Count Down to the End ~ Day One

This morning when we woke up we were approximately thirty hours driving time from San Francisco. We gave our love to my in-laws, stopped off at Casey’s for some gas and donuts, and hit the road heading back West. The sun was just rising as we drove out of the prairie land of Southwest Minnesota. Everything was tucked into a balmy layer of pinks, and the glow on the horizon kissed the earth with a kindhearted smooch. I blew back kisses as we left the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.

It wasn’t long before we drove through Brookings, South Dakota. A supersized Red Bull and some authentic Buffalo Ridge jerky sticks later, we flew through Rapid City on the West side of the state. Lost in our excitement to get back to California, we almost forgot that we were on a quest to review all things that make this land “America”. Luckily, we remembered just in time to take a small detour to Mt. Rushmore. I mean, a tour de USA could not be complete without visiting an oversized monument of our Freemason Forefathers. Although I can appreciate the effort that must have gone into such a massive project, my general opinion is that the whole tourist attraction is really nothing special. We did get some good photos, however, and now we can say that we’ve “been there, and done that.” (Actually, we had both visited the park when we were younger, but thought we would reevaluate with our “grown-up eyes”.) The stop did allow us to walk off our lunch, catch some fresh summer air, and look down on the badass Badlands of South Dakota…so, I guess all-in-all the destination was a bit of both sweet and sour. Glad we stopped, and the drive was beautiful. We saw a mountain goat that looked like a polar bear from a distance.

We made it as far as Casper, Wyoming today, before the setting sun glaring through the windshield became just about unbearable. We are eighteen hours and fourteen minutes from home, give or take a few. We will make our way through Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada tomorrow, as we count down to the end of our voyage. My feelings are mixed.