New Family Additions

We have already put more miles on the van since we got home last week. Last weekend we went on the search for a new 5th wheel. After more than 15,000 miles on the Puma, we have a better idea of what we want and need-plus we are just really spoiled! We looked at so many I lost count and they all started to run together. We went to see mom and dad in Cross Plains, and we went to Fun Time RV in Cleburne. This place is huge-they have just about anything you could want. We had a fun day with mom and dad tagging along. We even managed a free lunch at the dealers. They do this every Saturday. We found what we thought was the best they had to offer, and had one other in mind at another dealer. We came home yesterday and brought the new puppy with us. Betty Cocker is our new addition to the family. Right now she is playing with Cleo- or tormenting Cleo- I am not too sure what is going on. She will keep Cleo young I guess. Cleo has to get her teeth cleaned tomorrow-I can't believe I am having a dog's teeth cleaned, but apparently hers are in bad shape and it is necessary.

Back to the trailer saga. We took Serena to the ENT today (no news there--just see how the fall goes), then we drove 2 hours the other direction to go back and look at another trailer. Until we looked at it again I was all ready to get it. Seeing it I realized it just did not have enough inside storage, and I would not be happy with it for the long run. Now we are trying to figure out the logistics of getting the one we want. I am worn out! I am also trying to finish the new Harry Potter book without reading ahead to the ending. I don't know how long I will hold out!

Last Friday was our two year Gotcha Day Anniversary. It is hard to believe because it seems like our family has always been like it is.We ate Chinese food at lunch to celebrate together.

Serena was not too happy to have her picture taken.

Hopefully our new "second home".

Keegan and BettyLiu Cocker - Our newest family addition. Coley says he is still ambivalent about her.

I was outside 5 minutes with the puppy, and I came back in to find the kids dressed up. This was all their daddy's doings.

Final Thoughts on the Trip

4,600 + miles, 7 campgrounds, too many viewings of Tom and Jerry to Count, and many priceless memories to carry with us.
I think we have all recovered from the trip. I finally woke Keegan up at 11:30 this morning, so he may still be catching up! The laundry is done-of course, it seems to magically pile up again right away. We have had so many people look at us like we were crazy for taking our kids that far in a car. I guess Coley and I did not even think twice about it for several reasons-
1. We did 2 long trips last summer
2. Coley spent many, many summers, etc... on the road with his family going to rodeos, and they did not even have dvd players for the car!
3. My parents never hesitated to throw all 3 of us in the car and take off driving.
4. Maybe we are a little crazy- we all love to go and do!

I know people who have left their kids to take 2 week trips to Italy, Hawaii, Europe, etc...., but the way we get to experience things through the eyes of the kids is priceless. Hearing Keeg say "awesome" when he saw some amazing site was a thrill. Of course Serena won't remember much, but she is a trooper,and why should we stay home just because she is so young? We had a fabulous time, and now we are starting to think about our next adventure.
Coley officially goes back to work on Tuesday. We take Serena to the ENT on Monday, and we have to pick up the newest Dobbs addition sometime this weekend- Betty, the Cocker Spaniel, has been staying with her grandparents at the farm. She is out of Shay's last litter of puppies. Coley says I am insane, but I am sure he will come around. Keeg is very excited. I just hope Cleo is nice to the puppy. I go back to work on Aug. 13. In the meantime we have coaching school, a trip to the farm, and a few more weeks of being lazy!
Oh, Keegan did bring one thing home with him that we weren't planning on. He scraped his knew up pretty good in the parking lot of the Rocky Mountain National Park Visitors Center a couple of weeks ago. We kept it covered and doctored, but of course he managed to fall on the same knee a couple of more times. It started to look funky, and we took him into the doctor on Tuesday. He has a staph infection, which the doctor is pretty sure is impetigo. Lovely-the meds seem to be working thank goodness since it had started to spread to other areas. Kids-if it is not one thing, it is something else.

Pictures from The Black Hills

The pics are out of order a bit, but here they are.





Serena feeling the wind blow out of wind cave. This is the only natural opening, and the first explorers of this cave lowered themselves down this small hole. It was discovered when 2 guys were hunting and felt the wind coming out of this hole.

