As usual, I overslept and was running late. I packed, ran to the bank, picked up my part-time paycheck and hit the road. When I got to the car rental agency, my day started looking up. I had reserved a full size car for our trip but they didn't have any left. They upgraded me to a luxury car with no additional charges and also changed the contract so that it would cover all the states we would be driving through.

I was staying that night at my brother and sister-in-law's home so that I could be at the airport to pick Wendie up at 11:20 when her flight was due. My brother, his wife and I went out for a nice dinner and had a good visit. When we got back to their house, my sister-in-law and I went into the office and started goofing around on the computer. About ½ an hour later my nephew came in and wanted to know if it was my car making all the noise. Sure enough, the keys in my jeans pocket had inadvertently set off the car alarm. I'm sure their neighbors loved me as the rental car sat in the driveway with the lights flashing and the horn blowing.

Friday, April 6, 2001

I realized as soon as I got up that I had left one of my prescription medicines at home. I called my pharmacy and got a number from them so that I could get it filled in Minneapolis. It took three stops before I found one that had what I needed. Then had to cancel my plans to have bagels and coffee with my sister-in-law because I was determined to be at the airport on BEFORE Wendie's flight was due in. I was actually 20 minutes early - at 11am. Unfortunately because of weather, she didn't arrive until after 3:00 that afternoon.

After retrieving her luggage, I aimed Wendie toward the car. We loaded her stuff in and had to laugh. It's a darn good thing we ended up with a bigger car. You couldn't get a toothpick into the trunk without having to move something else. We had planned on doing some cooking in the motel rooms for dinner and do sandwiches during the day in order to save a bit on expenses. Well, we didn't. We hauled that cooler and the cooking utensils all over the place and never used them. I ended up using the cooler as a storage box for the souvenirs I purchased along the way.

We got to Jackson, Minnesota, before we needed to put gas in the car for the first time. It took both of us, and the owner's manual to figure out how to open the door to the gas tank. Picture it - two women standing out in the wind and rain, after dark, trying to put gas in the car. Once we got the darn thing figured out, I got the tank filled, but refused to go into the station to pay. Thank God for pay at the pump conveniences! At least neither of us had to face the fellows that had stayed in the nice dry station and watched us make fools of ourselves.

We pulled into Mitchell, South Dakota, about 9:00 pm. At that point we had discovered another quirk to the car. Use them too long and you couldn't turn off the windshield wipers. Here we were, driving into the town with the wipers going and no rain whatsoever. All it took to fix them was to shut the car off but we were more concerned in finding a motel room for the night.

Saturday, April 7, 2001

After availing ourselves of the continental breakfast at the motel, we reloaded the car and went downtown to visit the Corn Palace. Because it was on a weekend and off-season, we couldn't go inside. We stood on the street corner and took pictures. After a brief stop at K-Mart to pick up a few of the things we had forgotten to pack, we hit the road. We stopped at the rest area near Chamberlain, SD, because I had been telling Wendie how beautiful it was. Of course, it was so windy and so overcast there wasn't much to see. We just managed to get really cold and quite damp. We stopped again in Murdo, SD, for gas. This was where I really SHOULD have paid at the pump. Instead, I went inside to pay and purchased a bag of chips along with the gas. From here on, we had at least one bag of chips open and available at all times.

We drove the loop through the South Dakota Badlands and stopped for a late lunch at Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. During the drive through the badlands, we were amazed by the scenery, as well as all the birds, deer and antelope we saw. By the time our trip was over, it wasn't much of a thrill to see antelope, buffalo or deer, but at that time it was incredible. After dining on buffalo burgers at Wall Drug, we hit the road again. We stopped for the night in Keystone, South Dakota. After checking into the Holiday Inn Express, we drove up to Mt. Rushmore. I had been there before, but Wendie was amazed by how big the sculptures are and how smooth.

Click on scenic photos for enlargements and descriptions

The Corn Palace

South Dakota Badlands

South Dakota Badlands

Missouri River

Mt Rushmore located just outside of Rapid City, SD

          Custer State Park                      South Dakota