Trip toward home turns into a Trail of Tears!

Arkansas is cool! Who knew?

We blew right through Oklahoma only stopping for about 6 hours in one campground and 1 hour at the Bass Pro Shops in Oklahoma City. We thought that Arkansas would be just about as boring as Oklahoma but were pleasantly surprised to find that Arkansas is really, well, pleasant.

The first best thing about Arkansas is their rest area and welcome center on I-40 as you enter the state from Oklahoma. Its housed in an authentic looking log cabin and is staffed with a lady to tell you everything you need to know to enjoy the state.

So we drove through the Ozarks in the morning and decided we would stop at a city park for some excercise in Little Rock. Well we got sort of lost on the way to the park but found ourselved in the midst of the nicest neighborhood we'd ever seen. We finally found the park and it was fantastic. In fact, most of the Arkansas River frontage in Little Rock is actually a series of parks with about 24 miles of walking trails under shady trees. Jack and I walked across the Arkansas River on their 1/2 mile bridge constructed just for pedestrians. Our impression of Little Rock is that other urban areas in the south should really take a look and steal some of their ideas.

We left Little Rock and camped two nights at Village Creek State Park in eastern Arkansas. Arkansas also has some really great state parks. One of the draws to Village Creek is their horse trails. All day long, horse trailers enter the park. The park even has stalls that you can rent for your horse while you camp nearby. Another draw to the park is that it contains the last visible evidence of the Trail of Tears. There is an old road within the park boundaries built by the military appropriately called "The Military Road". The road was constructed primarily to expedite and facilitate the removal of Native Americans from the East toward Oklahoma. Hayley is pictured above hiking the same trail that the Cherokee and Choctaw were forced to march in the 1800's.

And still another great attraction to this park were two beautiful lakes with swimming areas. Even though the water was cold, Hayley and Jack both went swimming. We also got the canoe wet again for several hours. While watching the kids swim, we also met two nice locals, Melvin and Carolyn who sat and talked with us for a while. Melvin is a bit of history buff and shed some light on Meriweather Lewis' demise (likely a suicide) on the Natchez Trace.

Overall, we determined that Arkansas was the "Sleeper" state of our trip because we really had no idea it would be so good.

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Everything really is bigger in Texas! While traveling down Route 66 in Amarillo, Texas we stopped at "The Big Texan" Steakhouse. All up and down Route 66 are large signs advertising a free 72 oz. steak in Amarillo. The hitch is, its only free if you can eat it within one hour. I really wanted to give it a try but my cholesterol and blood pressure are already too high so cooler heads prevailed and we settled for some really rare prime rib. Really rare.

Another highlight to our time in Amarillo was a visit to a real Livestock Auction. The Amarillo Livestock Auction is listed in a tourist brochure so we thought it might be sort of cool. Well, it was really cool but it sure wasn't touristy. We walked into the auction arena in our shorts and crocs and every cowboy in the place did a double take. I've never felt so out of place in my life. We were certainly the only tourists or mere observers to the auction. We quickly learned that this is big business and the well accessorized cattlemen in the audience weren't there to play games or put on a show for us. Of course, the only seats we could find were right down front so we had to parade ourselves down the middle isle to find our seats. Anyway, we sat through the auction not really understanding everything that was going on. After the auction closed, we did get a chance to talk to one particularly well dressed cattleman and he answered all our questions about what was actually happening in there. The final impression here is that cattle farmers in Texas aren't much like tobacco farmers or vegetable farmers back east. These guys seem to be rich and savvy.

America's Second Largest Canyon

While we were in Taos, we met a nice old guy that took an interest in mapping out our remaining time on the road with us. His #1 suggestion was that we stop at Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas. We're certainly glad that he insisted we stop because it really is something to see.

We spent two nights down in the Canyon. It is the 2nd largest canyon in the U.S. and is formed by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. And it is in such an unlikely place because the area around Amarillo is seemingly completely flat. We camped here two nights and on our last morning here we took the six mile long trail up to the "lighthouse". Pictured below, it is a

Who-do. Who-do's are formations where hard rock on top remains after the softer shale beneath it has eroded away. That was some hike and I can't imagine hiking it in any weather warmer than that which we experienced.

