Myrtle Beach, SC, to Bozeman, MT, and back

We left after sunset on June 28, borrowing my in-laws 20-foot RV for a road trip to Bozeman, Montana.

On the way out, Maggie (9), Audrey (7), and I went up inside the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri; we took photos in the Badlands of South Dakota; and Sadie and Kristi joined us for pics below Mount Rushmore.

We spent four nights at a friend's house in Bozeman, Montana, with other close friends from the Queens MFA program. We even did workshop critiques of our manuscripts.

Some of my friends and their families journeyed down into Yellowstone with us on July 6.

After looking around for a while, we parted ways and Kristi, the girls and I made a quick visit to Old Faithful. Then we went down into the Grand Teton Nat'l Park and spent our only -- only -- actual night at a campground, where, as usual, the sewage hookup was the source of unintended comedy.

Tuesday, the 7th, we spent more time at Grand Teton, where the girls got their Junior Park Ranger badges. On our way out of the park area, bouncing through road construction, the driver side of the back shelf in the RV fell!

After thinking we'd drive for several hours, we did the overnight at Hampton Inn in Rawlins, Wyoming.

Then we drove all the way across Nebraska (even I started to get bored with quaint, old windmills in the fields) and another overnight at Embassy Suites in Lincoln, Neb., which is a cool little college city.

Then I drove from Thursday morning -- with a quick, early detour into Kansas for the heck of it -- until about 4 a.m. Eastern on Friday, when I let Kristi take the wheel in Tennessee. We got home around noon Eastern.

No tornadoes were spotted on this trip, but the RV is caked with dead bugs.

There's no place like home, and yet Sadie left her ruby sandals in Montana (for real), and they won't arrive until one of my writing buddies visits Myrtle Beach soon. I'm trying to sort out the meaning of it all.

Here ends the there-and-back-again story, although we'll upload a full Shutterfly display soon.