Chicago to N. Idaho

Finally we are taking our trip out west. Omaha will be our first stop for the night as we are visiting Kim's parents and family to celebrate the life of Jolynn, Kim's sister who passed away. We will stay a few days with her fantastic family and friends.

Our stay was very uplifting and we leave Omaha somehow knowing Jolynn is with us.

 We then headed due west to our friend's ranch in central NE.

Our friends have a few hundred acres. We took a drive around to see the landscape . They are fantastic friends and their ranch opens up my eyes as to how beautiful Nebraska can be !

It was hotter than hell in Nebraska, making me wonder "what was I thinking , removing the a/c in Jesse!"

The visit with fantastic friends was really great time spent.

We had a great dinner with all of them and camped in their driveway.

The next morning we head NW into the sandhills of northern Nebraska.

                                                      Valentine National Wildlife Refuge

Scott's Bluff and Chimney Rock are two geological sights in the area, letting you know the Rockies can't be far away.

We stop and set up camp in Chadron State Park, the town my Father-In-law spent his adolescence . A cool area on the edge of the Black Hills. Buttes and high ridges compliment the landscape. .

A huge fire years ago destroyed the surrounding forest of the park.

Buttes in the area.

We break camp quickly and head west into the town of Chadron. We visit Kim's grandmothers old home and visit their tombstone. We pay our respects and decide to head north on Hwy 2. We are into South Dakota. I really love this area. Maybe because the temperatures tend to drop as you rise in elevation, or maybe because it's the incredible beauty of the area and the immense work and art involved in creating Mt.Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

      Our heads are too big too fit 

This areas is rather congested , so we spend a few hours and head north into North Dakota. The landscape is covered in Goldenrod, a subtle beauty here.

Pactola Lake, S.D.

We have not spent much time at all in North Dakota. We are hoping to camp in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A place where he retreated after the loss of his first wife and mother in the late 1800's and rekindled his love of the outdoors. This eventually led to his creating the National Park system. Thanks Teddy !

As we arrive in the area we detect a pungent odor and smog in the air. We decide to keep driving north and check out Williston. While traveling north , we notice an enormous amount of traffic, mostly trucks. I then realize we are in a major fracking area. We pass several "man camps". We hit a huge traffic jam in Williston. Needless to say, we got the hell out of there. The smog and congestion are not what we are interested in enduring. We point Jesse due west into Montana. The environment changes drastically, back to sheer beauty.

Montana is obviously an enormous state. We pull into a small campsite for the night in eastern MT in order to make Glacier by afternoon.

There they are...the Rockies !!

                                           GLACIER !!

No words can describe the magnitude of the beauty here in Glacier National Park. So I'll let the images speak for themselves.

 Well one of dogs, MacGregor, has become very ill. He won't eat, and hasn't for days. We are cutting our stay short in Glacier to seek medical help for our little buddy.

We follow the Clark Fork river back to our home hoping and praying Mac is okay.

We pull into our driveway and Mac starts to bark and wag his tail...he hasn't done that in days. He then proceeds to eat a full meal and all is well....homesick ? Anyway, the great news is MacGregor is just fine and we are as well. Time to clean Jesse and ponder where to wander next !