Day 11: Bar Nunn, Wyoming to Custer, South Dakota

As usual we intended to leave around 9 and actually left around 10:30. Today's reason was because the bathroom started leaking. The water was coming from somewhere near the bottom of the toilet and running out the door and down the floor. It was also leaking out of the RV onto the ground. My dad asked for help from the RV park owner but he couldn't tell what was wrong, My dad also called the RV rental place but had to leave a message. We left without really knowing was wrong and just hoped it wouldn't leak too much while we were driving.

In the midst of this, my mom did say to me that maybe we should only have taken a week-long trip, which may have been a good idea but then we would never have made it to Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons and I will never regret doing that.

We stopped at the Walmart in Casper to stock up on water and other food. I also bought some Wyoming t-shirts for the boys and me and a great Wyoming towel because I really needed a new towel since my towels were left in Minneapolis.

I later realized that somehow one of the t-shirts did not make it into the RV so I called the Walmart several hours later to ask if someone had turned it in. No one had, but they said I could come back and get a new one. I told them that I was about 4 hours from Casper and will probably never be back there again. Oh well.

While I'm sitting here, I just want to give a little shout out to Ellie for putting up with all of us. Ellie is 19 years old and just finished her first year of university. She is going to the University of York in England, where she is majoring in archaeology. Sadly, her first year was majorly affected by Covid. While she was having the time of her life, making lots of new friends, and loving her field of study, she was forced to fly back home and do remote learning in Minnesota. I have to give her credit for wanting to come on this trip, since my children and I tend to overwhelm people by our sheer number and by our endless amount of energy. Not only does Ellie patiently sit and listen to the boys go on and on recounting what happened on episodes of their favorite Nickelodeon shows Henry Danger, Victorious, and iCarly, she has also tried her best to go with the flow with a bunch of people who have the very best intentions to stick to a schedule and somehow never manage to do it. She has gotten used to leaving two hours later than we say we will which then also means that we eat lunch and dinner hours later than we think we will. She knows her limits and knows when she needs to go on a little walk or sit and read. Her maturity astounds me. I am also deeply impressed with how open-minded, tolerant, and politically aware and active she is.

Ellie has come up with a very helpful well to make the kids clean up. She plays the song "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles and like Pavlov's dogs, they hear this song and start cleaning. I am planning on using "Watermelon Sugar" forever. I'm not sure if this song is appropriate for children as I'm not actually sure what Watermelon Sugar is, but I am pretty confident that the song is not actually about sugar from a watermelon. I guess what they don't know won't hurt them. After all, I saw Grease for the first time when I was 4 and probably saw it 20 more times by the time I was 10 and never once realized that any of the songs had anything inappropriate. I remember watching it in my twenties and being rather horrified.

I also need to take a moment to thank my parents for deciding to go on this crazy journey in the first place and for also putting up with my wild crew. I need to thank my dad for doing all the driving, sometimes up to 8 hours a day, without once saying that he was tired or his back hurt or he needed a break. He has also learned so much about how to drive an RV and what needs to be done when we arrive and leave every RV park. He is also the most fun-loving grandpa and finds so much pleasure in helping the boys explore and learn new things.

I need to thank my mom for being so patient and easy to be around. I want to thank her for just going along with whatever we wanted to do, for helping make most of the lunches, for being a great co-pilot (when she doesn't close the Google map app), for helping clean up, for putting up with the kids when they just can't calm down, for helping empty the toilet, and for doing her very best to enjoy this trip when it is out of her comfort zone. She is so good hearted and her love for my children is infinite. She is the best listener and an excellent advice giver. And even though she describes herself as an introvert she doesn't ever seem to get too overwhelmed by us.

