July 13, ending in Sioux Falls, SD

 I don’t think we’ll get a chance to see the falls. We are beat after a good long day of driving and admiring the amazing change of scenery between the Black Hills and the great plains of the Midwest. Started the day with a take-out order from Perkins (lesson learned, bad coffee and too much food, but a fine feed that held us through for a mere snacky lunch).

So many climbs, up and down the various hills. Steeper at first, then less and less steep as the day wore on. Then rather flat and very boring. But we saw more Badlands along the way, and we were amazed at how much of those we could see just from I-90. Then for sure flats of boring-ness. Started to look more like Minnesota. Then there was eventually a big green valley, just before we came up over the big rise that was the neat rest area at Chamberlain, with the awesome statue of Sacagawea (“Dignity”) on the high bank of the Missouri River. I don’t know if that’s where the Corps of Discovery took off from, but I could only imagine them and their hopeful selves setting sail up the Missouri, knowing that was the highway to the western passage. With all their gear and then eventually dragging their boats upstream, and the musquetors that were much annoying. Anyway. Grateful for their scouting and sad they didn’t find an easier way. I don’t think anyone really found an easy way across this great land. Not until the invention of air travel, anyway.

 

I keep having such trouble imagining why someone would leave their presumably perfectly good life on the eastern side of the states, to strike out and see what “fortune” was on the west coast or somewhere in between. I would have gotten frustrated by the end of the first week and probably turned back for home. It just keeps getting rougher and drier and more inhospitable as you head west. Water is harder to find, safe passage is harder to find, First Nation people defending their turf because you gringos think you have some Manifest Destiny right to come invade their land and homestead it. I think the prospect of being ridiculously wealthy from finding gold or having land for your own self was a great reason to ignore all the details of how inhospitable this giant land mass can be.

 

All that said, today I thought about how people are still heading west (or east) in search of the adventure those settlers were seeking. The glitter of the unknown beckons and calls us from one end to whichever other end of this giant continent, to see what we saw today – how much the terrain changes. How much the weather changes. It was at Chamberlain, SD where I first felt the sog of humidity again. So close to the river and to grass and fields that have so recently been soaked with flooding rains, and ridiculous heat to make it moist and hot to boot. Nice to stop again at that rest area and take it all in, the giant sculpture and the landscape, and the perspective of knowing what lay to the west and what lay to the east. Home.

 

Anyway. Not much to report. I'm always jokingly grateful for construction, a reason to keep me awake as I drive this straight, sightless plain.

 

Jim is having fun with a new podcast, Vacation Bible School Podcast. He put on an episode when he took over the second shift of driving. I enjoy it, but I was also very looking forward to a 15-minute nap as he drove. As the navigator, I’ve felt compelled to keep an eye on him and the road to stay on course. But now, on our way back home, in South Dakota? Dude, you got this for 20-30 miles or so. I had an excellent nap, except for the one giant BUMP in the road that about broke my neck. But then I drifted off again for a while. Much needed. It’s hot, it’s mesmerizing, it’s boring with no turns and nothing but hills or not-hills.

 

We like the KOA we've landed at in Sioux Falls. It's in a weird industrial park/part of town, right next to a Camping World and not far from an airport of sorts. We found a decently-recommended Thai place to get some takeout, then sought out the local beer from the brewery across the street that’s closed to the public, Fernson. Had to find a liquor store that was not a weird drive-thru in a sketchy part of town, but once we found the Liquor King or whatever, we were golden. Two four-packs of their offerings and one from a brewery in Yankton.

 

Ate dinner, sampled some beers. Showered. OMG, it's so amazing to shower and to have an air conditioner that can finally catch up to this 90-some degree heat and 90-some percent humidity.

 

There are two other Airstreams in this park. Also a puppy across the way. And we saw two Great Pyrenees walking with a lady and we were both instantly mesmerized by them. Very floofy and both very sweet. Buddy is still our first love of the Pyr breed, but now we know their temperament, we love them all.

 

They are so ready for home. Here's a photo of how they spent many, many hours of our trip. Except here, they're actually sharing the backseat. Lili thinks it's just great to spread across 7/8 of the backseat and leave Buddy a postage stamp on which to stand. Bud's solution to that situation is to put his front feet on the console in the front seat, and to "help" us drive. Not helpful, Bud.

 

And WE are so ready for home. It will be a long slog in the morning, as I said about today’s drive. We’ll start early and try to get in 2-hour slots each so neither of us gets an unfair majority of the driving. We got this.