No Vacancy!

NO VACANCY

Well Day 2 was an adventure for sure...it has led into Day 3 as we sit on the side of the highway with a flat tire and after a night of no sleep, as there was no hotels to be found for 100's of miles. I guess there was an 'all schools reunion' in the area so there were people from everywhere coming to Rapid City and area. We, along with 3 other vehicles raced from town to town in hopes of not seeing the dreaded No Vacancy sign in every hotel doorway, even the dungy hotels were full. So we caught a few zzzzz on the side of the highway throughout the night, and the kids did amazing sleeping all through the night. We now sit on the side of the I90 waiting for the tow truck and again the kids are being fabulous wandering in the van as it pours rain outside... They did go out to explore the teepee that was in the field. (I guess it was the stem on the tire that could have been more serious had we kept going.) On a positive note, the moula we saved from not having a hotel last night, means we can get a nicer hotel tonight.

But on with the details of our fun Day 2. We drove from Montana to Wyoming to South Dakota. It was a very interesting drive with the terrain going from mountains to 'desert' like terrain in a flash. In a few sections the roads were red, the pavement was actually red, it was neat.

We passed through Stugis and all the billboards were motorcylce related, some of them were a little crude. Just past Sturgis was a 'graveyard' where it was rows upon rows of all the same white headstones. We will have to research to find out what it was for.

All day we stayed ahead of a storm with very windy conditions but the wind was so, so warm. And it was humid.

Once we arrived in Rapid City we got fuel for the vehicle and for us, we then headed up the road to Mt. Rushmore. There is so much to do around Rapid City - drive through wildlife park, reptile world, ziplines, luge, waterslides and lots of wineries. We definately will come back for a vacation to the area and spend a good chunk of time to see all the sites. The area is similar to Banff but much more to do. The streets were packed (Keystone) with people and lots of great little shops to visit. On the drive to Mr. Rushmore, the storm caught up to us. The entire drive up to Mt. Rushmore the rain got harder and harder, but this is what we came to see, come rain or shine. Once we got to Mt. Rushmore the rain had tapered off (for a few seconds at least).

The boys went into the information center to get their Junior Ranger assignments for the day. They took it very serious and we went off to complete their tasks in the park....and just as we reached the sculture in the mountains the down pour came, but Bradley said "rangers have to work even when it rains" so we kept working on the assigned tasks. We squished pennies in the gift shop, found grandpa a Mt. Rushmore hat and the boys bought some magnetic rocks. The rain lightened up and we went to the sculptors studio to find a nice lady that helped answer some of the questions the boys had to complete. We got some great pictures down in this area. One of the tasks for the boys was to 'hug a tree', they thought that was fun :) We then went to get them sworn in as Junior Rangers. They were ecstatic as they recieved their badges and certificates. We bought all the kids silver dollar coins from Mt. Rushmore.

The drive out of the Rapid City area was a fabulous site to see, there was lightning lighting up the sky and fireworks going off all through the city, it was nice to see. Then we hit the road in search of a hotel...

On Day 3, we plan to make it to Mall of America area and get to have a good nights sleep.