My dad has been to many different states. One state he has never been to is North Dakota. Until now he didn’t think it actually existed. But now he knows it does. We drove through the legendary North Dakota today, folks, and it was boring. At least we have proof that it is real.

Yesterday was a busy day. We left Pocatello and made our way to Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a huge park, the largest. It is also the oldest in America. The first thing we did at the park was go through Fountain Pain Pot. It had some really cool geysers, something I had never seen before. It is really amazing to see the water shoot up from the ground. There were these things called mudpots which were basically mud that bubbles because it is so hot. Those were different from anything I’d ever seen.

After that we went on the Firehole Lake Drive where we got to see more geysers. We drove more making some stops to see more hydrothermal features when we eventually got to Old Faithful. We went in for lunch and we were lucky enough to be done at 4:30, ten minutes before Old Faithful would burst. We got there just in time to see it go. It was huge; the largest we had seen. It was really cool.

On our way back out of Yellowstone, we made a few stops. The first things we saw were bison. The baby bison looked like baby tigers. After driving a little more, we saw what we thought were female elk. We were about 25 yards away from them and they were pretty big. Then we saw a male elk in the water just standing there. Our last stop was a ledge that had a great view of the beautiful sunset.

Today we go to Yellowstone again. We will post pictures once we get some more reliable wifi.

The first thing we did today was see an organ concert at the Mormon Tabernacle Church. The man played a few songs and it was really cool. After that we went to see the Great Salt Lake. The only problem is, it wasn’t great. I would say something about it but I was taught that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. After that, we continued on the road.

Last night was interesting. After eating at Arby’s at 4:00, we went to Zion which was really cool. After that we started driving. A lot. By 9:00 we had lost phone service and that didn’t come back until 10:00 which wasn’t very fun since we had nothing else to do. At around 11:00 I started getting hungry. The problem was, there was no where to eat that was open for 100s of miles. I wanted Taco Bell and there were none from our spot to our hotel. Around 12:00 we all had to make a bathroom break. The first gas station we tried was closed. The second gas station wasn’t just a gas station. It was the holy grail of gas stations. We had stuck gold. This was the best gas station ever. At this time, I hadn’t eaten for about 8.5 hours so I was starved. I found a two hot pockets. A Mac and cheese and a pepperoni pizza. I stuck them in the microwave for a minute each. And they were the best things ever. I had rediscovered food. The delicious pockets of food were a gift from God. I could now rest easy. Finally, at 2:00 we reached our hotel and went straight to sleep.

Wow. Today was a really long day. With today being the off day for the runners, we were able to get out of our hotel 9:00 in Farmington, NM. I think that’s 11:00 back in Ohio. Once, on the road, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. It was about an hour drive. The entire drive, we tried to figure out which hike to do.

When we got to the welcome center, we still weren’t sure what to do. There was so much. We figured out that we would do the Cliff Palace tour. We bought our $4 tickets and jumped back into the car for a really cool drive up the mountains.

These views were beautiful. I think I was the only one not having a panic attack. It helps to not be afraid of heights. We were really high. About half way up the mountain, we stopped at the cafeteria. A cafeteria on the side of a mountain, imagine that. After eating there and browsing the gift shop, we got back in the car to finish the drive.

At this point it was 12:30 and we still have two hours until our guided tour so we went to the Spruce Tree House which had a bunch of cool cliff dwellings and even a Kiva — underground room — that we could go down into, built in the 1100’s Once it was 2:00 we went to our actual tour which they made seem really scary and treacherous, but it was really nothing. We saw some more cliff dwellings and kivas. Finally, we drove down the mountain with three of the four of us panic stricken.

At 5:00 we arrived at the Four Corners Monument which is really just an area owned by the Navajo’s that they close off to make money. For $5 a person, we got to stand in four states at once, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It was cool to walk around four different states in under a minute but I don’t think any of us have any reason to do it again.

Who ever told Arizona that it’s okay for them to not follow Daylight Savings wasn’t thinking. It screwed all of us up. I’m still not 100% sure what time it is now. It is supposed to be 10:41 but I think it is 9:41. We left four corners and drove for awhile. I hid away to watch a movie and soon enough it was dinner time. Along the side of the highway, we saw signs for a Burger King. But this Burger King was special. It had a Navajo Code Talkers museum exhibit inside of it.

We walked in and started looking at stuff. Little did we know, an actual 93 year old, former Code Talker, walks in with his family. He had the jacket on and everything. We got to talk to him, get a picture, and even sign my recently purchased book. That was really cool and he seemed really happy to have someone interested in what he did.

None of us liked that Burger King. We aren’t what you would call fast food people, so we kinda didn’t have dinner. But at least we met a cool person. As of now, 9:47 (12:47 at home) we have just gotten into the Grand Canyon National Park and will hopefully be arriving at our hotel soon.

Sorry for the long post, there was too much to say. Oh, I almost forgot. The girls are winning the license plate game. Well that’s it for today. Good night.

We believe that Oklahoma is officially the most boring state in the entire universe. We have been in the state for about a long time and have about a little while left. We hope to get to our hotel in Amarillo before 10 CST.

One of the highlights of today was the fly. Oklahoma is so boring that a fly hitched a ride with us on our way to Texas so that it could get out. No matter what we did, that fly would not get out. It even followed us inside to dinner at the Rib Crib. A place that doesn’t seem to like your cups to not be full.

Even the government knows the state is boring. The speed limit in Oklahoma is 75 MPH, with a minimum of 50. They got many complaints about the state being boring that they had to raise it.

We got to see the the OKC Thunder Arena downtown. I’m not sure how they can have a team because the city doesn’t look like it can afford it.

In case anyone is wondering. The males have found 40 of the state license plates and the females have found 37. It seems obvious that we will find them before them.

Tomorrow we look forward to another day of driving and hopefully some eccentric roadside attractions. We are somehow still on all speaking terms but I’m not sure how long that will last. Wish us luck.

At an official time of 10:10 EST, we left our home of Kirkwood to our first stop, St. Louis. We have a lot of stuff in our car as you can see in the pictures. Our Garmin, Aka Gina, has us there at 2:30 CST, or 3:30 EST. But that’s without lunch, some ice, and a stop at Great Clips.

We will be playing the License Plate game. Boys vs girls. The first person to find it, gets it for their team. If they’re lucky, the girls will get within ten plates of us.