Our journey began in New Paltz on the morning of Sunday the 22nd. Cheryl, Matt, and I were sent off by amazing friends who packed us with a four square emergency kit, cds, and so many good wishes. The last night in New Paltz had over a dozen of us marching up and down Main Street acquiring burritos and produce. We played four square, ate pie, the cover band played, and I think that everyone was trying their hardest to make us see the mountains of reasons that we didn’t ever need to leave.
From what we’ve seen, though, this summer is the time to go places. Gas prices factor into that a lot, but the mounting post-graduation kinetic energy definitely does, too.
On day one we drove through Pennsylvania and over to Ohio, arriving in Columbus in the early evening. Cheryl insists on honking the horn erratically whenever we enter a new state line, even if she is not the driver at the time, so it is worth noting that she honked the horn wildly twice during the course of the day. 
Once in Columbus, we were greeted and escorted around town by Matt O’Conke. We hung out on the porch at the Stink House for most of the night, eating lots of pizza and drinking wine, and talking to a bunch of rad Ohio kids. We got word that Ohio has a huge alpaca population, which made us regret our poor planning, as we were set to leave Ohio first thing in the morning, and hadn’t left any time for alpaca visits. Eventually we went back to the Monster House and had an amazing night’s sleep.
In the morning we said goodbye to Ohio and pals, and ate yet even more pizza for breakfast, which was the perfect way to head out. Next we were going to Chicago, where my brother Jared lives! On the way to Chicago, we ran into signs for a candy factory off of the freeway.
We eagerly stopped there and filled our car with enough raw material for toothaches that I’m still brushing sugar from my mouth. We also discovered Chick-O-Sticks, a vegan butterfinger bar that we have since bought armloads of at every gas station we spot.
We got into Chicago at around 5pm on Monday, and went to Jared’s house to be greeted by him, and Alan and Noah, both in matching costumes. We hung out and went and ate at Sultans, my favorite place to eat in Chicago. We met up with Cheryl’s friend Doug along the way, too! After Sultans we headed to Quimby’s, and then to Millenium Park to see the bean and the fountains.
We then went into the Art Institute so Jared could get some things, and were issued amazing visitor nametags that looked like they were taken on an arcane Game Boy camera.
We headed back to Jared’s after that, and hung out on the balcony and talked with Jared and his friends, as well as Cheryl’s friend Troy, until we eventually went to sleep.
In the morning we packed up and left Chicago and decided to caravan Alan and Noah’s car and our car to the Badlands. We had originally planned to go to Minneapolis the following night, but decided to skip it in favor of powerhousing it to the Badlands. We essentially did a 15-hour driving day, stopping along the way periodically to do jumping jacks at rest stops, and to get gas. Alan’s GPS guided us to a dining establishment in Dexter, Minnesota named “The Oasis.” 
It was a hole-in-the-wall type bar and grill that we entered with caution, and where we were greeted by a crew of elderly stone-faced regulars and a menu boasting 5 different types of fries. Naively, three of us ordered the “vegetable burger,” and during a game of pool we began to expect that it would just be a meat patty with a few scant vegetables on top. And that’s exactly what it was. Also, Alan knocked the 8 ball into the pocket during one of the first few shots of the pool game.
We continued driving after that, our car playing Pass the Pigs on the dashboard all along the way, the other car listening to Kelsey Grammar read his autobiography on tape all along the way. At a rest stop, Cheryl taunted prairie dogs and we did 30 really solid jumping jacks together inside a huge structural teepee.
We stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota to catch a glimpse of the Corn Palace, yes, a palace crafted out of corn husks. 
We arrived after it was closed, so we are unsure as to what it contains. More corn? A gift shop? We’ll probably never know.
As it got later, it started to thunder as we drove and it was raining really hard. Still a few hours from the Badlands, the lightning was getting pretty epic and we decided that camping that night, or even driving further, would be a regretful idea. We stopped off in Presho, South Dakota and stayed at Hutch’s Motel, a place where they don’t take incredibly kindly to dogs or bird processing.
We slept so well and ate at Hutch’s Lounge in the morning. South Dakota is a weird and beautiful state.
We drove into the Badlands that Wednesday afternoon, and it was completely breathtaking. We checked in at the visitors center, and had lunch (once again getting cheated out of the veggie burger option) and drove out and started to do some off-trail and definitely terrifying hiking. We eventually traveled around and scoped out a site to put our tents down in, located right in the middle of a valley of little mountains.
We set ourselves up, and hung out, hiking and climbing and running on things. We broke out the four square ball at a point and played some Badlands four square.
Not paying much attention to the prospects of a repeat thunder and lightning storm of the previous night, we drank wine and sat on the sides of cliffs, incredibly oblivious to the doom about to befall us. As it grew darker and lightning started in the distance, we noticed stormclouds ascending.
Sitting at the top of the Badlands, passing bottles of wine back and forth, relaxing, we began to quickly realize the severity of the situation and were suddenly sprinting down to our campsite and wrestling away as much as we could before sprinting in pitch dark and rain through the Badlands back to our cars. As we ran up to them, my lantern giving off little flashes of light in random directions, it felt very much like we were in Jurassic Park, while earlier in the day the landscape was more identical to The Lion King. Oh, what weather can do. Matt took on the heroic role of forging a path in the mostly un-touched Badlands while we ran to the car, as well as making sure that Cheryl and I didn’t fall and die on our way. We got to our cars safely, abandoning many things back in our tents, and drove to a parking area. We slept in our cars that night, without any more comfortable options, and while it was a desperate situation, we all were so happy to be alive and together, and so surprised at how funny it was that we hadn’t considered the weather very much until it was directly upon us.
next entry: Cheryl, Matt and I do Mount Rushmore, a South Dakota winery, camping, Buffalo Bill, Yellowstone National Park, and beyond!
Love,Kate (&Cheryl and Matt)
