Read the first half HERE.

According to Penny, we still had three miles to go before we would reach the bottom of that hill. I was nervous for our own safety, but it was hard to concentrate so much on that when I was worrying about the fate of Wanda, stuck in the mud, cliffside - especially because we realized ten minutes after leaving the T@b, that we didn’t put her emergency brake up. After a minute of wondering how much of a chance she had of not rolling off the cliff, we realized she would be pretty safe because she was STUCK IN THE MUD.

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A long and detailed recount.

Mark, Mister and I left Fort Bragg and headed towards San Francisco, around 6pm on Sunday night. Mark drives most of the time during the day, and always when it’s dark out. Lately we’ve only been driving at night and always down some loopy road. As Mark guided the three of us in the jeep, with Wanda the T@b in tow, down and around a windy highway, my mind began to wander. I thought about what I should write about for Wanderful’s Monday morning post. The past two weeks have been pretty enjoyable, but all we’ve been doing is spending the time looking at the Pacific, picking up rocks and thinking about the Redwoods - nothing you guys want to hear about I’m sure. My thoughts shifted as we made a left on a road (as advised by Penny, our GPS) with a bright yellow caution sign that read “WARNING: Through Traffic Not Advised”. A sign anyone would have listened to….except for us.

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Two long landlocked months are finally over…

Mister doesn’t care. He will always hate cold water. I tried to get him to come close to the wake but he resisted. Look at him dig his paws into the sand.

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-We’ve been through a major snow storm in the Rockies, and by major I mean every other person made it up that mountain just fine after they drove around the wussies from New Jersey, who were pulled over on the side of the road.
-Experienced a colder, less crowded Yellowstone with the same old Yellowstone fear of bears, and apparently an even bigger fear of elks during mating season. All National Parks give out a newspaper when you first arrive. Yellowstone’s had a photo of a bull elk on the left, and then a white-haired man running for his life on the right as the elk chased him down. “BEAUTIFUL….BUT BEWARE”, the headline read. Mark keeps saying that line at random times and I’m reminded of that hilarious photo. Ah, but still, the fear is real, beware. National Parks are into freaking visitors out with warnings like “BEWARE OF BUFFALO: VISITORS ARE GORED EVERY YEAR!” over an illustration of a guy, with a camera, getting gored by a bison. WTF? Yes. Effective? Very yes.
-Met, um, Montanians. The biggest raven I’ve ever seen in my life and I had to take a picture of it, when behind me came a menacing, deep, smoker’s voice “If yer gernna shoot it, use a gern huhuhuhuhuh.” Okey dokey. Also this line from a waitress “(maniacal laughing) Damn right you’re in meat country, this is Montana weeehaa!!!” Maybe she didn’t say ‘weeehaa’, but it could have come after her proud statement if she wanted. Anyway, Montana = meat country = fresh elk and buffalo jerky.
-Visited the small town, Arco, Idaho, whose claim to fame is that they’re the first town ever lit by atomic power.
-Went to the moon, or something like it.
-Sat in the passenger seat while Mark drove us for ten hours to Portland, OR.

It’s been longer than two weeks and I still keep thinking about those Badlands! And while I was thinking about them, I remembered I was supposed to write something about our second day in the Badlands. I have to admit I was too lazy to write it last week. Two weeks in road trip time = a month so I think maybe my memories of the Badlands are leaning towards the more dreamy, ideal side…

Badlands, before you I had never seen so much prairie in my life. Not that it would be normal to see any prairie in New Jersey, but I guess I didn’t know on what scale this existed and how it would effect my breathing (because it’s breathtaking harhar) until I was there, looking at yellow grass and blue sky as far as my eyes could see. Amazing, Badlands, bravo!

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Our pal Kate (aka Ms. Dawes) is teaching in a 5th grade class this year. They’re following our road trip on Wanderful and have their own blog, Wanderkids, where they’ll be posting their Wanderful related findings, projects, and questions for us to answer.

