THe Final Days of the EPIC Adventure 2011!

These last few days are packed with long drives, no reservations and dinner in Walmart parking lots but it's made a GREAT adventure!

This was the first night I didn't have reservations... and CLEARLY, there was a reason that I did so much research... we pulled in and 80 year old, Shirley, met us in the dirt driveway and said she'd walk us to our site... Here it is (we could hardly open the door!):

Never the less, we had a GREAT time! Mike took the girls out for DQ and I sat on Shirleys front porch chewin the fat...

We stopped at Theodore Roosevelt NP in North Dakota which was our least favorite of all the parks but we got to see a glimpse of wild horses... that was cool!

We spent the night in our last reservation spot in Sturgis SD home of the huge motorcycle rally in August... the campground was called "Rush No More" campground... and it was a really sweet site... complete with paddocks with two foals, a nice heated pool and hot tub... it was also about 30 muntes from a Cabelas... BONUS!

Kristin has been working hard at getting her hunting license and in August will be taking her test for archery and hopes to be able to hunt with Michael this fall. So, with the anticipation of this, Michael bought is girl a sweet Bowtech Bow and all the fixin's. We even stopped at a second Cabela's for hunting boots... Kristin is formally PSYCHED!

The next morning, on our way out, we drove thru the Badlands... very interested to see what appeared on the terrain after erosion... we didn't spend a ton of time here but it was interesting to experience and added National Park #12 to our list.

Here was our view for most of the day...

This sign in Alberta cracked me up... it's a real place...

Yeah... there really is a place!

We're just TRUCKIN' across the upper part of the country... our final hours in the car... in total, we will have travelled over 8500 miles... filled the gas tank over 40 times, saw 12 National Parks and a handful of national historic sites, passed thru or stayed in 23 states and 1 Canadian province and been gone 23 days... all in all, PRICELESS! I'm humbled at having this opportunity and know we will treasure the memories that were made for a lifetime! We have such a rich heritage in this nation and such a beautiful landscape in which to live. I thank GOD for it all.