Farmland, Turbines,Grasslands...Wall Drug!

Hello from Keystone, South Dakota!  

We have had 4 long but fun days of traveling across this amazing country.  We have made it through 7 states already, some briefly, some for the night but they are all beautiful!  

The Recap...

Day 1: We pulled out Saturday morning around 9:30a after 2 days of packing, shopping, and generally preparing.  The first day was a looooong one.  Our first stop was Crawfordsville, IN, about an 8 hour travel day.  WV, Ohio, and Indiana look a lot like home so we just kept on moving....

                                           

Day 2:  Early morning start, a time change, fields and fields of farmland and wind turbines.  LOVE renewable energy! 

                                        

                                   

Day 3:  And yet another travel day... on our way to SD via Minnesota.  We made good time despite driving through some pretty heavy rain and construction.  A broken down tractor trailer in a single lane construction zone made for some tricky maneuvering but I have to say that Doug has become a pro at towing the camper.  We arrived early at the camp ground and enjoyed the pool, did a load of laundry, made some dinner, and went to explore Sioux Falls for the evening.  

Falls Park, Sioux Falls, SD

 Falls Park reminded us a lot of Ohiopyle but in the middle of a city.  The town is named for these falls on the Big Sioux River.  The remains of the Queen Bee Mill are still in the park.  We had a nice evening exploring,  Loki helped to foster many conversations, and we even met a man in the gift shop from New Castle.

Day 4: Last big push across SD, and another time change... We have arrived in Keystone, SD and are here for 4 nights.  We love the camper and can set up or tear down in about 30 min or less but so glad we don't have to for a few days.  

We had a couple interesting stops.  First was The Corn Palace, which I give 2 stars.  I thought there would be more.  It is in the middle of Mitchell, SD, and it is really an event center for concerts.  The murals were neat but I expected a huge museum or something.  Glad we stopped but would not go back.  Doug said it was pretty, "Corny." 

 I think, besides seeing all the wind turbines, I loved the scenery the best today.  The Grasslands are beautiful.  You could just see forever...

                     

 

We traveled another 5 hours and probably saw at least 100 signs for Wall Drugs.  And when I say 100 signs I may just be conservative.  We traveled 360 miles today but I was seeing them way before Sioux Falls.  We HAD to stop.  How could we not?  It was a tourist trap!!  But the donuts were a great afternoon treat! 

We arrived about an hour after Wall into the Black Hills of South Dakota.  From a distance the coniferous trees scattered on the hills really do make them look black.  We are about 5 miles from Mt. Rushmore (tomorrow's stop),  and hour from Windcave National Park (Thursday), and an hour from The Bandlands (Friday), which we did see a peak of on our way here.  Really looking forward to our visit at all of these places.  

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