Life and such: Day Four - Austin (MN) to Wall (SD)

Extremely frustrated as my excellent post just got eaten by the foibles of the internet here at the Wall Econolodge. Grrr. We shall see if the new post is half as good...

I woke up fairly early and thought I would get up then and write my blog. Instead, I decided to take a little more sleep and ended up sleeping until 8:30 am. Ooops! I had planned to get out by 10 again, but because of my extra sleep, we got a later start. It took me about an hour to write my blog and get it posted. My posts are long since it seems that interesting things happen even on mostly driving days. Yesterday was no exception.

The room had a foolproof coffee maker that I managed to mess up anyway - coffee all over the bathroom counter! Yay! And it was, apparently, weak, according to mom. Oh well. We did eventually get on the road.

I hadn't really sussed out the day, but on the road I tentatively planned to stop about half way along the route. That turned out to be Sioux Falls. The GPS had prognosticated a 7 hour trip (exactly 7 hours in point of fact). We got to Sioux Falls and I decided not to stop but opted instead to stop at the first gas and food exit available. Fortuitous stop!

The place was a throwback sort of touristy stop run by a gentleman and his 81 year old father (an interesting man who had been a teacher, was an Obama fan and a Christian whose wife had been an avid theatre fan). The place was all about Buffalo (or North American Bison). They had a herd of bison in their back yard, but neither mom or I wanted to fork out the $7 to go out there. I am hoping for Buffalo sightings later in the trip. We decided to have a bison burger for our lunchtime meal. It was teeny but good. I was planning on only eating a quarter but ended up eating half! I know, I am bad! Mom also had a cup of coffee - the owner was quite solicitous and brought mom the whole jug of milk so that she could say "when!" Oh, and I got a seven cents a gallon cash discount on the gas!

While we were there, a couple came in who were on their way to Yellowstone to start their summer Ranger jobs! How cool is that?! This was Casey's first year - Stephanie was an old hand. She was also a collector of kitschy tourist traps - this being one of her favorites! It had three animated displays that were cool - a piano playing gorilla, a shoe making exhibit and a saloon scene! Cool stuff.

We headed further West, watching the lovely scenery. We crossed the Missouri river, which was impressive, but not quite so grand as the Mighty Mississippi. We also saw quite a few Wind Turbine Farms as we drove along. I don't really understand the economics of wind turbines - how much they cost to make and maintain - how much energy they produce, etc. Oh, and I had a thought - what if 1% of the roofs in America had solar panels. How much energy would that produce? A pleasant surprise was crossing the next time zone! Yay for gaining an hour. Losing hours isn't as much fun, but we will have to do that eventually.

Since we were earlier than I thought, I decided that we would visit the Badlands before going to Wall - since there was a loop road that goes windingly through them and ends up in Wall. Mom, being a senior, got a lifetime National Park Pass! Yay! All the parks we visit together will be free now! Yippee!!

Mom didn't think she had ever been to the Badlands before. It is a pretty memorable place, so maybe she hadn't been. I know I have been at least once before. We got there and mom just goggled. Pictures don't do the place justice. We also watched a great video about the Park at the visitor's center. All in all, a great stop on the trip!

We got to Wall and into our motel room - the only negative so far is the lack of internet service in our room. Grrr. After getting a little settled in, we went to Wall Drug briefly, were I met a couple of women, and we looked for a comfort book for mom - couldn't find one. We will look for one in Rapid City later today or tomorrow. Then we went to Red Rock Restaurant for dinner. Pizza, since we have been eating a lot lately. I had two beers - one of which was a Boulevard Pilsner which was surprisingly tasty! We had a very pleasant server named Toree (dental hygienist student and a barrel rider). After dinner mom and I watched Madagascar 2 and went to sleep! Yay sleep!

(Ok, this post wasn't as good as my lost one. Poop!)