Tag Archives: South Dakota

It’s Only a 5% Chance

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Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike. – John Muir

What I learned, day 5.

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Sometimes things don’t go as planned.  Where do I start?  First, I was planning on doing Iron mountain highway because it has several amazing tunnels that frame up the faces of Mount Rushmore.  But they closed part of the road and cut off 2 of the 3 tunnels.  At least we got the first one in.  Then, we were going to do the needles highway on the way back.  Road construction prevented us from following our schedule and made us push it to the evening.  We did the Wildlife Loop.  Most of the wildlife was on a coffee break.  The biggest unforeseen was, well read on.

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Mount Rushmore really is remarkable.  However, we felt it was ‘take a picture and go.’  We did watch a 15 minute film on how it was made.  But that was just to beat the heat.  It was so hot today!  We got our pictures and got back into the A/C.

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Pictures are deceiving.  We may look like we are having fun.  But I think at this point we were all spent.  Too much in one day.  The ATV seemed like a good idea.  But after about 15 minutes, 20% of your hearing gone, and your face windburned, you realize you’d rather be in the air conditioned truck.  Great picture though.

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5% chance of rain means that there could be rain, not there’s a 95% chance it won’t rain. After driving in the ATV through the Wildlife Loop, we headed into Custer to top off the tank and get a blizzard from the DQ.  I just happened to look out the window as I was throwing away some trash and said “We got’s to go now!”  There were dark clouds on the horizon.  Keep in mind, we have no windshield.  We have no doors.  We have no windows.  We only have a fabric roof.  And we are about 10 minutes from our campground.  About half way back it started hailing – little pea size hail.  Not that bad if you were looking out the window.  But not too pleasant if it is hitting you while you are doing 30 mph.  Ouch!  At least the kids had helmets.  The wind kicked up.  The rain started.  And I am sure the temp dropped from 85 to 65 in a hurry.  It was cold!  We could not stop laughing the entire way back.  Soaked to the bone we turned the heat on and let the kids eat dinner in their underwear.  Of course, none of this was in my spreadsheet.

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Needles highway is a must see.  I’m so glad we made ourselves go back out and see it.  The rock formations are unreal.  I have just too many pictures to post!  At one point I thought I was Matthew Mcconaugheyn a Lincoln commercial because we had a buffalo staring us down.

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You can’t take a picture of smell.  Pine.  Mist.  Streams.  Wildflowers.  Clean.  When we went through needles it had just rained.  It smelled amazing.  Too bad I can’t share that with you.

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Route/Itinerary: Custer State Park – Iron Mountain Hwy to Mt. Rushmore.  Wildlife Loop.  Needles Highway.

Bad ain’t so bad

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What I learned:

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Sleeping in isn’t what it used to be. Last night I was tired. Jennifer was tired. The boys were tired. We hosed them down, put them to bed, and set no alarms. I mean, come on! Just the other morning we couldn’t get them up! Surely they’ll sleep in?  Nope. 6:30 rolled around and you could feel the camper moving. Its like a jungle gym to them. Another thing I learned is the tooth fairy visits you no matter where you are. We’ve told Weston there isn’t such a person, but he doesn’t care. He still pretends.

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The National Parks system is such a gem.  Jennifer wondered allowed if people drive by what we are seeing everyday without thinking about it.  I’m sure they do because we do the same.  But if you have a chance, get to a National Park.  Go visit a memorial in DC.  Go to Shenandoah.  Go somewhere!  There is a National Park or Monument close to you. I’m sure of it.  And they are there for you to enjoy!  I think that is why I love Teddy Roosevelt so much.

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The Badlands aren’t so bad. It was really remarkable to be driving in such flat country, and to top a horizon with these formations in your view. I truly felt I was riding through an attraction created by Disney, but so much better. You could spend a day in there letting your kids climb everything in site.

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Rattlesnakes are shy.  I was hoping to snap a picture of a rattlesnake, but they resisted. I did get a prairie dog. They were running around everywhere!