Can you tell how willing Serena is to be carried?

The decent. It was a tad disconcerting. It was not a big massive opening like Carlsbad.

Crazy Horse from the road. We were too cheap to pay the expensive fee to get closer.

Not too often you find a campsite like this. It was a little tough to get in and out of with the trees.

Self portrait Coley and Keeg did when they took a short "nature walk" in the Badlands. I waited in the car because Serena was asleep.

Badlands view. Pretty in their own desolate sort of way.

Badlands buffalo. We stopped and watched him, and he walked right up to the truck. We took off after this shot because he did not look too thrilled with us being there.

Needles highway- can you tell where the road goes?

We had to pull the mirrors in on the truck to go through this one.



Keeg petting the baby alligator at Reptile Gardens.

Future jet pilot?




Coley could not resist this picture. There are rednecks in South Dakota!

Wall Drug


Jackalopes are a big thing at Wall Drug-guess middle of nowhere South Dakota has something in common with Odessa Texas.

The End of The Trail

Ok, now we are back home with decent internet. I have been scolded for the lack of posts and pictures. Needless to say the Black Hills are really mountains, and that along with trees wrecks havoc with cell service and wifi! We really had a good time. I will give a quick rundown of what we did the rest of the week and add pics.
Thursday- We took the kids to Reptile Gardens outside of Rapid City. It sounded pretty cheesy, but we were pleasantly surprised-who would have thought someone would have a large reptile collection in the middle of nowhere. Keegan loved the snakes, alligators and crocodiles. It was really well run. Then, after lunch, we went out to the South Dakota Air and Space museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Ellsworth is the other base where B'1 bombers are based (just like Abilene). They had a neat collection of planes and an exhibit on the minuteman missle. We did not get to see a missle silo, but it was odd thinking that they had been there across the plains. We also visited the Rapid City WalMart. It may be the busiest Walmart I have ever been in. It was wild. Of course it is the only one for many miles. South Dakota is a little sparse in places. The Sonic has been open for 2 months, and they have people directing traffic because they are so busy. It is pretty funny. If you don't ask for extra ice, they don't give you much at all. Coley says it is a cultural difference.
On Friday we drove out to the Badlands. They are definitely bad. It was hot! We also went through Wall on the way and stopped at the famous Wall Drugstore. We had buffalo burgers and bought donuts. They were yummy and we ate our way through the Badlands. Wall drug was famous because it offered free ice water to the people traveling through on the highway. It opened back in the 30's. It is a giant tourist trap now, but pretty neat.
Saturday we drove through Custer State Park on this road called the Needles highway. The road wound through many rock formations, and there was one tunnel that was just over 8 feet wide. It was pretty. We also drove the wildlife loop-Custer is supposed to have a large herd of Bison, but all we saw were pronghorn and deer. We went down to Wind Cave and took a cave tour. Out mistake here was that Serena was hungry and tired, but off we went. You have to take guided tours. It is not like Carlsbad. The path is narrow and I had to duck down in spots. We went down between 300-400 steps. It was cool. Serena was not so thrilled. Coley and I took turns fighting her. She wanted to walk by herself but it just was not safe. She wanted out! It was really interesting, but I decided I was not meant to be a spelunker.

We had a great trip. Keegan horrified the people camping next to us from Minnesota one night. They were talking about putting out the fire, and one of their little boys asked how they would do that. Keegan, being the redneck that he is, said you pee on it. The other little boy thought that would be cool, and said really? His mom said that is not appropriate. I was not there, but Coley said he had to work not to laugh.

We left Hill City, South Dakota at 6:45 Sunday morning, and pulled into our driveway at 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning. We weren't planning on driving all the way in, but when we got to Dumas and realized we were only 5 hours from home, we thought why stop now when we could be home. The kids were wonderful in the car all day (it was scary!), and they went to sleep. I felt jetlagged all day yesterday, but we are home! Serena has pulled all of her toys out to check them all out. The dogs are happy to see us, and the trailer is unloaded. Now I just have to go out and clean it so we can put it up until the next trip.We might see about trading it in for something more durable. It has about 15,000 miles on it, and it does not seem to wear well at long distances. I will do a seperate post with just pics from the last few days.

