Day 6

We had a leisurely morning.  We were up at 7:30 but were at the campsite till 9:30 because we made eggs and pancakes for breakfast.  It was a nice change from cereal.  We have decided to stay here an extra night to try and avoid the 4^th of July rush.  Unfortunately, the campground doesn’t have room for us but we were able to get a site a few miles up the road.

  

We first headed to Custer State Park.  The park luckily wasn’t that crowded.  We were able to see buffalo, prairie dogs, curious burrows and what we think was an antelope.  The curious burros let us pet them but preferred the cars that had carrots to feed them.  There were some beautiful views of the Black Hills.

Then we headed to Mt. Rushmore.  We hiked the loop around the monument and took pictures of all the presidents.  We thought about sitting through one of the talks but I felt like most of the history they were talking about I already knew.  On our way out of the park we saw a mountain goat.  I had no idea they had fuzzy legs.  It was almost like they were wearing fuzzy Uggs. 

We were then off to Rapid City.  On our way back we stopped at Fort Hays which had parts of the actual movie set from Dances with Wolves.  We stood in the exact spot that Kevin Costner did in the scene at the fort.  Overall it was a great day and it was nice to slow down and relax for a bit.  We came back early so I could start my course work and Michael could do some reading.  It sounds like a storm in heading in; hopefully it won’t be too bad or last too long.  Tomorrow we plan on heading to Deadwood.

Day 5

We were up bright and early again this morning and headed to The Corn Palace.  It was smaller than I remembered from our trip when I was younger.  We saw them taking the old down and preparing to put new corn art up .  When we left we found a gas station with wi-fi.  I was able to download the syllabus for my upcoming course.  Michael didn’t realize the amount of work I’d have.

We called ahead to a campground.  While we feel bad for those affected, the flooding in the Dakotas is working in our favor.  Tourism is way down and we were able to get a site for the next 4 nights no problem.  I am a bit nervous about the weekend as we will be headed to Yellowstone and it will be the 4^th. 

We called ahead and reserved a campsite not knowing when we would be getting into town.   On the way we saw signs for the 1880’s town.  It was many buildings of the frontier set up to walk through.  The best part was the movie memorabilia from Dances with Wolves.  There was a Tee-Pee, the surgeon tables, the stuffed “dead horse” from when Cisco was killed, and many other props.  Michael especially enjoyed seeing the Wagons that Kevin Costner’s character road on his trip out to the prarie.  There was also the truck from the Movie Thunderheart that starred Val Kilmer.  We ate lunch in an old diniing car that had been converted into a restaurant.  When we got back to the car the thermostat said 115.  Driving down the highway it cooled to 99.

Next we hit Wall Drug.  Of course the first stop there way for ice water and ice cream to cool off.  We walked around and visited various shops.  We even found the pharmacy.  I told Michael he should apply since it was tiny and there is no way they get that many customers.  We ate dinner there then trekked up the Black Hills.  My car did well (we were both kinda nervous) and we pulled into the campground around 8:30.  We had a hard time getting the camper off the hitch again but once we got settled it was a very nice site.

It stormed for a bit.  The thunder kept  me awake but Michael was snoring as soon as his head hit his pillow.  We are in bed every night be 10 or 10:#0 and up around 7:30.  This has helped with being able to be the first in the showers every day. 

Day 4

This morning I woke up and checked my phone.  It said 7:30 so I got up and hit the showers before it became too crowded.  To my amazement they were empty.  Only when I got back to the camper and talked with Michael did I remember the phones are still on New York time and I had gotten up on my own at 6:30.  I’m sure my daily half hour nap in the car is helping keep me well rested.

We packed up the camper (we are getting better at putting up and putting down every day. )  We stopped at Wal-Mart in Mankato.  This was one of the towns that was often talked about in Little House on the Prairie.  We were stuck in construction trying to get out of a gas station.  The guy directing traffic received a phone call and literally just walked away

We then continued on towards Sleepy Eye which was an adorable little town mentioned in the TV show and books as well.  We drove through many little towns though Springfield really caught our eye as a place we could see ourselves living in.  Next was Walnut Grove.  After quick photo opt at the Walnut Grove welcome sign we headed over to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.  The gift shop was cute and while some things were still pricey it was better than the John Wayne museum yesterday.  The museum tour wasn’t too bad, only 6 bucks a person.  They had lots of actual artifacts from the town and actual buildings that had been relocated.  I laughed when Michael pointed out that the house they had that was an example of a bigger house wasn’t as old as Grandma Crane’s house.  There was lots of information about the family.  The depot was filled with the family tree information as well as information about the TV show.  They even had the actual fireplace from the set of the show. 

We drove around town and found the bell that Laura’s father helped buy for the church.  The church was located on Wiggins Street!  We found a house we really like on the street at 350 Wiggins street.  We will be checking to see if it comes up for sale in the near future.  Also, we found the location of school when she was a child. 

