Road Trip: Day 3

Starting: Oacoma, SD
Ending: Gillette, WY
Distance Traveled: 403 miles

Day 3 Goal: Badlands National Park, Mt. Rushmore National Monument

Gift Cards Used: American Express (dinner)

Highlights:
The resurrection of my "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" audio cassette. Yes, cassette. Good for the memories, not exactly scary anymore.

Badlands National Park
No matter how many photos were taken, they can never do it justice.

We stopped for our free ice water at Wall Drug... as well as ice cream & pie

Driving in the Black Hills - there are no pictures, because we were too busy white knuckling it the entire ride. Hills are scary!

Mount Rushmore National Monument

Dead Presidents

 Bonus: Goats!

Day 4 Goal: Follow 90W to Billings, stopping at various monuments and parks along the way.

We had considered -strongly- a stop at Yellowstone National Park, but unfortunately we could only squeeze three hours of actual park time into the day, which really isn't enough to do the area justice. So alas, it stays on the bucket list.

Road Trip: Day 2

Starting: Rochester, MN
Ending: Oacoma, SD
Distance Traveled: 371+ miles

Day 2 Goal: Get the heck into South Dakota; visit Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN

Gift Cards Used: Shell Gasoline

Highlights:

The giant Jolly Green Giant statue and museum!

Blue Mounds State Park

They have bison!

 

From our first Shell stop. They do it classy up here!

Day 3 Goals: Badlands & Mt. Rushmore

Road Trip: Day 1

First things first... introductions.

Transportation for this adventure will be provided by my 2002 Toyota Prius. Yes, I'll be traversing North America in a 12 year old car with 148,000+ miles. ...think good thoughts.

World, meet Emilie

But everything did fit!

I also have a good friend with me as a co-pilot and road trip buddy for most of my travels. So happy to have her company!

Day 1
Starting: My parent's house, where all journeys begin!  ...ok fine, the Chicago area. Happy now?
Ending: Rochester, MN
Distance Traveled: 309 miles

Day 1 Goal: Get the heck out of Wisconsin and into Minnesota

Highlights:
Edwards Orchard (outside Rockford, IL) We now have apple cinnamon donuts for breakfast! I also purchased raspberry jam and peanut brittle. I know exactly why I purchased the peanut brittle, still not sure what I plan on doing with the jam.
Billboards in Wisconsin advertising water parks, tourist traps, and cheese. Because, Wisconsin.
Landing in a hotel with free wifi and a good, reasonably priced restaurant attached.

Hoping Day 2 goes as smoothly!

It's Bigger on the Inside

At least that's what I'm hoping for my car.  Packing tonight, I've had to whittle down my already "small" selection of items to take.  Compared to an entire apartment it isn't much... it's just still too much. My vehicle is not a compact,  but if it lost five pounds it could be. I've utilized space saver bags, rolled each garment into small tube-like shapes, and utilized every other packing trick I can think of. (And as a frequent business traveler, I know many.) Thankfully I still had one card to play: Mom. A mother's brutal honesty can solve any packing dilemma. And she solved most... fingers crossed it just all fits.

As for my final full day in town, it contained every emotion possible: frustration,  sadness,  anger, happiness,  panic, joy, and many, many tears. I expect to relieve all these emotions as my journey begins on Wednesday.  I just hope the tears don't interfere with the driving. 

Get ready - trip pics and stories coming very soon!

The Smell of Bleach

Thanks to the nearly six hours it took me to clean and remove the last of my items from the apartment,  I'm now wearing the distinct perfume of bleach.  It seems to follow me everywhere - like a reminder that my home is no longer my home.  That my neighbors are no longer my neighbors.  That this whole crazy dream of quitting my job and running off in my car is actually happening.  I expected to have conflicted feelings in my last days here, which I do... I just didn't expect them to smell. But I know as the odor fades I'll actually miss it, as it's the final reminder of the home I had to leave to make this crazy dream a reality.

Who expected 'eau de bleach' to be so powerful?

My Life in Boxes

I have spent the past week in a jungle of boxes, newspaper, bubble wrap, and Netflix… accompanied by the mindset of, “Why didn’t I start sooner?!” Having lived in a 782 sq ft apartment for the past 6 years, I was firm in my belief that I didn’t own a lot of ‘stuff.’ Apparently, I did. A lot of it. The trips to Goodwill seemed endless and yet the boxes continued to mount.

The plan was to put my furniture into a 10x10 storage unit, along with as many boxes as we could fit. Any ‘extra’ boxes would be stored at my parent’s home. I told the moving company I’d have 35-40 boxes total. I had 70. The plan stayed the same, but instead of storing some clothes, shoes, and a few select items in my childhood bedroom, it’s now packed full with items spilling out into the family living room. Oops.

I have to admit, the image of my furniture and personal affects being wrapped and loaded into a storage space was difficult. We all say ‘things’ don’t matter, but let’s face it – they do a little. I like how comfortable my couch is to nap on. I will miss my bed. Yes, there will be furniture where I’m going, but it’s not MINE. And for whatever reason, that makes a difference. I look forward to my adventure.  But in equal parts, I look forward to napping my couch again someday. …it’s so strange.

The Big Goodbye

First Day for Type A

Yesterday was my first day of unemployment while the rest of the country returned to work after the Labor Day weekend. The morning consisted of a rush of errands, bank visits, and a doctor’s appointment. My brain still believed I had only until 12noon to accomplish everything, because obviously I’d be returning to work that afternoon. …deep breath… So in an attempt to relax and re-program myself I spent the afternoon reading. Except that the book was a loan from my sister and something I’d need to return to her before I departed on my road trip.  “Read faster!” my brain shouted, “You’re on a deadline!” ….deep breath…  Eureka! Finally, I thought of something that allows my Type A personality to rule while I simultaneously accomplish something fun – Fantasy Football. I spent the late afternoon & early evening deep in player research and mock drafts, preparing for our league’s live draft that evening.  (Which I kicked butt in, thank you very much!)

As I was heading off to bed I realized that I had unconsciously been holding my breath all day, only really relaxing at dinner time. As much fun as it would be to contribute that to my dive into fantasy football, I know it’s not. I wouldn't normally have been working at 6:00pm yesterday, so I didn't have to feel bad about not working at 6:00pm.  I did, apparently, have a harder time dealing with that between the hours of 9 – 5. Even today, I seem to alternate between either ‘let’s do everything at once!’ and ‘screw the world, I’m on vacation!’ I wonder how long it will take me to find a healthy balance…  I wonder if I can keep myself from over-analyzing the process of finding a balance... I'm guessing not.