Trains and Presidents

Keeg was very excited to ride the train

Mount Rushmore- It looks different from different angles.

I need to turn this one. For now, just turn you head-you can tell the kids are getting tired of pictures.

This is just like a pic that Coley and Quail took in this spot years ago.

Notice Serena on her leash-we got plenty of odd looks.

We had a very busy day! I heard the heater come on last night, and it was a bit chilly when we got out and about. We rode the 1880’s train this morning. We were supposed to leave the station at 10 a.m., and be pulled by a steam engine from Hill City to Keystone. We left on time, but the first big hill right outside of the station has a 6% grade. We started up it, then stopped.Next thing we know, the engineer is backing the train down the hill to take another run at the hill. He could not get enough power to get up it. He did this twice, and it was not working. Each time he started to back up, it was rough and jerked the train. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We finally backed all the way back to the station and changed to the diesel engine. The conductor told us that this was only the 2nd time this had happened that he knew of. I guess they had some maintenance problems. That put us about 30 minutes behind schedule. It took about an hour each way with a quick 15 minute stop in between. Of course both kids had to go to the bathroom, so I got off the train with them and we ran to the bathroom and back. I think we may have been the last ones back on the train.
After a quick lunch at the trailer, we headed to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty neat. It is amazing that they made such a detailed sculpture on such a massive scale. Of course we took the scenic trail along the base of the sculpture so we could view the faces from many different angles. This involved many steps up and down, but it did give some great views. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with ice cream at the Mt Rushmore ice cream shop-everything is commercialized! Coley was here when he was about 15, and he said it has changed a lot. We also drove into Rapid City to look for a WalMart ( which we did not find), but we found a Sonic instead. We ate pizza from the campground store, and the kids ran and ran at the playground. They are fighting sleep at the moment. I tried to get a faster connection tonight at the office, but it did not work. Pictures will have to come when we can find a better connection. We are not sure what we are doing tomorrow. There is not telling what trouble we will get into!

South Dakota-Last Stop on the Western Trail

Greetings from South Dakota. It is very scenic here in the Black Hills. We got up bright and early this morning ( Have I said that the sun comes up around here about 5?). We were up about 7:30, and it was chilly! We headed up to Devil’s Tower about 9, and that is quite a popular spot in the morning. We did the 1.3 mile hike around the base, and it was really pretty. It was nice to walk and not sweat to death for once. Keegan made a friend of the little girl that was with the family walking behind us. By the time we got to the end he was walking hand in hand with her. Serena got jealous and wanted to hold his other hand! It was about a 2 hour drive to our new place near Hill City South Dakota. It is a really nice campground. There are lots of trees, and the sites are spaced out. The trees and location did cause a few problems when we were backing the trailer in, but it is all set now. The kids have space to play and more than enough pine cones to stack up. I thought of my grandfather tonight because we roasted hot dogs and had somemores. Serena loved the marshmallows and chocolate. Tomorrow we are going to ride the train that runs through the Black Hills. It is supposed to get down to 38 tonight and only be about 68 tomorrow-it might be a chilly ride. I can’t believe this is July weather- they said that we had an Alberta Clipper come through last night, and that has caused the cool off. I guess that is why we almost blew away last night at the other campground. They said the winds got up to 60-70 mph.
We must also go see Mount Rushmore tomorrow. We will be here through Saturday, so we are making a list of what to do over the next 4 days. I had no idea this area was so pretty. We get very low speed wifi since we are a long way off from the office, so pics may be few and far between. We do actually get cell service which is an improvement.
We have seen lots more people camping in tents than we ever have before. Something else we have discovered since becoming the RVers that we are(ha) is that most campgrounds also have “camping cabins” for rent. These are cheaper than hotels and would be a good option if you were traveling and trying to do it on a budget. I am tired and losing my train of thought, so more later.

Devil's Tower- really more impressive than I thought it would be.

Serena was too busy climbing the rocks to join us for this family self portrait.

Keegan and his women that he picked up on the trail. We ran into her at our next campground, and she was not sure who he was at first. He jumped out of the truck to follow her. Not sure what they were looking at.

Our first campfire.

