Day 3: Wildlife at Large

Day 3: Mile 710, Kadoka, SD

After google maps led us astray, we found our hotel in Kadoka SD. It’s a tiny town of about 650 people. While clean, our hotel made me a little nervous… especially since our door didn’t seem to close all the way. Needing a beer/ wine/ whatever was available (you would too if you have seen the movie Vacancy), we made our way outside to find food and beverage. We were accosted by an elderly couple from Arkansas who insisted we go to Club 27 for the prime rib special. With no other recommendations …

This “restaurant” was the only one in sight

We took the couple’s advice.  Dinner was great.  We were among the limited number of guests not wearing cowboy hats.

James tried the local beer.

After loading up with gas, we woke up early this morning to head out on our Badlands/ Mount Rushmore Adventure.

Gas Station Picture

Mile 750: Badlands National Park

Beautiful scenery as far as the eyes could see. We stop at the first scenic overlook.

This is my first picture after getting out of the car. I was scared. James said “don’t worry, a lot more people are injured by buffalo each year than by rattlesnakes.” Phew! Later you will need to note this as the literary tool known as foreshadowing.

Here is where the trip gets interesting. We begin to encounter a variety of wildlife (please note the title of this post. Another example of foreshadowing).

These mule deer jolted out in front of us. Good thing I was driving like a Grandma.

Big horned sheep crossing the road 

OMG! Buffalo in the field. We were so excited to see a wild buffalo. We thought this was the coolest thing ever. We were careful not to get too close as they can charge if they get scared. The park rangers recommend staying 100 feet away.

Mile 786: Robert’s Prairie Dog Town

We then looped around to Robert’s Prairie Dog Town. I wasn’t really sure where we were going, but James really wanted to stop there. I thought it was some kind of themed attraction. We aren’t always the best at communicating. It was a large prairie filled with prairie dogs.

These are prairie dogs. They were everywhere  

As we were driving out of prairie dog town, we saw a big fox.

After all the nature and excitement, we were starving. We decided to head to Rapid City (the 2^nd biggest city in SD) for lunch. It was only to be a 5 mile drive on the dirt road before we hit a highway. We were expecting to be in Rapid City in just about 45 minutes. Until… the buffalo decided they wanted to share the road.

They just hung out on the road… and looked around… and sat there… and… I had to eat a granola bar. They were not planning to move … ever. See video below. If you only have time for one video. Skip to the 2nd. They are big files, so you may not be able to view from your mobile device. 

So, James put the 4runner to work and we off-roaded around the buffalo. It was scary.

We were relieved  the adventure has passed.  Only a 20 minute delay and we were back on the dirt road that would lead us to the highway that would take us to Rapid City. Until… ANOTHER herd of buffalo decided to share the road. Check out out youtube link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU78YmsT-Ds&feature=youtu.be

We are going to starve to death. They just kept coming on the road.

Once we passed the buffalo, we were back on our way to lunch. It was just another 20 minute delay.

We passed this really interesting river that looked like coffee with cream. 

More dirt road

Finally we hit the highway!

Mile 819: Random Dinosaur

Not sure what this dinosaur was about 

Mile 819: Rapid City

Ahhh. Civilization. We stopped for lunch at a place called Philly Ted’s Cheezsteaks. It’s no Geno’s, Pat’s or Jim’s, but it was quite delicious.

Lunch at Philly Ted's

Coming back from lunch, we noticed the dirt attached to the car as a result of our off roading adventure with the buffalo

Mile 875: Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore seems like the Times Square of South Dakota. The few miles leading up to the Memorial, the parking lot, the entrance, are all teaming with tourists and cheesy attractions.

Tourist City as we head into the Mount Rushmore Memorial  

Mount Rushmore

We took our photographs and quickly departed from the site. It is only a 45 minute drive to our next stop… Custer State Park.  More to come on Custer State Park tomorrow. 

Day 2: Adults of the Corn

Entering South Dakota on the I90

Mile 430: Sioux Falls SD

So, the people of South Dakota are very friendly--they will go out of their way to help you out.  Also, they are very easily impressed.  For example, when Kate asked our hotel concierge if there were many restaurants in downtown Sioux Falls, her enthusiastic response was: "Oh, yes! Lots. I think there are ten!"

Downtown Sioux Falls, SD

Bustling downtown Sioux Falls (the largest city in SD) with almost 10 restaurants and 150,000 residents in the city limits

And a nice waterfall, after which the town is named...

Beautiful waterfall in the center of the city

James and I attempting to take a picture of ourselves in front of the falls

Lunch in Sioux Falls as recommended by the book Mamma Mac (Regan's mom) gifted to us of our trip (thanks Mama Mac!)

Book from Mamma Mac that led us to Bob's 

Bob's Lunch- Turns out their famous "broasted" chicken does not mean broiled-roasted, but rather fried. Sorry Scott, we tried to be healthy-ish

The inside of Bob's when we first arrived. For some reason, men over 70 love hanging out at the counter of these greasy spoons. James is planning his retirement.

Mile 451: After lunch, we head over to the local corn maze in Harrisburg, SD

The maze was in the shape above. The black lines are the paths... this was our map to navigate to each clue. 

I was scared. Can you believe they let people do this at night? What if we were lost in the corn forever? 

James was our navigator. He did an awesome job of getting us to all 10 clues and getting us out of the maze in record time. 

...where social media meets farm implements. Marketers, take note. 

Back on the road. Start to head towards Kadoka SD. Lots more cornfields...

Then we saw this massive tire being transported

Don't judge. At least it's not a cornfield

Mile 528: Until we saw signs for the Corn Palace in Mitchel SD. People have told us that this place is a tourist trap and to skip it. Regardless of their warnings, we were lured in and happy we stopped.

Corn Palace

Each year, the outside of the palace is decorated with a corn mural. This year's theme was sports. Look closely at the photo and you will see the corn and husks creating the football player

We had the luck of going when it was corn palace festival!!! It was awesome. 

View of the festival outside the Corn Palace

 Back on the road... and it's Kadoka or bust. But wait...

Could you really drive by this sign and not stop?

Yes, we had to stop and have a beer at the Busted Nut

Mile 690: We enter into Mountain time zone. Yay! An extra hour in our day! We will soon be in Kadoka. Check in tomorrow for more on the trip

Day 1: 430 miles

We learned something today: it is 3023 miles from Boston to Seattle along I90.  Today we drove across 14% of America. Some highlights...

Mile 0: Our last sunrise over Lake Monona

Mile 137:  Lunch at Maid-Rite

We stopped for lunch in LaCrosse, WI.  Maid-Rite has classic small town charm... right up to the old guys at the lunch counter talking about how what's wrong with America today (including how there used to be 2 pieces of fish on their sandwich, not just 1).  The Maid-Rite sandwich was rockin--like a burger but with loose ground beef.  Worth a stop.

Maid-Rite Menu

Maid-Rite Sandwich

Maid-Rite

After that it was just a lot of corn,

until this...

Mile 297: Blue Earth, MN

Jolly Green Giant.

Then more corn.

...And yes, those were the highlights!

Tomorrow: Sioux Falls, SD, The Heart of America & More

It's on!!

James is setting the odometer to zero and we're off. We are on our way to Sioux Falls SD- home of... well, we're not sure but we're about to find out!

Road Bump

It is now approximately 26 days until the start of our trip. You may be saying- 'what happened!?!'

We have hit our first road bump (pardon the pun). As of early this morning, we have accepted an offer on our Dodgeville house. Since it makes more sense for us to live in our house while we have one, we are postponing our trip until we close- sometime in August.

Sorry for the anti-climactic start, but it will be worth the wait!