The six mile hike took a bit of a toll on Sam since he continuously ran 100 yards ahead of us and then 100 yards behind us back and forth. He probably ran 12 miles to our six. Plus, the canyon is the international headquarters of the Prickly Pear Cactus and Sammy found that out the hard way. Cindy spent the next several days getting all the Cactus stickers out of his legs.

Get your kicks on Route 66!

If you haven't seen the Pixar animated movie "CARS" then go out and rent it right now. Or call us and we'll let you borrow it because we've seen it about a dozen times. Its a really great movie about a car that gets lost off the Interstate and finds itself stuck in a town that was once a thriving Route 66 stop. When the Interstate came, the town got bypassed and came upon hard times. Well, Route 66 still has a lot to show Americans on the road and we needed to take a look.

Above is a picture of the great view we had when we were descending from the "high plains" to the "low plains". By the way, America is a REALLY big country.
Out in West Texas is one of the Mother Road's greatest silly attractions....The Cadillac Ranch! Ten 1960's Cadillacs buried in the ground to sort of look like they were planted and sprouting. I didn't know that it was also in the middle of a huge cow pasture. But there's a fence right on the side of the old Route 66 and, of course, we got out and hiked through the cows to see 10 half buried Caddys. Only in America!

Taos Canyon To Philmont

So after two nights we departed Taos (elev. 7200 feet) and ascended up Taos Canyon toward the east. This turned out to be the prettiest scenery of the entire trip. After only about an hour of slow driving we started seeing the property signs of the Philmont Scout Ranch.
For those of you who weren't in the Scouts, visiting Philmont Scout Ranch is like a pilgrimage to Mecca for a 15 year old boy. And I was 15 years old when I got to spend a week there backpacking through the Sangre De Cristo Mountains. Unbelievable scenery and wildlife. Uncle Carey Durham was even chased by a bear while he was camping there many years before I went. Anyway, I was glad to show it to the family and someday in the future I'm sure Jack will be hiking their trails.
We stopped for lunch in Cimarron at the St. James Hotel where a lot of famous gunslingers spent a lot of crazy nights (their last night for about 20 unlucky ones). Jesse James was even a regular. I had been there on my way to Philmont as a kid and was excited to show Hayley and Jack where all the bullet holes were in the ceilings. Cimarron was a stop on the Sante Fe Trail and, back in the 1880's, was a real happening town.

Taos, New Mexico

Just before you arrive into the town of Taos, New Mexico from the west, you cross the Rio Grande Gorge. You're driving on what seems like an endless very flat plateau and then all of a sudden you're on a bridge and the bottom falls out beneath you 600 feet below. Very cool.
Be warned! If you don't like Pueblo architecture you should never step foot in Taos, New Mexico. Pictured above it the "Taos Pueblo" located on a reservation just outside of town. But every building that we could find in town was designed to fit into the look of the Pueblo. You just haven't lived until you've seen a Pueblo version of Wal-Mart. You name it shops, hotels, government buildings...all Pueblos. Taos is also a hub for southwestern artists and the home of Kit Carson who was sort of a "Daniel Boone of the west".

Snowball Fight on the Continental Divide is a Prickly Experience!

From Mesa Verde we headed to the southwest to visit the Four Corners of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Check out www.hayleyadventures.com for a great picture of Hayley doing a Twister move into all four states at once.Around Four Corners we came to the nasty realization that we would have to start heading back towards the east if we were to have any chance at all of returning to Mount Pleasant in time for the beginning of the kids' swim team season. So, with heavy hearts we moved toward the rising sun for the first time in over a month! By this time all the snow had melted in the lower elevations. But the pass we took through the Continental Divide still had several feet of snow on it even though the temps were into the 40's. The snow was really heavy and wet and made perfect snowballs. I hit Cindy square in the chest from about 50 feet away. We were joined on the snowy ridge by truckloads of snowmobilers getting in the very last few days of thick enough snow for the year.
Just what is that thing climbing up that tree? I wasn't sure at first and had to seriously fight down the undercurrent running within me that said,"If you shoot it, you can examine it much closer." Well, we're pretty sure its a porcupine. I didn't even know there really were porcupines anywhere. But we got out of the car and chased it up this tree. It had really long sharp spines all over it which, I guess, narrows it down to at least something in the porcupine family? But we let it go without shooting it anyway because Cindy said she wasn't sure how long to cook it and we didn't see one of those "Turkey's done" poppers anywhere on it.

