Through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, & now Montana!

It never ceases to amaze me how much can happen in a week! We left Ohio on the second day of June, & zipped across Indiana and Illinois, spending that night just over the border of Iowa in the world's largest truck stop. The next day we crossed Iowa and stayed in a Walmart parking lot in Norfolk, Nebraska. Friday we left Nebraska and crossed into South Dakota, and stayed at the Cedar Pass campground in the Badlands. As fate would have it, a couple we had met on South Padre Island, TX, Dean and Mary, were hosting there. AND, as fate would have it, Dean was MC-ing karaoke [=-)] that night at the bar in Interior, SD (pop. 57), located 2 miles away, & needed a ride in. So we got to be heroes, AND do karaoke! There were cowboys, some dogs wandering in and out, a longer lived fellow named Bob, from SF, CA, riding his motorcycle home from a wedding in Chicago, an old cowboy named Roland that asked me to dance numerous times, and ended up showing Michael how to dance(let me tell you, THAT was something to see in a small town cowboy bar!), a beautiful Native American lady that had a great talk with Michael because they both used to drive flatbed semi trucks, and the owner of the bar with the best handlebar mustache you ever saw! As the night progressed, we also met a guy named Wade (our age) and his friend Mike (a bit younger, & a bit buzzed). We did some more dancing and ended up going outside with Wade to show him the bus and geek out on rocks (things were getting crazy in the bar). Wade was super cool, and took us out rock-hounding the next day. He also drove us around the Badlands on a fantastic tour. Sunday we left, sadly, for Rapid City, & stayed in another Walmart, where we ran into another couple we met in Quartzsite, AZ, Andy & Dianne. Monday we left and entered into Wyoming for 20 miles, then finally made it to Montana! We stayed that night at a free campground in the Custard National Forest, surrounded by red shale, & green pines and green grass! It was a stunning introduction to this beautiful state, where we plan to spend weeks! After traveling through miles of Montana grasslands, we crossed the continental divide yesterday, back in the west! Now we are camped next to the gorgeous Lake Inez, in the Swan Valley in western Montana, & planning on staying at our free campsite for a bit!