We made it back to Oregon!

We did it! We are so very grateful for the opportunity to travel these past 7 1/2 months and had a WONDERFUL time. Yes, we admit we had our moments of issues, concerns, and need-to-be-apart for a bit, however, it was well worth it and as a couple the experience made us stronger. Before I finish my last statement, I'll take you through the last week of our trip from Sturgis, SD to Salem, OR.

STURGIS, SD: After we left our campsite (from last blog entry below), we stopped in Sturgis to tour the Motorcycle Museum. You all know about the yearly Sturgis Motorcycle Festival, right? And wouldn't you think this museum would be huge and amazing? Well, it was neither. The town itself is small and simple and you'd have no idea that motorcycles even drive through the area, but when we did go through the little (and I mean little) museum, the folks there were very friendly. I guess I was expecting some big, bald, heavily-tattooed dude to be working there, but the gal was a small, 70+ year old minus any signs of tattooing. We did enjoy our time there and for $5 it was worth the stop. Here are some pics of some of the cool stuff in the building.





BILLINGS, BOZEMAN, & MISSOULA, MT: It was chilly and we hit some snow when driving across the Eastern side of Montana. No problem on the roads, but they had just received about 15" of snow a few days prior. First picture is of our campsite in Billings where we were lucky to find a campsite as many out in these parts of the country close down in October. And the 2nd picture is of antelope, which were literally ALL over on the sides of the road as we drove the freeway. They are so cute and I wanted to take one home, but Matt said that we were already at our max weight for towing. Bummer. ;)



COEUR D' ALENE, ID: Before we got here, we did stay a night in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, but wasn't a very exciting stay, so no pictures of that RV resort. If you haven't been to this area of the country, you need to head out here. The lake and surrounding mountains are awesome!

MOSES LAKE, WA: Matt found an OHV Area for riding our toys and free camping in Moses Lake, Washington. We made it out there and rode the motorcycle and 4-wheeler for a couple of hours on Saturday and then a few hours on Sunday. We were actually lost out in the dunes for a while.... pretty strange for 2 people that between us own 3 GPS', but I guess you need to have them WITH YOU if you intend on them being somewhat useful! After an hour of driving in circles, we did find our way back. Matt did some sweet jumps (see pics below!) and the only "interesting" thing I did was get stuck TWICE on the slope of a dune. I panicked and ended up having Matt come down to get me as I was afraid of falling backward. By Sunday, I actually jumped the 4-wheeler (on accident of course) 3 times as neither of us wanted me to stall out anymore. Pretty funny stuff. I'm a wimp and I admit it. HA! This area is very cool for riding and if you're a rider, get out and check it out - it's well worth it.

Matt making the move to the jump...

...and up in the air...

...and WAY up in the air...

...he did it! WHOOFTA!

And here's me, the wimp, just trying to look like I'm ready to do a stunt. :) But never did one.

HOOD RIVER, OR: And our last and final stop was in Hood River, Oregon. The drive along the Columbia River is breathtaking! Steep mountains along one side of us and the wide river on the other. Beautiful! We found the Viento State Park where we camped along the river. It was only $12/night, but nice enough and with showers. We figure it's cheap because it's squished between the freeway and a railroad track. We had a really nice dinner in town that night and this little city of Hood River is adorable. Here are some pictures of our last campsite and the view we had along the way.

And that leaves us with our US Map that is stuck to the side of our camper looking like this:

We decided to be true to the camper and only include the states in which we actually had the camper with us, so North Dakota and Alaska are not included. Just think, that gives us something to strive towards!

• We are bummed that this adventure in our lives has come to an end and we both said that the time flew by. We remember the first day we left with Monica & Bryan helping us clean and pack the camper, those first times on the 4-wheeler when I was nervous to do most anything, learning to be creative with camper meals, beautiful views and the difference in campsites from "group camping" at OHV parks to desert views in Joshua Tree National Park, to mountains in Santa Fe, riding all day and getting lost on the Piute Trail in Utah without another soul in sight, our precious time spent with our friend Bailey, rafting in Moab, dodging tornadoes in Missouri and Iowa, swimming in the Lake of the Ozarks, time spent with family and friends all along the way, No Toe in Yukon, bear, caribou, buffalo, elk, eagles, seals, mountain goats, camping in farm fields in Canada, no-halibut fishing in Petersburg, finding the "log cabin of our dreams" in Haines, gorgeous ferry rides down Southeastern Alaska, and so many more memories.

• In many ways, we came home at the right time. Based on the economy and our house not being sold yet, we came back in time for us to have a few months to find jobs and not panic. We are happy to have had this chance and we definitely recommend this sort of trip to any of you that believe it's impossible. It's not. We're proof. And I'm guessing we'll probably do it again someday. There is still all of the East coast that we need to see and what better than to start thinking about it now so it will become reality in our futures.

• Thanks again to everyone who took such great care of us along the way and for those of you that kept in touch via email and on our blog. Your support and enthusiasm kept us going and it is so great to know that we have family and friends out there that were with us along the way.

Please comment on this section (just below, click on COMMENT and follow directions) and let me know if you enjoyed the blog or if we missed explaining anything. Your comments mean a lot to us and we enjoy reading and responding to all of them.

Adios and good-bye for now. Peace out. Stay in touch.

Holly & Matt

THE END

Rushmore - Caves & Fog

Here's Matt hanging out in our camper. Nice and warm in here while it's about 29 degrees outside!

Well, we did make it to Keystone, the cute little city where Mount Rushmore is located, but it was really foggy - so foggy you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you. We didn't get to see Mount Rushmore, but we had seen it 10 years ago (Matt saw it last year with Adam) and I doubt if it's changed since then. No biggie, we saved the $10 parking fee to see the "free" presidential heads.

