Sunday came along and hit the whole family hard with a tornado of emotions. We had a memorial for my Grandma, who had passed a few months back, which also served as a family reunion (hence why the family was in town!). We put together a service on the river where we spread my Grandma's ashes. My Grandpa was so strong and was a huge inspiration to me. Seeing how my family came together for such a bitter-sweet moment really made it hard for me to leave, in fact I ended up staying Monday night at my Grandpa's just for a little more time with him. OOH-WEE saying bye was hard! My Mom and Gary (her boyfriend of a BAGILLION years) left Monday morning leaving just my Grandpa and I to say bye on Tuesday. It was so hard because I have such a new and unique relationship with him that I felt like I was abandoning him, but when it comes down to it, I know that this move is what's best for me right now!
Which brings me to my move! My journey did not start off on the right foot, but if you know me at all you know that I have the worst luck when it comes to traveling. It was raining Tuesday morning when I left Washington (the only rain I've seen so far of course) and you know what I went and did? I got myself a big, fatty ticket. OK it wasn't that bad... I was going over the speed limit while passing a semi (big whoop!) but it happened, and I thought for sure the rest of my trip was doomed but boy was I wrong! Within a few hours of that happening a car with plates from Tennessee passed me with four really really good looking guys! It was a clear sign that everything was going to be OK!
Yesterday (Tuesday) I drove straight from Clarkston to Billings MT.. Originally Billings was just a goal and I was hoping to making it to Gellette WY, but damn I was tired! I decided to just call it a night and wake up really early with hopes of doing a lot of exploring the next day.
I woke up at 4:30 this morning. My mom is probably shitting her pants right now because rarely do I wake up before 10 am on any given day, but I was on a mission. First stop was Devil's Tower. I am SO obsessed with this place. I don't know what it is about it but it's by far the coolest thing I've seen. The stories behind it are just miraculous and when you see it in person it really just blows your mind! Yes it's in the middle of NOWHERE but the drive to nowhere was absolutely stunning! I could make that drive five thousand times and never get tired of it. I then ventured through Deadwood SD where I went to the 76 Museum. It was OK, nothing too crazy; however I could see myself spending a lot of time in that town... it's basically the Vegas of South Dakota! From there I went to Mount Rushmore. Dare I say...AMAZING! I was expecting a million people there but today must have been a slow day, it was rather nice. I hadn't ate lunch yet and was trying to decide between getting food afterwards or going to the Jewel Cave National Park. After a really intense argument in my head, I decided on going to the cave : ) Now when they say "bring a coat," they definitely mean it! As soon as we took the elevator down into the cave it dropped like 20 degrees! I was only able to fit into the "discovery tour" which was only 30 min. long but it was phenomenal. Apparently it's the third largest cave in the WORLD. Right now 166 miles of cave have been explored there, but it is predicted to have much more!
On the way to Rapid City I decided to make a pit stop at the Crazy Horse Monument. I'll be honest, I had no idea this existed until my Sister asked me if I was going to it. It was amazing to see such an incredible piece of art being built right in front of my eyes. If you were to put all of Mount Rushmore next to the Crazy Horse sculpture, Rushmore would only be as big as Crazy Horses's head! I then hit the road again and finally made it to Rapid City around 6:30 pm where I treated my self to a couple drinks and a nice steak dinner : ) I plan on getting a solid night's sleep and making my way to Carly in Watertown SD tomorrow! It will be nice to finally have a co-pilot so I don't have to keep taking selfies all the time!
Good night wonderful people!
-AK
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