Day 5

Another late one. We now have the password for internet though!

Yesterday we went through Wind Cave on a tour. It was really neat. Our guide was a film major and acting minor. He kept us all laughing and entertained.

We also drove through Badlands National Park. We seemed to hit every road in the entire park and in true Zed and Sam style, most of those were dirt. His truck was no longer a sparkly blue, but now a dusted blue.

That's ok, we experienced a high plains thunderstorm. It came in fast and strong.

Funny Sign of the Day:
Naked Winery - sorry don't mean to keep with the alcohol theme, but this is what we're seeing

Day 4

Sorry this one is late, there was no internet or cell signal last night.

We spent the day driving and exploring. We were able to spend time at mount rushmore and crazy horse. We also saw a movie, dark shadows (wait for it on red box), and zed had to stop at cabela's.

Our campsite for that night and the next two nights is in custer, sd.

Shout out for today:
Rachael palmer for activating zed's gas card.

Funny sign of the day:
Red ass rhubarb winery

Side note - for those of you confused, zed's aunt and uncle's car did not get shot, it is shot...like broke and gone for good

Day 3

Today was mostly a driving day. We did have a chance to drive through a crazy mountain pass and see the Little Bighorn battle site. Due to conserving money and sleeping past 7am we did not make it up to the Billings Temple.

Tonight we've decided to stop in Alzada, Montana. We'll get on the road early tomorrow morning, pick up our concert tickets in Rapid City, SD. We'll then hang out around that area seeing different caves and Mount Rushmore.

There are no pictures or shout outs for today, but I'll be sure to put up pictures tomorrow.

Funny Sign of the Day:
Dirty Annie's Restaurant and General Store - We had lunch there. Neat little store and pretty decent food.

A Friendly Competition

If you would like to take part in a little competition, read below...

The person to most accurately guess total mileage, gas expense, and/or food expense will get a creative gift that Zed and I come up with (we're open to suggestions).

Rules:
Submissions must be in by July 20th.
You may use what is said in the blog to help you out.
Closest person to actual numbers wins, under or over does not matter.

Guidance:
We're driving a Dodge Ram 3500 diesel. Avg mpg 15
We're pulling a 40 Alpha Gold camper. Avg mpg 8
Total weight of truck and camper and stuff is 25,600lbs.
Trip includes from the Air Force Academy to Columbus, Mississippi.
3 separate competitions, you can choose which to partake in.
E-mail submissions to samzed2937@gmail.com

Good luck and have fun!

Day 2

Today was all about Yellowstone. We saw as much of the park as possible and I think we only missed one road. There were ton of buffalo out and about. The day was riddled with fun facts from Zed about things he remembered from the last time he was here or explaining to me how the area was created. All in all it was a great time and it's one more thing I can check off my bucket list. Unfortunately the camera died as Old Faithful went off so there are no pictures of that, but we did see it.

My favorite part of the day was either searching for animals throughout the drive or the Mammoth Springs. Zed enjoyed the long windy road of 296.

Tomorrow we're off to the Billings LDS Temple and probably end up camping somewhere near Rapid City, SD.

Shout outs for Today:
Tirzah Prince (cadet) for getting a hold of me and getting Tommy's camera back that he lost at graduation.

Funny Sign of the Day:
Illinois vanity license plate "WarLord"

Day 1

Yesterday was a driving day. We ended up stopping in Casper, WY in a pull off.

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but the internet is spotty here so it never went up. Sorry for the delay, a post from today is soon to come.

Today we explored Fort Casper, found Bessemer's Bend, drove by Prospect Hill, climbed Independence Rock, survived Devil's Gate, and experienced Martin's Cove. 

Fort Casper was created mostly due to Indian attacks. It was a neat little fort that Zed explored a little more than I did. At Bessemer's Bend, pioneers would cross the river in order to continue on their journey to a better life. We realized that the picture at the spot is staged and the pioneers are crossing the wrong way.

  

Prospect Hill was a thing we could see in the distance once we were atop Independence Rock. In the rock we were able to see inscriptions pioneers had left over 100 years ago. We spent the majority of our day at Martin's Cove. There we ran into people who were serving a couple's mission. One couple we met the wife was a Force Support Officer and the husband was a Pilot. They were in for 30 years and it was nice for Zed and I to see. We also got the opportunity to pull a handcart about 5 miles along the same path that the Martin Handcart Company had. It was a neat experience. 

Well, I'm off. We're sleeping in Cody, Wyoming for the next 2-3 nights. Yellowstone is tomorrow and the Billings Temple the next day.

Shout outs for today:

Pop Pop Fiddler - thank you for mailing us the concert tickets I left in my car

Funny road sign of the day:

Little PoPo Agie River

On the road!!