Chicago second time around was well worth it, though it's interesting to compare the style of the two tours. The bus was parked a good half hour walk from the main areas of interest and we were sent on our way with a very basic map and some info and told to be back at 10:30 that night. I was very glad I had my bearings and a better map already and was able to help some of the others too. We had some breakfast and headed into town after purchasing tickets to an architecture cruise for later in the day. It was well into the 30s and so air con was very welcome at the visitors centre. It's amazing how important Wi Fi access and places to charge my phone (both also at the visitors centre) have become since we are not in hostels at night. I tried to do a walking tour of the millennium park but the volunteer guide didn't turn up, apparently sometimes they don't if it's too hot, and I can't say I blame them. Instead I went for a wander on my own and met up with the others later for the cruise, which was well worth it. Did you know the Chicago River is the only one to have it's flow reversed by human intervention? They did it because it was too polluted and in danger of damaging their drinking water source, of course the cities and states down stream were less than impressed! I visited one of the city beaches and then went up the John Hancock tower for the view before heading back to the bus.
Speaking of the beach, one thing that seems very odd to me is how almost all the swimming places we have been have lifeguards and you are not allowed to swim if they are not on duty. Even tiny little pools or areas of a lake surrounded by buoys, but I suppose it's safer than not. One place we went the lifeguards cleared the pool every hour or two while they went on a break, even when there were two of them!
After Chicago we had two more night drives. I'm losing track of which day is which, but I think next we had a "relax" day in a State park with an artificial lake type pool (felt like a bit of a wasted day to me, but I understand some people like to include that in a holiday. Me, I'm here to travel and see and do stuff!). There was also a visit to a real American laundromat which was fun.
The next day we got to see and do stuff! We had an early wake up when we arrived in the Badlands of South Dakota (new state, check) in time for the sunrise. It was pretty spectacular and well worth it. The rock formations are crazy and the colours pretty beautiful. It's very desolate though and so very hot. We had a very quick breakfast and made lunch then at 7:30 headed out on a two hour walk through the area with the bus meeting us at the other end. We realised pretty quick the drivers were right having is do the walk so early. Boy was it hot! Amazing scenery too.
From there it was a wee drive to Wall, home of Wall Drug and very touristy, but they also had a wee local swimming pool we could use that didn't even charge. Dinner was in the middle of nowhere, Indian tacos cooked up by Tammy and her children and served out their kitchen window. The story goes that more than 10 years ago a Green Tortoise bus had broken down outside a diner and the lady running the place had rescued them, and every bus trip in the vicinity has been back ever since. That lady is now in a rest home, and Tammy has taken over the role. It really was quite the place, I spotted a very rusted tow bar so obviously at one point it was a trailer home, but had long since been made permanent and added on to with rooms and a deck. They were very hospitable and we even managed to talk a bit with the kids. We then spent the night in a field. With no facilities. At all! Very interesting :-). It was fun sleeping under the stars (even some with tents didn't bother putting them up) but we did liberally apply the insect repellant first.
Now I'm up to today, and we've been to Mount Rushmore. Of course I've seen pictures and things but it's much more interesting than I expected. It took them 14 years all up to carve starting in 1927, mostly with dynamite and then jackhammers and chisels and there is quite a bit of info and footage of that whole process. I was also interested to learn more about Teddy Roosevelt who is the forth face (the others are Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln with whom I am already pretty familiar) and what he achieved as President. The theme of a lot of the info was how the nation was built up from the original 13 colonies into the final 50 states and I found that quite fascinating. We were supposed to do our own thing for lunch there but I was too busy seeing and doing stuff :-). We stopped at anther park with a lake, for once there was no lifeguard, but unfortunately it wasn't that nice a lake with lots of weed so we were pretty restrained. We had an early dinner as tonight's drive is the longest of the trip and the drivers don't want to be hurried. We did however just have a brief almost photo-op stop at "Carhenge" which is basically art made out of old trashed cars. It's very cool, but as I'm now mostly using Mum's camera to take photos I can't attach one to this blog. I also have yet to figure out how to view photos I have taken, so Dad if you could text me some basic instructions I'd be most grateful, thanks!
I have taken a few with the phone though, attached is one shot of the Badlands and also one from the back of the bus in "daytime" mode. You can see the sleeping racks up top, and the back platform which is always that way. In the evenings of the driving nights we do the "miracle" which converts the front to a similar platform and creates enough sleeping space for us all. We have it down to a fine art now.
I'm managing to keep up with the news on Stuff and also managed to talk to Dad the other day. Mum had 1470 photos when she got home, there is no way I'll manage anything close to that!
Love
Sarah
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