Day One

So, we drove, and drove, and drove, and drove. And made stops for Meg every 5 seconds, and continued to drive. As we drove though Minnesota and Wisconsin, we saw nothing but green plains with little farms, and a few freaky windmills. We crossed the Mississipi river, which was actually pretty amazing! 

We decided before our arrival in the Badlands we would make a stop at South Dakota's biggest city, Sioux Falls (We believe that it's pronounced "sue" but that has actually not been confirmed).   It was a cute little factory town with a giant waterfall! It was so nice to get out of the car and finally see something beautiful, especially knowing we still had a five hour drive ahead of us. 

After a few more stops for Meg (I swear that girl has a bladder the size of a pea) we finally made it to the badlands!!!! Our 18 hour stretch was over and it was all worth it because it is absolutely stunning here. 

Unfortunately, things were not going to smooth sail for long. We found our campsite and decided we would set up our tent before going for a hike. Let's just lay the situation out for you in one word: WIND. It was so windy, were talking 35mph winds, that we could not set up the tent. It was blowing this way and that way, the poles bent and one actually broke. It didn't help that people were definitely watching us struggle to put this thing up. If Thelma and Louise ever attempted to set up a tent on a windy day I guarantee it would've gone better than our attempt. No one offered us help, so we did the most logical thing...decided it wasn't worth it, and made the decision to sleep in the car. And so on our first night camping, we will be moving all of our belongings to the front seat and snuggling in the back. YES! 

This is an example of what our tent would've looked like if we could've set it up. I mean that campsite are you kidding me? 

Finally, we were able to hike and take some amazing pictures. We did a loop around the whole park in the car and stopped at different overlooks. We are 87% sure we saw a herd of Buffalo! And we are 100% sure we saw some mountain goats! It really is so beaufitul here and the perfect place to start our camping adventures. 

We wrapped the day up with a great dinner of PB&J in the car because it is still too windy to eat outside. The good thing is we have some pretty great entertainment from our fellow campers who seem to be struggling with the wind as well! At least the sunset was too beautiful to make us care about anything else :) 

And We're Off!

They said, you won't do it...you won't actually go on this roadtrip! Well, they were wrong. As of June 29th at approximately 9:00 PM we began our journey. Bags were packed, goodbyes were said, and we punched our first address into the GPS.

Packed up and ready to go! 

Our starting point! 

First stop, the Badlands in South Dakota. A rather long  17 hour stretch  which will (hopefully) be our longest leg on the trip. We drove through Chicago with no traffic (mostly because it was 2:00AM) and hit a little bit of rain. Thank goodness a nice man at a TA advised us that the apparent tornado warnings were over!!

It took about 2500 shots to get this still blurry picture, but it's okay...we still love you a lot Chicago. 

Coffee for the all nighter. Only $1.49 at the local rest stop...what a bargain! And it was SO delicious 😝

Megan has only had to pee twice so far which is as close to a miracle as I think we'll see on this trip! Aside from the  outrageous toll prices things are going very smoothly!

Our Journey

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned U.S. Army Volunteers Commander Meriweather Lewis and his friend Second Lieutenant William Clark to explore the unknown territory acquired from the Louisiana Purchase. Although the journey had many objectives, the most important lesson learned from the pair was the importance of being with one's best friend, even when heading to the vast unknown. Two hundred and eleven years later, two girls, with different objectives but similar surnames, seek to travel to the great unknown. Cleveland, South Dakota, Yellowstone, Missoula, Seattle, Portland, and down the west coast, the pair will conquer plains, mountains, and beaches alike. They will camp on sites without running water. They will most likely spend nights and days with little to no sleep or food...but it will not be in vain. They will see beautiful places, hike on trails unexplored, and sing their hearts out to road trip songs until their voices are gone. They will have the adventure of a lifetime, until Luciano leaves Clymer to start her new life on the West Coast. Follow our journey here and enjoy our pictures and videos! It's going to be...awesome.