final post

This is our final blog entry. We have been home about 24 hours and in some ways it seems as if we never left, but yet, we are all so full of the wonders of the last few weeks.

We left Yellowstone on Wednesday morning (is that possible???) heading north into Montana and then back into Wyoming and then South Dakota. A long day of driving, but with beautiful scenery through the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian Reservations. We made a token stop at Wall Drug. We landed in Keystone, SD just a few miles from Mount Rushmore. We had been spoiled by the relative lack of tacky tourist traps with all the National Parks. Keystone is on a par with Old Orchard Beach, except there is no ocean. We were lucky to speak to  a park ranger at Mount Rushmore who took a lot of time explaining the history of the monument and the efforts required to finish it. We left more informed and engaged than we had anticipated being. (But that has been a common theme on this trip).

More hours in the truck later, we arrived in Correctionville, Iowa. No, it was not named after a prison, but rather a surveyor’s tool to document the area. Small, friendly town with not a lot going on (or so it seemed) but a sweet little state park with river meadows and our first lightning bugs of the season. Largely agricultural landscape with towns few and far between.

Still more hours through rural landscapes. A nice stop in Iowa City and the Prairie Lights Bookstore. We ended up in South Bend, Indiana (references to Notre Dame everywhere) and the vistas began to change to more urban/suburban, although we crossed the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers within an hour. We had been listening to an audio book of Huckleberry Finn and it was easy to see how a raft could float down the rivers and find comfortable hiding places.

More hours in the truck. Everybody relatively cheerful but at this point ready to be home. Lake Erie to our left. We stopped in Rochester, NY on Friday. All those nights that Martin spent commuting to Springfield and staying in hotels payed off as we had a free 2-bedroom suite complete with full kitchen. State parks in NY require 48 hour reservations; we had been hoping to spend our last night camping. But we were able to see another minor league baseball game (The Rochester Red Wings (Minn) vs the Norwich Tide (Baltimore?) – triple A) A nice park in the middle of town and lots of enthusiatic fans.

We criss-crossed the Erie Canal and arrived home on Saturday. I was glad to see the poppies and lilacs still in bloom.

It will take us weeks, months, years to digest what we have seen. It has been beyond our best hopes. We realize how fortunate we are to have been able to do this. A special thanks to Ted, for minding the house and the animals; to Mary and Poppy, for help with travel arrangements and especially the rafting trip; to both our families for their encouragement and support; to Barre Town Elementary  and Middle School (especially Mary Bowers) for their support; to my colleagues at CVHHH for their encouragement and for filling in for me; to all who have read and commented on the blog. We appreciate the support.

Final Picture

Home Sweet Home

Final Pun (We saved the best for last)

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good)..... A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Community Capital of Vermont

I’m fortunate to have a great job at a great organization: Community Capital of Vermont. We provide loans to lower-income entrepreneurs to start or expand a business. Visit our web site; “like” us on facebook; call us yourself or refer a friend for a loan. Thank you to my colleagues Josh and Wendy and to the board for giving me the time for this trip. I am indebted to you. 

Speaking of debts, thank you to Ted for taking care of the house and animals while we’ve been away!

Martin

Pun from South Bend

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

Heading home

We were at campsite just east of Sioux City, Iowa last night and are at a hotel in South Bend, Indiana tonight. Too much time in the truck! But watching the countryside unfold continues to provide great entertainment.  We are back in Barre on Saturday and will do a final post soon after including a pun worth waiting for.

Bugs

Welcome to Chicago

Yellowstone photos (and one Mt Rushmore)

Gus on a mission

Sunrise near Madison Campground, Yellowstone

Old Faithful in action

Hot spring at Yellowstone

Upper Falls of Yellowstone Rive

Pika

Traffic jam at Yellowstone

Mt Rushmore at dusk

GPS

Date	Place	Latitude	Longitude
6/3/12	Yellowstone NP	No cell service
6/5/12	Keystone, SD	43.894482	-103.424194

From Mount Rushmore

Keystone, SD

We left Yellowstone yesterday; the official start of our journey home. I thought we would have mixed feelings about that but in fact we don’t at all. We could keep going, living this nomad’s life and taking in all the beauty and history around us – of course, I say this after having had my first shower in 4 days. We would wish for fewer time constraints and more meandering, but overall we are quite happy with the way the trip has turned out.

A few recent highlights:

Gus has really enjoyed riding his bike around the campgrounds and having projects that he knows are helping to make things run smoothly and he has been very cheerful. He has also been instrumental in finding our final license plates, snagging Hawaii, Washington, DC and Alaska in the past few days. Yahoo!

The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone provided much-needed relief from the sand and heat of southern Utah. The hills, lakes and forests have been breathtaking. Sightings of bison, bear (grizzly and black), moose, pronghorn antelope, elk, muledeer, sand cranes, the magnificent black-billed magpie and Western tanager and my favorite, the pika, a prairie-dog like animal related to the rabbit. 

There is a reason Yellowstone is the oldest and most visited park in the country. The size and diversity of landscape are amazing; the hydrothermal features (hot springs, geysers, fumaroles) are fascinating; we are learning so much about geology on this trip (special thanks to the ranger-led talk at Norris Geyser) as well as both the durability and fragility of the earth. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River may not be THE Grand Canyon, but it is still pretty good and the Upper Falls are gorgeous.

We were hiking near Inspiration Point in Grand Teton. I left the boys to do the last bit on their own (heights are not my thing) and found a good perch to admire the scenery. A young couple approached me and asked me to take their picture; they had just gotten engaged and were bubbling with excitement.  Even in this day of instant communication, I was the first person they told. They didn’t ask my name, though; I thought they might want to name their first-born after me. Oh well. It was a sweet moment anyway.

Go, Celtics!!!

Janet

Pun of the day (for Ted)

There was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.