Trip Stats:

Start Date: June 11, 2019
End Date: August 26, 2019
Days Away: 76
Miles Driven: 12,863
Miles Hiked: over 200
States Visited: 28
National Parks Visited: 22
Cities Visited: 14
Bear Count: 2
Cost of Gas: $4,323.24

Home Sweet Home

Mission Accomplished.

Another Day, Another Mile

After my short stop at Indiana Dunes, I continued on to Pittsburgh to stop for the night with Kayley and Adam. We went out for a casual dinner and had fun remembering all the inside jokes from our week together earlier in the summer. I realized we forgot one though... AND POTATOES!!!! The next morning Kayley and I went downtown for a short walk, and I left for home after we grabbed lunch. It was really hard to believe the summer was already over. Though it was bitter sweet, I felt really proud that I accomplished my dream, and really impressed that the RV made it all the way with only a few minor hiccups.

I couldn't have done this trip without the help of my parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, siblings, and friends. THANK YOU ALL for everything along the way, and thank you for coming! Every week was a whole new experience with a new group of people to share it with, and I will remember each fondly for the rest of my life. I think it will be hard to beat this summer, but I guess they say all good things come to an end. That being said, anybody want to do again...? :)

The Last Park.

After dropping Megan off at the airport in Chicago, it was time to make my way home. During the summer I discovered a new national park that was created in February 2019 called Indiana Sand Dunes National Park. Since it was pretty much on the way to Pittsburgh, I decided to stop for one last national park magnet. I went to the visitor center, and then went for a short hike along the dunes and shore of Lake Michigan. It was peaceful and pretty, and it felt weird that my trip was coming to a close. I had many hours of driving ahead, so I didn't stay too long, but at least I can say I went to the first national park, as well as the newest. 

Right Place at the Right Time

Since Chicago was about 13 driving hours from the Badlands, Megan and I took two days to get there. And yes, the drive was pretty brutal. We arrived on Megan's birthday, August 23rd, and relaxed on the shore of Lake Michigan before getting deep dish pizza for dinner. After that we went back to the RV to watch Us, a creepy thriller movie. Being in a parking lot for the night added to the thrill factor. 😨

The next day we went downtown and walked around a bit before going to the Adler Planetarium. Right as we were paying for our tickets two people handed us free vouchers that they didn't need! Pretty lucky for us! Later we took a boat taxi over to the Navy Pier, and then ate at Lawry's The Prime Rib to celebrate Megan's birthday (special thanks to our sponsors Rob and Peggy Stevenson). After dinner we went to the Riverwalk area for a few drinks before heading back to the RV for the night.

Good Times in the Badlands

At my second to last National Park, it was a little sad to realize that my trip was coming to a close. That didn't stop us from having a great time though. On our first day in Badlands National Park, we drove to many overlooks and saw some wildlife at the northwest end of the park. We also left the park to make a quick stop at Wall Drug, a gimmicky tourist trap that is basically just a collection of shops and restaurants. It's basically South of the Border in South Dakota. We also did a few short hikes and had fun sliding down the steep rocky hills because they were too steep to walk down normally.

The next day we woke up early to try and search for wildlife, but unfortunately couldn't find anything. Instead, we got an early start on some hiking trails, and were able to complete pretty much every maintained trail in the park by about 2:30 PM. I was surprised that Badlands only had those few trails, but it was nice to have a little downtime. We ended up doing a National Park puzzle that we had picked up the day before at the lodge.

The rock formations in the Badlands were so unique! I took a ton of photos so it was hard to choose what to post but check out some shots below.

Carvings in Stone

Before going to the Badlands, Megan and I stopped to see Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore on the 19th. Crazy Horse is going to be a mountain carving of a Native American chief riding a horse, and is meant to symbolize Native American heroes, much like Mount Rushmore represents American heroes. It was interesting, but we thought it was disappointing that so little was completed, given that it was started over 70 years ago. Apparently the family that is building it keeps turning down federal funding because it's their true passion to complete it on their own. At this rate it seems it'll take them another 100+ years. Inspiring, but a little crazy when you realize Mount Rushmore was built in about 14 years!

Next we stopped at Mount Rushmore. The carving was very impressive, but unfortunately some of the walkways and viewing decks were under renovation. We were able to walk to the base of the mountain though!

I Got the Horses in the Back

Since I had been wanting to try horseback riding all summer, I figured Megan would be the perfect person to go with! We drove to Rocky Mountain National Park in the morning and went riding at Jackson Stables. We got to go into the park and ride around the Moraine Park area. Unfortunately there wasn't to much wildlife to see that day. I really enjoyed the ride but my butt kinda hurt at the end. After our ride we had time to go for a hike up to Emerald Lake. It was a great short hike, and we saw a bunch of female and baby elk near the lake.

That night we were able to find some huckleberry ice cream in Estes Park, CO! It was delicious as usual. After that we arrived at the KOA campground for a late dinner, and got some rest before a long drive the next day.