Janice, Dan, Evangeline, and the family arrive in Colorado, their home for the next three weeks (though not all in one place). It took the longest tow day they’ve had to get there and they also traversed the smallest highways they’ve been on. How’d it go?

Surprisingly well! It turns out, there are some plusses to highways instead of the interstates one of which is everyone moves a lot slower so when you’re lugging 6,000 pounds behind you, you’re not the only slow moving vehicle on the road.

But, the further they got from the Black Hills the hotter and windier it got so it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

Climb in the trailer, week three starts here!

It’s been five nights in the Black Hills and now Dan and Janice are gearing up to head to Colorado. But without internet, Janice falls back on pen, paper, and a good old-school road atlas to figure out the best route.

Normally the best route is the fastest, but when you’re pulling 27’ behind you, there’s more to consider than that: are the highways single-lane, so you’ve got people winging out around you to pass? What about gas stations: are there enough to get you from one to the next when you’re only getting 10 MPG? Plus, Wyoming is famous for is cross-winds and the weather report was for 100 degrees. How to figure out all these different factors? Find out.

Plus, climb down 300 steps while carrying at toddler to explore Wind Cave National Park. It was amazing, also Dan’s arms hurt.

Janice is feeling something she hasn’t felt since before her cancer year: is it… relaxed? Having spent the day visiting sites in the Black Hills, she’s found a level of calm she hasn’t felt in a long time. It’s well deserved.

And speaking of those sites, it was an amazing day visiting Crazy Horse (another mountain they’re blowing up into a sculpture but it’s taking a lot longer), driving through Custer National Park (BISON BABY ALERT. BISON BABY ALERT), and taking the Needles Highway.

What’s the Needles Highway you ask? Janice and Dan didn’t know either, but it turns out it is amazing provided that you: (a) know the width of your car in advance (b) know the height of your car and (c) don’t almost run out of gas before you’ve climbed the whole thing. If you don’t know those things, it’s maybe a little stressful.

But potentially getting the car wedged in a 9’ wide tunnel or running out of gas at the top of a mountain isn’t going to stop Janice from reaching that perfect state of calm-bilibrium.

Living in a 27’ aluminum tube is hardly roughing it, but this stay in the Black Hills has proven to be more rustic than Dan and Janice anticipated. With campsite WiFi that bursts into tears if you try and connect to it and cell service that drops to no bars miles away, they’re left stranded at the side of the information superhighway (sorry).

Since Dan is supposed to be working and the holiday is over, they go in search of internet. How far do they travel? All the way back out of the Black Hills to Rapid City. That’s not sustainable.

It’s a day spent searching for modern conveniences and talking about some of the unexpected pains of life on the road.

Janice and Dan started this trip with a two year old, but today—July 4—he’s now a three year old. Happy Birthday America and also the kid!

They celebrate by going to Mt Rushmore, that most American of blown up mountains. There’s a bit of hesitation on their part when it dawns on them that the MAGA hat crowd may make it a less than welcoming experience.

But, instead, they walk away from Mt Rushmore with, of all things, a glimmer of hope of what American can be.

Light some fireworks (if there are no fire bans in effect at your campsite) and celebrate the 4th in the trailer.

It’s time to put down roots for a bit as Janice and Dan pull Evangeline into a campground just outside Mt Rushmore. But they’re not outside enjoying the (massive) campground’s many amenities because the sky has opened up above them.

Get outta that rain and climb into the camper to hear what it sounds like when hell breaks loose above an Airstream (hint: they repeatedly wonder if the recording will actually be audible) (spoiler alert: it is).

But hell isn’t just breaking loose in the skies, it’s also broken loose at home, as the 13-year-old goes running off to find ice cream seconds before the storm hits and, with no cell service at the enormous camp site, he’s just gone!

It’s tails of rain and tales of familial woe tonight.

Another day, another cross-state trek buffeted by crosswinds. Did you know that pulling 6000 pounds behind you gets trickier when wind is trying to push it the other way? It’s true. This time Dan & Janice are pulling Evangeline across South Dakota. Next stop: The Badlands.

Having made it, hooked up, and detached. The family loads in for a trek across the incredible vistas of one of the more amazing places on earth. Following a brief (OK long) digression into World Wrestling Federation T-shirt designs, Dan talks about the Ancient Hunter’s Outlook.

Then, everyone goes to Wall Drug. What’s Wall Drug you ask? Well Janice already thinks you know. But it is an enormous tourist trap that’s equal parts shitty Disney and all the worst parts of walking around Ikea. But they do manage to walk out with a great shirt.

After a week in Minneapolis running a conference, Dan, Janice, and family are back at the EZ Air Park and then on the road—though not without a significant rain delay.

It’s Dan’s first time pulling the trailer on the highway, and there’s significant crosswinds as they make their way across Minnesota for a brief overnight in Sioux Falls South Dakota (not to be confused with Sioux City Iowa, which they both did).

Get back in the trailer with this bunch. The real adventure starts now.

Beaten by reverse, Dan and Janice left their trailer hitched to the truck and parked on the street last night. Neither one of them slept well and today they needed to find a new place to put it. Plus, the dog was not calming down at their friend's place and so she needed to be stowed too.

Did they get the trailer stowed? Is the dog happy? Can they finally start de-stressing?

This is the last act in a three-part prelude to the big trip, as tomorrow the whole family will move to a hotel and Dan will shift into conference mode. It was supposed to be an easy transition, but that's the thing about traveling: you never know.

So it turns out there's a lot to learn when you're driving a trailer. After an uneventful three hour drive from the Dells to Minneapolis Minnesota, Janice and Dan pull in to their friend Jeff's house where they're going to store the trailer for a week while Dan helps run a conference. It should all be fine, right?

Wrong! It turns out driving a trailer backwards is a whole different thing than driving it forwards. Add a very thin alley and too many garages and it becomes a game of angles and inches. And it's a game they don't win.

Janice and Dan sit down exhausted and utterly defeated by the reverse gear.