The Road to Nowhere

We left Glacier reasonably early for the 2 day drive to Chicago.  We had to drive around the southern edge of the park and got treated to a few more spectacular views along the way.  We crossed the continental divide for the last time and headed into East Glacier.  There we found a cute little bakery off the main road to get some coffee and breakfast treats.   Greg talked to the owners a bit after we ate. Their business is very new, they had just opened in July.  The pastries and muffins were delicious, hopefully the business will take off.  Then it was a quick stop for gas and air for the tires before really hitting the road.  We got to see the Amtrak train pull out of the station.  It is pretty cool that you can get to the park by train. Originally, the train was brought in as part of a plan to attract rich Americans there instead of the Swiss Alps.

Amtrak Train pulling out of East Glacier

Bakery

Bakery Owners

Once we headed out of East Glacier, we were back in the prairie of Montana.  Our goal for the night was Bismark, ND so we had a lot of driving ahead of us. The day was pretty uneventful, just farm fields and small towns. To save some time, we had lunch on the road, easy enough to make sandwiches with all the long straight roads.  After meandering east and south all day through Montana, we stopped in a little tiny town, Circle, for dinner.  The it was back on the road, we had several more hours of driving still to go.

sites from the road

sites from the road

Anyone care for a dip?

We had decided we would try our first Wal-Mart camping stop.  For those of you that don't know, most Wal-Marts let you park overnight in their lots for free.  Since all we really needed was some sleep, that sounded great.  We found 2 Wal-Marts in Bismark and picked the one closer to the highway to stop.  We rolled in around midnight, the kids were already in their beds asleep. We were not the only RV, there were several already parked.  Once we found a good spot and  stopped, I asked Greg if he was going to turn off the engine.  He had but I was so numb from the hum of the engine I thought it was still on! Once we put in all the shades, it was off to bed for Greg and I.

Kellen, who had been the first to fall asleep, was also the first to get up.  It is hard to sleep once one person gets up, unless you are Bella, so Greg and petty much got up after less than 7 hours of sleep. Still tired we got ready, I went into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, then it was back on the road after coffee and gas.

We realized that morning we would never make it to Chicago that day.  We had too far to go, so I began rearranging hotel options and figuring out how far we might get that day.  We wanted to get as close to Madison, WI as possible.  We had lunch in Fargo at a place that is kind of like Chuck E Cheese but with space aliens and much better food.

Lunch stop in Fargo

We made it to Minneapolis around rush hour and decided to stop for dinner.  At that point, I was starting not to feel well.  I wasn't sure if it was just from being so tired and burnt out or if maybe I was getting a stomach bug, but as the evening progressed, I started to feel just awful.  I laid down in the back a good chunk of the evening and we finally decide to stop and find a hotel outside of the Wisconsin Dells, a summer tourist area with all kinds of resorts and theme parks.  We got a hotel room with a king sized bed, pull out couch, and roll away bed. Oh, and a bonus big triangular jacuzzi tub next to the couch.  Of course the kids thought that was awesome, and I tried not to think about what usually went on in that room.  By the way, it was a Best Western, not some honeymoon suite in the Catskills, not sure who normally would pick that room but at 11:00 at night and feeling as sick as I was, I wasn't complaining.

I felt a bit better by morning.  We all got much needed showers or in the kids case, jacuzzi baths and hit the road again,  my Dad and Step Mom were meeting us in Chicago from Michigan, so we wanted to get there as soon as possible.  Traffic and construction were not our friends.  While I slept more in the back, Greg slogged through the 45 mile an hour construction zones to get us to town.  By 2:00 on Friday, we finally made it back to Chicago.  For the kids and I, it was the first time back since we moved 8 years ago.  I was excited to be back, poor Greg was just tired and wishing we were home.