Day Four

Up and at 'em at 4:34am - well, only me! My biological time clock says I need seven hours sleep at night and when that time arrives I wake up. This was ridiculous however. K and R were still sound asleep and I was wide awake. Since I hadn't blogged the night before, I answered my email and wrote my blog (see www.wordsfromthecrone.com ). At 6am the alarm went off and our day started. Today we were traversing South Dakato on our way to Mt. Rushmore and we departed late at 8:39am. Seemed my stomach decided to act up and I was deep in pain with cramps and chills. R and K went to the drugstore for Imodium and Pepto Bismol. Medicated the cramps were bearable enough to crawl to car, wrap myself in my throw and jacket and grin and bear it.

The landscape in South Dakota can be gorgeous with sunflower fields or merely mundane with grassy pastures full of rolls of hay unendingly. The temperature had dropped the low 60's and the wind was howling. We stopped an a rest area for morning coffee and a pit stop only to discover a delightful Lewis & Clark museum and a beautiful overlook of the river which is a feeder to the Missouri (I think). The weather was a crisp 61 degrees with a very strong wind most of the day.

After hour upon hour of the vastness of uninhabited land, K said "I will never think that Delaware is in the middle of nowhere ever again!" This land made Slower lower Delaware look like a metropolis.

Right after lunch our navigator, K, suggested that we take the scenic route along the wall of the Badlands National Park. It was a great suggestion and K got another Park stamp and we got a chance to see this barren and unique landscape in our country. So glad we had the time and the inclination to again go off the planned path and discover something new.

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore at 4:15pm rather tired, but ready to have dinner and go see the evening program at Mt. R. Although my cramps had subsided a light dinner was all I was up to having. Halfway through dinner though it was evident that I was very tired and needed to get some rest. We scratched the evening program and now we are off to sleep. Today we traveled 381 miles and "Minnie" is still going strong. Tomorrow will be spent in Keystone, SD and at Mt. Rushmore. No early up for us tomorrow.