We did however stop and tour the Rushmore Cave which was pretty cool. Here are some pictures of that - lots of stalagtites on the ceiling. I had a little bit of a tough time when we first entered the 1/2 mile walk through the cave as it was narrow. Dad, you would've hated it! I got used to it and was glad that the lights stayed on throughout the tour.

Oh, and we saw some wild turkeys on the side of the road in Keystone, too. Here they are posing for the picture.

If any of you head out here, know that Keystone is very quaint and nice. We bought some fudge as a treat and had lunch in town before heading back to our camper in Rapid City.

Weather is looking good for our drive to Sturgis. We may not make it as far as Billings, but may stay somewhere in Wyoming tomorrow night instead. More to come...

Corn & Snow

We decided to drive the northern route back to Oregon despite the scare of snow in the mountains. We took off on Friday, October 10th and made it to Lake Vermillion, South Dakota. The campsite where we called home for the evening was very nice with a spot directly on the little lake. There was a slight breeze, but overall comfortable enough for Matt to lay in the grass and relax after a long drive.





Yesterday, October 11th, we hit the road again and stopped in Mitchell to see the famous Mitchell Corn Palace. To our surprise it was parade day, so I got some pictures with both the a-maizing (clever, huh?) palace and the high school bands playing as they passed by. Matt and I had stopped to see this palace back when we moved to Utah (over 10 years ago now) but it hadn't changed a bit. Still a big building with corn stock smacked on the sides. Kind of cool. The first time I was expecting to see the building covered in kernels, however that isn't the case.



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We skipped many of the other fun attractions that South Dakota has to offer; Wall Drug, 1880 Town, Laura Ingalls Wilder's home town, World's Largest Metal Bull Head, etc. I think that South Dakota does have a lot to offer and the time flies by when watching all of the billboards speeding by as we drove I-90. We had stopped at many of those things back when so we skipped to get to Rapid City before dark.




Last night we made it to Rapid City and I did some grocery shopping. We watched "The Happening" and were quite cozy in our little camper as it rained/snowed outside. We are at the KOA and although they seem to be overpriced, they have all of the amenities of a hotel - plus $1.00 All-You-Can-Eat pancakes every morning. I'm trying to get Matt out of bed so he'll go with me this morning. Some snow on the ground, but not much and since it is sunny out now, we plan on heading South (with the pick-up only) today to see Mount Rushmore. We'll stay here another night in anticipation that the snow will stop falling in Billings, MT by tomorrow a.m. (still snowing there now and that's our next stop).



Off to Billings, Montana tomorrow. And for Matt's sake, we're stopping in Sturgis to get a tour of the Motorcycle Museum in town. More updates after that...

Our "Welcome Home" to Lower-48

Hi all!

As promised, I'm updating my blog this week although I don't have much to tell. We sort of rushed down from Canada, stopping in Jasper (where Elk were literally 10 feet from us eating out of the median in the road across from our hotel room) and some other not-so-interesting towns making our way back to good ole Minnesota. We must have looked suspicious at the Canada-North Dakota border as they searched our entire truck. For some reason they couldn't figure out how we could take off 8 months to travel the United States.... hmmmmm.... Anyway, we passed the "border test" as we weren't carrying anything illegal - whoofta! NOT a very good "welcome home"!!! An hour later we were on our way through the uneventful trip through North Dakota to Minnesota.




Matt was able to spend time with Ben for his birthday on October 2nd - HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! Other birthdays this month are - HUNTER, MELISSA, ERIC & JEANNE! Happy Happy Birthday to all of you!!!! :)


Then we drove over to Frederic, Wisconsin to pick up our trailer on Friday. I couldn't believe how happy I was to see it again. I had missed it. We spent one night at Uncle Larry's. Thanks again to Larry, Elvis, Bandit, and Lucy for taking such good care of our little home. We appreciate you letting it sit there, even though you say it was easy to babysit, you still had to mow around it, so you'll have to admit it perhaps made your lawn work more tedious.



On Saturday, Matt changed a bald tire on the trailer. Here is a bit of how it's done so you'll be able to do it if need be. Remember, it's a good thing I had little to do with this entire process (Refer to my notes next to pictures as they are not even close to accurate). Thanks to Matt and his extensive training in malehood as he easily accomplished this chore in less than 30 minutes.


Step 1: Lift back wheel with wood. Take "t"-looking thingy and take off front wheel (bald one).



Step 2: Rolly-roll off tire that is busted.


Step 3: Admire the fact that you were able to do it up to this point.


Step 4: Put on new tire. Fasten bolt things (righty tighty, lefty loosy) so tire doesn't fall off. You did it!



We then drove out to Birchwood to spend time with the Schultze's. It was a nice relaxing evening. On Sunday, I went back to Minnesota with Shelia and Harry and Matt stayed back to do some fishing with Ben.





I was lucky enough to be able to spend time with my Grandpa Earle, Aunt Judy, Carol, and Dad on Sunday night. We all played some wicked games of poker and although I lost about $2.00 I learned how to play about 10 different poker games and had a hilariously enjoyable time. It took me a few hands to figure out that even though you may have 7 cards, only 5 count, so my 3 pairs was worth a big whoppin' nothin'. Gramps and Judy were in town as they are road-tripping it back to Arizona/California this week. Safe travels to both of you!



Matt will be in Birchwood with Ben until tomorrow. Today he had to fix another flat tire on the trailer as it seems we picked up a nail or something, but got that done today. He'll be in Maple Grove tomorrow sometime and we'll stay another day or two and then start heading back to Oregon. Not sure the route we'll be taking yet so make sure to check the blog for updates!