Heading to South Dakota

We have been planning a trip to South Dakota since January.  We planned to meet our friends from Colorado, John and Dale Husk in Custer , South Dakota.  John is very familiar with the Black Hills and had a whole list of things to do in that area.  He also knows a lot about the history of the area and General George Custer.  He has read numerous books about Custer and has participated in a couple archaeological digs at the Little Big Horn Battlefield.  What better way to see where Custer's last stand was than to get a personal tour of the battlefield!

When we were planning this trip, we had no idea Kitty and I would be full timers by the time we started to head for South Dakota in June.  We figured our house would still be on the market so we planned to visit the badlands, the Black Hills, and the Custer battlefield in three weeks.  This is a "vacation trip", not a "full timer trip".  A "vacation trip" is planned to cover as much as possible in a short time frame.  We thought we would need to get back home to cut grass and tend to the house.  A "full timer trip" has no particular time frame thus allowing you to take your time and thoroughly enjoy an area before moving on to the next area.  We traveled over 3300 miles in 3 weeks.  The same trip as full timers would have taken about 4 months.

But, this was going to be a vacation trip.  The Husk's were in the process of moving into a different home when the trip began, and they had grand children, Ethan (4 yrs), Sophie (3 yrs) and Victoria (12 yrs), and we had our 15 year old grandson, Sean, with us.   So, we were all locked into a tight time frame.

We decided we would depart Belvidere, Illinois on June 10th, and allow three days of driving to reach the Badlands nearly 800 miles away.  We left at 8:45 am on the 10th and headed west on I90 for 320 miles where we would spend the night in Albert Lea, Mn.  We arrived at the Albert Lea KOA around 3:15pm and had plenty of time to set up camp before the rains came.  We lost power twice that evening and had some hard rain, but no damage.  As you can see in this photo, we didn't unhook because we planned to leave early the next morning.  The storm hit about 2 hours after this was taken.

That's me on the left, Sean, Kitty, and Kallie.

June 11th, we departed Albert Lea, Mn. continuing west on I90 about 250 miles to Mitchell, South Dakota, arriving at Rondee's RV Park around 3pm. We didn't get a photo of Rondee's.  It wasn't one of the better places we stayed for sure, but it was close to the interstate, and we were there only long enough to eat and sleep.

June 12th, we left Mitchell, South Dakota, and headed to Wall, South Dakota, about 240 miles west on I90.  When we are traveling like this, we always pack a lunch and find a nice rest area to stop and eat.  Here we are having lunch and stretching our legs.

We have been seeing signs for Wall Drug store for the last several hundred miles.  So, we decided to spend the night in Wall, South Dakota, and check it out.

Wall Drugs has everything you ever wanted and a lot you probably wouldn't want.  We found it interesting and decided to have some buffalo burgers there.  Hey, they aren't bad.  They really taste like a Steak and Shake steak burger!

Here's a shot of our campsite Sleepy Hollow RV Park in Wall, South Dakota.

A big storm came up that evening.  We made a quick run to the local grocery store and took this shot of the storm.  We were lucky that the brunt of the storm went around us.

Tomorrow, we will visit a 1910 homestead and the Badlands.  It's an amazing place to see. So, don't miss the next blog.