On Tuesday I drove more than 12 hours from the black hills of South Dakota to Rockford, Illinois where I once again slept in wal-mart parking lot for the night before rising early the next morning to continue onward toward Pennsylvania.

On Wednesday I again drove more more than 12 hours this time reaching my temporary home in New Britain, Pennsylvania. My sudden dash through the mid-west wasn’t that there was nothing to see in the mid-west, I’m sure there are lots of things to see between South Dakota and Pennsylvania. Nothing however was particularly calling to me right now nor was anything I somewhat wanted to see particularly convenient for a guy traveling and living in a camper with a dog. I had thought about going north and then crossing one of the great lakes by ferry, but that seemed a big detour and something I’d likely do in a few months when it comes time to cross from Maine into Canada. More than anything though it was that the escrow for the sale of my house was, as hoped, moving along very quickly. I was anxious to get to Pennsylvania where I would be receiving paperwork that needed to be signed, notarized and returned as soon as possible. Ideally before the coming weekend. The people buying my house would actually be moving in that weekend and renting the property for a week prior to close of escrow. Therefore in addition to all the usual sale documents I had to also sign and return lease documents. All of this paper work would be dramatically easier once I’d reached my friend’s home in Pennsylvania, hence the hurry.

There is not much to say about spending two days driving the interstates across the mid-west as quickly as my 20 year old Vanagon could go. I think the biggest highlight for me was crossing the Mississippi River. That was pretty cool. It is such a historically symbolic line dividing this country. I am officially in the east now. I crossed the Mississippi just long enough after sunset that it was the darker side of dusk, but I still got a reasonably good view of it. Sorry no picture though.

I arrived at Matt & Em’s home in New Britain, PA around 9:30pm on Wednesday. The first major leg of my journey is complete. Whooo hooo! This will be home base for the coming month. In October I’ll again hit the road to tour the north east all the way into Canada before returning here for a few weeks before leaving the dog with them and flying to Asia.

Everything is finally coming together. The house is selling, the travel is underway, plans are falling in place. I’m feeling great and Tucker is making friends with his two new brothers, Blue and Kona. That’s Blue pawing at Kona under Em’s Desk while Kona snuggles in his little spot between the cabinets and hearth.

This morning I woke up in Montana, drove through Wyoming and ended in South Dakota. It wasn’t just a driving day though I squeezed in seeing Devil’s Tower, Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. All told I drove over 527 miles.

Waking up in Soda Butte campground just outside Yellow stone I survivived another very cold night. This time though I was better prepared with a double sleeping bag and a blanket to cover Tucker. I even took out my catalytic propane heater just in case. The night before in Yellow Stone it got into the 30’s and I wasn’t at all ready for it. Unfortunately I was also lazy that night and after waking up shirving refused to get out of my cold sleeping bag and do anything about it. I just suffered through the cold night. I also got a runny nose out of it. Tucker too suffered a bit, he curled into a tight little ball with his nose buried under his tail and shifted around a lot during the night trying to find a warmer spot. I tried to cuddle with him a little and cover him with my single bag but I don’t think it helped much that night. Anyway, last night it got into the 30’s again but thanks to the extra bag draped over my sleeping bag and Tucker like a comforter, we both were much more comfortable. I also made use of the propane catalytic heater I have to warm up the inside of the van in the morning before getting out of my warm and comfy sleeping bag into the cold interior of the van. I skipped breakfast in favor of getting on the road early, we left camp at 7am. About an hour and a half into the drive I stopped in Cody, WY for coffee and a muffin. Not much, but at least it was food. I can’t belevie I saying this but I was craving Starbucks and another of the Spinch Floretine english muffin sandwichs like I had in Bend, OR last week. It was as I walked into the little cafe I found in Cody that I realized I hadn’t showered in five days and made a note that tonight I needed to find a campground with showers.

My first sightseeing stop today was Devil’s Tower, which was really amazing. I’m so glad that I went. Thank you Michael for the encouragement. Upon standing at it’s base it took quite a bit of self control not to go running up to it and start climbing. Wow, what a beautiful piece of rock and how it begs to be climbed. T Native Americans in the area prefer that it not be climbed and that I’m a bit conflicted about it. However I view climbing as a spiritual pursuit and a way of being one with nature so to me at least it is in harmony with it’s spiritual significance. Someday, Jon, John and Mike we need to come here and climb this magnificent tower. Wow… did I say that already?

