DAY FIVE 9/17





MINNESOTA TO SOUTH DAKOTA

(PHOTOS: All of us with Jake and Elwood statues in Mitchell, SD; A steer at breakfast; a billboard for Wall Drug; Nora and Daddy dancing at the corn palace; Corn palace; Nora with Jake and Elwood; Nora and spaghetti)

David got on the road at 5:30 a.m. and I tried to keep sleeping, but I eventually just got up. Nora and Michael went back to sleep in their carseats. We pulled into a gas station for breakfast and fuel. I fed the dogs and David made eggs and toast. We had a great view out the window of about 10 steer, who were eating hay and drinking from a barrel as we ate breakfast. It’s cold outside. We didn’t take Nora outside for a walk or anything. It felt like 45 degrees but I don’t know for sure. We have passed the halfway point on the Chicago-to-Wall Drug leg of our journey. We are hoping to pull into a campground a few miles before Wall Drug, but I’m not sure if we’ll make it that far today.
Saw our first Wall Drug billboard at 10a.m. today in Worthington, MN. It had a big smiling man on it, and said, “Only 355 miles to Wall Drug!”
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Stopped in a Walmart parking lot in Souix Falls, SD. We were going to go to a warship memorial park and stop in the Kmart across the street, but the exit was closed and we ended up at the Walmart instead. Nora and I went in to try to give David a chance to get a nap. We were in there quite a while, but unfortunately Michael didn’t get the memo about it being naptime, so no nap was had by David. Nora and I had an OK time in the Walmart. I usually hate Walmarts, but it was a chance for Nora to get out of the camper and get a change of scenery. Amazingly not all Walmarts are like the ones I am used to. We didn’t have to wait in line at all at the checkout, and the cashier was competent. I even went back in for bananas and a Mountain Dew for David, and the second time I had the same experience. No waiting. Friendly, competent cashier. Stuff was not strewn all over the floor, as I am used to seeing in Walmart. The only negative about it was the aisles were too narrow and I felt like I was always nearly crashing into someone else. Stopped for gas AGAIN after that. We’ve been seeing lots of interesting billboards. More Wall Drug and Corn Palace billboards, plus a sign for the Kum and Go RV park and an advertisement for “24-hour Toe service.” Not sure if they offer “toeing” for Rvs as well.
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We decided to stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D., after NUMEROUS corn puns from David practically forced us off the road there. (It’s EARresistable, etc.) We looked around. The arena area was filled with seniors dancing. Nora watched them and did a little dancing herself with her daddy. After that, we decided maybe it would be a good idea just to get off the road while the sun was still up and since there were some decent campgrounds in Mitchell but maybe not anymore for many miles, we stayed here. I guess that is the origin of the term “tourist trap.” But we are paying $15 for the night, with our Passport America membership, and this place has an indoor pool and WiFi, plus electric, water and sewer hookups. The roads are terrible though. As we made our way to site 18, I truly thought for a second that the rig might roll over. The roads are dirt and gravel, and they’re washed out, but it’s hard to see where the huge dips, potholes and ravines are. Amazingly nothing fell out of any cabinets. I guess it’s packed in so tight, there was nowhere for it to go. It’s nice having a quiet, orderly evening for once. Sort of. While David made dinner, I took Nora to scope out the pool. We walked across the campground, and getting her to the main building was like herding a goldfish. Then she was more interested in displaying her rock collection on the picnic table outside the office than coming in to see the pool. Sigh. David made spaghetti and chicken, and you can guess what Nora looked like afterward. Michael wouldn’t stop crying during dinner. After dinner, David took Nora to the pool and I tried to do dishes and listen to music, but I couldn’t hear it over Michael, who was unimpressed by a feeding, a clean diaper and clean jammies. He just quieted down when David came back with Nora and they shut the door behind them and woke him up again. But Nora’s first word on seeing me was, “Slide!” She told me she went down the slide in the baby pool 18 times, but I suspect her counting was a little off. Apparently she also dipped her toes in the hot tub and declared, “Hot! Need to cool off a little bit!” (That’s what she says when her soup is too hot.) So this is our first night paying for camping so far. That’s pretty good. It’s a relief not to be “roughing it” ha-ha.
Nora has taken to referring to herself as “Big Sister Nora,” which is pronounced “Big Shishter Nowa.” She has also taught Michael the “boat ride dance” which consists of alternating one’s fists in the air and singing, “Boat-ride, boat-ride. Uncle Jim! Uncle Jim!” This is the song you sing to get Jim to take you for a boat ride. I guess Nora saw Michael moving his fists up and down and decided to try to teach him.
It’s been extremely windy here all day and probably about 50 degrees.