OMG

Chicago deep dish.

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Chicago Day 1

Heading out to Chinatown for domain.

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Oswego!

We arrived about 2 hours ago.

Let's go White Sox?

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Wisconsin

Next is Illinois!

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Spam

We were contemplating where to kill some time in Minnesota... then we saw a sign for the Spam Museum. We checked on my phone.... its free.

Oh yes we are.

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Minnesota

Minnesota for the next few hours.

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Good Morning!

It's Day 4 of the journey.

Last night was great. Kelly has an amazing family. South Dakota should use the Olive Garden tag line "When you're here, you're family." It was great for both of us to get to spend time with Treva and Stephanie. It definitely won't be 12 years till we get back here and hopefully we can get all of them to come visit in NY.

Next stop is Owsego, IL where we will be for 2 days. One day in Oswego and one day in Chicago (We'll be staying with Kelly's God Mother, Auntie Rita).

If you have anything we should see in Chicago, comment and let us know!

Mission Complete

We saw a South Dakota gay bar.

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Mmmmm

Special note from Courtney:

I don't care how many national monuments I see or famous things... nothing can beat how welcome I feel right now with Kelly's family in Sioux Falls.

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Salem and Sioux Falls

We spent the morning in Salem, SD with Kelly's great aunt Marylynn and her husband Bob. It is a small town where the bank throws barbeques and you can just let yourself in to your neighbours house.

We saw their beautiful church which (for its 150th anniversary) had the State of Our Lady of Fatima. Google it. The guy who is giving the lectures on it told us all about it.... and then ask how our pilgrimage was going. We asked what he meant and he said that there is a Pro-Life pilgrimage and thought we were on it. Uhm. No.

Now we are in Sioux falls to have dinner and spend the night with Kelly's cousin Treva and her partner Stephanie. It'll be nice to not have to pretend to be sisters.

Tomorrow we are off to Oswego, OL (near Chicago).

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End of day 2

Salem, SD. population 1,133......

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Badlands.

Those of you who don't know what they are.... Google it.

Incredible!

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WTF

Just saw a naked guy on an air mattress with a cowboy hat subbathing on his own private pond (aka sewage ditch) on an air mattress. This was from I90 not on some backroad...

Welcome to South Dakota.

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Mount Rushmore

is so frickin big.

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Hi Wyoming.... Bye Wyoming... Hello South Dakota

After driving 20 minutes through Wyoming (and believe me that's all we needed) We have reached South Dakota! We are about 1hr and 30min from Mount Rushmore.

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Custer's Last Stand

We intended to only stay for 20 minutes but stayed for an hour because there was a wreath laying ceremony on the calvery and Indian monuments.

The highlight was that the man laying the wreath was Chief Sitting Bull's great grandson. His speech was about him officially "burying the hatchet" for his family. Incredible.

Yes, we took pictures.

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Morning in Montana

We are up early. There is a lot to see in the rest of Montana and South Dakota.

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Billings!

We made it... clearly behind schedule.

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Just saw a sign...

for a "testicle festival" AND one that said "Life... a beautiful choice."

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Butte

Dinner in Butte then 3 hours to Billings.

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There is a reason...

that Montana is the big sky country. Just wait till you see my pictures.

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On an unrelated note....

We are wondering why on earth the Yankees still let AJ Burnatt start...

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Missoula...

.... is not as flat as I expected.

338 miles to go.

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Hello Montana

We've reached Montana! We took a quick walk around Idaho so we're about 6 hours from Billings.

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Who's a ho?

IDAHO!

Making great time. We should be in Billings by 830pm PST.

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Cascades

After seeing the cascade mountains from afar for 2 years, I'm driving through them and they're even more beautiful up close. We were up so high that the clouds were below us and there was still snow on the tops.

We are now in eastern Washington!

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On Our Way

We are officially on our way!

First stop is Billings, MT. It's about a 12 hour drive so calls are welcome!

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Itinerary

Here's the plan:

Saturday, June 26th: Travel to Billings, MT.

Sunday, June 27th: Travel to Salem, SD.
With stops at Little Big Horn, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug and the Corn Palace.

Monday, June 28th: Hang out in Salem, SD. Staying with Kelly's family!

Tuesday, June 29th: Travel to Oswego, IL Staying with Kelly's family!

Wednesday, June 30th: Hang out in Oswego, IL

Thursday, July 1st: Hang out in Chicago, IL

Friday, July 2nd: Travel to and hang out in Dayton, OH

Saturday, July 3rd: Travel to Ronkonkoma, NY
With a stop in Gettysberg PA.

Sunday, July 4th: Party time in Ronkonkoma, NY.



That's the plan and considering we're staying with family and friends, we should be able to stick to that. Check in here for random bloggings along the way as well as pictures!