The bulk of this summer will be spent at our “new to us” RV lot at Traverse Bay RV Resort in Traverse City, Michigan. However, to get there, we had a bit of a haul from Idaho. Traveling across the country with an RV is certainly the way to go, and we made the most of our cross-country trek by stopping along the way to visit family and friends. 

From Idaho we stopped at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park near Whitehall, Montana to check out the caves.  Discovered in 1892 by local hunters, these caverns went on to become Montana’s first state park. As one of the largest known limestone cavern systems in the northwest, people have been exploring the caves for over 100 years. However, Lewis and Clark weren’t among them though they did explore in the area. We were glad we took the two hour, two mile guided walking tour that gained an elevation of 300ft, ascended over 100 stairs, and descended over 500 stairs. 

While in the area we checked out a place where Lewis and Clark definitely stopped:  the headwaters of the Missouri River. Steve lived along the river as he was growing up in Blair, Nebraska, and he’s always had a fascination with the river. Now he’s been to where it all starts.

As we crossed Montana, we made a stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This area memorializes the US Army’s 7th Cavalry, Crow, and Arikara scouts and the Lakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapaho in one of the American Indian’s last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25 and 26 of 1876, 263 soldiers, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer died fighting several thousand native warriors. It was a quick stop for us and a sobering reminder of the lives that were lost in the battle for western lands.

After several more days of driving we landed in Elkhorn, Nebraska and the home of Steve’s brother Brian. During our two day visit we hung out with the kids, spent time in the pool, and celebrated my birthday. It’s always fun to stop at Brian’s house!

As we traveled through Iowa we made stops in Corning to visit the cousins, in Des Moines for lunch with our friends Dan and Jackie, and in Muscatine to spend time with Steve’s high school buddy Kent and and his wife Lori. Unfortunately we didn’t take any photos of our night with the cousins but we did remember to snap a few at our other stops. Again, our RV lifestyle allows us to stay connected with so many of our loved ones, and for that we are grateful.

We had one more stop before arriving to our new place in Michigan. In Elkhart, Indiana, Steve attended the Lippert RV Owner’s School. For three days he attended classes related to plumbing, electrical, roofs, suspensions, and more. He doesn’t promise to be able to fix your RV, but he now knows more than he did before. 

Next we arrive to our new home in Michigan and we’ll have another post soon to give you all those details.