Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Had a full day. 

Drove through Rapid City and on to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorials. Both are impressive but Crazy Horse is a long way from being complete. 

Lots of bikers on the road and in the campgrounds.  The BIG Sturgis rally starts in a couple days. We are camped at an outstanding KOA.  We decided to stay one more day. 

Learning Harley tipping from a professional instructor. 

Ellen and I ready for Sturgis. 

 

Harley tipping under the watchful eye of a great teacher. 

Al's Oasis and camping on the Missouri River

We had a pleasant trip across MN and into South Dakota. We stopped for lunch overlooking Sioux Falls. Not much water flowing. - about like Sheep Creek in Juneau. Pretty place though with a pleasant grass park overlook. 

We saw two big herds of pronghorn antelope grazing next to the highway.  I doubt they will be there for hunting season.  

We camped for the night ( Monday) on the Missouri River. BEAUTIFUL campground but loaded with flies and other bugs.  YUCK. I do not like bugs just waiting by the door for you to open up then they swarm in.  

AL'S OASIS was a great place to get gas food or just about anything you need. 

" COFFEE IS STILL 5 CENTS AND THE SMILES ARE FREE"

Bugs, bugs and more bugs

Flying Goose campground

We got an early start yesterday and zipped through Wisconsin.  Stopping for Wisconsin cheese curds and diesel. 

We stopped in MN at an Amish restaurant for a sandwich. Picked up a jar of preserves too. 

Used our GOOD SAM app to find a camp ground. Found a beauty.  FLYING GOOSE CAMPGROUND. 

We ate fresh green beans from Dale and Ruth's garden for dinner.  They were superbly tasty. So tender. 

Farewell Jacob and Cindy and family

Our last day here in Illinois.  We have had some great days. Time to hitch up our wagon and point it west. 

Started our day with Swedish pancakes. Then Jacob and I squeezed in a sushi lunch.  

After lunch we all went to Bob and Judy's house for dinner and a mini reunion of Cindy's sisters and a feast of food.  Including some more fresh corn on the cob.  

We then we picked up our camper from Jacob 's friends house. Dale and Ruth.   They have a nice farm with lots of room to park. 

 ***  Zucchini Proliferation Alert:   ***

DUE TO HEAVY RAINS AND HOT SUNSHINE ZUCCHINI ARE GROWING CRAZY WILD.  STATE OF ILLINOIS JUST PASSED A LAW REQUIRING  ALL OUT OF STATE TRAVELERS TO TAKE TWO ZUCCHINI WITH THEM AS THEY LEAVE. 

We are doing our fair share. 

Dale and Ruth

Helping to reduce the local zucchini population to manageable levels.  

Jacob relaxed. 

Back to McHenry to see Jacob, Cindy and family.

Another full day driving after finding Ellen a Starbucks just 5 minutes from our campground. You need to start the day off right. Capesh?

We did stop for diesel at a station that had a fruit and vegetable stand right next to it so we bought some of the most beautiful tomatoes that I have seen in a long time.  

Weather was perfect all day. We finally arrived in McHenry in the afternoon. Just in time to go with the family on a picnic and to play miniature golf with his church group.  After the golf the kids all screamed for ice cream so we stopped by McD for ice cream. 

THAT MADE A FULL DAY. We slept well. 

Today we went to a local farm stand that was selling very fresh picked corn on the cob. Then we all went swimming.  

The one on the left is A CHEROKEE PURPLE tomato. 

Near McHenry

Tuesday: From West Virginia to Indiana.

Tuesday was a BIG travel day. We traveled through W Virginia, Pennsylvania , Ohio and finally Indiana   Camping for the night just north of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In West Virginia and Ohio we hit some scary weather.  Big thunderstorm with torrential rain for a while.  We had to slow to a crawl for the wipers to keep up. Thunder and lighting all around us.  On guy we saw just pulled over under an overpass and just parked. 

Fortunately the bad weather soon passes and we continued on our way. 

WAYNESBURG, PA

Because our son-in-law Hans and the Marx family are from Waynesburg we detoured to drive through. We are happy we did.  Beautiful area.  Many small beautiful farms there. Some of the roads are very narrow. One place we inched through with about 3 inches to spare. 

Morgan street in Waynesburg.  Morgan Marx take note. 

Near Waynesburg

Indiana 

Camping just north of Fort Wayne, IN.