We then ate our lunch on the banks of plum creek.  We walked out to where the families original dug out was and the family farm.  The dugout has long since caved in but you could see where it had once stood and it was so much like the description from the book.  We got pretty muddy down where she used to swim (and almost drowned).  I can’t wait to show my students all the pictures.  It will definitely be on my reading list for school this year.

After that we headed towards Mitchell, South Dakota.  We hit one patch of highway (think route 12) that was torn up for 17 miles.  It made me think about how my grandparents drove to Alaska before the roads were paved up there.  Glad it was paved by the time I got there.  As we got off an exit for gas we noticed a sign for Fatima a shrine to Mary.  It was beautiful at the church although we could only view the shrine and outdoor area as there was a wake inside the church.    Our campground was just up the road a little ways.  The couple who own/run it have been doing so for 22 years.  Most of the people here are over 55, which is perfect because it is quiet.  We did some laundry and wanted to play Frisbee but there are tiny black bugs that keep biting us.  Tomorrow the Corn Palace and then Bad Lands here we come!

P.S. 1 week till my birthday J

 

Day3

Update from last night: Shortly after logging off, we were faced with the decision if we should stay or pack up.  I had received a message from Katie warning that a strong storm had just hit her a few hours west of us.  The radar looked bad and we decided to pack up.  Good news is we discovered we can tear down the entire campsite in about 15 minutes.  Luckily, we had eaten salads for dinner so we didn’t have the grill or campfire to deal with.  As we were putting the camper down it started to sprinkle a bit and the winds picked up.  We noticed another pop up was taking down as well.  Thunder started shortly thereafter.  Just as we were hooking up the camper and car a man came running up and told us we should find shelter because the storm was practically there. 

As we jumped in the car a branch hit me in the head (just my luck).  We took the car over to an area that had cover for the car.  The man and his wife directed us to go down to the basement of the park office.  We assumed it was the owner of the park, but instead it just happened to be fellow campers that were looking out of others.  We both commented at how we were shocked that the owners weren’t warning anyone about the storm as it approached.  They were from Iowa (she’s a teacher and he owns a Veterinary Medical Supply company).  They had seen reports of 80 mile and hour winds and hail.  It was nerve racking sitting in a basement bathroom but we felt that we had made the right decision seeing how locals had made the same call.  They were very nice and we shared traveling stories as we waited out the storm for about a half hour. 

There had been heavy winds but no hail.  The rain continued as did the thunder and lightning.  A local man told us today that he had never seen lightening like that.  We decided to go into Winterset and get a hotel room.  We arrived at a Super 8 at approximately 11pm our time (midnight at home).  Michael mentioned that this was our honeymoon and the man gave us a suite at a cheap rate.  The room was very nice and it was great to shower this morning. 

We started off to the Covered Bridges of Madison County.  Michael was able to get some pictures where they filmed the movie.  We then went to the birthplace of John Wayne.  II t would have been 6 dollars to tour of the 4 bedroom house we lived in until he was 2.  We passed thinking that seemed a bit hefty.  The gift shop was of course extremely over priced as well.  Seeing what we wanted in Winterset we jumped in the car Minnesota bound.  Mall of America here we come!

The first campground we went to was almost completely flooded.  There were 3 sites available.  The bathroom was 30 feet from the one we were offered but the bathroom was under 6 ft of water.  The man offered for us to stay there still but there was only a port-a-john and mud everywhere.  We opted out and opted to go to the KOA instead.  We called ahead of course and made sure they were not also under water.  I feel bad for the owner of that campground.  He said while the water shouldn’t rise anymore, its also not going down.  For someone who’s livelihood is dependent on a short season to begin with, this takes a major cut into his profit.  At this point he still has people booked for the 4^th of July but I wonder how that will happen.

We spent the evening at Mall of America.  I found a store that specializes in tall women’s clothing.  I was in heaven!!!  Tomorrow Walnut Grove!
 

Day 2

We headed out of the part at 9am.  It was still very quiet.  Probably because the noise lasted into the night but we still slept pretty well.  We went into town for gas.  It was a little town called Fayette.   It was a classic small town America town.  It made you want to just stay there forever.  Gas was 3.29 a gallon. Take that New York! 

We made it through the rest of Ohio with no problems and barely blinked through Indiana.  Illinois we stopped at Wal-Mart. We bought good and a few other supplies for the camper.  As we walked through the food section  I did a double take when I saw bottles of Smirnoff on the shelf.  We can’t have wine in our grocery stores but in Illinois you can apparently buy hard liquor at Wal-Mart.

We Drove through Geneseo, Illinois, which was much more exciting for me than Michael.  Tried to go to the largest truck stop in the world, we saw Larry the Cable guy go there on the History Channel.  There were so many people there we couldn’t find a parking spot. 

The weather forecast for Winterset, Iowa (our goal for today) is severe strong storms all night and a flood watch.  At about an hour out of town it was beginning to look like night about 3 hours early.  We have ended up at Timberline Campground about 25 minutes outside of Winterset.  I'm a bit nervous about the storms but I'm sure it will be alright.  John Wayne's house in the morning! Aprroximately 575 miles driven today!