Six States!

In the last two days we have made it through six states! After heading from the hotel in Ohio, we drove through to Indiana, Illinois and then Missouri. We spent a relaxing afternoon and evening with DB's family....I swam and sunned by the pool and tried to get a little color. No luck of course. It was really nice though. For dinner we had DB's favorite pizza, Imo's, which is definitely up to my New Haven standards - nice thin crust, good sauce and tasty toppings. We decided to leave around 10 (which turned into 11....), and got to see his niece and nephew before we left.

From St. Louis, we drove for what seemed like forever through Missouri. I think most of the day was driving through there.....finally into Iowa, and then South Dakota. We made it to Sioux Falls in about eight and a half or nine hours today. Definitely got carded just checking into the hotel - that's a first. Something we discovered that I think we missed last year: the hotel/motel guides you can get at rest areas have really good rates/coupons in them....like at least $10 less than the AAA rate (somewhat disappointing). We've had good luck with them twice already. The AAA guides are still the most helpful though.

Our route so far has been thus:

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Tomorrow will take us through South Dakota....definitely one of my favorite places on the road trip with all there is to see. My plan is to stop at Corn Palace and pick up some really good popcorn, drive through the Badlands and then stop at Wall Drug for lunch. Something I'm excited about is getting my National Parks pass! With all our stops this summer it will certainly be worth it, and since it is good for a year, we can use it while we are living nearby Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in MT. We may return to SD too for a more leisurely trip after finding an apartment and visiting the Pacific coast. I'd love to do some camping in the Black Hills and Badlands.

Wherever we end up tomorrow night (that's something we need to plan in the morning) will hopefully leave us with a not-too-long drive the next day to Missoula so apartment-hunting can commence.

I got a little bit of knitting done on the ride. My biggest fiber related accomplishment was rolling the messy skein of yarn into a center-pull ball. I kept getting yarn barf every few rows and that was just driving me crazy. I now have a nice neat ball. I meant to take a photo, but I keep forgetting to grab my camera. I also wanted a shot of the car....it's not too packed, but definitely full. (There is one door we cannot open.) And the hippo and dog stuffed animals are peeking out the rear window. It's very cute.

Off to sleep....yet another dinner I almost fell asleep over! Traveling is exhausting! Hopefully we will slow our pace considerably after we find a place in Missoula.