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Mt. Rushmore, 2010

a travel blog by Teambobcats

Traveling to Mt. Rushmore.

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Day 1

Columbus, United States

Its is 5:00 PM the night before the big trip starts. Just picked up the RV and have it almost loaded. Debbie and Gunner posing next to our House for the next 10 days.

Leaving Columbus at 5:00 AM so we can get a head start on the traffic.

permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 11, 2010 from Columbus, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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First Stop

Iowa City, United States

First stop on our journey is in Iowa City, IA to visit the worlds largest wooden nickel. Approximate arrival time, 1:30 PM CST

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/18697


Departure time 2:00PM CST

Just to send an update, we arrived an hour ahead of schedule, we think it was because we didn't take into account of the time change. That's a good thing. We were driving down the road to the nickel and didn't have a place to park on a really busy road. Drove past and tried to find an easy place to turn around a 25ft RV with traffic lined up behind us. Dad had a little melt down as his nerves were frayed from just driving 9 hours after only 4 hours of sleep. A nearby church gave us the room we needed so everyone said a prayer for dad and on we went to the wooden nickel. Good place to park heading the other way and the sign was much closer than we had imagined. Picture posted.
Debbie's Take on the visit- to the wooden nickel was way cool, however was a little leary of the active electric fence that was surrounding the nickel, and the fact that my 12 y/o kept throwing sticks at the fence to prove to me that it "was not active"- whatever!!! No find on the geocache at this sight so Randy was a bit put out since this was the "only" Iowa cache he had input into his gps!!! Luckily, we all have our laptops with us and he was able to locate a few more before we left the state. I took the wheel of the RV from this point and away we went to our next stop!!!

permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 11, 2010 from Iowa City, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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End of Day 1

Albert Lea, United States

Debbie's Blog- so Randy is falling down on the job and I not only had to finish driving for the day but now have to write this log!! :) Anyway, we arrive [[United-States/Albert-Lea]] early at 4:45pm- (darn timezone change we forgot about - had I remembered I could've gotten one more hour of sleep this morning) and we went to visitg Farmer Pitchfork Pete
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/19562. He is a tall dude standing in front of a fleet and farm store in the middle of the town. We got some really weird stares from passerbys and customers of the store due to the fact that Randy had to put up a tripod to take a family photo in front of this attraction. The Gnome also made an appearance, and I think he needs to start his own blog. The kids were not too impressed with Pete and I am not sure if this was due to the fact that we had been in the RV for almost 12 hours at this point or if it was because he was not that thrilling.
Back on the road by 5:15pm and headed to the campground. Randy decided to inform us at this point that there were 4 geocaches in [[United-States/Albert-Lea]] that he wanted to find- he was unanimously told NO but we did relent and let him find one that was on the way to the campground. Arrived at the campgound at 5:30 to be pleasantly Surprised by G and G Utpadel, who we were not suppose to meet until tomorrow. They had come down early and set up camp and Surprise us. The campground, Hickory Hills was very nice. Off to bed to start day two of our trip. Tomorrow is packed with some more neat things to see.



permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Albert Lea, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Start of Day 2

Blue Earth, United States

Debbie's Log: After a good nights sleep in Albert Lee, we took off in the RAIN with Grandma and Grandpa Utpadel and headed to Blue Earth, MN for a stop at the Jolly Green Giant Statue. We arrived around 10:00AM. WOW this guy is tall. We took some great shots and toured the gift shop. It was a lot of fun. We detoured for a few minutes to take in the Wal Mart which was right next door to pick up a few missing items and then we were on our way to the tiny church to renew our vows!! Oops forgot my veil.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/2127



permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Blue Earth, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Smallest Church

Luverne, United States

Debbie's Log: so our Second Stop of day two brings us to Luverne, Mn to visit the Tiny Church. The rain kept falling and the longest drive of the day was entirely in the rain. I checked the radar on line and was glad to see that we were heading into the front so that by the time we reached the camp site for the evening, the rains should be gone. We ate on the road and arrived at the Tiny Church about 11:45 am. The rain was now only a mist and we were all able to sit in the church, which we filled to capacity-total capacity of 6. Gunner "officiated" G and G Utpadel's "renewal of vows" and dad "officiated" the Mandt "vows". Good stop, tiny church. Still on schedule and off to our next stop- Jesse James site


http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4456

.

permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Luverne, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Third stop, day 2

Garretson, United States


Debbie's Log: Our third stop of the day brings us to Garretson, SD around 12:30 for a visit to Devils Gulch to see where Jesse James jumped to escape capture. The rain has stopped and the sun is out. WOW what a cool site. We walked the bridge across the site Jesse James jumped on his horse to escape capture. When I saw this site in real time, I thought no way- however there was a 100 year old photo in the gift shop that showed the gulch back then- still flat and no trees- and I changed my mind to maybe/probably a true Story. The rain helped the rapids run and we were treated to a waterfall, which we were told sometimes doesn't run in the summer. Beautiful scenery and nice, but muddy trail. Found a geocache of course, thanks to Grandpa!!! Now back to the camper to clean up and off to our next stop. Still on schedule for the day, amazingly!!!

