September 8 th We had been looking forward to going to Nashville since our stop in Memphis at the beginning of the trip. Everyone had said that Nashville was even more “happening.” We were actually disappointed when we arrived and started looking for a hotel.  It felt like we had entered another town suffering desperately from urban […]

Après une dernière matinée à Jacksonville et la fin du chargement de la voiture (tout est plein même avec la banquette arrière relevée), nous reprenons la route après cette semaine d’arrêt. La direction est simple : plein nord. Rapidement, nous nous retrouvons en Géorgie où nous quittons l’autoroute pour faire un petit détour vers les […]

August 30 th This morning we woke up early to a beautiful blue sky. I was actually too warm in my sleeping bag last night (the low was only around 60F.) We were on the road by 8:00 and arrived at Old Fort Bent around 8:30. Fort Bent was a trading post along the Santa Fe […]

August 29 th We started the day with a quick visit to the cute little town of Manitou Springs. There were several accessible springs, and we filled up our bottles with soda water (naturally carbonated.) It was sweet and refreshing.  We were surprised that there isn’t a company bottling this delicious water today, but I guess […]

August 28 th We woke up early on Sunday morning, but both of us were feeling drained from our intense hike the day before.  We made pancakes for breakfast and then packed up camp. The drive out of Rocky Mountain National Park was pretty- we were on the lookout for bighorn sheep again- but to no […]

August 27 th After months of hiking, we decided to challenge ourselves by climbing one of the famous Colorado fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet tall.) Long’s Peak in Rocky National Park is one of the most popular and most difficult hikes in Colorado but it’s not a technical climb, meaning that we didn’t need ropes and […]

August 25 th-26th After a good night’s sleep (strangely, it wasn’t very cold at this altitude- we were camping at around 7,500 feet), we woke up the next morning ready for some good hiking. We took the shuttle bus (a welcome relief after several long days of driving) to the trail head of Bear Lake where we […]

August 24 th We started the morning with a visit of another fort (it was becoming habit.) This time it was Fort Laramie, another Indian Trading Post. This fort was crucial during the Indian Wars and served as a rest stop on the Oregon Trail. The site is a mix of ruins and restored buildings, some […]

August 23rd We started the day with a visit to Fort Robinson which has held many purposes in its long life: first a trading post with the Indians, a fort to protect settlers from the Indian attacks, a central post during the Sioux wars and cavalry training camp, a canine training camp, a prisoner of war […]

August 22 nd After four days, we packed up camp and took the road south towards Nebraska. Our first stop was just outside of Custer State Park at Wind Cave National Park. Wind Cave is famous for its box work formations (they are said to resemble post office boxes.) We took a guided tour underground and […]

August 21 st After spending a day exploring the plains, we decided to spend a day exploring the surrounding mountains, the Black Hills, where we had been camping for three days. Surprisingly, the highest peak between the Alps and the Rockies is here in the Black Hills. The granite mountains with their lakes and forests are […]

August 20 th We awoke to a nice sunny day, refreshed and ready for our next visit…this time to Badlands, a national park about 100 miles east of where we were staying. After leaving the Black Hills, we took an unremarkable highway through vast prairies. We were at the edge of the Great Plains which covers […]

In red : what we did

Blue circle : where we slept and visit

Green square : what we visit

En rouge : notre trajet

Cercle bleu : où nous avons dormi et visité

Carré vert : ce que nous avons visité