July 3 Week Road Trip - Illinois, Missouri, and South Dakota

3 Week Road Trip of July 2019

This one was a doozy.  3 weeks driving, camping, exploring sites from home to Wyoming and back.  We bought an open trailer to load our camping gear and we packed the family in the mini van.  For some reason this sounded like a good idea.  Well, there were definitely parts of fun, and plenty parts of torture as well.  But the important thing is - we survived.   The other important thing is - I won't be taking a road trip any time soon!  

First stop was a 10 hour drive to Indiana State Park just south of Chicago along Lake Michigan.

With 4 kids, even just eating out is a major ordeal.

Next stop - Palmyra, Missouri.  Our Airbnb was perfect for us, but I must admit the bathroom finishes quite creative.

Palmyra is a church site that dates back to early pioneers travelling across the country in covered wagons.  They have made a whole village based on activities and trades during that time - even little pageant shows.

Cache having hard times. 

Happy 4th of July in Carthage.

Palmyra Temple

Loving this wallpapered bathroom.

Back on the road for another 8 hours.  Heading through the big sky country and into Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

This was the biggest bug guts ever.

A quick stop at a playground and off to our teepee for the night.

The beautiful Falls Park.  

Back to the open road heading to Mt. Rushmore, SD.

Yuck, Easton's nasty spider bite that required a quick trip (well an hour) down the Mt. Rushmore hill and to urgent care.  

Bingo at KOA where the boys won poop and emoji hats.

Our awesome pee tent jug of pee.  

Now we head 7 hours to Cody, Wyoming for a quick rodeo before entering Yellowstone.  Note to self:  Don't wear flip flops to the rodeo next time, especially when they invite you to the arena for a calf race.