South Dakota Never Ends

Day 38 Spearfish SD to Chamberlain SD
305 miles

Maybe it just seems that way.

I90 spans over 400 miles and there's not really a whole lot to see. The land goes from mountains in the Rapid City area, to flat as a pancake to rolling hills. Sometimes, the land looks like a sage Velux blanket has been stretched across the landscape.

It was cold, windy and showery when we left the campground in Spearfish this morning. Made our way to Mount Rushmore and realized we'd forgotten how steep the road up was! The grade wasn't given, but Jim could tell by the way the poor RV was straining to get to the top of the mountain dragging the big ol' Jeep along. We unhooked at the Mt. Rushmore Memorial and as I drove down the mountain I was shocked to see that it was a 10% grade. No wonder it was a hard pull up, we haven't done anything over 8% on the whole trip. Not to mention, that when we unhooked, the dash on the Jeep was flashing a message to *Check electrical brake system*...um, and her I am driving it down a mountain with a long 10% grade. The message went away, although I must admit that I was looking for 'soft' places to crash if the message was real...the brakes worked fine in both.

The four dead presidents looked exactly as they did in 1991. The area around them is much nicer though. They've made a nice visitor's center, with good coffee, yea! We split a chocolate chip Cookie and shared some with one of the many tame chipmunks. The only thing that was annoying was the $10 parking fee...we were only there about a half hour. Jim sight sees fast!

Back on I90 for the rest of the day and the weather finally cleared. Anyone who has ever traveled this interstate will remember the signs for 'Wall Drug'. Hundreds of signs...
Of course, it's a tourist trap, but a needed break for most drivers. Lots of little shops and the famous 'Wall Drug' Last trip Jim wouldn't stop, so he knew he had to this time because I've been reminding him about it for 17 years. Besides, we has to stop for lunch anyway and needed to stretch our legs

We took a picture of a whole clan of 'Normans' for my grandson. Sorry James, you know how this family is...we'll never let you forget.

Then another shot of something even my Ranger Rick son can't identify. I'm thinking it's a Jackalophesant.

And then as we were leaving Wall Drug Town, we stopped for gas and I looked up to see a 'big dinosaur' . Big dinosaur is a hugely funny thing in our family and I know my daughter is laughing as she reads this. Let me explain.

In late 2003 Jim and I were driving to Hudson Florida to pick up a motor home for our 2004 trip. Along the side of the road I saw a big, pink, fiberglass dinosaur. I pointed and said, "Look at the big dinosaur." Jim looked at me with a horrified, puzzled look on his face and said, "WHAT did you say!?" I meekly repeated, "A big dinosaur..." At which point he started to laugh so hard that I thought he'd drive off the road. Now, I was puzzled and asked him what the heck did he think I'd said?

Wiping his eyes, he told me that he'd heard, "A big vagina store!"

And we've been laughing about that every time we see a 'Big Dinosaur.'

We lost an hour today because we came back into the Central Time Zone, so we didn't get as many miles in. We're in a nice spot in Chamberlain SD, about 75 miles from east of Sioux Falls. Did laundry and I gave two very dirty shih tzus baths.

Tomorrow we pick up I29 in Sioux Falls and head down to Omaha to visit family.