Cross-Country in Two Weeks. One Heck Of A Car Ride...The Badlands, Notre Dame, Mt Rushmore & More!
- Sep 8, 2022
- 6 min read
From Hamden, CT to Idaho Falls ID in thirteen days and 3500 miles. It was a fun and adventurous journey but we were very-very happy to get back to our RV. Yes, home is in CT but we feel our RV is our home away from home.
Our first stop in our car ride was to Streetsboro, OH which is about thirty minutes east of Cleveland. The only reason we picked this spot was because, on our first day of travel we bit off an eight hour drive so that's where we landed.
We've been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame once before and we want to go back but not this time. The next morning, on our way to Mishawaka, IN, we stopped at the RV/MH (Mobil Home) Hall of Fame & Museum. One of Brad's Cheltenham, Pa neighbors and old friends recommended it. Thank you Jon Berman! It was neat!
The primary reason we stopped here was to visit Notre Dame University. The afternoon we visited it was Freshman move-in day. So the entire incoming freshman class, their parents, upperclass students, and professionals were there working to help orchestrate the day. It was a cool vibe. First we hit the Grotto, then the Basilica, their campus church, the bookstore, the Arena they play basketball in, and and the football stadium. Yes, we got a couple t-shirts at the ND store. Here was the goof of our visit... We saw all these people filing into the Joyce Center ( The Arena) so we decided to follow them in. They were just starting a mass honoring all the freshman and their parents.
We got stuck and stayed the hour. They even said the Jews could come get communion. They said use your arms to form a cross on your chest and the minister will bless you. We didn’t go up for communion but that was cool! After that we did an outside tour of the football stadium.
They honored legendary football coaches Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, Lou Holt and a couple others by naming a section of the stadium after them. Plus, the complex is garnered with statues of them too. A truly magnificent history.
Our next stop was a six hour drive to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Our bike cover got windblown and got badly torn but nothing some guerrilla tape couldn’t fix. The day after we arrived we took a bike ride on the Cedar River Bike Trail. It was one of the lamest bike trails we have taken. Construction hampered our every turn. When we did get an opportunity to not be obstructed it was darn ugly! Factories, railroad tracks, and a seedy downtown. It wasn’t good!
We took in a respectable lunch at Tornadoes then we went to the Czech & Slovak Museum. The most memorable part of our visit was the story about them raising the museum 30 feet higher. The engineering and architectural feat was truly incredible and it was shown in movie form which was very compelling. There was a flood in 2008 that ruined the place but by 2011 it was raised and reopened. It featured four exhibits, one of legendary Bears football coach George Halas, a second about Japanese-American prejudice, a third about amazing Czech and Slovak athletes, and lastly, one about local history and customs. We dug it!
The Czech village was a hop-skip and a jump from the museum and it was two blocks long. We didn’t get out of the car. Surprisingly though, good pizza at "Need Pizza" a better part of the downtown for dinner. Brad promises it will be the last time he orders a pie with onions, hot oil, and garlic. The next day he paid the price…and so did Kathy.
Here’s a sidebar of our Cedar Rapid stay. Some dude tried to steal our bikes. It wasn’t happening. They were locked four different ways. Nobody could get through all four locking devices, Ever! This dumb-ass was chased away by a hotel worker then the jerk came back with bolt cutters and was chased away by another hotel guest. That guest told Brad that morning and there was evidence of the caught-in-the-act robbery/ burglary left behind. The rest of the trip we keep the same locking mechanisms in place but also covered the bikes as an added precaution.
We’re biting off big chunks of America at a time. Our next six hour drive landed us in Sioux Falls, ID. Back to Idaho, which as a state, we have enjoyed ten times more than we ever thought we would. Falls Park is the home of Sioux Falls actual falls and they were delightful. They were sprawling, unique, pretty and the Quartzite rock bountiful. When we took the tower to get a heightened look of the falls we got into a conversation with a local guy with his sheathed belted knife and kid. We asked him if he knew what the construction was and he said” a hotel or condominiums...in between the pig slaughtering factory”. There was a Smithfield meat packing factory right behind us.
We took an excellent 19 mile bike ride on the Sioux Falls Bike Trail Loop. It was well maintained and featured more than a handful of well- manicured parks, an airport, waterfalls, riverview’s and an orchard.
That night, the day before Brad’s birthday we went to an outstanding restaurant called Chef Lance’s on Philips. Brad had salmon Wellington and Kathy had Chicken Oscar with lobster. Whoa, it Rocked! We also went on hiatus on our no-drinking for a month oath and had a bottle of wine. It was beautiful!
Next up was the Badlands and Wall, South Dakota. We must have seen at least 50 billboards for on our way there advertising. No, not the Badlands but for Wall! Evidently, this entrepreneurial couple built this old-school western styled town in Wall and they owned all the stores, souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, gas stations and other businesses in town. It was cool, quaint and very well done. We dug it! We shopped and ate there a couple times.
The Badlands were bad-ass! Pretty soon after we entered the park we saw bison and Longhorn sheep. It was a gteat start to a great day!
We were there all day. It Rocked! Literally, there was a lot of rock. There were too many people taking pictures at the entrance so we took one when we were leaving. Look close at that second picture. And pretend we were just coming. There is a longhorn sheep on the ridge bottom middle picture. And check out the picture of the two guys out on the cliff. When they came back, Kathy said to them, "since you were stupid enough to do that, do you want your picture?" So she airdropped it to them.
We spent nine hours in the Badlands and saw everything we wanted to see, so the next day we went to Mt. Rushmore. Originally we were going to do a day trip to Mt Rushmore as we headed to Yellowstone. So instead, we decided to take the hour drive and 15 minute drive to see Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Truman on its own. We arrived around 5PM so we could see the landmark in the day and at nighttime. It worked out beautifully! The only exception was a horrible National Park dinner. Hey, you can't have everything.
Besides the sense of nationalism that ricochets off the mountaintop the monument and it's surrounding areas were splendid. They have a beautiful entrance to the monument with every state flag represented. There are trails around the monument so you can catch it at every angel. Plus, there is a wonderful ampitheater at the base of the statue. When we first arrived, a chorus was singing a montague of military hymns. It was beautiful. See for yourself...below
At the end of the memorial lighting ceremony they called up all the veterans to the stage. To honor them, they had them perform the the flag lowering and folding ceremony and then we all sang the national anthem. It was awesome! Brad and his patriotic ass cried during the national anthem. The statue behind the amphitheater, the anthem, the veterans, it was all too much!
We're going to drop our Yellowstone blog next. It Rocked! Literally again but it was more diversified then The Badlands and it took us three days to do. 500+ pictures later...we'll edit them down for you. Thanks for reading down this far and thank you for following our journey. Peace and Love, Kathy and Brad
No memorial to Rudy at Notre Dame? Who knew there was a museum dedicated to RVs and another one to Czechs and Slovaks. Both sound interesting to me.
I loved all the pics, thanks!!! I’ve heard from many how awesome the Badlands are and your incredible pics of Mt Rushmore made me want to visit even more.
Loved all the pics and vids.!!!