This is in response to their post from October 9, 2008.
Do you get homesick for your families ever?
Katie: I haven’t lived at home with my family for four years, so I don’t feel homesick, I just miss their personalities.  I’ve had a few dreams where I go back home to visit my dad.
Mark: I think about them often, but I’m glad to be on my own.

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I’m looking over a copy of Yellowstone Today as we get ready to depart for a day of hiking and shivering. On the front page is the header, “Beautiful…but BEWARE!,” followed by a picture of a white-haired man running like crazy from a behemoth of an elk. When the ranger handed me this newspaper at the information booth yesterday, Katie immediately gasped and coughed out, “Oh my God!” The ranger shrugged and smirked knowingly. “This is elks’ mating season,” she said. “They get to be pretty aggressive. Lots of people and cars get mauled.” So began our foray into Yellowstone National Park.

It was about 5:30 when we entered Yellowstone territory. There was plenty of light, but the air was quickly cooling down. We planned to take a zippy drive through the park, mentally noting some spots to visit the next day. The goal was to survey the land and then set up camp at a campground on the west side. Yellowstone is huge. It’s 85 miles from one side to the other — and that’s the express route. Starting as we were from the east side, I figured it would take us about two hours. Little did I know that we would be traveling through elevations of almost 8,000 feet, where ice clings to the road and makes cars slide around narrow roads with no guard rails. There’s nothing to prevent drivers from tumbling over dramatic drop-offs into icy lakes, expect the fear of death.

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The weather widget on my Macbook doesn’t update as I travel. Come on weather widget! If Facebook can freak me out by displaying an ad that reads “Cool Wyoming Girl Tees!” (the state we’re in right now), then you should at least be able to tell me what the weather is in whichever state I’m entering. Every time I check the widget, I find Montclair’s weather. So Montclair, I see you just had yourself a beautiful little weekend with weather in the high 70’s. I bet your sidewalks were bustling with attractive people (I’ve learned on this road trip that Montclair is filled with exceptionally good-looking people), the farmer’s market stands sold out of all their produce, and restaurants had a wait for outdoor seating. Well Montclair, this is what Mark and I were doing over the weekend:

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Mark and I decided we should drive all today until we were just outside of Yellowstone. That way we could wake up, set up camp and explore the park for the next few days. We skipped over Jewel Cave and all the other tempting tourist traps and continued pressing on - Mark by driving, myself by napping. It’s been lightly snowing since yesterday and we were getting used to driving in it by the time we left the Black Hills in South Dakota. Then the temperature began to drop, and the snow fall slightly increased. After filling up on gas in Dayton, WY we headed up the mountains where we met up with super heavy snow fall and had to pull over. We called 911 to see if we could get a patrol car to guide us but they were like “Yeah right you NJ wimps! Next time come prepared hahHAHAH!” Sort of. Mark drove us for a good 10 minutes (aka .2 miles) until when we (luckily) found an area to pull off of and park at for the night. We’re at some viewpoint where drivers can stop, pull over and look at the scenic view. We can’t see more than 5 feet ahead of us now, plows won’t be around until 8am!

We were without internet all of yesterday and life was good! We camped out in the Badlands National Park where there was no electricity or phone service, so it was impossible for us to update you on how awesome life on the road is. We’ll be back on Wanderful tonight with some stories for you all. We came crawling back to the campground we stayed at two nights ago, just outside of the park which has showers, internet and laundry - three things we unfortunately need every so often. Damn showers.

I want to be able to tell you so many things.  We had an amazing time and met wonderful, stimulating people in Minneapolis this weekend.  We took our bikes to the limit on cold rides through the city.  We learned second-hand the consequences of political activism.  Since Minneapolis we’ve driven hundreds of miles through changing landscapes, doing our best not to succumb to the lures of roadside tourist traps.  We couldn’t resist them all.  The reason for our current bouts with writer’s block must be the hours upon hours of driving logged yesterday and today.  Wearisome stuff.
Right now we’re at the Badlands in South Dakota.  We arrived just before the sun went down, so we haven’t really had a chance to explore yet.  What we have seen has blown us away.  I can’t wait to get better acquainted with these natural wonders tomorrow.
Right now my bones need to rest.