t the last three days of our trip, especially when some quite interesting things happened during said days – things we might want to remember and you might, for some odd reason, want to know. So now, a two weeks after the fact, I’m finally recording the final legs of our epic journey. Fortunately, I think at least the major details are still pretty fresh in my mind. The second to last segment of our journey began bright and early on the morning of Tuesday, May 31st, 2011, and it would take us from the Grand 
Tetons all the way across Wyoming and into South Dakota, to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. I really can say “bright and early” without hesitation because we got up at 6:00AM and despite the clouds and snow the night before the sun was out – FINALLY! It was the first clear morning (or clear span of time at all) that we had seen in the Grand Tetons, and man, was it beautiful. That early in the morning the sun was coming through a thin veil of mist which, along with the new layer of snow, seemed to diffuse the morning sunlight, making every corner of our campsite seem brilliantly bright, especially after days of overcast skies.
We could also finally look up to where the great Teton mountain range towered above us, abruptly rising more than 7,000 feet from where we were in the span of a few miles. Most prominent from our campground at Jenny Lake was Mt. Teewinot, the sixth highest peak in the range at 12,325 feet. I wasn’t about to let our one really good look at the Tetons get away without being photographed, so once we were almost packed up I took a short walk to the shore of Jenny Lake to take some pictures. Once there, I was met with what I think was the best (or at least one of the best) views of the trip. The lake was nearly still, reflecting the rocky and snowy peaks above with only slight ripples of distortion. It was wonderfully peaceful and, as I said, stunningly beautiful. As much as we were about ready to get home, I still think I would have liked one more day in Tetons with that kind of weather.
Soon after this we made our way out of our final national park of the trip (with a few turnoffs to take pictures of the finally visible mountains). As it turned out, though, leaving the national park did not mean that we were leaving the great scenery and mountains behind us. In fact, we actually went higher into the mountains the farther we went, and the snow got higher and higher around us. Fortunately, we were on a well plowed road, and the previous night’s snow was little more than slush as we drove through. On either side, however, the snow banks on the side of the road reached heights of five, then eight or more feet, and the landscape was completely white except for some high craggy peaks. We took it a bit slower than we might have on a perfectly clear road, but soon we were across the mountains, descending again into drier, warmer climes. 
As with many of the other states we traveled through, the large variation in climate and terrain over a relatively short distance was amazing again in Wyoming. We left the very snowy, craggy peaks and entered a valley surrounded by high plateaus and colorful water-shaped canyons – reminiscent of Utah far to the Southwest. From there we traveled into wide grasslands and finally into a high desert, before eventually reaching grassland again near South Dakota. Interestingly, despite some stretches of almost nothing, Wyoming didn’t seem to be a sparsely populated as one might suspect, at least along our route (unlike eastern Oregon).
Eventually we reached Casper, the largest city we would drive through in Wyoming. It was around lunch time, and being quite tired of turkey and cheese sandwiches for lunch every day, we stopped at an Arby’s for some wonderfully unhealthy fast food. Then we got some gas and continued on our way, and about an hour later the day’s real adventure began.
Rastro the Astro had been a stellar vehicle up to this point, providing us with ample legroom and luggage space, and no bigger problem than a blown fuse or two. This near perfect record of car health for the trip was not to last, however. About an hour after leaving Casper, we pulled into a parking area off of the interstate to switch drivers and the trouble began. As we slowed down nearly to a stop the engine began to sputter and cough and generally sound very unhealthy. This was accompanied by the illumination of the check engine light, and an attempt to accelerate again revealed notably decreased performance. As none of us really know much of anything practical about the inner workings of a car, we opened the hood and scratched our heads trying to figure out what was wrong and what we could do about it. Of course I called my dad, who does know a thing or two about cars, but it’s a little hard to diagnose and fix a car problem from 2500 miles away. We theorized that the gas we had bought could have had too much water in it, or there could have been an electrical issue – but of course we couldn’t really do anything about either of these issues where we were and with our lack of expertise. So we decided to backtrack about ten miles to the fortunately placed (for us) large-ish town of Douglas, which has several Auto Repair shops. On the way, we found out that once the van gained some speed it was almost like normal, so we didn’t worry too much about being completely stranded and soon made it the One Stop Autoplex, where fortunately they were not too busy to give Rastro a checking out.
After two and a half hours of waiting, we had learned that the problem had been mainly with the van’s distributor cap, which fortunately was a part they were able to get from across town and replace in pretty good time. After signing over what remained of our budgeted “Emergency Fund,” we were back on the road in an almost back to normal Rastro, with just enough time to make it to Mt. Rushmore before the lighting ceremony.
Looking back, we were unbelievably fortunate with everything about this car trouble. First, it didn’t happen in the middle of nowhere, far from any help. Second, it happened in the middle of the day, when we could go and get the repairs we needed right then and there. Thankfully, it wasn’t so serious that we couldn’t drive the car to get it fixed, and the malfunctioning part just happened to be readily available. Also, we ended up having budgeted almost the exact right amount 
of money in case of emergencies. And on top of all of that, we still made it to Rushmore on time! If we had to have car trouble, I don’t think the situation could have been any better.
We arrived at Mt. Rushmore about 20 minutes before the start of the lighting ceremony. As such, we could still look up and see the huge presidential sculptures with natural lighting. My first reaction to the memorial was actually that it kind of small. In reality, it really isn’t at all – George Washington’s face is 60 feet high! But after a trip full of seeing gargantuan God-made sculptures and landscapes (Like the Tetons that same morning), I think anything manmade seems rather small and unremarkable, no matter how amazing an achievement it really was. The lighting ceremony consisted of 
a talk and film about the meaning and history behind the memorial as well as the singing of the national anthem, and, of course, the lighting.
We left Mt. Rushmore right at the end of the ceremony to beat any traffic and headed toward Rapid City to find food and lodging for the night. It was almost ten and we hadn’t really eaten since lunch, so of course we were all famished (especially Keegan) as we pulled into a Taco Bell (woohoo). After dinner we just had to cross the road to get to a Best Western – the only motel we stayed at for the whole trip. After camping so long, it was like a life of luxury – beds, showers, TV, continental breakfast…it was wonderful.
The next morning we began the very last leg of the trip – 24 hours driving plus stops. Fortunately, it was fairly uneventful except for stops at the famous Wall Drug store in Wall, SD, the westernmost Chick-Fil-A in the country near Kansas City, MO, and a Cracker Barrel near Nashville, TN. Somewhere in there the van’s air conditioning also went out, so it got a bit hot in Iowa in the afternoon and then in Tennessee the next morning. But we just assumed God made it happen to help us reacclimate to the heat of the South and put the windows down without complaint.
Then, finally, we arrived back in Waynesville around 2:30PM on June 2nd. What a trip…it really was epic. But as awesome as it was, I think we were all ready to be home.
Epically late,
Daniel J.
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