Final Comments

Vacation is a wonderful time. You can choose to stay home, paint your bedroom, go on the river, travel to the shore or do what we did and take a family trip.

We are blessed to live in the United States. Once you hit the road and take the time to experience this great country, you'll really begin to appreciate it.

We asked our kids if they would rather have stayed home and swam and played with their friends instead of going on an 11 day, 2300 mile road trip and their overwhelming response was "No".

I'm pleased to say that they actually seem to have appreciated the time together and see part of America. I know that I did. I learned more about me, the kids and Teri than I would have ever experienced had we simply gone to some resort or amusement park.

Take the time to travel with your kids. You won't regret it.

Vacation comes to an end...but not without some interesting happenings

It's Wednesday night, June 13th and the Link's have made it back to Dubuque! It feels so good to sit in my chair in our den watching the movie "Cars" with Chaz and summarizing the last few days.

As you may recall, when we last spoke, we were just finishing up at the KOA. On Monday, we packed up and somehow I remembered how to hook the camper back up to the Suburban. We drove the camper back to Jack's Campers in Piedmont. Not without incident however as the door of the camper flew open as we drove through Rapid City and then a Rapid City street repairman pounded on the Suburban window to tell me I wasn't going to make it through the yellow light at the intersection I was just about to enter. After stopping, rolling down my window and thanking him with my middle finger, we got the camper back to Jack's.

We then went through the Badland's National Park. Again, like everything on this trip, if you haven't been through South Dakota, this is a must see!

The Badland's simply rise out of the grasslands of the South Dakota Plains. Its amazing and as my kid's commented, it looks like God simply put "drip sand castles" in South Dakota.

After driving through the Badlands, we decided to 2 lane blacktop it to Sioux City. We got as far as Valentine, NE where we found a very nice Holiday Inn Express. With two adjoining rooms, after a week in a camper, we felt like we were in a Ritz. Pizza, beer and pop and the day was complete.

On Tuesday, after bandaging Chaz who cut his thumb on a piece of metal in the sunroof, we drove to Sioux City. We took old Highway 12, the Outlaw Trail. Its beautiful country and if you travel through Niobrara, NE stop at Ole's Diner for the best open faced, beef, gravy and potatoe platter on this side of the Missouri River. We got into Sioux City late that afternoon where we spent the evening with our good friend Anne Garreans and her kids.

Here's Sam, Grace and Chaz drying off after a hard evening of swimming and making me chase tennis balls.

Anne, trying to help Grace with her sandal.Jack, Noah and Tabitha taking a moment to pose.

Gracey wrapped up and shivering trying to stay warm. That smile never left her face. Eliza poking her head up through the ladder

We retired early that night after sittin on the deck with Anne determined to finish my crossword puzzle. Thanks again for the beers, Anne!

On Wednesday, I met Stormy at the airport and we had meeting at American Pop Corn, ie Jolly Time Pop Corn.

I loaded up the family and we headed to Dubuque. After more than 2100 miles of driving, I had an accident in Sac City, IA. I hit a pole at a Subway and dented in the front passenger door of the Suburban and trashed the mirror. I was furious with myself for making such a mistake and through a temper tantrum in the parking lot of the Subway!

The culprit....the sign pole. No damage done to it except for keeping some of the Suburban's white paint.
We made it back to Dubuque about 6:30 pm. We were tired and frankly somewhat sick of each other but at the same time we felt very together as a family...we can share experiences for years to come.

Here are the kids on the last leg of the trip....think they are ready to get home????

Sunday - our last day at the KOA

Today, we decided to just hang out around the KOA. After a hearty breakfast that was prepared by Teri and Tabitha, we headed over to the pool and swam until noon.

Chaz and I took naps while the kids rented recumbent bicycles and drove around the campgrounds.

We cooked our sandwiches on an open fire in camp cookers and then went to see another movie, The Incredibles.

Another campfire and funny, not-so-scary ghost stories (ask Tabitha about the guppy shark) and we called it a night.

We are packed and ready to leave. We've truly enjoyed our stay here and will come back.

Custer State Park

Custer State Park is this really awesome park that is home to 1500 Bison. They could have more but the park can't sustain a herd bigger than that. The bison roam the park freely so you have to constantly be on the lookout for them and the hundreds of burros that roam the park.





On Saturday, we set off to explore the park. Noah and I packed a picnic lunch and we set off. On the way, we drove past Crazy Horse Mountain. It's not done yet nor do I think it will be done in my lifetime.

Here's a burro coming up great us:

The kids climb up on top of the suburban to get a better view of a herd of buffalo:

Here's part of the herd on the road. The one in front actually blocked us from continuing for a few minutes. We had a staredown and if it wasn't for some loud motorcycles, I think we'd still be there staring at each other.We stopped for our picnic at beautiful spot with a pond and plenty of room for the kids to play and burn off some energy.The kids spent most the time making up games with this ball on a string. Its amazing how their creativity has blossomed this week by being away from the television and movies.Upon our return to our campsite, I took the kids swimming. We grilled hamburgers and then went to a movie. Another fire at our camp and it was lights out by 10:30.