From Devil’s Tower I headed to Mt. Rushmore, which I literally just drove past. They charge $8 to get in and park in the parking structure. A Golden Eagle National Park pass doesn’t get you past the parking fee. BTW, I should say I’m certinaly getting the value out of my park pass this year. Regardless since with the Tucker there isn’t much accessible to us and I really just came by for the photo, I did what half the vistors do… I drove around in circles outside the parking structure with the camera out the window snapping away. You are not allowed to stopping on the road anywhere that you actually could view Mt. Rushmore. Kind of forcing you into paying the $8 to get a good photo. That is kind of the way the entire Black Hills area of SD seems to be. It’s like a giant family vacation wonderland, but where everything has a price. For a few dollars you can see the stalactites and stalagmites inside a cave, or for a few more dollars you can go on a go cart track, or into a indian gaming casino, or see a western cowbody shootout drama, or a dozen other little touristy things. I could see families driving to this area and spending a week exploring all the things there are for families to do here, and I could also see it costing a fortune by the time you’re done. Anyway, I was more excited about the Crazy Horse Memorial than Mt. Rushmore anyway so I headed there next. Once again though I turned away at the gate due to the $10 entrance fee which really reflected the entrance fee into the museum and buildings, something I might have enjoyed checking out, but all of which were dog un-friendly. So once again I snapped a picture out the car window and turned around. The truth is that in both places, I could have just left Tucker in the car, I sure did that often enough in Yellow Stone; however, I really wanted somewhere I could walk him around today so absent that at either location I just moved on. Crazy Horse looks like it’ll be amazing some day… some day when they get more of it completed that is. That could be decades from now. It is massive, and promises to be beautiful. The face of crazy horse is larger then the entire Tm. Rushmore Memorial. Huge! Note to self, come back in a decade or two.

After all that, I found a campground just outside Custer, SD, which used to be a KOA which means they have all the facilities imaginable… not just showers, but pools and laundry, a bollard table, and even WiFi. Once again, NOT camping, but I did get a shower and feel WAY better.

I think I’m going to high tale it to Pennsylvania over the next couple days. I’ll probably just drive as far as a I can than find a Wal-mart to sleep in then drive on-stop again. It’s really the one and only thing Wal-Mart is good for. Free, safe, sleeping in their parking lots that is.

When you first drive into Yellowstone you’ll probably see a giant buffalo by the side of the road. You’ll think this some amazingly unusal thing and you must stop to take a picture of it now because no one would believe the buffalo was just standing there in the road. Then you’ll drive a couple more miles and again there will be another buffallo standing in the middle of the road. Then a few miles futher they’ll be a hold heard blocking the road and causing a traffic jam, once again you’ll whip out you’re camera and take few more pictures, this time because there are baby buffalo with them and they’re even cuter than the big guys. However, much like with the gysers by the time you leave Yellow Stone you’ll be another one of those drivers that screams at the idiots stopping there cars in the middle of the road take a picture of a buffalo. You’ll curse at the buffalo themselves for deciding to stand in the middle of the road for ten minutes blocking traffic in both directions. You’ll lament that there are so few bears and moose and wolves in Yellowstone, if only you could have seen one of them instead of all these freaking buffalo all over the place. Why are people stopping like this is some rare event. Well I tried really hard not to lose my patience with the buffalo or my fellow sightseers today. I think I actually did a pretty good job of it. On the final leg out of the park I even pulled over took a few more photos of the buffalos once agian blocking the road, but realizing just how beaitful they are and how long it’d be before I saw another one.

I started the day in Madison campground in Yellowstone. It was a slow start to the day after a cold night. I took my time with breakfast, and then reviewed my maps for an hour or so to think about where I wanted to go and when I might get there. Then I also made a quick trip by one of the visitor centers to ask for some advice from a ranger as to what I should not to miss on my way out of Yellow Stone. I got a pleasant surprise when they told me that the Great Fountian gyser was predicticed to erupt at 11am plus/minus 15 minutes. It was 10:15 which left just enough time to get there. Great Fountian erupts much taller than Old Faithful, but without Old Faithful’s frequency. So I took the oppurtunity and am glad I did. Much more exciting than Old Faithful, a great start to the day.

After the gyser show I made my was around to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Which is home to a pair of spectacular waterfalls. Then made my way down to to Yellowstone Lake and up to a look out over the lake for a very nice view. From there I backtracked a ways and went searching for an ellusive bear, moose or wolf… I’m sorry to say I had no luck finding any of the ellusive three.

I left the park to the north east through the Bear Tooth and into Montana where I’m camping for the night in the nicest campground I’ve been to so far, called Soda Butte. It’s the kind of campground I love, spaced out sites, trees everywhere, not to many people, in fact it’s half empty. Most significantly it’s the kind of campground it’d be impossible to drive an RV into.