Traveling To South Dakota
4/30/2019 to 5/3/2019
Just Four Days Of Driving
Tuesday 3/30/2019 Today is just a travel day. We drove 213 miles to Indiana Dunes State Park which is located at the southern tip of Lake Michigan. We stayed here once before near the end of last year's trip. It's a very nice State Park with blacktop and cement sites, clean, spacious restrooms and showers in a great tree-filled setting. It rained the majority of the day but stopped just as we arrived to set up. It began to rain again just as we finished setting up and continued to pour all night. The weather has not been kind to us so far and tonight was just another evening spent huddled inside the trailer.
Wednesday 5/01/2019 Again just another day of driving. We traveled 249 miles from Chesterton, Indiana to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. It should have taken us about three hours and forty-five minutes but there was a huge traffic jam near Chicago. Because of the slow down on the freeway and the fact that I keep my speed between 60 and 65 mph, the trip actually lasted six hours. We drove through Illinois and into Wisconsin where I had reservations at Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park for the night. It's a nice place and only a couple of miles from town. We drove into Wisconsin Dells for dinner and because of the time of year, it was fairly empty. Wisconsin Dells is similar to Branson, Missouri. There are a lot of activities for families such as boat rides, shows, water parks, go-carts, and gift shops. We'll get a chance to see what the town is like "in season" because we are stopping here again in August on our way home.
Thursday 5/02/2019 Today we drove west on Interstate 90 for 261 miles and stopped in central, lower Minnesota. There was only farmland as far as one could see. We camped for the night at The Flying Goose Campground and Resort. Although it's only been less than a week, this is the nicest campground we've stayed at so far. It's a seasonal campground situated along a lake that is very busy with boating and swimming activities between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We are here at the beginning of May and not quite the busy season yet. (it supposedly snowed seven inches here last week.) Even though there are plenty of trailers here, there are just a couple of people actually camping.
Friday 5/03/2019 For five hours and 259 very long and boring miles all we saw was farmland, wind turbines, billboards and the occasional cow. Our overnight stay was at American Creek Campground in Chamberlain, South Dakota. It was a very nice, well-maintained campground along the Missouri River. There were a few other trailers and some fisherman casting off the shoreline. Every so often a fishing boat would appear heading back to their vehicle after a long day out on the river. We walked along the river a few times and took a few pictures. The river must have overflowed a few weeks ago because they still had the temporary cement barriers alongside the river bank. For whatever reason, turkey vultures seem to like this location as they were constantly flying overhead and nesting together in the trees.
Saturday 5/04/2019 We finally began the last leg of this portion of the trip which will take us to Mount Rushmore. We had only traveled about 40 of the 249 miles before my tire pressure monitor starting beeping which indicates one of the trailer tires was losing air. I had to pull over to the shoulder of the highway with cars and semis speeding by at the posted 80 mph limit. I could hear the air hissing out of the front, right trailer tire and decided to put the spare on myself instead of waiting for AAA roadside assistance. I figured I could change it much quicker and it did only take me about 20 minutes.
After changing the tire, we continued on to a town Wendy had told us that she had stopped at a few years back on one of her travels. I saw sign after sign advertising Wall Drug which is in Wall, South Dakota. We researched how many signs they've put up on I-90 and the all-powerful Google said over 300. Wall Drug which was opened back in 1931 is in a cute little frontier-like town. We still had the trailer attached so we parked around back in their large lot. Wall Drug is basically a large Walgreens like store with a nice lunch counter and ice cream counter located inside. Their lunch counter is an actual silver dollar bar as you can see in the photo below. We checked out their menu which is a few basic sandwiches, fries or salads and we decided to give it a try. After lunch, we walked outside to their backyard where you can take photos with a life-sized bronco horse, a jack-a-lope, or even Mount Rushmore. Inside their backyard, there's another building full of old photographs and an old saloon. There are other stores attached to Wall Drug as well as a main street with shops and small restaurants.
After walking around for a while, we continued on our way to The Fort Welikit Family Campground in Custer, South Dakota. We'll stay here for four nights as we explore Mount Rushmore and the surrounding attractions.
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