It seems like at the end of every summer I realize that it is almost over and then try to jam in a bunch of camping and outdoor stuff in late August and early September. However, this summer like much of my life outside the maze so far has been different. I was excited as I pulled into Glendo Wyoming having just spent a week discovering dinosaur bones and working on a mystery. It was awesome to hug my wife and kids after a week away despite getting them all dirty with my dust caked clothes. We camped the weekend, paddle boarded, and enjoyed some easy beach time at Glendo Reservoir. A friend of mine calls this place Wyoming’s mini Lake Powell:
It was as though the boys’ clothes bag exploded in the tent. Within the first half hour their stuff was everywhere. We are going to have to get better at this if we are going to be camping most nights on this 2 week road trip, I thought. Having spent more than a couple weeks on our our Spanish Adventure earlier this summer, my wife couldn’t join us on this one. So we said good bye at Glendo to start the trip just me and the boys.
I put on my driving music with some beef jerky and hot tamales handy in the cup holder. I love road trips and watching the movie of the American West through the windshield. It’s the great wide open with surprises in between:
Hot Springs South Dakota
We passed through several towns that actually proved to only be a couple houses and an occasional church or bar. Then we hit Hot Springs South Dakota. We did some adventures around the town including hitting up a hot springs pool the size of a football field called Evan’s Plunge. Originally opened in the 1800’s this giant rock bottomed pool is all naturally spring fed at 5000 gallons per minute. “So does that mean if I pee in the pool it is already in the river like a minute later,” asked my oldest.
You may notice that I don’t make a lot of endorsements on this site but on this one I can’t resist. There is a VIP pass that you can buy that gets you into all the most beautiful places in the USA for a whole year and it only costs $80! This miracle is the America the Beautiful National Parks pass. I used it during my trip to the rainforest earlier this year, attempted to use it at Arches and Canyon Lands, and used it repeatedly on this trip. If you are wondering why Teddy Roosevelt deserves to be on Mount Rushmore, National parks just may be the answer.
Wind Cave National Park
Flashing my sweet sweet VIP pass, we were waved into Wind Cave National Park. We promptly camped (for an additional fee) next to a Mennonite family. This resulted in a rather interesting discussion with my sons about religion and “why there are so many?”
The caves were closed because it was 300 steps up and down and the elevator was broken. To this I say buck up Wind Cave Nat’l Park! When did we get too scared to allow able bodied Americans to hike a few steps? However, a few points were earned back when the ranger gave a pretty passionate talk that my boys totally loved about preserving the environment.
Strange side fact, we were told not to get too close to the prairie dogs because they have the plague. Wait like the black death from medieval times I thought? We definitely kept our distance from those cute little whack a moles.
Road Trip Etiquette
One of the rules I had for this road trip was that if we see something cool out the window we can stop and check it out. With an 8 and 10 year old, we made some funky stops:
Jackalope, WY 
Giant Walleye, MN 
Crazy Balls, NE
Mount Rushmore
We hiked a fire tower lookout trail and drove a beautiful highway with spiral bridges and tunnels through solid rock that the car barely fit through to end up at Mount Rushmore. Like so many things, it was a total zoo at the viewing platform by the base, but with a short hike up the presidential trail around the side, we shared an empty platform with one other family that we had run into back in Hot Springs:
Go with the flow 
Take the road less travelled
Sturgis
We rolled through Sturgis within a couple days of the annual rally and got to see loads of bikers. Some of them, fringe counterculture folk and others dentists wearing leather for the weekend. I do have my motorcycle license and used to own a couple cheap bikes that I fixed up and got running but that was a couple of moves and a couple of kids ago. I haven’t spent much time in this biker subculture but remain, as always, curious.
Deadwood
Deadwood is a pretty cool and well preserved and/or restored wild west sort of town. Wild Bill was killed at a bar there. The poker table and entire scene was preserved and somehow transported to the basement where you can pay an admission to see it today. Calamity Jane lived there as well as a number of colorful characters. We took a cheap bus tour through the town and cemetery which the boys enjoyed. There were even re-enactment scenes from Deadwood’s history:
Deadwood re-enactment 
Wild Bill Shot Here 
Mainstreet Deadwood
So much of the romance of the west was that of a new frontier and a wild land where those with grit were larger than life. The romanticizing of Wild Bill and others adds to that ethos. They have been captivating people for hundreds of years and my boys were no exception.