Cliff Dwellings of Ancient Puebloans

The weather finally improved here today long enough for us to go and visit the Cliff Dwellings of the Ancient Anasazi people. These cliff dwellings were used by the inhabitants from about 700-1300 AD. Surprisingly, the cliff dwellings have survived quite well and getting the chance to view them was certainly worth the wait.
We opted to take a guided tour led by a National Park Service Ranger. This turned out to be a really great decision because we were the only four people on the tour. In the summer, there can be as many as 60 people on the tour so we were privileged to be able to ask as many questions as we wanted and the guide took particular interest in educating Hayley and Jack.

There are about 100 different cliff dwelling areas on the south side of Mesa Verde. These Ancient Puebloan people are the anscestors of the Indian tribes of the Pueblo, Hopi, Zuni and many other contemporary tribes. The cliff dwellings were "rediscovered" by two cattle ranchers in the 1880s. The dwellings were built of sandstones and mortar. The back of the dwellings were storage areas, the middle living areas and the lower front sections were the Kivas. The Kivas were certainly the most interesting part (Hayley is pictured ascending out of a Kiva above). The Kiva was a sacred family place where only a kinlike clan could enter. Sort of like our little camper. The whole way back to the campsite from the Mesa we talked about what our Kiva should look like. We won't tell you because our Kiva is private and sacred to us.

Overall, we all agreed that visiting the cliff dwellings was near the top of our list of favorite things we've had the opportunity to do this trip.

Look who lost a tooth!

Happy trails

Yesterday we took a horseback ride through a canyon located a few miles from our campground. Hayley has been interested in getting on a horse ever since we arrived here in the west. We watched "City Slickers" one night and that further piqued her interest!
We asked our campground hosts if they knew of an outfitter that would take us on a tour this time of year. We always seem to be a little early for many of the seasonal activities and were worried that we wouldn't find anyone operating yet. Luck was on our side and we found a real cowboy to take us on a beautiful trail ride. The kids were just grinning from ear to ear!
We enjoyed a 2 hour ride through varied terrain and elevations. We all were a little saddle sore when we hopped off!
Note: We are having some tech difficulties with one memory card that has our trail ride pictures. We'll share when we get it figured out!

Mesa Verde National Park

Tonight we'll camp at the base of Mesa Verde (pictured above). We're staying at a really nice private campground that has a real Southwestern feel to it. Plus, they have cable TV and Wireless Internet in your camper. That's tough to beat!

Tomorrow we'll drive up on top of the Mesa and explore the National Park. Not only is this Mesa a National Park but its also one of the original 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites due to the remaining cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi people found there. We'll see it all tomorrow.

Across the Continental Divide

Sitting in our toasty warm camper in Custer, we came to the realization that a passage through the Rockies in Montana at the place Lewis and Clark performed it is just not going to happen this time of year. By Monday morning, enough snow had melted in Custer that we could actually get the camper out of the campground. So we made a run for it. The forecast was for more snow in Custer on Monday night. So we decided to head south to avoid the snow. Well, that didn't exactly work out as planned as you can see from the picture above. The bottom line is that there is snow in the Rockies right now and its hard to avoid. But anyway, we zoomed through Wyoming into Colorado and stopped for supper in Fort Collins. Then we drove through the night down Interstate 25 and took the US 160 route across the Continental Divide (pictured above). The route took us to over 9000 feet and I actually had some trouble breathing in the thin air.
But, as usual, the scenery was unbelievable. Pictured above is the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Oh, but on our way across Wyoming we did pass some more Prairie Dog Towns. This time one was brave enough to let Cindy get a picture of it before it darted back into its hole.

