Family Vacation Day 2

At 8:53 we left Big Sioux Campground and headed west! While we packed the babies played and Blythe scootched the entire "baby cage" around!




At 9:41 we stopped along the side of the road for an emergency tarp repair on our trailer. Maybe we need another Target stop for better tie-downs!




At 10:43 we stopped in Mitchell, SD to visit the infamous (in the Midwest) Corn Palace. Of course, the one day we show up, there is a town parade, right in front of the palace. Needless to say, parking and crossing the street was interesting!











Around 1:40 Jeremy looked out our window and realized that somewhere down the road, we had lost Cy, our faithful, football helmet wearing, Iowa State antenna topper… good thing I had taken is picture the day before so that we can always remember him.






1:04 (yes, we have gone back in time, but we entered Mountain Time) and EVERYONE is asleep, at once! And wouldn’t you know it, we need gas, and we are not at our normal ½ tank fill up level, we actually are at the ¼ tank mark, with no promise of gas for quite some time, so it is necessary to fill up… we kept our fingers crossed hoping no one would wake up when the rocking van came to a standstill.





Around 3pm we finally find this Wall Drug, in Wall, SD (after counting 82 billboards that we noticed). Morgan got his picture taken with an 80 ft. dinosaur, and is scared by a T-Rex. I buy the small fries sweatshirts (it was cold last night), we pick up a few souvenirs (including a “Where the heck is Wall Drug” bumper sticker for the trailer), and head out again.
















Wouldn’t you know it; Rapid City, SD has a Target! Mandy did not know this, but the gas station people did! Again we stock up on “stuff” including some hamburgers and a kid sized sleeping bag. I decided I needed my sleeping bag to use as an extra blanket, so that babies needed something else to sleep on… it was cold last night… didn’t Jeremy say it was supposed to be in the 60’s at night?

At 4:48 we left Target and headed to our new “home” at Custer State Park.
Greeting us as we entered the park was a huge American Bison (AKA buffalo)! We saw copious deer on the 30 minute drive into camp, eventually found the Blue Bell site, set up the tents, ate dinner, bathed two girls and a Morgan, and got everyone snuggled down for the night. I do not sleep well when I am cold and not at home, apparently Blythe has this trait, because it wasn’t long before her cold little feet were in bed with us… man does she smell good! Around 11 (I have not slept yet) we start to hear thunder. Jeremy and I both listen for a while, wondering if we should go get towels off the line, or if the storm will pass us by. He decides to get those pesky towels, and as he enters the tent again, the downpour begins (and we are talking downpour). Thunder and lightning battle each other voraciously for 30-45 minutes. About an hour later, the theatrics began again, this time a crash spooks me out of my skin and wakes Morgan, who joins us in bed. This half of the storm lasts another 30-45 minutes. Finally quiet reigns, and we get some sleep (cold sleep). Maybe tomorrow will be sunny!