A Budget Adventure Road Trip
We travelled an average of about 200 miles per day or $20 in gas per day in my old Honda Accord. Rather than buying drinks several times per day at a couple bucks each, we brought our water bottles everywhere and packed a few gatorades. We camped most nights preparing breakfasts and dinners on the camp stove and picnic lunches from the cooler:
Camp Stove Dinner 
Lunch Picnic
Occasionally we splurged for a restaurant meal or a hotel. With kids meals our dinner at Perkins one night cost us a reasonable $19.32 for example. The couple of hotel stays we did averaged about $70 but often included breakfast and a pool. Never under estimate the value of a pool to your kid, I learned. I also used the hotel stays as an opportunity to do free laundry:
campsuds + bathtub = free laundry 
$5 dollar dinner
With admissions costs to things, food, and travel costs, this trip averaged around $70 per day. I did not include wear on my car. However, I purchased this car used in 2009 for around $12K. I like to to think about how much less I’ve spent on cars than the average American.
This trip certainly could have been done cheaper but this level of frugality seemed to be a good balance to me. I also could have done this trip for far more expensive. After all, I am no longer in the accumulation phase. We have saved and invested enough to be financially independent and afford far more. I didn’t have to do laundry in the tub but I believe that it communicates something about thrift and value to my boys. I also didn’t really mind washing and hanging everything. Much like I hinted at in a previous post about the virtues of frugality, it doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. In some cases like this one it can actually be fun to spend less.
Devil’s Tower
I could almost hear the Close Encounters song as we approached Devil’s Tower and flashed our VIP pass. Like at several other of our camping spots, we met others on interesting travels. RV people touring the country, a family on an epic trip through 20 states, and more. When we rolled into camp, the boys sprung into action one setting up the tent and the other the stove. I ran between bringing gear to the tent and food for dinner prep. We had become a super efficient camping pit crew.
Unfortunately, my super old and crappy Coleman tent proved no match for a severe thunderstorm that hit us. It let in water like a sieve. By morning we had a couple of inches of standing water on the sides and in corners. The boys woke up soaking and everything took some drying in the hot sun the next day.
Badlands
Coming into the Badlands, we passed an abandoned town with an entire main street of empty buildings. There is really nothing around and it becomes clear why these are the bad lands. Dry and rocky, this is like another planet and the pinnacles complete this feel:
If you have ever been on a Western road trip you’ve heard of Wall Drug. It is a 76,000 sqft anomaly located in a town with a population of 776 people. Yes it is a drug store. It is also a shopping mall, a museum, has animatronic dinosaurs, and of course most importantly….free ice water. It’s a little disheartening when you try to introduce your boys to the American West touring some of the most amazing natural wonders. Then they claim their favorite part was Wall Drug. My oldest got a pocket knife as a souvenir and the sales guy spent a full 10 minutes discussing the features, safety, and how to care for the $12 knife with him. It was pretty cool.
The Midwest
Eastern South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnnesota. We drove through parts of each and I think they all share the identity that is the midwest. This is where I grew up. It is not as striking as some of the other sites we toured but it has its own charm that kind of builds if you spend an evening driving its 2 lane highways and roads:
The climax of our trip turned out to have a population of 267 and proved to be just a bit of a misnomer but it was fun to be back in Minnesota:
We got to spend some time with family, enjoy some lake time, and surprise my mother in law for her Birthday.
Returning From Our Budget Adventure Road Trip
As we pulled back into Denver, my odometer ticked up past 177K. I asked the boys if they wanted to just turn the car around and do it again? I got one yes and one “can we stop at home first.” I call that a win. When I was about as old as my kids are now, my parents piled all 4 of us into the car and took a similar road trip. I hope my boys remember it someday as I still do.
