What I Did On My Summer Vacation, Part 1

    On June 7, 2013, my family and I drove from Iowa (where we currently live) to the coast of Maine, which we consider "home." We spent two weeks there, then my husband and sons left, and I stayed on for two more weeks before driving to Maryland to visit my sister briefly and back to Iowa to rest and regroup for two days before pushing onward to Utah, where my boys had flown to spend a month with their father. I had originally planned to spend two weeks in Utah, and from there to go on a road trip with a dear friend, but things changed and I rolled with it. I rearranged my exit strategy so that instead of heading back toward Iowa on I-80, which I've used many times to cross this country, I would go north to visit friends in Idaho and Montana, then catch I-90 for my eastern trek, allowing me to pass close enough to Mount Rushmore to visit it--cuz when would I have THAT chance again?? It is very remote!
    Well...you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men, don't you? Yeah. Pretty much Murphy's Law takes over at some point and all the planning in the world isn't going to save you from a CRAZY lightening and wind storm or that midnight run-in with a very determined deer, smack in the middle of the Sturgis Rally route (although, to be fair, I could have avoided I-90 altogether, knowing the rally was starting the day I was driving through, but who would have thought I would need a hotel just 5 hours from home??? But I get ahead of myself.)

So, that is the bare bones of how I spent my summer vacation. 

* 8 weeks and 10,000 miles (including side trips). 

* Crossing through 22 states, visiting 8; 

sleeping in 10 different states and 16 different beds/couches.

* Crossing at least 5 different mountain ranges or passes.

* Through Tahoe, the Salt Flats, Yellowstone, the Badlands,

floating in the Great Salt Lake, swimming in a river in Gold Country (CA), and the Boiling River (MT), visiting Mount Rushmore...

There are so many pieces to this great adventure, that I can only get my head around it all if I write it down.

I just hope I can remember the insights and the best parts of it all...