Trip to Chicago from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

[70DartMike]

We went in one of the largest caves in the world, and had the complete tour. Pretty interesting. They told a story of the first person to discover the cave, he discovered it as a child, and would tie a string at the top, and wander down into this cave, holding the ball of string so he wouldn't get lost, and spend hours and hours down in this cave, exploring, but all without light. The people who explore the new tunnels said they still find long pieces of string leading down tunnels they haven't yet gone down.
Oh, the cave also has some sort of vacuum, which sucks air in as well as blows it out. The park ranger held a ribbon over this hole, and the wind coming out blew the ribbon.

Ohhh yaaa..

This Caddy was out in the parking lot.

We drove out to see Mount Rushmore, only to find they had it set up like airport security. You had to drive through a huge security zone, and pay a fee just to park in the parking lot and look at it. So I pulled over in the 'Do Not Pull Over' zone and took a quick picture.

We got a kick out of some of the gas station names ..

We camped out in a small town for the night, (sorry, again can't remember the name), and couldn't find a good place to park, so Evelyn drove us down a dirt road which she thought led to a field. Well, there was a field, but it was behind barbed wire, so I suggested we just sleep in the car. Ya great idea Mike .. somehow I got shafted to the drivers seat, in a Toyota Yaris (Evelyn's car). Talk about a horrible sleep.
Anyways, the best part!
While falling asleep, I notice a person with a dog walking towards the car, so I'm thinking 'OK, someone doesn't want us here,' so I get out to see what the issue is. A lady walks up with a growling Doberman, and I asked if she wants us to leave, and she said 'Oh, no no, I just wanted to warn you of a guy who sometimes comes down this way. He.. well.. he likes to molest animals, and he has a liking toward that white horse there.' (Points towards a stable in the field) 'and he also was arrested for f*cking his bull in the arse' .. Oh ya? Great place to camp out for the night Luckily the animal molester didn't come by.
Anyways, there were some cars in the field, oh and I think I have a picture of the poor white horse.

We went to Wall Drug, but it was ridiculous. I couldn't even get a Ginger Ale, they didn't know what it even was, let alone any kind of ibuprofin. So much for a drug store, more like an over populated over priced gift shop full of useless crap.

 

[Dart_440]

Nice.. how long was this trip?? I haven't even seen any pics of Chicago yet.

 

[67Dart440GT]

Great pics, is it just me or does that dog have a bladder bigger than the dog itself!

 

[70DartMike]

And we drove through the Badlands. Pretty neat terrain out there, hard to believe early settlers tried to set up a town down in that area.
I seem to have taken lots of pictures of the Badlands.

Oh that's definatly a good one of me ;) Must have had a LOT of sun in my eyes.

We then went to the Corn Palace. I didn't realize the place was so old, as in dating back before the 40's. For those of you who don't know, all the designs on the outside are made of corn.

And here are some earlier designs of the building, from previous years.

We stopped to camp the night in Blue Earth, and they had the Green Giant, so we grabbed a picture. Lots of fireflies out, first time I've seen that many flying around at once, really cool! First night of the trip that I got really wasted too.

And driving past a wind farm.

When we arrived at Evelyn's parents in a suburb just out of Chicago, we went out fishing on the Great Lake. This was my first time fishing on a boat, I think I did alright.

Evelyn's mother and her took me for a tour of Chicago the next day, and took me up the Sears Tower, and just around downtown a little.

There were people screaming, unable to handle walking out on the glass. Understandable though.

Saw a Ferrari in the underground parking lot.

And that's the end of it. The next day, I flew from Chicago to Pheonix Arizona, where I transferred my plane and flew to Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks for looking, if I find the rest of the pictures that were lost, I'll be sure to post them.

 

[memike]

Thank you for sharing a great trip, I bet it was a trip to remember.
That is the first time I ever seen the carving of George W. and others.

 

[70DartMike]

Nice.. how long was this trip?? I haven't even seen any pics of Chicago yet.

The trip was 2 weeks, but I only spent about 2 days in and around Chicago.

 

[340_dart_power]

Great photos, and it looks like you had a fantastic trip. Thanks for sharing these.

 

[70DartMike]

Awesome pictures Mike. Too bad Evelyn turned out to be a nutcase, redheads are my favorite hehe In the first Whitehall (I think?) junkyard picture you posted, there is a '73-'74 Charger crushed in that pile, you can see the taillights

I know, when I turned the corner around the fence, all those poor cars that were crushed, it was pretty sad to see. They had a lot of stuff that I didn't take pics of, I was a little nervous even taking pics.