Campbell Road Trips

Epilogue:081508 the journey ends.

Forgot to post this, the end of the journey on 081508 so here it is:

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Leaving Idaho Falls, ID today enroute home, 664 miles to go, last leg of the trip.

Here is the map of all the places we have been too, as well as links to all the blog posts for each one.

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This has been a fun trip, an adventure actually. It has had its ups and downs but I'm glad we did it. The next road trip with more than 4 people that is similar to what we just did is going to have to be done in an RV, bottom line. Let me end this fantastic journey with the following:

7,700 miles travelled.
Gas expense: roughly $1,700.
Lodging and meals: roughly $4,500.

Travelling with 6 of your family members in a 7 person vehicle over 7,000 miles? PRICELESS!!

But it's a dry heat....

So HOT: 6pm amd coming west through the Columbia River Gorge, west of Hermiston.

Gas and Grub in Arco, ID

Stopped in Arco, ID for some breakfast at the Golden West Cafe, then filled up the gas tank next door at Don's Texaco. Gas definitely going up the further west we go. The cafe was small, clean and had a simple menu. Portions were large and it appeared to be a popular place to eat in this small town of 1000. Food was very good. Now only about 8 hours from home where I hear from a friend that the thermometer is hitting 105 already! (only 72 where we are).

081408: Powell, WY, Yellowstone and Jackson, WY

Stayed at the Best Value Inn in Powell, WY last night. Very clean, comfortable rooms. Don't let the outside appearance fool you.

Today we are off to Cody, WY and then Yellowstone National Park before ending up at Jackson, WY.

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Stopped off for gas in Cody then had a very good breakfast at a place called " Granny's Fine Food".

Now back on the road to Yellowstone. Lodging is going to be a challenge. We have been walking the line between price and quality and besides Page,AZ, we have fared pretty well I'm getting quality affordable lodging. Jackson is pretty high priced area though, so we may have pop across the border to Idaho to spend the night. Luckily it is close to Jackson.

So Mom is calling on our way to Yellowstone. It makes me a little nervous when I hear her side of the conversaation..." Well, yes, but they don't smell do they? ". This is one of those red flag moments, when you realize that you may have crossed that line I mentioned above about quality and price. It is times like this on a family road trip when it is best to focus on the scenery!

And there is plenty of it during this leg of the trip, just outside of Cody, WY we went through long tunnel and on the other side was Buffalo Bill Reservoir, gorgeous, part of Buffalo Bill State Park.

Yellowstone is huge, saw lots of buffalo today.

Made a wrong turn so took us longer than we wanted but ended up at Old Faithful and only had to wait about 30 minutes to see it blow so it all worked out.

By the end of the day today, we made a quick stop in Jackson, WY for some food. Turns out there was a big festival of some kind in the city so no wonder lodging was hard to come by. We ended up finding a place via Priceline.com in Idaho Falls, ID, you will never guess where. That's right, Best Western!We stayed at the Best Western (where else) Cottontree Inn. I noted the mileage when we pulled into Idaho Falls, ID, we hit the 7000 mile mark. According to Google Maps, we are only about 664 miles from home, I think everyone is ready for it to be over after 3 weeks in the suburban.

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081308: Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore

Big day of sightseeing today. First stop was to meander our way from Deadwood to the Crazy Horse Memorial via State Highway 385 and 16.

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This is an amazing memorial that has been a work in progress for over 6 decades, and will continue for decades longer. Here are a few photo's of the place.

From here we were off to Mt. Rushmore.

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And after this we stopped at Bear Country USA.

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Nice driving tour of the grounds that feature numerous wildlife such as bears, reindeer, wolves, cougars and coyote among others.

For lunch/dinner we made it back into Deadwood and ate at the Buffalo Steakhouse in old Deadwood.

After leaving Deadwood, the goal was to make it to Cody, Wyoming to shorten the drive time tomorrow giving us more sightseeing time in Yellowstone and Jackson. Picked up some gas in Gillette, WY and then on our way. Well, not quite, we first had to convince the clerk at the Flying J gas station that we did NOT have a Flying J card. She asked Olivia (14 years old) if she had one when Olivia put her water on the counter, then when I put my stuff on the counter she asked me a couple times. Finally understood it when I said no for the 4th time.

Also at Flying J, wonder how many air fresheners you need to be effective???