4 Days in Custer, South Dakota-Straight from the horse's mouth!

More about this guy later.On our first day in Custer, South Dakota, everyone told us that the snow would stop and it would melt tomorrow. Well tomorrow came and it just kept on snowing. But that didn't really slow us down. They keep the highways pretty clear so we took off over the hills to the Mt. Rushmore Memorial on Friday. It was snowing pretty hard but we got some good peeks at the sculpture anyway. They have a good visitor's center with lots of history about the Presidents as well as Gustov Borglum, the sculptor of the memorial. We also saw our first Mountain Goats on the drive up to Mt. Rushmore. But there are actually two mountain sculptures in the Black Hills. Hayley and Jack are pictured above at the Crazy Horse carving. It was started in 1948 by a sculptor that had previously worked for Borglum on Mt. Rushmore. This statue will be much larger than Mt. Rushmore when completed. It took them 50 years just to get the face completed. But now that the face is complete, many more people are visiting and progress will probably increase. Unlike Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse is in no way supported or financed by state or federal government. The family of the sculptor (now deceased) is carrying on the project. At the base of the mountain they have an American Indian Museum and in the future will have the first American Indian Medical University.So on the third day, everyone (including the weatherman) kept saying that tomorrow the snow will stop falling and begin melting. But they didn't know what they were talking about because it got down to 4 below zero in Custer and kept on snowing. Here is Hayley at Horse Thief Lake.

The real highlight of our time in Custer was our daylong visit to Custer State Park. Calling it a state park really doesn't do it justice as it is like no other in the country. It is 71,000 acres. It takes all day to drive it in a car (we can attest). On our visit we saw free ranging wildlife everywhere: Buffalo (1500 in the herd), Bighorn Sheep, Wild Turkeys, Pronghorn Antelope, Mule Deer, Whitetail Deer and Prairie Dogs. Lots of Prairie Dogs.

But everyone's favorite animals in Custer State Park were the "Begging Burros". These Burros are wild but are descendants of a herd that were used by the settlers of the area. The Burros come running up to your car and stick their heads right in hoping you'll give them a treat. Well what a treat we gave them! You'll remember that it was snowing most of the time we were in Custer. Our car was carrying around literally pounds of road salt from the highways by the time we got to the prairie area of Custer State Park. The Begging Burros were happy to lick it off for us.
This is what your car looks like after it has had about 30 minutes of licking by a herd of Burros!
As you can see, they really aren't very shy.

So, given the heavy snows and the fact that we really couldn't bear to leave the place, we spent 4 cold nights in Custer, South Dakota.

Badlands National Park to Custer, South Dakota

As great as the pictures are, they just don't do the place any justice. Dissappointed that we couldn't find an open campground with electricity (necessary to run our heater in the below freezing climate) we spent Wednesday night in a hotel. But we woke up Thursday morning to a nice dusting of snow in Wall, South Dakota. So we immediately hopped into the car to see the Badlands National Park. Its so different from anything we were accustomed to. Its like being on the moon! We saw lots of wildlife but it was the inpenetrable hills that really wow-ed us. I just kept thinking that if I was an outlaw bank robber this is where I would hide. After touring the Badlands we moseyed on over to Wall Drug for lunch. For the South Carolinians reading, Wall Drug is like the I-95 "South of the Border" with an old west theme but on CRACK! Its just this giant tourist trap but its so cool.
After lunch to took off westbound on I-90 toward Rapid City and the Black Hills. The snow was really picking up but we knew the next spot we wanted to visit was the Mt. Rushmore area. We arrived at the Fort Welikit Campground late in the afternoon. The guy that runs the place was very helpful in getting us into our campsite. Since the Suburban isn't 4 wheel drive, we had a really tough time getting up the hill. The campground owner had a shovel out throwing dirt in front of our tires as we climbed into our campsite. But it was all worth it as I can tell you that there is not much better than drinking a cold beer with a belly full of Buffalo Steak (no kidding) in your toasty warm camper when its 17 degrees and snowing outside. Pictured above is Jack wearing his brand new coat that he got at Cabelas on our way across the plains.

So now we're in Custer, South Dakota and its really the kind of place you could get stuck in. Not just because the snow is too deep to get the camper out either! Beautiful scenery, warm people and lots of interesting things to do. Not to mention a really great coffee shop where we can update our blog!

Nebraska and South Dakato (via Cabelas)

We met a fantastic guide at the Western Trails Historic Center in Council Bluffs that gave us some great routes and ideas for our trip. I think the guy was more excited about our trip than we are. At one point, while describing the route we would take, he actually became speechless. These Lewis and Clark historians/guides are really into their work. So anyway, at this guys direction we departed Council Bluffs for Ponca State Park in Ponca, Nebraska. With a forecast for cooling weather.

