Abigdon, Maryland

Since leaving the west and getting back to the north-east coast I have noticed a few differences, everyone in the east seems to be in a hurry, you can see it in their driving, and the way the communicate with you.
The towns are plastered with graffiti and traffic jams are part of your daily routine.

We were going to stop of in Philly but we decided against it once we drove through, it's not that it is a bad town, it's just a little to fast paced from what we have been experiencing and it's a bit of a turn-off. (Me and the fresh prince will have to get a cheese steak some other time.) But from here on out we are just basically hitting big towns while we head south down the east coast. Wish us luck!

I feel like I do need to include this aswell... when driving through Philly we were just trying to find any campground to park the R.V.  and disconnect the car to go sightseeing. We got a little lost and decided to stop a a gas station to gain our bearings and come up with a game plan. While me and my papa were going over the map and looking up any campgrounds on the phone, my nana was doing her usual thing and going to ask strangers were we could go. She came back about 5 mins after leaving and explained the gas clerk said "what does my gas station look like a directory to you? This is Philadelphia we don't just have places to park your rig." So Again just the attitude kinda turns you off about the city. But nana wasn't done searching for directions, she met a gentleman named nate who happened to be working for the local utilities company and he was more than willing to take the time out of his day to give us directions to the nearest RV spot. And personally pulled up the directions on his G.P.S. and the phone number of the Campground. In the end he ended up recognizing the area of town it was located in and and strongly decided that wasn't a very safe place to go having grown up there. We ended up leaving Philly completely and continued south we we are now some where north of Baltimore on a creek that comes off of the Chesapeake bay. Nate, you really are an exceptional human being and I appreciate the kindness you showed to us.

Cheboygan , Michigan

4870 total miles

Well Michigan has been pretty awesome! We have seen spectacular sights ,tons of animals and alot of water and with even more light houses.
We drove up the upper peninsula, and stayed in a small town named "Escanaba" while staying there we toured the local National forests and went to see a place called "pictured rocks" along the shores of lake superior.  After leaving  we drove over the Mackinac bridge. Which is a 5 mile suspension bridge that goes over Lake Michigan and Huron, lucky for us we drove over it the day before labor day,  which on labor day they shut the bridge down and have a huge bridge walk lead by the governor for the full length of the bridge.

We rode on a large ferryboat that tooks on to lake Huron and out to "Mackinac Island", Huge tourist trap haha it was a cool island that doesn't allow any motor vehicles,  so everyone is either riding a bicycle or getting a ride from a horse carriage. 

Michigan has some very cool places and very beautiful sights to offer. 

Hope, Minnesota

4256 miles total
527 miles on the day

We left South Dakota this morning, only to be greeted by a monsoon, as we started to cross the state line into Minnesota the sun looked like it might start to make it's presence known but then decided against it and let the clouds and wind open back up. 

I wasn't able to take any photos today because I was driving the majority of the day, but I will leave you with a beautiful quote from John Muir-

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.

Badlands National Park

While staying at the Badlands National Park,  we have done and seen a ton. The first night we went to a ranger talk where he showed us all of the constellations that were visable, I saw Saturn, mars, and the Andromeda Galaxy. (A ton of shooting stars.)  We went to the Minute man missile National Historic sight, where we got to tour the launch control modules of the missiles that were "hidden" underground during the cold war. After we finished learning about our national defenses during that time.  we drove through the badlands N.P. into Buffalo gap national grasslands and on over to Wind Cave National Park where we saw hundreds of Buffalo, wild donkeys, and a mother deer with her spotted fawn. We went for a guided hike in the caves about 200ft below the surface of the earth, where we got to view a rock formation called "boxwork" that is a very rare occurrence. (No pictures of that, just a tad to dark ) after we went into pine ridge reservation where the wounded knee massacre occured. 

This morning I went for a hike in the badlands, only a 7 mile hike or so ,but It was amazing, I got on the trail by 6:15 and saw the sjnrise over the badlands and burn through the morning fog. Around 25 big horn sheep blocked the trail as a patiently waited for the male big horn sheep to walk his herd of females and calfs to safety on the other side of the trail the howling of  3 or 4 coyotes filled the morning silence, it set my nerves on edge a little bit. The rocks and geological formations are nothing I have ever encountered.  It really Is beautiful. 
 

There is a lot of little details that I know I'm leaving out. But they will never fad from my memories.

Mountrushmore, Crazyhorse

We went and checked out Mountrushmore, and Crazyhorse sculptures today.  I must say crazy horse is amazing especially the whole story behind the sculptor and what all he has sacrificed to fulfill his promise to the natives the surrounding blackhills are very beautiful. Off to the badlands!

Rapid city ×2

3684 total miles driven
358 on the day

On the way back to rapid city we stopped at the Little Big horn National Park were general Custer made his last stand against the natives of the land It was very awesome to see all of the old artifacts and hear the stories as told from the natives (being as they were the only survivors of the battle.) It was amazing to think I could have possibly stood where Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse might have once been. We are no at a camp ground about 20 miles away from mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse sculptures are. Pictures will follow tonight!

Laurel, Montana

3,326 total miles driven
616 miles on the day

Well leaving a place like G.N.P was a little hard,  with the new friends we made in the campground, on the trail, and all the memories we shared In just the week we were there.  Montana will go down in the book for me as the most beautiful state I have ever been to, And I believe both of my grandparents would agree. Montana is know as the "Big sky country" it really does live up to that name. The skies here just seem massive, over the mountains and the the farmlands they just seem endless. We stayed the night at a truckstop parking lot.  Just pulled up and fell asleep.

Chattanooga T.N.

584 miles on the road today, (mostly back country,which are the best kind.)  We have already had quite the experience just in our first day on the road, while driving somewhere in Georgia we happened to notice we were running on empty. We stopped at the first gas station we saw which come to find out they didn't carry diesel fuel. So we asked them to direct us to the next station that did in fact carry diesel.  We drive maybe 5 or so miles down the back country road to find a gas station that looked to be out of the 50's and in a neighborhood that had a striking  resemblance to that of the movie "wrong turn." We pulled in only to find out they were closed on Sundays... so we were  stranded at the gas station with the only option being to disconnect the little car that was being towed and drive to the next station and purchase a tank and fill it to bring it back to hopefully get us there to fill up completely. As me and my papa started to try and disconnect the car,  my nana starts walking down the dirt roads towards people's houses in hopes to get help.
By some sort of miracle one of the last houses in the area in fact had someone there and as it turned out he worked at the gas station, he actually opened up one pump & pumped the fuel for us. "Duke" proved that there are still good people out there. 

As it turns out me and my papa wouldn't have been able to get into the little car,  we locked the key inside of it and left the spare back in Jacksonville. 

Columbia M.O.

After leaving Joelton T.N. I headed towards Columbia M.O. along the way I got a chance to see the arc in ST. Louis and man is that thing huge. Pictures really do it no justice. So after setting up camp here in Columbia I decided to check out some local scenery. Off to South Dakota tomorrow.