We gambled again on lodging and didn't win this time, the only rooms available were in the $150 + range so time to switch it up and go for Powell, WY. Success here, four couple rooms with two queen beds in each here for about $90/each at a place called Americas Best Value Inn. We were hoping this would not turn into a Page, AZ event! The road was long and windy through mountain pass, and we encountered several "herds" of cattle blocking our way ( must be free range country). Finally made it into Powell about 10:30pm and located our hotel. Outside appearance didn't make us hopefull but too late to change now. It was clean but appeared to be an old Kings Inn. Pleasantly surprised, was very clean and the beds were very comfortable. One of the best nights sleep of the trip! Tomorrow long day as we tour Yellowstone.

081208: Deadwood, SD

Left Des Moines, IA, heading to South Dakota via I-80W, then heading north on I-29 just prior to Omaha, skirting the edge of Nebraska as we head for the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Fueled up in Sloan, IA which is just south of Sioux City, SD along I-29.

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Seeing a lot of these "Kum and Go" markets, they seem to be popular, odd name though.

Made it into South Dakota via Sioux City.

Arrived at The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD and took a tour. They change the design every year, using different shades of corn to make the designs by various local artists.

Met a couple of the locals, Zack and Zeke, Quasimodo seemed to enjoy their company.

On our way to Deadwood, SD via Rapid City and Sturgis. The famous ( or infamous depending on your point of view ) Sturgis Rally was held over the past weekend so we missed it by only a couple if days. Lucky fir us or I'm afraid we would have been sleeping in the suburban. Fueled up in Rapid City.

The country out here in the Black Hills is beautiful and I wish we had more time to explore it. We ate at a local place as we pulled into the town of Deadwood called "Hickok's Iron Horse Inn". We initially planned on pizza somewhere but went into the upper part of the restaurant and decided to go with what was on the menu. The waitress was alone and was very busy, but service was still good.

After dinner we made it to our hotel, a combination hotel/casino (Mom and Dad were obviously thrilled) called "Gulches of Fun" and settled in for the night. Tomorrow we are off to see Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore and Bear Country, a full day for sure before heading west again in search of another hotel as we try to make it as close to Cody, WY as possible.

081108: Des Moines, IA

We left Ken and Linda's today, enroute to Iowa, going to see how far we can get, guess-timation is Des Moines.

We decided to go west and take State Highway 46, which took us through Bloomfield, IN, home of Indiana University Bloomington. We drove through the campus which was very well kept (didn't expect otherwise though) and headed off towards Terre Haute, IN.

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After Terre Haute, took some back roads and went through Paris, IL.

Made it into Iowa and stayed at the Best Western Des Moines West Inn & Suites (our home away from home on this trip it seems), this one had one of the best continental breakfasts of any place we have been, they even had biscuits & gravy, FTW!!

Tomorrow on the road to South Dakota.

081008: Six Flags in Louisville, KY

Today we went to the Six Flags in Louisville, KY called Kentucky Kingdom. They were getting ready for the state fair coming up the next week so some of the park was shut down but we saw a good bit of the park. It wasn't as good or as big as some other Six Flags but we had fun nonetheless.

Here is a google map that lists a number of theme parks in the USA.

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080908: Family Bar-B-Que

After getting back into the North Vernon area, we headed directly to Susan and CD's place. Haven't seen them since about 2002 when they came out to Oregon for a visit. They also have a great place, large property with its own stocked pond so we did take advantage!

Here are a few pics from the day, was a good day to get reconnected with everyone. And Olivia caught her fish!

080908: Woodford Reserve and my quest for Wasmund's Single Malt Whiskey

Ken, Dad, Ken's son Keith and I left this morning to take a tour of the Woodford Reserve Distillery in Versailles Kentucky. I've been drinking this whiskey for about two years, really like the smoothness of it and since we were in the area I wanted to make a run down there. I also wanted to try and find some Wasmund's Single Malt Whiskey. I've read some reviews about this whiskey and since I can't find it out on the West Coast, wanted to get some out here. Ah but more on that later...

Woodford Reserve Distillery sits east of Louisville, KY (west of Lexington) in a town called Versailles.

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Here is our tour group, a motley group eh?

Here are a couple more photo's from the tour. Speaking of which, if you get the chance, the tour is very informative and only costs $5.00. This place has a ton of history for all of you whiskey oficianados, here is more info about the place.

After the tour we were off to find my single malt whiskey, or to be more accurate, Wasmund's Single Malt Whiskey for me to buy. On our way back we needed to head in general direction of Louisville to find the retailers that were supposed to carry it, however after about 6 calls I was striking out. One last call and we would have to abandon our search. I called Top Hat Wine & Spirits in small suburb of Louisville called St. Matthews. Sam Woodcuff, the manager of the store and a very nice guy, answered the phone and my request...success! 4 bottles on hold for me. We picked them up and were on our way to the picnic, now I could see if he reviews were correct (once back home of course, I am a responsible drinker...besides I didn't want to spill any!).