1880 Train, Keystone and Deadwood

After a cold, damp, windy day, we were all looking forward to a great day out and about. On Friday, the sun was up and skies were clear.

We started our day by riding the 1880 Train from Hill City to Keystone, SD. This train system will run 5 round trip rides between these two towns every during during the summer. They have 3 big ole' steam engines that burn oil and a diesel engine.

Here's us on the train: Here are the kids watching the engine get into position to pull the train:

Here's Chaz in heaven!
Keystone is small town just 2 miles from Mt. Rushmore. It's a town of stores full of touristy stuff and very family oriented. We spent our 3 hours in Keystone wandering through shops, riding on mechanical horses and mainly just looking around

We ended up having lunch at an old hotel that was attached to a saloon. Now this saloon has gunfight-comedy shows daily and we watched one. Here's the kids with the cast. That fella in the middle is 7'2" tall! These guys have all been extra's or have had bit parts in Westerns or other movies shot in the hills.
After returning to Hill City, we loaded into the Suburban and drove 40 miles north to Deadwood. This historic old mining town is the basis for the HBO series and is most famous for being the place where Wild Bill Hickock was murdered by Jack McCall.

Deadwood is now a big gambling community and what we discovered is that there is very little for children to do or see in Deadwood. We did partake in another gunfight skit, which was entertaining for a few minutes.

Here's Tab and Eliza in front of the No. 10 Saloon where Hickock was killed.

The deputizing ceremony, performed by Calamity Jane! Notice Noah sporting the Davey Crocket look.
After our brief stay in Deadwood, we drover through Sturgis and then back to Rapid City. We ate at a Chili's and then found ourselves in the middle of a classic car parade in downtown Rapid City. Our suburban didn't hold muster against some of those vintage cars but we drove right down the street with them waving to the folks on the sidewalks watching us.

A long day was completed but we felt like we really got the flavor of the area today. And that would be our recommendation...get out and drive around the Hills...its the best way to see it.

Combining 2 days together

In the interest of time, I'm going to combine 2 days together.

On Wednesday, we spent most of the day around the campgrounds and then went to Mt. Rushmore late in the day.

The day started out very warm. I took the kids to bounce pad and mini-golf, while Teri went to do laundry.

Here's the kids on the bounce pad. What you don't see is Chaz's bloody nose from slamming his face into the bounce pad at warp 7.

The weather turned a little sour late in the afternoon, but it didn't damper our spirits. I took the kids on what turned out to be a 3 mile hike through the hills, while Teri and Chaz took naps.

When we got back we went over to Mt. Rushmore. It was spectacular and the history of the making of it was fascinating for all of us. We even looked through telescopes and saw mountain goats on the mountain. Cool.

That night, the sky cleared, we made a big fire, roasted marshmallows and made smores. It was fantastic.

On Thursday, the weather turned a little dreary, cold and windy with light rain. That didn't stop our horseback riders from their venture up Willow Creek.

Here they are:

They were cold and wet upon their return but they loved it nonetheless.

Then went to Bear Country USA. The animals, suprisingly were very active considering the weather. The bears and wolves were extremely busy.
We then went over to Sitting Bull Caverns, which involves going down 103 feet by steps, very steep steps! Chaz walked the whole way down and here we are at the very end of the caverns. We were a walking billboard for Dubuque Montessori!
Then we took a long ride up Iron Mountain road and accidentally ended up in part of Custer State Park, which we are going to tour more on Saturday. Met a local burro and a buffalo and returned back later. We cooked out chicken, hamburger, corn on the cob and went to a movie that night.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to improve and we are going on a train ride and to Deadwood.

Day - 3: The camper and trip to the KOA

The day that starts calm and ends on a crazy note is a day to remember.

Our first night in the camper was very uneventful. We were really cold because we couldn't figure out the furnace...propane wasn't turned on...I figured that out in the morning.

We got checked out on the trailer...a braking system was installed and we were ready to go!

Here we are loaded and heading to Hill City!

The first ever driving experience of a camper was that it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. And gas mileage really is bad - 8 mpg! I'm glad we rented in SD and didn't haul from Iowa.

We made the trip to the KOA in about an hour and got checked into space 175. Not too much to say about the campsite itself but the campgrounds are impressive. They have a nice pool, water slide, large playgrounds, and stables. The kids are going on a ride on Thurday morning!

We got camp set up, ate lunch and went swimming.

Here's our home for the next week. Notice the awning? Well, that evening a storm blew up suddenly and if it were not for the assistance of our neighbors we'd have lost the awning in the wind. You should have seen me and Teri holding onto the awning for dear life, praying that it wouldn't blow away, break or rip apart....my adrenaline was pumping so hard. Luckily we were able to get the awning rolled up and back into place. We are learning quite a bit about camping.

Heading to Mt. Rushmore on Wednesday and Mt. Rushmore Caverns.

Here's Chaz relaxing: