Summer Drift (2026)

Mile paddled 0 / 7 Miles run 4.4 / 85.8 Miles driven 3,331 Another couple fun days of travel. Dembe and I had breakfast in Chicago with the amazing Carl Spikner. He’s one of the best principals I have ever worked with. We spent Friday night at my Aunt Alexis and Uncle Jim’s house. Uncle Jim was crazy excited that Dembe and I were going to go fishing on this trip so he doubled the size of our physical tackle box. He also filled our heads with so many tips and tricks to catching fish. I love all the ties he made that he gave me.  I’ll include photos in a future post. We toured Strongsville, where I grew up. Somethings have changed dramatically, but two of my favorite things remain the same.  The Music Workshop is still in business!  I grew up taking music lessons there, both piano and saxophone.  I also work there in high school. It’s still run by the same person.  The Donut Scene is still there by this high school.  I still haven’t found a donut shop that do...

We made it to Chicago!  Miles paddled 0 / 7 Miles run 4.2 / 72.8 Miles driven 0 / 2,950 We spent Tuesday night at Goose Island Campground just south of La Crosse, Wisconsin. It is a beautiful campground. The people across the road from us had bird feeders, so we spent a while checking out the local birds. Tuesday night was also the first rain of the trip. Wednesday we drove to Chicago. We had Chicago style pizza at Pequod’s. It was fantastic. Thursday we went to the Field Museum. I love a good museum and the Field is fantastic. Dembe and I could have spent hours more than we had time for there. The dinosaurs were my favorite and we got to visit Sue the T-Rex.  It has been a blast to travel with Dembe. He’s up for adventures.  Cool woodpecker at Goose Island Campground. Sunset at Goose Island Campground Chicago in the morning Hot dogs outside the Field Museum We got to visit Sue! This is how we roll across the country!

 Miles paddled 0 / 7 Miles run 5.3 / 60.6 Miles driven 310 / 2,200 Dembe and I camped the night of June 14 at Devil’s Tower National Monument. This is such a beautifully magnificent place.  In the morning I got up and ran a double loop around the tower. Early morning trail runs are fantastic. When Dembe got up, we did the Tower loop around the tower. He loved seeing it from all sides. We smashed a couple of pennies at the visitor’s center and headed down the road. We decided stop and visit the motorcycle museum in Sturgis, SD. Even though I don’t own a motorcycle, that museum was great. Dembe could have stayed longer.  We spent last night in Chamberlain, SD. We camped in a campground on the banks of the Missouri River. 

Miles Paddled 0 / 7 Miles Run 4 / 43.3 Miles Driven 349 / 1,300    Wow!  Piper, Dembe and I just spent a week camping and exploring in Yellowstone.  It was amazing!  We survived 2 snowstorms, hiked a ton and saw so many different animals.  We saw bison, moose, elk, deer, marmots, mountain goats, pronghorn antelope, black bears, grizzly bears, and 4 wolves! We explored new hikes, had campfires, and spent some time reading in our trailer. Old Faithful Grand Prismatic Spring Wolves on a screen because they were far away and an amazing couple shared their view with us. Selfie with the fluffy cows! Grizzly bear Black bear Baby black bear high in a tree Dembe loves fishing.  We didn't do any catching.

 I've decided that I want to take full advantage of my time away from school this summer and not work. Dembe and I have an adventure planned.  We are starting off the summer with a trip to Yellowstone National Park.  After spending a week in Yellowstone, we will be repacking our gear and driving across the country to Ohio.  We are going to paddle from Loudenville, OH as far as we can towards the Mississippi River.     This blog will record our adventures so you don't have to be blasted every day or so on social media.