The Rockies, Yellowstone, and the long road home

After the incident at Exit 88, we drove through the Rockies, and it snowed. This was June at the time.

In Yellowstone, while hiking through the geysers, we came upon a mother Grizzly bear and her two cubs. It was adorable and frightening all at once.

After a full day in Yellowstone, we had a nice meal at the lodge and watched Old Faithful erupt while sipping on cocktails.

At a Utah Welcome Center, we met an incredibly nice and helpful lady that confided in us that she believed hummingbirds were little alien probes.

For the last leg of the trip, we stopped over in Las Vegas and checked out the Pawn Stars pawnshop.

The Incident at Exit 88

In the middle of Wyoming, 30 miles from anything in either direction, our van broke down at Exit 88. There was, off the exit, what we found to be an abandoned truck stop. A man ran up to help us and tracked down a replacement fan belt. This is that man.

He drove us 70 miles (in each direction) to find the part. The entire time his stories were getting stranger and stranger, to the point where Daisy and I were wondering when he was going to pull over and begin hunting us for sport.

Miraculously, we made it through this adventure unscathed, neither one of us harmed. In retrospect, what felt like the beginning of a horror film ended up being the act of a kind stranger in the middle of nowhere.

To hear the full account of the epic tale, check out Daisy's blog.

South Dakota

The Badlands

As we drove into the Badlands, you could see the storm brewing on the horizon. The radio was playing "Highway to Hell," and we knew this would be an interesting night. 

The camper part of the roof is like a sail and as the wind gusted through the Badlands, the camper rocked back and forth as if we were on a ship at sea. At one point, we made a mad dash into the rain at 2am to save the bin full of Daisy's My Little Pony collection.

Crazy Horse

Because of the cracked windshield, we needed to spend an extra day in Rapid City. 

However, this gave us time to see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse, which are both impressive.

Crazy Horse is particularly impressive, because they are carving an entire mountain and it is still a work in progress.

 

The First Leg of the Trip: The Midwest

Hippie Van

 As we were leaving Maryland, we stopped at a 7-11 and ran into this man, who gave us quite a stir. He was fascinated with our "Hippie Van" and would not stop talking to us.

Into the Midwest

In one day, we drove from Pennsylvania, through Ohio, and into Indiana. I want to clarify that Daisy drove the ENTIRE journey, because I do not drive stick.

 She tried teaching me at one point, but I did not pass the test.

Chicago Tales Around the Campfire

 The next day we stopped in Chicago, which was a beautiful city, and I wish we had more time to explore it. The architecture alone was amazing. That night, we roasted marshmellows over a campfire and had a dinner of hotdogs and S'mores.

Spam & Cheese

Wisconsin really likes Cheese. And Minnesota has a giant can of Spam. Kinda awesome.

Missouri River

This is right before Daisy tried to teach me how to drive stick. Immediately after me failing, a semi kicked up some gravel and chipped our windshield (which will be important later)

Rainy day in Lucca

After our adventures in Siena, we then went to Pisa and Lucca. Sadly, it rained a bit in Lucca, but it was still a wonderful city and we had (yet another!) delicious meal.

Pisa is also quite cool if you take some time to step away from the Field of Miracles and explore the rest of the city...

YEAR 2 DAY 366

IT IS SO NICE TO BE HOME!!!!!!!

I love to travel and I had a wonderful time back east with my wife's family and my own

but it is nice to come home




so that is it a year and a day of drawing (this year was a leap year)

the makes 2 years in a row

will i keep it up

yes

i find it a great outlet for my creativity and excellent practice

are all my drawings good

hell no

but over time i have seen improvement



this year i want to work more to make my drawings solid

and try and do a background once in a while



thanks for all the nice comments

and I encourage everyone to start a blog and do a drawing a day

HAPPY NEW YEAR