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Everywhere is God’s country. I used to say Tennessee was God’s country because it is so beautiful. Everywhere I have driven has been just as beautiful. The Badlands? Their own unique beauty. Then drive into the Black Hills. They are simply breathtaking. Tomorrow is Mount Rushmore, Iron Mountain Highway, Needles Highway, and Wildlife Loop.

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Chevy makes a mean truck. Everyone thinks my truck is new. “Is that a 2013?” “Nice truck! Is it new?” Um…. No. Its not new. I bought it with 113,000 miles on it and it’s a 2008 Silverado 2500HD with a Duramax Diesel and Allison transmission. I put on some airbags myself for added support, brake controller, and the fifth wheel hitch. Today we crossed the 1700 mile mark for our trip and we did some serious climbing. Up, down, around, up again, turn the corner, transmission brake going down. The truck just kept taking it. My transmission got hotter than I’ve seen it at 195. But according Allison I have till 270 to get worried.

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Boys will look at anything you ask them to and then some if you give them a pair of binoculars. They look at the hills. They turn around and look at the truck. The turn and look at each other. You want to keep your kids entertained, give them some binoculars.

Route: Kennebec, SD to Custer, SD via Badlands Loop Road

Campground: Custers Gulch RV Park (Spotty website)

Time: Left 9:18AM CT.  Arrived 2:30PM MT 6Hrs 12 Mins

Dark Skies

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Today was another very long haul.  What I learned:

You can get ready in a hurry.  We woke up around 6AM, looked at the weather, and saw a line of storms headed our way.  It was a mad dash to hookup and get out before getting drenched.

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Us easterners don’t see too many windmill farms.  We went crazy!  There were windmills everywhere!  And as far as the eye could see.  We rolled down the windows and took at least 50 pictures.  To the left.  To the right.  In front of you.  Across the horizon.  Minnesota loves its windmills.  And that was just the first farm we saw.  You could tell we were from out of town.

Minnesota may love their windmills, but they hate their roads.  At first it was pleasant, then it got hellish.  I’d have to rank them down in the pits with Ohio.  I would have loved to pay a toll to clean that mess up.

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There is some beautiful country out there.  First, Wisconsin.  If you imagine Wisconsin as the stereotypical rolling green hills with red barns, well you are right.  I told Jennifer that I hate the fact that a few years from now my mind will forget what I’m looking at.  Then we were into Minnesota.  More beauty.  Especially when you cross the Mississippi River and climb up out onto its plains.  More rolling hills and country.  South Dakota was a surprise.  Yes it’s flat.  But nothing I’ve seen is just straight flat.  Everything has a little bit of up and down to it.  But after you cross the Missouri River it completely changes.  You would think you were in Ireland with all of this short stumpy hills surrounding you, green with grass.

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Its not a good thing when your GPS alerts you to tornado warnings.  Tornado?  The sky is blue?  What in the world could it be talking about.  But one look at our weather app and we knew we were in for some rough stuff.  We tried to outrun it, but to no avail.  Ended up pulling over for a bit.  Then pushed through to Mitchell, SD.  Which brings me to the next thing I learned.

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We miss Culver’s!  In Texas, Jennifer and I learned about this Wisconsin restaurant called Culver’s.  It is the home of the ButterBurger.  Yes, of course it is completely healthy.  And they have AMAZING custard – maybe my favorite.

Wind is a drag.  Literally.  I learned over spring break from my Step-dad that by slowing from 70 to 65, I will cut down on drag and gain some fuel mileage.  That tip got me from 9.5 mpg to 11.5.  Not too shabby.  I also didn’t force myself to keep speed going up hills and let the truck do what it needed to.  So far I’ve been pulling 11.5ish mpg’s.  Today, not so much.  A 15 mile per hour headwind was the equivalent of going 80 all day.  At one point while trying to outrun the storm, I looked down at had 8.8.  BLAH!  Can’t wait to see the number when I’m heading back east!  I felt all day that we would top the hill and see the birthplace of all wind.

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You can watch Lifepoint anywhere!  We caught our Sunday service this morning somewhere around the Illinois and Minnesota border!

Route: Morgengo, IL to Kennebec, SD

Campground: KOA Kennebec

Time: Left 7:15AM CT.  Arrived 9:00PM CT. 13 Hrs 45 Mins