We woke up at 5 this morning so we could have a somewhat leisurely morning departure. We had coffee, arranged the camper and truck for another long drive and hitched up by 6 am. We had to dump our tanks but we were on the road by 6:30 as planned. Our destination was Sage Creek Campground in Badlands National Park.
Things were going really well and we were able to make pretty decent time considering the weather and road construction. The only issue we had for the first part of the day was the washboard road they call Interstate 80. Are you kidding me? We had the snot beaten out of us for hours on end.
We finally had enough and jumped off on Interstate 35 and headed towards Minnesota. Over and up, up and over - all the states are big squares out here so it really doesn't matter one way or the other....unless you're desperate to get off of a particular highway.
At any rate, we stopped for gas and added a few more ratchet straps to our makeshift belly pan repair and continued on.
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| Thanks, Mr. Bill! |
There's not much to look at out here, but I do love the cool, old barns and the beautiful rolling farms.
We didn't have time to stop for lunch so all of us, Lane included, had to eat on the road.
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| Adventure Kitteh Overcomes Adversity |
Along the way, we discussed a side trip to see the Corn Palace. Hokey as it is, we were going to be SO close that it would have been a traveling shame to just drive by without stopping. It IS the only Corn Palace in the WHOLE WORLD after all. :) So, my dear husband and our friends accommodated my request - albeit begrudgingly, and we swung by to take a look. When I say we swung by, that's exactly what we did. We didn't have time to stop so we literally drove past to snap these photos and hopped back on the highway.
We encountered a few nasty storms that were quickly followed by an incredibly blue sky and white poofy clouds.
The scenery changed up a bit and the topography started to change as we headed West towards Wall.
The sunflower fields were AMAZING!! Absolutely beautiful!
In an attempt to occupy myself, I counted all the roadside billboards for Wall Drug along the way.
I ended up counting 80 but I think I may have missed a few here and there. Anyway, we made it to Wall without any drama and stopped to get gas at the Wall Drug Auto Livery. Before we even had time to notice, a motorcyclist pointed out that we had a flat tire on the trailer. Wow. Unbelievable. We finished filling the tank and pulled the trailer to a large open area on the parking lot and proceeded to change our second tire in 2 days. We're starting to get a little paranoid that we're not supposed to be on this trip or something. We left Wall and headed to Sage Creek Campground only to find it completely full. What?!? This park rarely fills to capacity - even on holiday weekends. What is going on? We were able to park along the campground loop for temporary accommodations for the night and just prayed we'd be able to secure two spots in the morning. We were all very tired, but we ended up staying out for awhile star gazing and listening to the buffalo grunt and bellow and the coyotes yip and bark. The stars here are spectacular. Sadly, our exhaustion took over and we headed to bed. It was a very long day of driving. We made up some time over the last two days as we crossed the time zones, but it was still a 15.5 hour driving day today so we were all more than ready to turn in for the night. 
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