Day 19

August 7, 2008 – Thursday – Day 19

0614 Wake up
0650 Go downstairs for breakfast
0733 Loaded and leaving the hotel.

We decided to drive through Custer State Park again since it seemed like the most direct, least curvy road way to get up to the interstate in Rapid City. I’m really glad we did because along the way we saw lots of animals. Wild turkeys (even babies!) crossing the road, deer, a chipmunk (trying not to get run over), mule deer, and… buffalo! A huge herd of them! And since I downloaded my other buffalo pictures and realized that very few of them turned out, I was able to take bunch more. Yea! Hopefully these turned out better. If not then I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

0930 On the way to Wall Drug in Wall, SD. We passed a truck pulling a motorcycle trailer. On the back of the trailer was a sign that said “Just Married”. Not 30 seconds later we saw a billboard that said Free Coffee and Donuts for Honeymooners. How weird is that!!!

1048 Leaving Wall Drug. Big. And Crowded. But kind of fun, at least in the backyard where the covered wagon, giant roaring dinosaur, and 8-foot jackalope were.

1130 Stop for gas ($3.83/gallon) and lunch in Kadoka, SD. There is just a whole lot of nothing out here.

12:22 p.m. Leaving lunch. I miss McDonalds… We haven’t seen one since Denver.

12:43 p.m. Time change. It’s now 1:43 p.m. I really don’t like giving my hours back on the return trip!

2:59 p.m. McDonald’s!!! Iced Coffee!!! Yippee! Yahoo! Oh and we also just crossed the Missouri River. It was actually blue. I don’t think I’ve seen a blue river in a while.

4:05 p.m. Stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Interesting. A good distraction from the miles of prairie. And since crossing the river, we are back to miles of corn fields.

4:50 p.m. Leaving the Corn Palace. We bought cheddar popcorn as a snack for the kids. We still have about 2 hours to the hotel.

7:00 p.m. Iowa! Cross the Big Sioux River. We can even see Nebraska just across the river. If I wasn’t so tired of driving, I would cross the river just so I can add Nebraska to our list of states for this year!

7:10 p.m. Arrive at the hotel in Sioux City, IA It smells like cows here.

7:34 p.m. Dinner at HuHot Mongolian Grill. Delicious food but there was a large group of loud obnoxious teen girls at the table next to us. The handful of adults were just as bad as the kids.

8:40 p.m. Leaving dinner. It still smells like cows.

8:43 p.m. Stop at the gas station next door. Gas is only $3.49/gallon. Wow!

Back to the hotel for swimming in the cold pool then bedtime. I was hoping for a chat with Ron but it’s Friday there so I guess he’s sleeping in (Fridays and Sundays are the slow days).