We arrived at Ponca about sundown and the temperature was well below freezing. Lows during the night got down to the low 20's and we awoke to snow flurries. But the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We packed up and then spent about two hours in their fantastic educational visitor center. We learned all about the history of the Missouri River and current flood control measures for the river. But by lunchtime we had to depart and cross the Missouri (again). We've already crossed more times than we can count as we follow the trail westward.

With the forecast for the next 5 days barely breaking the freezing point, we decided we absolutely had to make a deviation off the trail to head to Cabelas outdoor store. I've been a Cabela's catalog customer for years and was glad to finally complete a pilgrimage to one of their retain stores. Its just like the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World stores but with better products. After a couple of hours and hundreds of dollars, we departed Cabelas with all the gear we need to survive in the frigid Northwest.

We crossed the Missouri River (again) (shown above in the background)before sundown headed west toward Badlands National Park. We arrived there at about 9:30 pm (mountain time-isn't that cool!). Even in the pitch black of a South Dakota night the Badlands looked awesome. We transited the Badlands Loop looking for the Natl. Park campground. On that route we already saw a badger, lots of deer and lots of rabbits. But unfortunately, the campground was closed so we're camping in a motel tonight in Wall, South Dakota. But we're all eager with anticipation for the sun to rise tomorrow morning over the Badlands. We're officially "Out West"!

Council Bluffs, Iowa

We were really looking forward to reaching the Council Bluffs area because it is the area that Lewis and Clark first met a Native American tribe. We decided that we would stay at Lake Manawa State Park very close to where the first actual tribal council was held.

Our arrival at the park was a major disappointment. Iowa has probably the worst state parks I've ever seen. The entire place was trashy and in disrepair. But it was the only convenient place to camp and we figured it was only for one night.

Around 5 pm on this day Cindy started to complain that her stomach hurt. By dinner time, she wasn't hungry so Hayley, Jack and I went across the Missouri River to Omaha, Nebraska for dinner. We returned from dinner to find that Cindy hadn't improved. Then, shortly after arrival back at the camper, Hayley got suddenly sick. So we knew we were in bad shape. But we decided to just try to get some sleep and see what happened in the morning. Well, Cindy woke us up about 4 am to let us know she had gotten much worse. So we all got in the car and headed to Council Bluffs Mercy Hospital. They gave Cindy several doses of morphine for her pain and that really seemed to help. She entered the hospital panting in pain but after two shots of morphine she turned to me with a big smile and said , "You know, I have a really high tolerance for pain!" About that time, Hayley started vomiting in the emergency room waiting area. So we had nurses tending to Cindy and the emergency room receptionist tending to Hayley. Anyway, after several hours of tests (including a Cat Scan for Cindy) the doctor determined that the girls just had the same stomach bug Jack had suffered before them. He just said that it affects adults in a more severe manner. The entire next day was spent at rest and both Cindy and Hayley improved rapidly.

After the girls felt better, we finally got to see the Lewis and Clark Trail exhibits in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area. This picture is of statues displaying the first meeting between the Corps and the Oto Indians. Lewis is handing a Jefferson Peace Medal to the chief of the tribe while his Newfoundland Dog "Seaman" stands guard. Sam really seemed to like the "Seaman" statue.

WIPE OUT!

Headed west in Missouri somewhere our luck decided to go south and we suffered a blowout on one of the camper tires. As you can see from the first photo above, it shouldn't have been hard to tell that there was something wrong with the tire. But I was rolling down a US highway at 60 mph cursing because I couldn't figure out why the car was stuck in 2nd gear. Luckily, some Missouri rednecks passed us pointing to our trailer and laughing. No kidding. So anyway we pulled over and discovered that we needed to change a blow out. So we did what everyone should do....called AAA and told them to send someone out on the double. But after a short talk with the AAA operator it was determined that we were not covered for a tire change on the camper. Something about the fine print. So, anyway, Cindy and I got out the old jack and spare tire and commenced the change ourselves. Only the jack for the Suburban isn't tall enough to get the camper off the tires. Oops, we probably should have checked that before setting sail. But our maritime innovation skills, honed on our offshore seapassages aboard Mariah came to the rescue. Whenever we had a question onboard Mariah we simply consulted Don Casey's "This Old Boat" which is a bible of yacht ownership. In the second photo, you can see that "This Old Boat" combined with the 2007 West Marine Catalog make a spacer exactly the correct height to allow the jack to get the camper off the ground. In no time at all, we had the tire changed and were back on the road. We spent the night at a nearby state park in hopes of having our spare tire repaired the next morning (Sunday morning).

