Good Morning, Obbo

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 06/14/2018 at 09:00 • Filed to: good morning oppo

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The Needles Highway, Custer State Park, SD

Back from vacation after 10 days and 3,569 miles of driving through seven states, not including Texas. Saw 49/51 US license plates (screw you, Delaware and DC) plus BC, Alberta, Ontario and PEI. Good times, but it’s nice to be home again.

Custer SP

The Badlands of SD

The Badlands

Amarillo, TX

$kaycog > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:07

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Vacations are fun, but there’s no place like home. Glad you had a safe trip.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:08

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I just now realized you didn’t rent a van/SUV. Nice — that’s a strong vote for the reliability of the old Honda.

That top pic — Garden of the Gods or The Needles, SD? I used to climb a lot and could identify stuff better..

pip bip - choose Corrour > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:13

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who dragged their vehicle all the way from

1/ Alaska

2/ Hawaii

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 06/14/2018 at 09:13

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Needles. We had to decide between GotG and Pike’s Peak. We went with GotG, and I kind of wish we had gone PP. Lots of big fires made things quite hazy, though, so not sure of the views.

I was looking at these pictures last night and thinking about just how awesome this vehicle has been for us. Granted, it’s on its second engine, but the thing is just rock solid on the road, roomy enough for a family of five, and a pleasure to drive. It’s now got 190,500 on the clock and just keeps on going.

ttyymmnn > pip bip - choose Corrour 06/14/2018 at 09:18

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Or the Netherlands? Saw this at Custer SP in South Dakota, and it wasn’t the only Euro van we saw on the trip. As for AK and HI, we’ve seen AK plates many times, but this was only the second time we saw HI plates. My guess is that they are recently moved here, or military.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:18

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You drove dangerously close to the fire in Cimmaron. Get toasted?

ttyymmnn > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 06/14/2018 at 09:20

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There were fires all over the place, particularly CO. We saw smoke plumes, including one huge plume that was thousands of miles up and stretching for many miles as we drove south through northern CO. But we never got particularly close to any.

pip bip - choose Corrour > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:22

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maybe they’re going round the world?

ttyymmnn > pip bip - choose Corrour 06/14/2018 at 09:24

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Hard to say. Perhaps doing a whole summer abroad makes it economical to ship your POV across the pond? It can’t be cheap, though.

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:44

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Welcome home! So, do you need a vacation to recover from your vacation?

ttyymmnn > WilliamsSW 06/14/2018 at 09:48

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Thanks! I need a vacation from my family after my family vacation. Lucky for my wife, she got to go to work today. I’m looking forward to symphony rehearsal tonight, though I haven’t played in 1o days. Chops are going to be a bit rusty.

Amoore100 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 09:56

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Awesome! Way braver than us—we’re currently staying two weeks in Rapid City for the National Parks and caves, etc. but we left our ‘05 Odyssey in California and flew here to rent a Sienna. So far we’ve done Rushmore and Wind Cave—can’t wait to do the Badlands and Needles and much more!

ttyymmnn > Amoore100 06/14/2018 at 10:03

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I’m an inveterate driver, and I love to see what’s in between. We dodged some huge thunderstorms over Rapid City when we were there. The Badlands are absolutely stunning, and be sure to allow some extra time for scrambling around the Needles. We stopped at Wind Cave but did not take a tour. I can’t say enough about Custer SP. After the fires of December, it’s greener than it’s been in many many years. If you have time, the jeep buffalo safari and chuckwagon dinner is a good time. You get to see parts of the park that regular people don’t, and you get up close to the buffalo. It’s not cheap, but it’s fun. Ask for Randy, he was our driver and was fantastic. The Wildlife Loop is a great drive to see animals, and Spearfish Canyon is worth a drive. Enjoy!

random001 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:12

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Where are you getting 51 plates? Forgetting Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands....

heheh.

Sounds like an amazing time. I miss big road trips.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:19

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Your sticker is upside down.

This was a brave trip. My parents always talked about doing this kind of out west road trip when we kids got old enough. It just never materialized. I think you may have hit it at just the right time, when the kids were old enough to enjoy, but not yet absorbed in teen drama.

This would make a great movie, come to think of it. Do you look anything like Chevy Chase? Because I think he’s available.

ttyymmnn > random001 06/14/2018 at 10:33

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Well, I wasn’t expecting to see the Territories.

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:36

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Ha! I know the feeling - I had a bit of that after our week in California just recently.

It’s kinda nice now that I will have the summer off (and perhaps then some!).

Might need a bit of a warmup to get those chops ready for tonight!

Amoore100 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:37

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Awesome! Thanks for the great tips! Indeed, my dad is certainly a “it’s about the journey not the destination” kind of guy, but when we do road trips he tries to keep driving to a maximum of three/four hours a day to have enough time for sightseeing—at that rate, it’d take us weeks just to get here!

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 06/14/2018 at 10:41

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Brave? I don’t know. Long drives are in my blood. We’ve made numerous drives back east, another to the CA coast and back through the Grand Canyon, and last summer we drove up to Chicago. When I was 11, my dad took us on a month-long drive from southeastern VA to the Canadian Maritimes, all the way to northern Newfoundland (my parents were school teachers, and had summers off). A few years later, we flew to Seattle and did another epic drive around the Canadian Rockies. In the late 1940s, my grandfather drove my dad’s family from western PA all the way to the Pacific coast on the old Lincoln Highway. Others in my PA family “drive truck.” It’s in my DNA. My boys are good travelers for the most part, though they spend a bit more time on their handhelds than they do looking out the window. But I hope they take their kids on drives like this when they get older.

ttyymmnn > Amoore100 06/14/2018 at 10:51

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We always work in “get there” days. Which means lots of driving and little stopping to get to where we can hang out. The first day, from Austin to Lindsborg, Kansas, was 10 hours of just driving. The drive home from Amarillo to Austin was 8 hours of just driving. But those are the longer days. We rented a cabin at Legion Lake in Custer SP, and the days we didn’t drive felt kind of weird! I need to learn to mix in more sitting around. But there’s just so much to see....

greasemonkey235097 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:52

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how many transmissions did you go through during this trip?

ttyymmnn > greasemonkey235097 06/14/2018 at 10:55

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Still on the original transmission, 190,000 miles in. I have heard about people having problems, with them, but ours has been rock solid. We are, however, on our second engine.

random001 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 10:56

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I bet you’re one of those people who never expected the Spanish inquisition, either, huh?

ttyymmnn > random001 06/14/2018 at 11:01

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Well, to be fair, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

random001 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 11:14

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Truth!

JustAnotherG6 > ttyymmnn 06/14/2018 at 11:25

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Awesome memories right there. We did a similar trip a number of years back only started in MN and tacked on Yellowstone and a family reunion in Billings.

Western SD is quite beautiful.