So, it felt like life had come full circle as we spent three days with John based out of his house, getting a chance to see him in his new job.  It was not too long ago that John was coming over to our house for lunch breaks as a high school student, and while I suppose that means we are getting older, it feels good and rewarding all the same to see connections made as teachers form into meaningful friendships.  Which segues nicely into our next destination which took place in Daniel, Wyoming.   ​

Sixteen years ago Ryan and I had left our first teaching job at the Verde Valley School to head to Malaysia and had not seen our former friends and colleagues Kevin and Amy Warren since we left.  And yet, it is reassuring in the best of ways to be able to pick up right where we left off, and the Warren’s warmly welcomed us in to their beautiful home located in the high plains of Wyoming.  As Grant and Ethan both mention in their blogs, Kevin gave them the time of their lives showing them how to be cowboys and according to Grant and Ethan, the current plan is for us to move to Wyoming and buy ourselves some horses.  ​

Each location we visit somehow is equally if not even more magical and beautiful than the last.  We thought it would be hard to beat the Badlands, however, we ended up at Wind Cave National Park also located in South Dakota and were so very impressed with this small and understated national park that we set up shop for the next three days.  What is unique about Wind Cave is that it is home to a cave that houses 144 miles of tunnels underground in the area of approximately one square mile of land above ground and is the sixth longest cave system in the world. While this cave had been revered by the Lakota for years as the birthplace of the bison, it was rediscovered by two young brothers in the late 1800's and really explored by Alvin McDonald who, with candle light alone (crazy thought) discovered the first 10 miles of the cave from 1889-1893. One interesting feature inside the cave that is quite unique to Wind Cave is known as boxwork.  A very intricate and delicate lace-like structure, 95% of boxwork found in all the caves through out the world resides in Wind Cave National Park. ​

Cave or no cave, I think the real reason we liked Wind Cave so much is that it felt like our very own personal national park.  We housed the Careyvan at Elk Mountain Camp Ground which was located in the national park and lived off the grid using our mountain bikes as our primary mode of transportation.  There were very few people and tons of wildlife and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.  In addition to earning their Junior Ranger Certificates at Wind Cave, I am confident that Ethan and Grant won the Guinness Book of World Record for longest distance of biking with no hands going both up and down hills, and some big ones at that. Plus we had great access to several other locations including a day trip to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse as well as Custer State Park. Custer State Park was truly something spectacular from the incredibly small tunnels we had to drive through to the granite spires that reach up for the sky.  Hopeful to get some climbing in, we took an exploratory hike through the Cathedral Spires with our gear and found a spot that was perfect for setting up some top ropes and getting in some amazing climbs in one of God's most beautiful additions to this earth.  From spelunking, to listening to elk buggeling under the stars, to mountain biking and local exploration, Wind Cave and the surrounding area won a very warm spot in our hearts.

While it was hard to pack up our stuff, both because we didn't want to leave and because we still really had no idea how to put everything back together, we successfully left Wind Cave and a few hours later ended up at Devil's Tower in Wyoming for the weekend.  The KOA located right outside of the park entrance had our name all over it and we (read Ryan), quickly parked the rig, and all of us jumped on our bikes and rode along the base of the tower eventually ending up at the Visitor Center.  If I haven't said it already, exploring a park by mountain bike has to be the best way to take in all the sights and sounds.  Plus it makes me feel good and justified that we just bought four completely new mountain bikes.  Three equally awesome events we experienced while at Devil's Tower were the crazy vulture tree we passed that looked like it came right out of a Halloween horror sci-fi movie, the viewing of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" that we all watched due to the lucky fact that KOA plays it every single night, true indeed, under the shadow of Devil's Tower itself, and an excursion to the town of Hulett where we highly recommend you visit Bob Coronato's very informative Rogues Gallery and Native American Museum.  ​

We didn't really our trip started until we actually used (i.e. slept in) our camper, so even though we left Deerwood on the 1st of September - as we had planned!- our first RV park was "The Wilds"  located south of Council Bluffs, Iowa on Saturday the 5th of September.

Prior to that we had wonderful, though quick, visits to the Wilhelms in Cleveland (with the Twells), Doug and Catey in Indianapolis and Aunt Eileen Barry in St. Louis.  It was great catching up with everyone and seeing the  Barry girls (Colleen, Anne and Kelly) with the full Vulin Family to boot!  Of course, we spent two nights with the Hales as we had to buy new bikes - OH, we didn't mention that we lost ALL four bikes somewhere on the NY/VT border?!?  Trooper McDaniels thought it was somewhat comical in Pattersonville, NY.  But after that 3 1/2 hour delay, we ended up at the University School's campus at, uh, 4:30AM...."Scheviti Horsin Nesin!" 

Ryan finish