June 9, 2018: We crossed into our eleventh state traveled to around two hours ago—what a feat in itself.

It’s around 11pm Eastern Time (my new time zone, which is incredibly weird to think about being I have only ever lived in the Pacific Time Zone. We have finally made it to New York—state not the city. According to Google Maps we have 134 miles until we have hit our final destination—our ETA being around 1am.

This past week has been a whirlwind of fun, adventure, good sites, humorous conversations, tears of joy and sadness mixed in with a few overwhelmingly  tough times, too.

After going through Utah—read previous post for the full details of the first few adventures—and blowing out our RV tire, we encountered more issues… surprise, surprise.

We ended up detouring our trip a few miles because we wanted to all check seeing Mount Rushmore off our bucket lists.  We drove, with a few minor stops, to Keystone, South Dakota to see the Presidents in all their glory. Once in Keystone, I was astonished to see how beautiful the scenic drive was. I didn’t know the depth of beauty that the Dakota’s encompass.

We toured around the National Park checking out the premises. I immediately noticed the rush of wind that was audible through the tops of the evergreens and pines—even the smell of the crisp air was different from what I am used to.

From left to right on Mount Rushmore, George Washington sits high and mighty. The rock showing the smoothness of his face and the chiselled line of his jaw.

Did you know, the rock that is under George’s face is actually not the rock that his face is carved out of? It is a more malleable rock which is why George looks more weathered than the rest of his Presidential counterparts—who knew, right?

Thomas Jefferson is next, who is next to Theodore Roosevelt, who is next to the famous honest, Abraham Lincoln.

Though smaller than expected, we all enjoyed the trip—and extra miles—whilst loving the family time all together. It is something I will never forget and also a memory I will share with my children one day as I take them to visit the monument—what an amazing experience.

After, we drove through the night crossing over Minnesota and driving onto Wisconsin. We stopped here and there for different pictures but eventually had to stop because the next series of unfortunate events happened—I know you are probably thinking how possibly could more go wrong after blowing a tire, blowing the pooper tank, and then having to get 16 new tires on the RV… and I will just say thoughts exactly.

After driving for hours through the flat farm lands of Minnesota, and Wisconsin we had a tire completely come off its axel on the trailer being towed—might I add as we were on the freeway. Almost through Madison, Wisconsin we pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway to see the missing tire in the middle of the racing cars. My Uncle Mark, being the crazy guy he is, ran into the middle of the freeway, got the tire and then ran back to the RV. I’ll let you know, I was exactly thinking what you may be thinking reading this—Oh.My.Gosh.

We then pulled off the freeway so we could fix the tire, but to our dismay, we did not prevail. I am writing this as we pull a 30 foot trailer with three tires on one side and two on the other.

After, we stayed right outside of Cheyenne, Wisconsin— we visited the Mississippi River there too. I either suck at geography or was oblivious to the fact that the Mississippi River goes all the way up to Wisconsin.

Yesterday we drove through the early hours of the morning to then make our way into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

We spent the day at the Lake—taking a relaxing break to smell the fresh air and gaze upon the clear blue sky. I made a joke, went from swimming in the Mississippi to swimming in Lake Michigan, which we actually did. In less than a 24 hours span I touched both the completely different waters.

We are headed for NYC now, and with an extra large black tea in hand and Taylor Swifts 1989 playing in my headphones, I’m feeling pretty invincible as we gladly adhere to the 75mph speed limit signs dotting the toll roads—which, side note, is pretty damn expensive. New York City, here we come.

More to come on Eastward Bound Series so stay tuned readers for day seven and eight.

Eastward Bound, Uptown Maven