Yellowstone-Day 2

Lots of stuff has happened since I last posted-of course I don't know if anyone is even looking since I don't have any comments! We are in the middle of nowhere Wyoming where we don't have cell service, but the wifi connection rocks!

Today is our 7 year wedding anniversary. I know couples that go on fancy trips alone on their anniversaries, but I don't think that will ever be us. Last year we were in Branson, and this year we spent it on the road and at a KOA sitting side by side on the couch with our laptops booted up!

On Saturday we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. It is a fabulous museum. We spent several hours in there. There are 5 different museums- guns, western Art, Native American, Buffalo Bill/Western, and Natural History. We decided it was one of the better ones we have seen. We made it back to the campground in time to actually cook supper.

Yesterday we went for Day 2 at Yellowstone- we are marathon tourists. We left the trailer at 7 a.m., and pulled back in around 10 p.m. We managed to see a grizzly bear, a black bear, 2 bald eagles, numerous elk and buffalo, a coyote, a wolf ( ran in front of the truck), a mama moose and baby, and various other animals. The kids were very good, and they had a great time. Serena was worn out and took 2 long naps. We did walk 600 feet down a mountain on a winding trail to see the waterfalls at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Keegan walked the entire way, Serena did not. It was a magnificient sight to see, but the walk back up about did me in! We saw just about every thing in the park that one could want to see. We even drove into Montana from the northwestern most part of the park and got Subway for a picnic! I was not sure what I thought of the Yellowstone area when we first drove in the other day. The park covers such a large area that the landscape changes depending on where you are. It is a very interesting place with all of the geothermal changes going on, and the wildlife watching is great. I think this is someplace that we would like to come back to and stay in the park at the one campgroung that has full hookups. It is funny that after so many years of being a Girl Scout, I have no desire to do tent camping on any level! Keegan said his favorite part of Yellowstone was the geysers and seeing the animals. He took it all in.

Today we slept in until 7:30, and left Wapiti about 9 to travel to Devil's Tower. We had a nice drive, and got here about 5. We had to travel over the Big Horn Mountains, and it was beautiful. In Wyoming if you don't like the scenery, drive about 20 miles, and it will change. We went from landscape that looked like Pecos today to rolling plains, to high mountains, to the Black Hills. Devil's Tower is pretty cool looking. Our campground is nice. The kids played on the playground and went swimming. I did loads of laundry-I do miss my washer. At the last campground we were parked between 2 large bus motorhomes-Keegan told us again this morning that he sure did like those. We were feeling a bit inferior in the Puma. Tonight there is a suburban across from us that pulled into a full hookup spot. They rolled down the back window and put a window unit in it. Then they pulled their microwave out and plugged it in to the electricity with an extension cord. I told Coley he has to take a picture of it before we left. It is the wildest thing I have ever seen. Tomorrow we are going to run up to Devil's Tower before we pull out of here. Then we are headed to South Dakota to the Black Hills. I just checked the weather, and it is supposed to be in the low 70's all week. That will be nice. We are hoping to find the Sonic in Rapid City because we are having withdrawals-we have not had a Sonic coke since Cheyenne. We are having a great time. I think it does us good to be forced in to close contact with each other. The wind is gusting here, so it is just like home. I don't know if we will have any wifi in South Dakota but another update will follow asap.

Not sure what Keeg is doing to the Moose.

Family portrait in front of the tee pee in the Native American museum.

View from our camp spot-not too shabby.

Serena showing daddy how she holds her nose in the National Park campgrounds. She discovered pit toilets-right up there with squatty pottys!

Herd of bison along the Yellowstone River

This looks like something off of a postcard. This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone looking back to the lower falls - the ones we walked down to.

The waterfall-beautiful view, but a little freaky leaning against a rusting chain link fence and looking down at this.

Mud volcanoes- very cool. Serena did not like the sulfur smell

Black bear

End of the day family shot - notice Coley's new "Park Hat" that he bought. He has promised to wear it during two a days.

Yellowstone Pics- Day 1

One of the many geothermal features we saw.

Yellowstone river Valley - we saw a herd of buffalo here.

Serena was tired!


Lots of dead trees at Yellowstone.

Look close and you can see the bear.

Keegan and Old Faithful.