Which brings me to Sunday morning. I have long been an opponent of Wal-Marts and other "big box" retailers since they have been destroying small town America and locally owned businesses. But let me tell you, we live in a great country where you can get a trailer tire repaired on a Sunday morning at 7 am in less than five minutes for 30 bucks. And to top that, there were two other "mom and pop" tire stores in the town but were, of course, closed because it was Sunday. So with a renewed optimism for the retail American marketplace we set off again to the Northwest bound for Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Hannibal, Missouri

We deviated from the expedition's route for a field trip to Hannibal, Missouri, futher up the Mississippi River. Of course, this is Mark Twain's hometown and everything here is devoted to him and his characters. Here are Hayley and Jack with Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher with the mighty Mississippi in the background. We spent one night at "Injun Joe's Campground" but with Jack feeling so much better, we decided to move west across Missouri.

Arrival at Camp Dubois!

The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1803-04 at Camp Dubois about 10 miles up river from St. Louis on the Illinois side. Although there's no way to find the exact location of the site, there is a nice visitor center and museum there to mark what is considered the real jumping off site for the expedition. During that cold winter, Lewis and Clark trained their men, bought supplies and learned everything they could about the area further up the Missouri River from traders in the area.

The first picture above is of a member of the Corps in authentic dress. This gentleman was extremely interesting to talk to and knew every possible fact about the time that Lewis and Clark spent in the area. The leaders of the expedition spent a lot of time just keeping the men sober during that long winter. The second picture is of a fantastic replica of the Corp's keelboat that they used to get up the Missouri River. The Corps has to load and reload all their gear several times before they could trim the vessel properly. On calm days they rowed it, on windy days they sailed it, and when the water got shallow they either poled it or just got out and towed it by hand! The last picture is of the replica of the fort that the Corps built on the site at Camp Dubois.

Overall this stop was a great way to introduce ourselves to the journey of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific. Another interesting thing we learned there is that there is a tiny subculture of Americans who are absolutely obsessed with Lewis and Clark history. One lady visiting the museum there named her kid after one of the more obscure members of the Corps of Discovery.

Jack still felt a little sick while we were there but he was definately improving.

Sorry we've been out of touch!

After we departed Cumberland Gap, we spent the night at Wolf Dam. The Army Corps of Engineers are hard at work there on a 7 year project to fix the dam. We stayed at their campground with nice facilities. Jason and the kids went over to see the fish hatchery that was located on the premises. Pictured above is Jack next to a batch of trout eggs. Trout are not indigenous to the Cumberland River area but the creation of the Wolf Dam drastically changed the water temperature. All the bass, crappie and catfish died so now they've sucessfully introduced the trout.

As you can see, the Wolf Dam area was really starting to bloom. All through Kentucky we saw beautiful purple buds on trees.

We left Wolf Dam in a rainstorm and headed West again. We eventually turned north and crossed the Ohio River on a ferry over to the Illinois side at a place called "Cave in Rock". Those folks in Illinois really know how to name a place because there is, in fact, a Cave in a Rock there.

Crossing the Ohio was another milestone for us. This was the first time that we intersected the route of the Lewis and Clark's Westbound Expedition. Meriweather Lewis actually departed from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1803 and floated down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River. He later met up with William Clark later in 1803 near to St. Louis.

After exploring Cave in Rock, we headed toward St. Louis and stopped at Rend Lake in central Illinois. We were only planning to spend one night there but we were greeted on arrival by kids that became very friendly with Hayley and Jack so we spent two nights there.

Pictured above are Hayley and Jack with their friends Katelin and Ashlyn. They are from Evansville, Indiana and were on spring break. Hayley and Jack also went canoeing on Rend Lake. The weather was so warm that Jack went swimming in the lake too. The second morning we were there Jack came down with some type of stomach illness. He was feeling pretty bad but soon started to improve and we moved on up to the St. Louis area. This turned out to be a bit foreshadowing.