.  She then said she didn’t want that to happen because she wanted to live with me and Poppy.  Never gave it a second thought.  We got in the car and started out of the rest stop getting maybe 200 yards and suddenly Zoey started screaming like a pack of wild animals was attacking her.  Then Todd started screaming.  There were several mosquitoes in the car and nothing would make them calm down.  No way were they going to hit the mosquitoes with their hand!  I pulled the car over; put on the flashers and Don had to climb in the back and swat every mosquito and then spray their arms and legs to make sure no mosquito could suck their blood.  Of course while Don was doing the swatting and the kids were screaming here’s one and there’s one I’m sitting in the driver’s seat laughing my head off.  Guess I need to be a little more careful about how I describe what insects do. 

Corn Palace

Tuesday, 7/1/2014

Mitchell, SD

We only had 149 miles to travel today and that is a good thing since we were all up late last night and just couldn’t seem to get moving.  Good thing we went to Storybook Land yesterday because it is raining this morning.  The Corn Palace was impressive and we got to watch some people working on their particular portion of one of the walls.  I understand the building is not completely covered with corn and other grains until sometime in the fall when the crops are all harvested.  And each year a new theme is selected and the art work begins all over again.  Decided to spend the night here so we have time to get laundry done.