February 8, 2009 Serious planning is on

We are in the midst of planning to finally "blowing this popsicle stand." Carol's recovery from her total knee replacement is coming along well and she will be able to travel in the 5th wheel soon. We are leaving mid-April or so for an extended trip to the Mt. Rushmore area. We will travel south from Michigan through Indianapolis, IN, on to St. Louis and Kansas City, up to Omaha, then to Casper, WY and then to Rapid City, SD. That should take a couple of weeks or so. We have heard about a zoo in Omaha that has "the world's largest indoor rainforest" and a large indoor desert area, both under "bubbles". We are looking for do other things to see and do along this path. Also, interesting places to eat. Since we have no timetable for travel, we will stay a night or a week as we travel to different locations. We will probably stay two weeks in Rapid City because of so many things to see there. We just hope that there are no late spring snowstorms as we get out into the foothills of the Rockies. If so, we will just have to improve our Yahtzee game, I guess. After South Dakota, we are not sure how we will travel back to Michigan. We probably won't know until we actually do it.