South Dakota - Wednesday

South Dakota…where did you go? Oh, that’s right we passed through you during the night. We missed the Badlands, the sweeping views of striped rocks. For those of you who have not been there, it is surprisingly beautiful for being comprised simply of rock. They hold the colors of the southwest bound to Earth. Canyons, hills, and mounds reflecting in their being the sunset all times of day, but we drove past at dark and couldn’t see the sight. But we were not sad to drive the rest in the dark, it is otherwise a fairly flat, dry, expansive state, much like Nebraska. The kids slept and we made it to Mitchell’s Econolodge. Clean, simple, and affordable, right up our alley. Here’s a little travel hint; always call ahead when you need a last minute hotel room. If you just show up, you appear to be rather desperate and willing to pay anything, but if you call ahead you can then use the ‘well, we’ll call around’ tactic and possibly get a deal. Thankfully, that worked well for us this time.

When we awoke, we were officially in the Midwest. Towns started to look like Midwestern towns. Cowboy themes and names of the West disappeared into farmland. Minnesota was the next stop, Albert Lea, boasting a small campground called Myre-Big Island State Park. It was clean with nice facilities, but a bit disappointing in the island aspect. Lacking in swimming area and beach access, we found ourselves rearranging the car once again. Organization of the inside of the car has kept us sane. One of the most frustrating things of living out of one’s car is the constant search for this or that item that is needed. So we’ve put an extraordinary effort into keeping everything in its place. And I think it’s paid off in fewer arguments starting with words like ‘who put what where, why did you do that, and it’s driving me crazy.’

The most wonderful part of this night, was the clear night sky. After a difficult time getting the kids to sleep, a long tedious affair that ended in the way that nobody likes, going to bed upset, Nate and I laid in the tent talking over the evening and soaking up the stars peeking into our tent. We saw the Big Dipper, and I’m sure countless other constellations I have yet to learn the names for. They twinkled at us, winking down on Earth speaking of the expanse of space. Sometimes, when we have a hard time getting the kids to sleep it’s easy to feel like that preoccupation takes over our entire family. I wonder why they can’t just go to sleep, why so much effort on our part to get them to lay down, and why is that always the time they choose to be the most belligerent. But then they sleep, and I remember, as the stars remind me, that this in fact is not a big deal. It is not important if they sleep when I dictate, and in the grand scheme of things we are all quite small cogs in a quickly spinning, orbiting planet taken up with the wings of movement across a vast sea of darkness. As I was laying there pondering this, a sudden clank from our picnic table startled me. Thinking I was hearing something, I sat up and listened, there it happened again. We were a bit careless with our food, knowing we were out of bear country we left some rice from dinner sitting out. So I quickly woke up my husband, who we all know can protect me from the largest of animals to the smallest of spiders. He got out his light and shined the table, and off scurried a little rodent of some sort! It was too quick to get a good look at, but somewhere between a small raccoon and an opossum. Since it wasn’t a bear, my mind did go there unnessecarily, we laughed at the clatter and cleaned up the mess.

Wisconsin is the next state on our list we’ll be enjoying a birthday party for Nate’s 80 year old grandma!