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/10645




permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Garretson, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Drawing the battle lines

Sioux Falls, United States

Debbie's Blog: Our next stop brings us to Sioux Falls, SD to see the concrete outline of the USS South Dakota. The couldn't bring to entire ship into land locked SD so the only brought some parts and then laid a concrete outline of the ship to create a memorial to the ship. We geocached, of course and I found it!! Yah for me. It was a tiny magnet on a huge radar dish. We then took a walk through the gift shop/info center. There were a lot of nice items in here. My favorite was a letter to a mom from the ships chaplain regarding her sons death and burial at sea. It really made me realize how difficult WWII times were. We are still on schedule, even with a gas stop, and now heading onto Montrose SD for a stop at the sculpture park.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10849



permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Sioux Falls, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Scultures galore

Montrose, United States

gunners blog-It was sooooooo cool to see all of those diffrent kinds of scuptures and there was this one sulpture that was made of railroad plates that was a HUGE bull head and had real (and metal) bats on the outside and alot of scary stuff inside (like the devil, snakes, eyes, and spiders). the bull it was the best stop on the whole trip and i would definately go back there again.

Debbie's Blog- so we arrived here by on schedule and what a cool unusual place. We saw the sculptures from the freeway with this huge metal Bull head on the horizon. After a scary drive down a long muddy road we arrived at the park and were greated by the artist himself. The park is self guided and beautiful. He has sculptures ranging from little fish to naked dancing women to a frog autopsy. Some extremely weird items but fascinating as well. I loved the signs along the way explaining things. It was well worth the stop and time spent here. The was the first roadside attraction the we paid an entrance fee to however with what we saw it was well worth it. Of course stopped to get a geocache on the way out, and saw a white moon over the sculpture at the entrace to the park. Had a bit of a misshap with an almost lost, and now somewhat wet phone, but finaly back on the road now by 4:30, as planned, and off to the Corn Palace and Jackalope. Here comes the rain again!!!

Watching Randy jam to Gwen Stefani!! JOY!!

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14418


Departure time 4:30 PM

permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Montrose, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Corn Palace

Mitchell, United States

Debbie's Blog: so we arrived at the famous Jackalope who no longer is a Jackalope. What do you call a Jackalope with no Antlers? A Rabbit? A Jackaless? Who knows. Anyway photo op taken, gnome got his too, and off to the corn palace. We arrived at the famous corn Palace a few minutes later and what a neat place. I had never been there before. Again photos taken, food eaten (corn on the cob, popcorn and Carmel corn of course) souveniers purchases (popcorn) and off to the next stop, camping and dinner. Oops, forgot, need to grab a geocache on the way out of town and take another photo op at a covered wagon. I will prepare dinner on the way so that the "starving" family can eat as soon as we arrive at the campsite. I think we are about 1/2 hour behind schedule but oh well, we are on vacation .

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2215

and, the famous Jackalope without any Antlers

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/4379




permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Mitchell, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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Wow, thats a big Buffalo

Oacoma, United States

Debbie's Blog: so this is actually the start of day three. We ended up spending too much time at the Corn Palace thus we did not do the Al's Oasis-Big Buffalo until the morning of June 13, 2010. We spent a cold, rainy, muddy night at the Cedar Shore Campground, which is right on the edge of the Missouri River(we didn't stay at Happy Camper's b/c we couldn't get them to answer the reservations telephone line). Nice place, but as stated above, cold, wet and muddy.

We pulled in and ate dinner with the fellow travelors in our trailer, when we discovered that the sinks in our RV are leaking, and we had a major flood. So after trying to clean that up and fix as best we could, we went to bed with no fire or smores. However Gunner did get a chance to test out the indoor heated pool at the campground and we also did manage to plan out our next day. We also got to see a few wild turkeys across the road roosting in the trees for the night and gobbling all evening long until dark.

The morning came with more rain and cold. We were out by 9 am and made our first geocache stop of the day and then onto the huge Buffalo, with two baby buffalos next to it. As we were there, another travel gnome (gNorman the gNome from MN) stopped to take his picture with the buffalo. So our gnome and gNorman had their photos taken together, swapped a few stories and headed on their respective ways. gNorman was heading the opposite direction as us. We then gassed up and are now on our way to the 1880's wild west town to do some dress up and photos- hopefully the rain will stop. Forcast says in the 30s tonight-yikes!!!

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/map/6556



permalink written by  Teambobcats on June 12, 2010 from Oacoma, United States
from the travel blog: Mt. Rushmore, 2010
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