Day 22: SD >> MN

The lightening carried on for hours; sometimes just a flash of light behind clouds, sometimes an intricate zig zag of electricity. It was very windy. The bottom half of the bug screen on the window over my head peeled off. I pulled the bottom inside so it wasn’t blowing around. I had a hard time falling back asleep after that as I was waiting to see if the rest would blow off and dreading the big move if I had to climb to all fours in the short car to reach to turn the car on to put up the window. (My knees are still quite sore after the fall. Maneuvering in the small space is no easy task.)

And I was rather loving the breeze. I could have sworn we were on a boat off the coast of Maine. Across the parking lot, the metal hardware on the flags’ ropes hit against the flagpole and the flags wooshed and flapped. Or was it the sail wooshing and flapping and its metal boaty things hitting the mast? We weren’t in South Dakota at all.

After getting some sleep on the best boat (one that doesn’t rock), we drove through Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and Badlands National Park. One of my main goals for this trip was to see buffalo and get an amazing photograph, which would be in black and white, enlarged, and framed. I was driving through the entire width of South Dakota, west to east, all four hundred plus miles. This was my chance. 

I saw deer, bighorn sheep, cows, and prairie dogs. No buffalo. Dreams crushed. Road trip ruined.

The Badlands were pretty awesome. They were the only destination for this day so the rest was just devoted to driving closer to Chicago. We stopped at an 1880s town and decided to not actually go in, but to get pancakes at a 1950s diner in an old train car just outside instead. Then we stopped at a lake in the town of Oacoma for a swim and walk. It’s finally hot out again. I had been in (the same) jeans and sweatshirt for the past three days. Of course I packed too much. I’ve worn about six articles of clothing. And why on Earth did I bring a yoga mat? 

Next stop was in Sioux Falls near the eastern edge of South Dakota. Nice little city. I got coffee and used the wifi in the dog-friendly M.B. Haskett Delicatessen and got fries to go. Why not? Keep up the good work. 

Then we just drove and drove and drove...