September 14 - Milton - Port Huron
This morning as we headed out it was 78 degrees with 90% humidity - Lorne’s glasses were fogged up! It felt so hot our freshly showered bodies were covered with a sheen of moisture!

Following at least an hour wait at the border we made it into Port Huron and right into Hurricane Ike. Yike! What rain!! We located Margaret and Ken Guske where we picked up our new window coverings. Delightful people! Of course GMC owners as well; we met with a handshake and left with a hug! We decided to stay in Port Huron at their local rv park as the rain was pelting down and looked like it was just going to get worse making for very unpleasant driving.

September 15 - Michigan
Stayed at Warren Dunes, a beautiful state park on Lake Michigan. Michigan has 145 state forest campgrounds providing over 3,000 campsites spread out over nearly 4 million acres of designated park, many of these parks also allow hunting. One must be 12 years old to hunt. I think Michael nabbed his first rabbit with his air gun at 9. We had a nice bike ride down to the lake and ran up and down the huge dunes. It has been so rainy here that there has been much flooding, enough that the road down to the lake was closed to vehicles. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my bathing suit and towel so didn’t get to swim in Lake Michigan (it was also cold, rainy, and rough looking water, plus we are also very near Chicago but I am sure they don’t dump their sewage into Lake Michigan…).

Illinois
As I write this we are inching our way into the center of Chicago along with a multitude of very large transport trucks. There has been so much flooding in the area that we have been rerouted to alternate freeways and then stuck on them right into Chicago!! The worst part is that Lorne is driving and its way past his lunchtime. He is not happy….. Really, the navigator has done the best she can!!

Chicago
Well, we did it, we drove right through downtown Chicago. I made lunch and we ate while we were driving along! We got some teasing comments from those inching along beside us wishing they had their lunch with them! We saw one of the tallest buildings in the US; the Sears Tower. Quite impressive. Other than that we saw a great deal of traffic. So much for Chicago. I would have liked to get off the freeway and explore but in a motor home and with no clue as to where we were going….. not going to happen! Saw a sign saying Frank Lloyd Wright; home and museum, our favourite architect, and the inspiration for our house. Dang! No courage, we kept on driving. We were going to look up his houses on the internet before this trip so we could see as many as we could, forgot…

Wisconsin
We were informed by the Information Office upon entering Wisconsin that close to Madison, Wisconsin is Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and the summer campus of the still operating architectural school founded by Wright in 1932. Our lucky day, just like we knew what we were doing and where we were going!! We decided to stop in and visit. We found a spectacular state park, Governor Dodge State Park, 19,753 acres of managed forest, beautiful forest campsites, a wonderful lake for swimming and fishing, and many very nice trails for hiking, biking and of course cross country skiing and snowmobiling as it snows here big time. The following day was a great one spent touring Wright’s fantastic architectural displays. We got some ideas for things to build. His architecture definitely inspired Arthur Ericson and certainly both of these brilliant men inspired us when we built our home.

We drove a big 60 miles today!! We stayed in Mirror Lake State Park where there is a cabin designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unfortunately we couldn’t get into see it as it has a locked gate and is not visible from the road. It is rented virtually 365 days of the year and only one day a month is it open to visitors, today wasn’t the day.

Off to Michigan
We finally get on our way about 11:30, after a nice little bike ride, a fill up with gas and a stop at a cheese shop for a taste and purchase of some famous Wisconsin cheeses. It was a family run operation for over 100 years and the young man waiting on us certainly knew a lot about cheese having grown up with the business all his life.

We pass lots of lush green fields with miles and miles of corn and what looks like soybeans. Mexican cows would love to come here for a holiday! A big 213 miles today, we will be staying at Myre-Big Island State Park just outside Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Friday, September 19
Hopefully we will be well into South Dakota today. We are 585 miles from the Badlands, at this rate I don’t think we have a hope of getting there today, we are on the road at 9:30 though so we should cover a lot of miles today. Nothing to see but miles and miles of corn relieved only with some soybeans. On a positive note these were all family run farms that looked very prosperous. As opposed to the big business operations in California.

Myre State Park was nice; it covers 1,596 acres and is basically surrounded by 2,600 acres of water (Albert Lea Lake) and prairie agriculture, predominantly corn. It is a glacial lake formed with the retreat of the glaciers long ago. It is located within the Bemis Moraine, a moraine complex traced all across Minnesota. It has lots of oak trees and prairie grasses. There are lots of birds here, including the white pelican. Apparently lakes like this gradually fill in over time but humans have accelerated this natural process through siltation from the farms and commercial and industrial waste disposal. This increases the mineral and organic content of the lake, favouring plant life and choking out much of the animal life. While they are working at protecting this area, and returning it to its original vegetation pattern the water looks very muddy to me and while I would have loved a swim it just didn’t appeal to me.

The stock market has been going crazy this past while, causing Lorne some angst as we are so disconnected from the internet, hence interfering with his ability to watch what our stocks are doing. We do have Sirius satellite radio though so we are listening constantly to what the analysts have to say about the market and to Bush today as he presents his solution to the economic problems presented. His solution is bad news for us that’s for sure!

The Badlands
We actually made it in one day – all 585 miles! We arrived in time for the sunset show on the spectacular formations! The Badlands are so hauntingly beautiful, and very difficult to really capture on camera. Much like the Grand Canyon the formations change with the light, bringing shadows to accent them. We had a great bike ride the following day in the cool of the morning and then roasted in the afternoon while we installed the new windshield curtain. The evening brought the promised thunder and lightening show with intermittent huge drops of rain. Today is our first overcast day, however it is still warm is we head out towards Yellowstone.

September 22
Driving along, crossed the Cheyenne River and are heading towards Rapid City listening to Old 70’s tunes. Remembering old cowboy movies and musical memories of the 60’s and 70s! Feelings, activities of a time when emotions were raw and often painful, hormones were high, love was everywhere and nowhere, babies, people, places, events. Nothing but grasslands, antelope, buffalo, cows, some horses…