Monday morning we left Lawrence and headed west north. Obviously Utah was to the west, but we decided to take a leisurely route across the US and keep on sight-seeing (if only we could make a living doing this). I had never seen the Midwestern strip of states from North Dakota to Texas, so we decided to remedy that by hitting as many of the states in the area as reasonably possible.
Monday’s drive & Derby behind his divider
Our Monday drive took us through small towns in NE Kansas, then into Nebraska where we stopped for lunch at Omaha. The old town area we stopped made Omaha seem appealing enough from a glance, but we obviously didn’t spend much time there. From Omaha, we continued north straddling the Iowa/Nebraska border before hitting South Dakota. There we hit Sioux Falls and turned West for real. Then we drove along rolling prairie for a LONG time, taking breaks with amusing sideshows like the Porter sculpture garden and the world famous Corn Palace. After making our way just more than halfway across the state we stopped in the small town of Murdo for the night. We realized that evening that I had left my glasses in Lawrence…they would have to meet us in Utah.
Sculpture Park & The Corn Palace 
Our view throughout the entire eastern half of South Dakota
Tuesday was more of a sightseeing day since we were now near the Badlands and the Black Hills in SW South Dakota. A drive on the scenic route of the Badlands with plenty of stops gave us ample opportunity to take in the strange, pointed rock formations throughout this region. Supposedly they are being quickly eroded by the White river, but the river resembled a dried creek bed at this time of year. As we returned to the interstate, we made a stop at the “famous” Wall Drug general store. This place barrages you billboards for about 400 miles until you are brainwashed into having to visit. The store is amusing though, so was a good stop.
Badlands 
Susan and Derby & Jeff and our car 
A question we asked several times throughout the drive 
Jeff and a jackrabbit & A view inside Wall Drug
Another hour on the road and we reached Rapid City and the Black Hills. Here we started moving S/SW through the hills. Sightseeing included Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park and Wildlife Reserve before moving on to Wyoming for the night. I was very impressed by the scale of Mount Rushmore having finally seen it in person. Unfortunately, the evening did not go smoothly since the first town we planned to stop had no vacant hotels and we realized my wallet had been left at a Dairy Queen in Hot Springs, SD (apparently I wanted to leave breadcrumbs). Finally though, we came to rest in Casper, WY.
Derby had to stay in the parking lot but he was there! 
Crazy Horse Monument.. far from completion 
Herd of buffalos 
More buffalo & One of the many prairie dogs in the area 
The dusty back road we took out of Custer State Park 
On to Wyoming
Wednesday we were close enough to Logan to taste it so decided to drive straight through. We approached from the Northeast so crossed much of ranchland Wyoming before finally seeing some substantial rock formations. After a mountain pass in Utah we emerged along the shores of Bear Lake, a notable lake getaway only 45 minutes from Logan. It was impressive to say the least with its turquoise blue waters. However, wanting to complete the drive we bypassed the lake and drove into the Logan Canyon. Mid-afternoon we emerged from the canyon in the Cache Valley…our trek complete. Logan was a welcoming site as we descended to our hotel.
The final stretch!
Now to find a more permanent residence and settle in here.
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