Day 3: Driving across South Dakota

Total miles traveled: 1,904

Miles traveled on Day 3: 636

After spending the night in the gas station parking lot in Iowa we awoke to another sunny day and got ready for another day in the car.  Our goal was to arrive at Mount Rushmore by late afternoon, and we would soon find out that that goal was a lofty one.

As we walked across the parking lot I commented to Katie Jo that never in my lifetime did I think I would sleep in a gas station parking lot and shower in a truck stop.  She replied that it felt like we were homeless!  I will say that the Iowa truck stop had heated toilet seats and the shower facilities were amazingly clean.

Our day consisted of driving across South Dakota.  There is not much else to say about it except that SD is flat, green and on that prticular day, windy!  Like 25 mph windy.  It was a 80 mph zone and sadly we never averaged more than about 60 mph, due to the wind.

We drove for hours without nary a house to be seen.  I also realized later that we rarely saw power lines.

Our one interesting stop, prior to Mr. Rushmore, was Wall Drug.  I had learned of this stop when reading The Walk series of books.  Sure enough what the author said was true, there was a wall drug sign about every minle for a hundred miles leading up the store.  Once there we roamed the multiple aisles of Wall drug and got the usual souvieners.  That was a good stop and gave us the push to make it the rest of the way.

After Mt. Rushmore that evening we made our way to our KOA campground, which I'll have to say has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the entire trip.  Each campground has been clean, friendly, and provided all the amenities we needed.  Upon arrival and and exiting the truck we were greeted with several bunny eyes.  I'm not kidding, there were like 5 or 6 bunnies scattered around our campsite and could mostly be spotted by  the outline of their bunny ears.  Needless to say the next morning Georgia and Katie Jo were in heaven chasing the bunnies and trying to pet them.  Who knows why there were so many that inhabited the campgound , but it was interesting.

Our first of many Wall Drug signs.  Later I would realize the irony of these words, because by the time we finally arrived we were all about to bust.

Lot of randomness in SD like this structure.  It was a field of metal structures. 

Like I said, flat and green.

This was a scenic stop near the Badlands.

Starting to see some landscape change once we entered the Badlands on our way to the Black Hills.

A road that stretches into eternity.