Day 48: August 3rd, 2013: Black Hills, SD to Mill Bluffs, WI

  • Aug 05, 2013
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A river run-eth through it!  There was quite a storm last night from 2 to about 4.  When we put up the tent it was quite windy, so the fly and the tarp under the tent weren’t quite where they needed to be when the deluge began.  Brooke woke up with quite a puddle under her.  The thunder jolted me awake and then I enjoyed the show.  I drifted back to sleep sometime close to 4, but rain was sneaking in through the side of the tent where our heads were.  Consequently I enjoyed a fresh drip – drip – dripping on my head for awhile.  Apparently I was too tired to think of putting my feet in place of my head.  The kids didn’t show any signs of losing sleep over the storm and were running through the puddles as soon as they confirmed we would let them.  Scott did not get a good night’s sleep and he really needed one since he does most of the driving.  Thankfully Scott suggested we bring our pack towls (yes it is supposed to be spelled without the e).  I wasn’t able to dry the entire tent, but it helped soak up some of the mess.  Thankfully this is the first time we have taken on a lot of water.  In Alaska and Canada three years ago this was a regular occurrence without many sunny days to help dry things out.

 

Our first stop for the day was the visitor’s center at the Badlands.  The kids listened to sounds of the prairie.  There were great hands-on activities including fossils, paleontology tools, dinosaur models, and much much more than we had time to absorb.  We watched one of the best park videos we have seen and raised our right hands to earn the 22nd junior ranger badge of this trip.  The ranger and I were chatting about how incredible the sunset was last night with the clouds.  He mentioned that the clouds make the sunsets around the Badlands all the more beautiful.  Scott was chatting with another ranger while the kids and I were checking out the exhibits. The ranger happened to be from a town next to ours.  She had noticed Scott’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters shirt that said our county name on it.  (Again, it happened to be my shirt.  I don’t wear these t-shirts so I get them large enough for Scott to wear.)  Once again Scott didn’t even realize what shirt he was wearing or that it said our county name on it.  Scott’s mom volunteers many hours at a resale shop and will purchase some t-shirts for Scott when our water heavy with iron has turned his shirts a lovely pink instead of white.  Sometimes Scott will be wearing a shirt from some organization he has never heard of and people will stop and talk to him about it.  It cracks me up. It reminds me of how much time ladies spend picking out just the perfect outfit while very few men spend no more time on dressing than it takes to reach in the closet and grab something out.

Before we headed out on the open road we walked the window trail.  It was only a quarter mile, but very beautiful.

   

After two minutes in the car we noticed an animal on the side of the road.  Goodbye Badlands!  Goodbye vacation!

Official drive back start time: 10:30 am South Dakota time.

We just lost an hour.  We went from 12:10 to 1:10.  South Dakota is split in the middle by the time zone.

We stopped at 4 for a quick ice cream break.  Yes, we are on a super healthy kick! Only five hundred miles to go…

7 pm – We stopped at Applebee’s in Albert Lea for dinner.  A little less than four hundred miles to go.

We stopped shortly after 11 at Mill Bluff Sate Park in Wisconsin.  We had the kids tucked into their sleeping bags in under 15 minutes of arrival. We drove 600 miles today. Only 200 to go…

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