Wednesday, August 3, 2017
Today is a travel day. We’re headed to the Beymont Inn in Hot
Springs, SD. We had looked for campsites in the area but there were no openings
due to the bike rally. The written log
that I keep in the car has several random notes which I will transcribe here,
despite their nonsensical nature.
Rolling hills dotted with cows, Black
Angus cows perhaps – very few trees. Is
this the type of landscape that Lewis & Clark saw on their explorations?
Are traveling through what is considered the Plains?
After only and hour and 45 minutes of
driving we enter Mountain Time.
We pass portions of the Badlands,
brief glimpses of walls of gray rock which seem to sprout from the straw
colored fields. Cliffs… The fields are
dotted with large, round bales of hay – they look like straw cows standing in a
field. The exit for Badland National
Park (131) passes by. Although there is
interest in stopping it’s not part of our plan for this trip.
We stop at a Cabela’s in Rapid
City. It is here that we learn that
Cabela’s allows camping in their parking lot, like Walmart. We purchase a new set of binoculars, as the
ones we had are not that strong. We also
purchase the yellow, plastic stabilizer supports which I have been lusting for
since we purchased our camper. The
stabilizers are a belated birthday gift for me.
I’m extremely happy about getting rid of the wooden boards that we
previously used. I’d like to say that my
excitement of the purchase is totally practical (we no longer need to contend
with wet wood) but that wouldn’t be totally true. I like the aesthetics of having all of our
stabilizers match…I also like the fact that plastic is a lot easier to deal
with while wet and they come with their own little holder which keeps things
nice and tidy. Always the thrifty
travelers, we apply for a Cabela’s card and save money on our purchase. We also get two gifts for signing up, a
travel mug and a cap. I promptly
commandeer the cap and leave Wilson with the cup.
While in Rapid City we stop at a AAA
to pick up maps. Wilson loves maps! I love the GPS on my phone, but will reluctantly
admit that having paper maps has been nice as well. Rapid City has sculptures on the street
corners of the presidents. While Wilson
was in AAA I took a few pictures of them. Warren G. Harding and his dog are pictured below. I love finding little surprises like these
sculptures in places where we stop. It’s
such a delightful surprise!
Leave Boondockers in
Oacoma, SD after a very windy night – 7:40am - 59°
Rte. 90W►79S►385N
Gas - Exit 192,
Murdo/White River - $2.35/gal
Entering Mountain Time –
9:14/8:14am (my notes say we’ve traveled 173.5 miles and that the sign is on
91, but without a map in front of me, I’m not sure if this is a typo as my
route notes don’t take us on 91
Gas – Rapid City, SD –
Phillips 66 - $2.29/gal
Arrive – Beymont Inn,
Hot Springs, SD 1:48/12:48pm
Miles traveled – 263.8
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