Well it is April, which for the 3rd year in a row means it is time for me to return to Yellowstone for another 6 month summer season. This is not a new adventure into the unknown, but one into the familiar, one that will be filled with new stories to tell and experiences to laugh and learn from. Tony and I have started this chapter of our story on Sat. April 16th when we left South Carolina with his parents RV, his 2 dogs (Roxy and Sam), and my civic being pulled along for the ride. To the average person the thought of living in an RV for half a year my seem a bit odd, but for us it is quite exciting! If you work in Yellowstone, dorm life is really the only option unless you have an RV, and it has worn thin over the years for me and never settled well for Tony. Dorm rooms have limited space and a fairly odd living situation, but not being able to cook for yourself is the real problem for us. The EDR (employee dining room) is cafeteria style meals that employees get there meals at. To put it as nice as possible, Tony and I will not be missing the EDR this year and will be thoroughly enjoying the freedom to cook for ourselves some healthy food in the RV. We have plenty of space and all the comforts of “normal living” including a couch, table, kitchen sink, stove, oven, queen bed, and bathroom.
Since gas prices began to sky rocket just in time for our gas guzzling experience, we have decided to stay for free as “boon dockers” in Wal-Mart parking lots. Now for those of you who know me well, you will understand the torture this puts me through. I don’t like Wal-Mart…at all. There is something about the high fluorescent lights beaming onto the poor quality Chinese merchandise that I simply can’t stand. I feel that Tony has chosen this method of travel for his own delight in watching me have near melt downs when we pull into the parking lot. So far we have slept in 3 Wal-Mart parking lots, Mt. Juliet TN, Columbia MO, and Sioux Falls SD.
The drive through TN was very windy and tiring for Tony, who is driving the RV for the first time and was still getting the feel for it all. However we arrived at Wal-Mart just fine and the first night we were joined by a JB Hunt truck driver as guests of the asphalt, and it at least had something similar to a pond to walk the dogs around. We woke up, walked the dogs, ate breakfast, and hit the road by 9:30. Tennessee was very pretty and nice weather, we drove through Nashville and I saw the skyscraper that reminded me of batman’s head and ears when I passed through with my Dad years ago. We then drove through a tiny corner of Kentucky and onward to the not so exciting or pretty state of Illinois.
There are not too many opportunities to site see in the RV (due to parking) and we are in a time crunch to beat the weather since I check in on Saturday. After Illinois we hit construction in St. Lois MO and saw the Arch from the window. I have to admit, it is one of the more run down cities I have seen. You can tell that at one point it must have had a very good factory industry that has fallen away. By taking many of our business overseas and taking the “bigger, better, faster, cheaper” route in life has had obvious effects on lives of St. Louis. However onward to Wal-Mart we went, and stopped at one in Columbia MO and joined many truck drivers there for the night. There was also a crazy lady with her puppy and truck that resembled the Clampet’s, baring three spare tires…I guess she was expecting lots of flats on her trip.
Then onward through the Midwest! Across MO we went and in and out of Kansas until we hit Iowa! Instead of the corn fields I had anticipated we saw a good deal of flooding and an excessive amount of beaver and goose dwellings. Through the rain we drove onward to Sioux Falls, SD. The first Wal-Mart we tried was loud and busy, so we tried our luck with the other one in town. This one had a large grassy area for the dogs and was much quieter than the previous attempt. Finally we were joined by three other “boon docking” RV travelers, we were not alone in this Wal-Mart adventure. It was quite rainy, so I never saw these folks, but I can’t help but feel that we must have been the youngest of the crowd. We enjoyed a homemade pizza filled with veggies, chicken, and pineapple, just what you need after a long day of driving. I must admit it was the best pizza I have ever eaten in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