And my kids, oh these boys. I don't know how they do it, but they somehow never run out of energy. If I had a dime for every time someone said to me, after watching them run around at a restaurant or a park or jumping in an out of a pool hundreds of times, "Oh, they'll sleep good tonight." I always shake my head and say, "Yes, they'll sleep good tonight, but they will also be this energetic until I finally force them to get in bed." They could go on and on for hours. They have also been completely fine with having hot dogs most days for lunch and really haven't complained at all about the long hours of driving. They also don't complain about wearing masks, which just shows that kids can probably handle things better than most adults. They have shown me that they can amuse themselves for hours on end with a ball, a creek full of rocks, some paper to make airplanes, or just each other. I really would never have wished having four boys in a three and a half year window on anyone until now. When the quarantine started in March I thought to myself, "Finally, having four kids all makes sense." I have four boys who like to play the same games, watch the same movies, and almost wear the same size socks. Every once in a while I feel like Diego feels a little too old to do the stuff the others want to do, but then I see him pick up one of his 13 otter stuffed animals and I know that he's still a little boy at heart.

As for me, what I have learned from this trip is that I like the outdoors a lot more than I thought I did. I also prefer sleeping in hotels after I spend time in the outdoors. I have learned that I still need to put on lipstick even if I am wearing a mask, but I am completely fine with going to th bathroom behind a tree if necessary. I have learned that I need to be slightly better about waking up and getting going, but I also know that wishing this won't actually make it happen. I was born on my due date and my mom likes to say the this was the last time I was actually on time. I have learned that I could probably go on vacation forever as long as I am learning something new and doing something interesting.

Okay, so I take that back about my dad not complaining. He just complained. He missed a turn off because my mom fell asleep, I was working on this blog, and Ellie was playing Minecraft on her phone and we didn't realize that he went the wrong way until it was too late. He was upset that we weren't paying attention and we were upset that he didn't just ask us which way to go. The end result was that we couldn't go to the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs where we could have seen mammoth bones and an active indoor dig site. Because we missed the turn off, the Mammoth Site was way out of the way so we just went straight to our next RV park.

It's actually the best thing that could have happened. The Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort in Custer, SD is by far the best place we have stayed. We thought the KOA Palmer Gulch was the best, but this place is even better. It isn't as crowded. It has more space. The pool is beautiful. They even have free popcorn in the reception area, which we didn't have because of Covid, but someday we'll go back and eat a bunch.

The Buffalo Camp Resort in Custer has lots of options. You can stay in a tepee, a cabin, a treehouse, a glamping tent, pitch a tent, or rent an RV spot. I'd love to come back some day and stay in a treehouse, a glamping tent or a teepee. We asked to see a teepee and considered getting one for a night, but Diego said he would rather sleep in the tent next to the RV.

We went the pool and there were hardly any people there so it felt very safe. After pool time, we drove to Custer, which we could actually have walked to because it's so close to the resort. We ate dinner at a fantastic Mexican place on the main drag of Custer called the Begging Burro Mexican Bistro, named for the donkeys who beg for food in nearby Custer State Park. My mom and I had the best shrimp tacos and Ellie loved her enchiladas.

Diego, Nico, and Alex decided that they were going to sleep in the tent. Alex was pretty happy at first but quickly decided that he was too scared to sleep outside. After he and Luca fell asleep inside the RV, I went outside to sleep with Diego and Nico in the tent. The temperature was supposed to get down to 54 degrees, which is pretty cold for sleeping. The boys were so excited to be sleeping in a tent outside. It was their first time and they were so excited that they could hardly fall asleep. We were already pretty cold despite our layers of clothing and blankets. It was a little hard to sleep because I kept waking up feeling cold and worrying that Diego and Nico were too cold.

Ellie set her alarm for 3 am to wake up to see the meteor shower. We heard Ellie and my dad come out at 3 so then we all woke up too. Diego went out to watch with them. Once we heard them oohing and aahing we decided to go out too. My dad and Ellie went inside and Nico, Diego and I stayed out there for a few more minutes. We only saw three meteors but it was very cool. Then Diego said, "This is the best night of my life. We are sleeping in a tent and we saw a meteor shower." When you hear your child say something like that, everything feels right in the world.

I know some people might be questioning our decision to take a trip like this in the middle of a pandemic. I also questioned myself. Was it safe? Was it selfish? Was taking an RV a good idea? When Diego told me it was the best night of his life, I realized that going on this trip was the right decision.