Back in the saddle again!

Guess where we'll be in about a week.

The Road Trip continues when we take the All-American Road Trip to South Dakota. To visit Flintstone's Bedrock City in Custer. But on the way, I'm gonna saddle up one of 'em doggies right here. With the percoolyer horns on 'em.

Yee ha! Wall Drug here we come!

Yabba Dabba Huh?

If you look at it on the map, it's intimidating. Having done the drive twice before in my life, I can vouch for the fact that it IS intimidating.

The trek from the greater Chicagoland area, through Wisconsin, across Minnesota, westward to South Dakota, then finally the Badlands, culminating in the Rapid City area and the Black Hills.

It's been seven years since I've been "home" in the Hills. Ben and I went there for our 5th anniversary and it was glorious. Now we're going back and we're driving the whole way. And back. The trip will be broken up with visits to Wisconsin and Minneapolis so Ben can visit coaching federations and wow 'em with his knowledge. For me, this trip is about the Cotton Candy opportunities, specifically Arnold's Park in Iowa and the fabled Flintstone's Bedrock City in Custer, South Dakota.

Arnold's looks like a delightful vintage park, a fact my friend whose been there whole heartedly agrees with. But the westward ho, across the plains we go pilgrimage is specifically for the little park in Custer, SD. Yes. We're making the trip out to South Dakota specifically to visit Bedrock. Twist, twist.

And this time, I'm going to take close inventory of each and every Wall Drug sign I see. I'm looking forward to the free ice water already.

Throw it to the wall. See if it sticks.

At approximately 2:30 PM today, I removed my coat. Big deal, right? Well, yes, it is if it's March 10 and it's been cold and bone-achey for months and now you're able to throw your coat to the wind, like Mary Tyler Moore jettisons her beret. Well, I didn't throw it to the wind sicne it's a nice coat, but I did throw it into my backseat, the vagabond risk taker that I am.

All this warmth means only one thing: time to plan itineraries for my Cotton Candy 2010 Roadtrips. Right now, I have three general geographical clusters I'd like to work with: southern Ohio/Kentucky/Tennessee/Indiana, the East Coast, and eastern Pennsylvania. Just casually lurking through those states, I can spy a possible total of around, oh, 20 or so parks just like that! But there are so many more possibilities, including a grand old park in Iowa and, let us not forget, Flintstone's Bedrock land in South Dakota. So the mind boggles.

Now is the time to send along ideas for my road trippin'. So bring it on.

So much time and so little to do - strike that. Reverse it.

Willy Wonka knew what he was talking about. Perhaps, unbeknownst to us, he was planning a vintage amusement park journey as well. I've always thought he was bequeathing the chocolate factory to Charlie because he himself was terminal or something (think back to the final scene in the original film, where Wonka sits in his half room. Was this a reflection of how he saw himself: half a man, ready to die? Always wondered...)

ANYWAY -- I've visited 15 parks thus far; I've got 25 to go. But where and how do I narrow my focus? What I'm loosely planning is to tackle them in groups wherever that's possible: a group of eastern PA parks, NY state parks, parks that dot New England, and, of course, southern CA parks. But scattered about the country are parks who, like the chesse, stand alone. Carousel Gardens in New Orleans. Flintstones' Bedrock park in Custer, SD. Two parks that are drawing me like flies to molasses up in OR.

So in the next few weeks, an actual schedule will be assembled. And Cotton Candy Twins will Unite again!!