Day 2

Today we finally feel like we're on vacation. We caught up to our itinerary, and we saw some awesome sights. Our web-update this morning involved many frustrated minutes dialing up over static-y phone lines. After leaving the "Tee Pee" (not kidding) campground in Murdo, SD, home of scraggly grass and lots of mud, we headed towards the famed Badlands.

The badlands looked very much like the rest of South Dakota at first, which means lots of space with no trees. But then we rounded a bend in the road and the same thought rose in each of our minds: "Whoa." The layered rocks were amazing, and we spent a good part of the day climbing around and taking pictures. Our thoughts were summed up by a biker that we overheard: "You could take as many pictures as you want, but they'll never look like this."

After seeing countless billboards advertising the infamous Wall Drug store in Wall, SD, we were let down when we arrived. Despite the incentives of hot coffee for 5 cents and free water, it turned out to be just about the largest tourist trap we've ever seen. We ate at a little hole in the wall called the Cactus Cafe filled with friendly bikers and good food.

At about 6:30 we rolled into the Battle Creek Campground in Keystone, SD, close to Mt. Rushmore. This is notable because it is the first time we've arrived at a campsite in the daylight. We got a spot in the overflow area, but this is far superior to the buzzing KOA sign under which we attempted to sleep two nights ago. This campground is beautiful, with a view of the Crazy Horse Monument. These Rapid City people sure like to carve heads into mountains.

The other highlight of our evening was our culinary expedition into South Dakota Gumbo land. We are good cooks, if we do say so ourselves.

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