The Road is Before Us...

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road

~Walt Whitman

We got off to an early start on Friday the 8th, heading north up the western edge of Missouri, all the way to our first stop at Haworth Park in Bellevue, Ne. It's a sweet little municipal park on the banks of the Missouri River. To reach it, we had to take the odd, narrow bridge over the river. It was quite high and there was a $2.00 toll each way.

Let me preface this next statement by saying I was born in Missouri, grew up in Iowa, and have also lived in Minnesota. The Midwest has genuinely nice people, top notch public schools, and is a great place to live, but unless you're really into corn, soybeans or sorgum, there's not much to see from the interstate.

That's why on the second day on the road, we stopped to see some family along the way. This is my brother-in-law & sister-in-law Wayne & Liz. We had a lovely visit and went for lunch at the only restaurant in the little town where they live--a Tex/Mex place. It may be quite a way north of the border, but the food was delicious.

As a side note, my DH has four older brothers. They all favor their dad strongly. I always tell people I went into this marriage with my eyes wide open!

 Once we turned west on I90, the landscape changed from cultivated farm land to more arid pastureland, with the exception of large fields of droopy-headed sunflowers. In Chamberlain, South Dakota, we ran into the Missouri River again.

Another side note: When I was a kid camping with my family for the first time, we stopped at American Creek Campground in Chamberlain. It's right down by the river and was very pretty. We felt lucky to snag the last available spot. Unfortunately that night, the heavens opened and we were flooded out. Every sleeping bag and blanket we'd brought with us was soaking. The next day we limped on to the Black Hills area, soggier but wiser.

Yes, my child, in campsites as in life, seek the high ground. That left over low site was left over for a reason.  

So, the DH and I pressed on to Kennebec where we stopped at a KOA for the night. As campgrounds go, KOAs aren't always the most attractive, but they're generally clean and safe. 

On Sunday, Sept. 10th, we rolled into Rapid City around noon and met my sister for lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse. My brother-in-law had to work for a few hours, so he missed it. Then after we gave her the 30 second tour of our camper--30 seconds is all it takes!--we all headed up the mountain to her place outside the charming town of Keystone. Here's the view from their front deck:

It's always so good to see them. My sister Linda and I have always clicked like magnets, and form a little "circle of two." She's about six years younger than me, but we always got along. One of my favorite memories of our shared childhood is the time we had a crystal radio and two ear buds. We lay together in an old iron bed and listened to a radio drama being pulled out of the air like magic.

She and her hubby are wonderful hosts and served a meal that would not be out of place on a cruise ship.

And here are the guys tending to the steaks and chops. They're both proponents of the "Man Cook with Fire" philosophy! Rick does amazing things with rubs and marinades.







Today, we made the trip from Rapid City to Billings, Montana. If  you've ever seen the sci-fi movie Starship Troopers, you'd recognize the eastern part of Wyoming as the "Bug Planet." No joke. That's where they shot those horrific scenes. Marine life fossils are found all over this region. It's stark and forbidding and if you half close your eyes, you can imagine it all under an ancient sea, complete with cones and atolls rising from the seabed. When we reached Buffalo, and turned north, we should have been able to see the Big Horns all along to our left. Unfortunately, the wild fires in northern Montana are sending smoke south. If we hadn't known that range was there, we'd have wondered if the vague outline of peaks was real or imagined.

Tonight we're stopped at the very first KOA in the country. It's quite nice, situated on the banks of the Yellowstone River. There are mature trees, lots of flowering plants and a charming little putt-putt golf course in the center of the campground.

Tomorrow, we head for Missoula and will likely run into more smoke. So far, the air quality is good enough that I'm not bothered by it, though I have been a bit of a housecat. I mostly go from the air conditioned truck to the air conditioned camper.

Such is the life of  someone with a chronic lung disease.  I've packed some face masks if I need them. But I can't feel sorry for myself. I'm a lucky girl and I know it. I'm having an adventure.

How can I ask for more?