Our obligatory self portrait at the Firehole River.

Lots of Buffalo!

Fireworks, Bears, and Geysers in the Old West

Pics may be a little random since we are borrowing internet and I am trying to hurry. This was some of the scenic "scenery" from Cheyenne to Cody.



I am going to try writing this post in Word and cutting and pasting it when we find reliable wifi to “borrow”. At the moment I am sitting in Wapiti Valley, which is between Cody, Wyoming and Yellowstone. We spent the 4th in Cheyenne just messing around. We went to the mall, the Depot Museum, and just killed time. A big cloud came in about 6 pm, but it slid around Cheyenne, and we went and saw the fireworks at Frontier Park that night. It was a wonderful show. We were in the parking lot and could hear the patriotic music that they were playing inside the arena. It was tough getting out of there, and we all got to bed pretty late.
We woke up early on Thursday morning so we could be at Fat Boys Tire by 7:30 to get our new trailer tires (just a minor purchase-not!). Dennis does a lot of business there and had recommended them. They got started on us before 7:30, and we were finished and out of there in about an hour. It was a long drive through country that was very different. One minute it would be green and pretty, the next it was absolutely desolate. We took a side trip to Guerney where you can still see the wagon tracks in the prairie from the Oregon Trail. That was really neat- we are such nerds. After a stop at the Cody Walmart for supplies, we made it to the campground about 7:30. We are in a nice spot at the back so we are not crammed in. It is ok. The wifi obviously is not working. I could go sit at the office, but they have not been the friendliest. We have been able to piggyback on someone’s Lynxys, but it cuts on and off.
Yesterday we spent the entire day at Yellowstone. We left about 8:30 and got back about 9:15. We went in the East Gate, and they are doing a bit of road construction. My first thoughts were that this does not look like what I expected. Many of the trees along the lower loop have either been killed or burned. We drove past vast sections of forest that have been burned. The regrowth is in various stages. Lake Yellowstone is beautiful. I had no idea it was so large. Keegan was asking when we were going to see some animals because all he saw was trees and grass, trees and grass. Soon afterwards we saw our first of many bison (or buffalo-we are not sure if there is a difference), and we saw a Grizzly Bear. It is easy to spot the wildlife-you only have to look for the mass of tourists stopped on the road acting silly-running towards the animals, running out in front of cars, etc… We did see lots of buffalo, a deer of some sort, lots of different birds, and the one bear. The Geothermal features were really cool. Serena just said wow a lot, but Keeg took it all in. He kept asking when we were getting to “Faithful”. We saw Old Faithful erupt, then took the Geyser “nature trail”. We all got sunburned on that one. It was hot! We were also lucky enough to see the Beehive Geyser erupt. After that we had to find the car. There were people everywhere, but it was not unbearable. We did lots of walking and saw lots of nature. The kids both took naps in the car. Keegan walked everywhere we did, and he was worn out. Serena did the stroller thing a lot. We did put her on the “leash” the one time she walked. We could just see her jumping into a boiling hot pool of water. We came out on the side of the Yellowstone River Valley, and that was more what I had expected Yellowstone to look like. That is where you saw herds of bison, and people sitting at the meadows waiting to see wildlife. It was later in the evening when we came through there. It was pretty country. It was sort of wild thinking about how we were actually in a caldera. The you would read the signs about how every once in awhile a geyser that had not had any activity in years would just erupt. You just had to hope it would not do it while you were standing there staring down into it.
Today we are taking a break. We slept a little later and are taking our time getting up and going. We are going to go into Cody to the Buffalo Bill Western Center and Walmart( of course it is nicer than ours). Tomorrow we will hit the other loop at Yellowstone. We are going to try to get up and out of here early to catch the wildlife in the morning. The kids were so good yesterday. Keegan loved it, and Serena was a trooper. I will have fun trying to get the black dirt out of their socks!
Monday morning we will head out towards South Dakota by way of Devil’s Tower. I will try to post pics either here on from Cody today.
Stay tuned for pics from Cody-it did not work from here.
Kids playing at Depot Museum in Cheyenne.

Fireworks in Cheyenne-It was chilly! 2 of our new tires- aren't they lovely?