Planty is safely returned home

I delivered Planty to it's home. If plants could talk, I'm sure it would have shouted for joy that it would not have to spend any more time in the car. It did pretty well considering. It's now back home with its family where it belongs and I'm in Rutland, Vermont, where I decided to stop for the night. Will go on to Montpelier tomorrow.

Philadelphia

It's been too longs since I last updated this blog! I drove from Fargo to Brainerd and then on to Minneapolis on August 19th. It was pretty much as oppressive an area as it looked on the movie. The Paul Bunyan statue from the movie was made for the movie...the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statue that really is in Brainerd is smaller than I thought, and is surrounded by a fence. Darnit! I really wanted to use it as a photo opp for Planty, but it didn't work out.

I drove on to Milwaukee on the 20th and stayed there until the 28th for the KCM conference. The conference was really good. I'm uplifted by the Word that was preached at the conference. I volunteered to help in the tape duplication area, so spent several hours during the week with that. It was good to have the opportunity to give of my time.

On the 28th I left Milwaukee and drove to Bowling Green, OH, where I visited a friend I had not seen in 10 years. That is way too much time to let go by between visits! On the afternoon of the 29th, I drove down to Pickerington to visit more friends. I got there just in time for dinner. :-) What a treat to have a home cooked meal after being on the road for two plus weeks! I ate and ran and stayed in Wheeler, West Virginia, last night. Now, I'm in a suburb of Philadelphia. Getting settled in for the night. Tomorrow morning I will be headed to NJ, where Planty lives, and then on to Vermont! :-)

This has been such a great experience! I've lost track of what day of the week it is, which I think means I'm well rested!

Fargo

Had a very nice surprise this morning as I drove North on I-29 out of Sioux Falls...an exit to the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead! So, I did get to visit after all. I only visited the homestead, as that took about 2 hours plus the extra driving added another 2 hours. It was worth it though!

I've grown quite fond of South Dakota over the past few days. I hope to return some day. North Dakota is not having the same affect. There's something oppressive that I cannot quite put my finger on. Oh well. I'll be here for the night, I'll be on my way to Minneapolis in the morning.

Wall Drug

Now I can say that I've been to Wall Drug. As if the signs along I-90 weren't entertainment enough, the store includes some entertaining historic photos, articles, letters, and even a T-Rex that comes to life occasionally (visit this site to see it in action: http://www.walldrug.com/family_fun )

I was disappointed to find the exit De Smet closed as this is the location of quite a lot of Laura Ingalls Wilder history. Oh well, maybe the T-Rex was enough for one day. ;-) I arrived in Sioux Falls just in time as it started raining about 10 minutes after I checked in to my hotel.

The rain has stopped and I'm going to clean up before venturing out to find a good spot to have dinner.

Site Seeing in South Dakota

Mount Rushmore
Originally uploaded by mzones.

I went to Mount Rushmore today. It was so cool to finally get to visit this tribute to these great leaders in person.

After Mt. Rushmore, I went to see the Crazy Horse national monument. Who knows when that will be finished, but it is already impressive.

Then it was on to the Badlands National Park. Wow! I spent the entire afternoon in this magnificent park. Check out the park site for more info: http://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm

Rapid City

I made it to Rapid City, SD, today. Yay! I'll stay here tomorrow night too cause there is a lot to see here. More about that tomorrow night.

My trip today was good. After my morning walk, I found a local coffee house in Butte that made a really good latte to fuel my drive. I stopped in Bozeman for an oil change, what a great little town with a ton of growth going on. Who knew!?!?!

I stopped off at Little Bighorn battleground national monument to check out the site of Custer's last stand. I didn't carry Planty up the hill for a photo opp. ;-)

Planty at the Columbia River

Planty at the Columbia River
Originally uploaded by mzones.

I set off on my drive to Vermont early Sunday morning and stopped at this scenic view location to stretch my legs.

I arrived in Butte, MT, at 4:30 in the afternoon. I'm just getting ready for a walk this morning before starting my drive today.