So here we are in fabulous Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Joy. Rapture. Unfathomable bliss. Today was our longest day of driving: 9 hours. When we were in the stages of planning, we decided that it made the most sense to bomb through the middle of the country and get to the parks and the west coast (where we really want to be) all the sooner. Still, 9 hours is a whole lot of driving. The good thing about us is we make our own fun - lots of stops and side trips to break up the driving. Luckily for us, today we started seeing some dramatic change in landscape.
Growing up on the East Coast, neither Michaela nor I are used to flat land. Driving through Minnesota and into South Dakota, I found myself in a vast expanse of wide open space, able to see for miles and miles. Crops spread out over countless acres of land, with farm houses nestled into small oasis-like clumps of trees. But perhaps the most exciting sight was this:
Hells yeah!
In addition to the landscape we also crossed the Mississippi River today and saw perhaps the most random place ever: the Wisconsin Dells, which consisted of miles of water parks and bizzarely-themed locations involving dinosaurs and polar bears. Michaela also saw two LIVE deer in our travels, which was good for her.
I should also report that we had our first (and hopefully only) car drama. Michaela was driving and pulled the lever to clean the windshield when suddenly the driver's side wiper went flailing all over the place. We pulled over to discover it was nothing that we could fix, so we found a repair shop using my trusty GPS. The place was run by some very very nice Minnesota boys who informed me that there is something wrong with the wiper transmission apparatus (??), which happens to be a part that can only be acquired by a Saturn dealer. The mechanic was nice enough to coat my windeshield in Rain-x and google the address and phone number for a Saturn dealer in Sioux Falls. The part is in stock and we have an appointment at 9:30am tomorrow. Hopefully all will go smoothly!
Tomorrow is another long day, 8 hours, but it is very exciting as we encounter our first park stops: Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and the Black Hills National Forest.
Anecdote of the day
...after passing a mangled deer carcass on the road...
Michaela (tear-stricken): That wasn't Bambi's mom, was it?
Me: No, it was just his Aunt... and she was a bitch anyway, so it's fine.
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i actually have read about the dells... i should have given you this book to take with you: Crosscountry by Robert Silverberg. it's all about the many roadtrips of his life, but the narrative thread is pretty much the same route your taking, just in the other direction. it's a fun book. not that you wanted even more stuff to transport i'm sure ;)
ReplyDelete-steph (yes again. i'm reading more than one day at a time. i am lame)
Bambi's aunt totally was a bitch.
ReplyDelete~Julie