DAY 4 - Mitchell, SD to CONCORDIA, Missouri, 781 KM

Today we got underway at 0830. We had a thunderstorm during the night but the morning was cool and cloudy. After a breakfast of nice big waffles at Perkins, we hit the pavement of the I-90 by 0930, headed east.

By noon, it had turned sunny and quite warm by the time we stopped for lunch at Riverside Golf Club, beside the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa. It is a beautiful spot with the grass and trees of the golf course on the one side and the impressive sky-line of Omaha, Nebraska on the other, just across the river.

We noticed, How could we not?, that the trees seemed to be singing. Our waitress explained that it was katydids, which I have always known as "cicadas". We were later to discover that they were to be our constant companions for the following several days and states, wherever there were trees.

Stopped at Concordia at 1900 and it was still hot outside. We are really beginning to appreciate the air conditioning in the car. By 2100, or for those who don’t quite get the 24 hour clock, 9 PM, it was still hot and muggy outside.

Day 3 - Whitewood, SD to Mitchell, SD, 611 km

Well today was more exciting, but we didn't go the distance that we have on the first two days.

We woke up to cool damp weather, that seems to be normal, I think. Anyway we set of for Mt. Rushmore, stopping en route at a quaint restaurant, a former powder keg formerly used for storing black powder, dynamite and bootleg liquor. Had a nice breakfast there, then on to Mt. Rushmore.

The carvings of the four presidents are truly amazing and I got some pretty good shots of them. I won't post them now because, as usual, I am doing this far too late in the evening.

The whole area around there is full of interesting things to see and do. We hope to be able to return some day.

The nearest town to Mt. Rushmore is Rapid City, a nice looking place, but I hate to admit, Diane & I got lost 3 times trying to get back onto the I-90 east bound. By this time, the sun had come out so we got some serious tanning done driving down the highway.

One interesting note about the Interstates, the speed limit in most places is 75 MPH, or almost 120 km/hr. I love it.

So tomorrow we pick up the I-29 south at Sioux Falls for Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.

Day 2 - Missoula, Mont. to Whitewater, South Dakota

Today was another good, albeit, uneventful day, if you don't count the jerk who passed us at over 120 km/hr and almost sideswiped us while doing so. After a good pancake breakfast at our hotel in Missoula, we got away at around 9 AM for today's adventure.

The day started off just like yesterday with showers and cool temperatures, but by noon, we were in Big Timber, Wymoming and lo and behold, the sun came out and it was warm so the top finally came down on the car. Hey, what's a convertable for anyway?

The scenery along the way was beautiful. I kept expecting to see John Wayne come charging down one of the hillsides on horseback.

We are now near Whitewater, SD, not far from Mt. Rushmore and the famous larger than life sculptures of 4 American presidents. We will take some time out from driving tomorrow to see this wonder and then carry on with our trip to Tennessee.

We did 1087 kilomerters today and may have got sunburns to boot.

I have taken some photos and hope to post some of them soon.

Day 1 Surrey to Missoula, Montanna

So the big adventure has finally started. Our cat is safely esconced at the Guildford Animal Hospital and we left this morning at about 8 AM under cool damp skies. We didn't have too bad of a wait at the border so after a short stop at the duty free store we enterred Washington state at the Pacific border crossing. Followed the I-5 to Seattle and then the 405 to the I-90 east bound. The drive was uneventful and we were under the same damp and at times rainy skies pretty well all day.

Any way, we made pretty good time and had lunch at Ellensburg, WA after a nice drive over the Snoqualimie Pass. The views would have been spectacular if only we weren't in rain and low clouds most of the way.

After almost 1000 kms, 952 to be exact, we checked into the Broadway Inn in Missoula, Mont. While we would have preferred warm sunshine, the locals here are happy to see cooler weather and showers. They have been under triple digit temperatures for some time and have a lot of forest fires burning here in western Montanna. We may see some of that activity tomorrow.

For tomorrow, we will stop briefly at Mt. Rushmore, and perhaps give Diane's cousin, Dr. David Weaver a call in Bozeman before we head south on the I-15.

Introduction

For several years now, I have been working on my family Tree, learning much about my family history along the way and climbing many new branches. As a result, I was found by a couple of formerly unknown 4th cousins. One of these, Jennifer, lives in Tennessee and has invited my wife and I to vist them there. This vacation trip is the result. I hope to post daily updates and photos along the way as we drive from our home in Surrey BC to Jennifer's in Dayton, TN. It should be quite an adventure.