Moving Day 4: We need a break: Chicago

Saturday, we kept things easy since we'd been traveling since Sunday, and hey, why not, it was Chicago! First we battled a killer rainstorm driving into Chicago from Rockford (Rockford Peaches!- I may or may not have chosen to stop there because of A League of Their Own). Is it bad to be totally grateful that Pieter was driving? We went and spent ALL day in the Museum of Science and Industry. Coolest museum ever...hands down, we spent 5 hours there and didn't get close to seeing it all. There was a whole room on the space program with video, simulators and artifacts.

Me geeking out over the Apollo 8 landing capsule. For those of you who don't know, Apollo 8 was the first to orbit the moon and piloted by none other than Jim Lovell, who I got to hear speak last year and geeked out then too :) 

Weather exhibits, trains, a 707 jet, baby chicks hatching, Body Worlds, fetuses from all stages of pregnancy, a person plasticized and then dissected out to just the veins, arteries, and capillaries, and THE U-boat, yes, the Uboat.

 Pieter by the German U-boat that the US attacked and boarded during WWII by Africa.
First time that we'd taken over an enemy ship since the War of 1812! This capture was a huge intelligence score and really gave us the upper hand over the Germans. It was a really patriotic exhibit and made me feel proud to be an American but you had to feel bad for the families of the men on the boat because their families were told that they died, since we had to keep them in hiding after capturing them (yeah, not so much within the Geneva convention) so that the Germans wouldn't change their cryptography codes.

Oh and that night we may or may not have stayed in South Bend, Indiana...another League of Their Own team.

Moving Day 3: Sioux Falls

 

We stayed in Sioux Falls that night and in the morning on Friday went to look at the falls. I had no idea that prisoners quarried most of the rock to make their own prison! The rest of the day was a pretty heavy driving day, crossing  Minnesota, Wisconsin, and finally, ending up in Illinois. There were tons of commercially grown sunflowers lining the roads!

Moving Day 2: Mount Rushmore and the rest of South Dakota

 We started out the day in Casper, WY and I drove in Mt. Rushmore. The change in scenery at the state line into South Dakota was incredible. That's something that's always amazed me: how deliberate those lines are: going from barren rocky land to hilly forests in less than a mile.

The entry to the viewing area of Mt. Rushmore has all of the state's engraved  along with their flags.

So here's my confession, I really wasn't excited to Mt. Rushmore. Pieter really had to twist my arm to get us to go here. It was out of the way, and I was convinced that it was going to be something where you stop, get out of your car, stare for a few minutes, remark on how impressive it is, and leave.  Boy, was I wrong!

Anyway, we got there and I think the first word out of my mouth were, "Oh, there's actually stuff to do here." Pieter reminded me that that's what he'd been trying to tell me all along, d'oh!s We watched the movies of how it was made, went through the museums, and took a walking tour down around the base of it. 

 There was a Native American man on the tour who let us all know that the US government was cheating his tribe out of the land and paying  them nothing, while raking in millions in profits, while our college intern tour guide stammered and tried to get control of the tour again. To clarify, they're not making money there; there is a parking fee, but that is used to support the upkeep/running the center. You can read more about the controversy on the Mt Rushmore Wikipedia page if you're interested. Anyway, it was fun and I'd definitely recommend it now :). 

We spent  the rest of the day driving across all of South Dakota to Sioux Falls...long day.

Moving day 1: Martin's Cove, Independence Rock, Casper Wyoming

On our first day after leaving Utah, we drove up through Wyoming on our way to Mt Rushmore. We stopped at Martin's Cove and Independence Rock. Martin's Cove is a special place for members of my church and more specifically my family. In 1856, during the trek westward by pioneers, a group of Mormon immigrants from Europe called the Martin Handcart Company left for Utah pulling all of their worldly possessions in handcarts. Due to delays in their ship leaving Europe, they ended up leaving much later than anticipated and suffered delays and breakdowns throughout their journey. A wagon company with freight for the settlements in Utah followed them with supplies. My 3-great grandfather was a teamster for this company and my 3 great grandmother traveled with him. This is how they were able to afford getting to Utah from Denmark, having sent all of their other children(except my 2 great grandfather, Mads) on before them. An early and harsh winter storm hit, stranding them in a barren area of Wyoming, starving and unsheltered from the elements, unable to move forward. A rescue party was sent out from Utah to rescue these stranded pioneers, but as the scouts from the rescue party arrived, another storm hit and they were forced to bunker down in a little cove, now called Martin's Cove. The wagons and my family stayed about a mile away at Devil's Gate. My grandfather became sick and succumbed to the elements while there. Over 25% of those pioneers died, and many of the rest had limbs amputated and suffered residual ailments for the rest of their lives. This area and museum now stand as a tribute to the tragedy that occurred here.

Devil's Gate, where my grandfather died.

Independence Rock. Did you know all of the cool things from Oregon Trail are in Wyoming? Neither did I! I planning on having us do Chimney Rock too, but then I saw that it would add an extra 3 hours to the trip and it's really small from all of the weathering.

You can still see the wagon tracks from all the wagons cutting through the praire

So the biggest disappointment of the rock, you know how you always hear about how the pioneers carved their names in the rock? Well, it's so windy and harsh there that all of names have worn off. The letters in the picture that you can read if you squint are from 1900 and were carved about 2 inches deep into the rock.

ABF

So we used ABF to move our treasures (or junk, you choose) from Utah to Pennsylvania. We squeezed into 7 feet of a semi trailer, kissed it goodbye and hoped that our amateur packing skills would hold up! We were so grateful for our A+ team (Rob, Amy, Sean and Jake) who gave up an evening for the promise of pizza and Icee's!

Spoiler alert: It got there safe with few casualties (glass pitcher and 3 cereal bowls) PS I totally recommend ABF: cheap, helpful, flexible, relaxed-I was a little worried about that but it was fine