Our trip cross country continued to Mitchell, SD. We had some problems finding places that would allow dogs and weren't complete dives. We found that La Quintas were very nice and pet friendly. We also are staying at the Kelly Inn chain were nice and clearly have everything we need to be happy:



Diesel also made a new friend at the Kelly Inn in Mitchell:



Mitchell is also home to the Corn Palace. Every year the Corn Palace is redesigned by a local artist. This years theme was the rodeo. We enjoyed checking it out!



From Mitchell we continued our drive across the plains of SD. I took a picture out the windshield just so you could have an idea of what I was looking at for 4 hours straight. Note the obscene amount of bugs on my windshield.




At one point I was attacked by a tumbleweed. Again note the amazing number of bugs stuck to my car.



When we stopped at a rest area we saw some interested publications for sale:




We weren't willing to pay for them but they do have websites. www.countrysingles.com and www.diabetescure101.com

We stopped at a roadside attraction on our way across South Dakota to have lunch. The cafe was in an old train car which was just was sweet as could be. I did snap a picture of Brian in one of the dining cars:



Next we stopped and drove through the badlands. We saw a bighorn sheep. You can't really see it in this picture but it's on the grassy area to the right.



Finally we made it to Spearfish, SD. My Aunt Molly and Uncle Pat have a great log home on top of a big hill with views of the Black Hills. We had a nice dinner Monday night and on Tuesday my aunt took us on a great trip through Spearfish Canyon, to Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore



where we saw mountain goats




and the DC Booth fish hatchery.

We ended with a yummy dinner at the local Mexican place, Guadalajara. We had a great stay and tomorrow we head on to Billings, Montana.

It's official! We're no longer residents of Columbus, Ohio. We hit the road today for our great cross country trip to Portland, Oregon. It was hard to leave our families, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors and our house, but we made it through. We made it to Madison, Wisconsin today where we had a yummy dinner from The Nitty Gritty, recommended to us by our dear friends Jill and Adam. The drive today was long, rainy and made even harder by a very upset Tito who does not like to travel in the car. We even had some sedatives from the vet that didn't seem to make a dent! We're going to try a higher dose sooner for tomorrow. Lily and Diesel are travel pros, nothing bothers Lily and Diesel doesn't care what he's doing as long as we're with him. Now all 5 of us are camped out in a hotel room ready for bed!

A couple recent pictures:

Brian, my dad, our neighbor Stu and his helper returning The Stove back down the street to Stu's place. Thanks for letting us use it for a few years Stu and Gail!



The day after our wedding my bridesmaids painted Brian and I'd bedroom from a really terrible baby poop green color to a nice soft cream color. They also left us a message which I remembered to take a picture of this morning.



And finally, one last shot I took of our first home together before we drove away. (sorry, can't rotate the picture for some reason)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!