April 29th, 2007
Chicago to Seattle via St. Louis and Mt. Rushmore

We arrived home on April 29th at 3:30 AM. As you can imagine, after being away for a month, we missed home just a little bit. So we did our best to get home just a day quicker than we had originally planned. The drive began in Chicago on the 26th where we stopped by the United Center to see if we could get a peak at the statue of Michael Jordan. Sadly the arena was completely fenced off and we were unable to get in and get an up-close view.

From there we made our way in bumper to bumper traffic to St. Louis. After 4 to 5 hours, we saw the Gateway Arch in the distance. We arrived at our hotel and waited until the next morning to go to the Arch. We first stopped by the Busch Stadium where the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals play. There was an actual game going on and when walking around towards the outfield entrance, we noticed we could actually peak in and see the pitcher, catcher and hitter.

We sat and watched a few pitches before deciding we should probably check out the Arch in case the weather decided to change on us. Good thing we did as it started to drizzle as we headed back to our hotel.

We arrived at the Gateway Arch park and we were stunned by the Arch. It doesn't seem all that special when seeing it from a distance, but up-close it's hard not to be amazed by it. We walked around looking for what one might consider the best view. After a while of taking some photos we headed back to the hotel, resting up for the big drive to Rapid City, South Dakota the next day.

We woke up early that morning and drove to Kansas City to meet a friend. We're not sure if we were in Missouri or Kansas when we stopped by for a drink with Stacy, but we did notice that the area we were in just south of KC was quite a nice high-end looking area.

We didn't get to stay long to chat with Stacy, but enjoyed the short time we spent with her. We headed north of KC, stopping just inside the stateline of Nebraska, just so we can say we've been there and then headed on until we arrived at Rapid City.

We spent the night in Rapid City and the next morning we headed out to Mt. Rushmore. We were only allowed in the parking lot of Mt. Rushmore, but one of the lots provided enough of a view for us to glimpse our nation's forefathers and once again we felt proud to have leaders who set the precendent for the freedoms we've been provided.

From Rushmore, we headed over to peak at Crazy Horse Memorial, where they're in the middle of shaping the mountain. They began work on it in 1948 and could take another 59 years to complete the mountain carving.

We left there and drove through Deadwood, finding ourselves quite underwhelmed. We then made our way to Sturgis, where again we were unimpressed, but figured perhaps things might pick up when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is actually going on.

We headed off to home from Sturgis, taking turns resting our eyes while the other drove. We had fun during the trip, but we're left unsure when our next trip is and where it might be. 10,000+ miles later we want to say thanks for all the support from everyone.

Stay tuned for our next travel video along with other videos we're looking to make.

Kenzie and Boone
Scottie Tails