Day 11 - Trinidad CO to Rapid City SD

After a quiet night’s sleep in the WalMart parking lot we were on the road at 7:15 am - STILL - headed north to Rapid City South Dakota. Our target there is Mount Rushmore. The rolling green hills of Wyoming were picturesque and covered with wild antelope and deer grazing just beside the highway. It changed very little as we crossed the South Dakota line just before dark. The black hills started looming closer with their black pine trees growing right out of the rocks!

At 9:30 pm we finally pulled into the Outback steakhouse in Rapid City, SD. Patty had a need for some prime rib and the rest of us thought we deserved a good steak meal after our very loooooong day. Unbelievably, there was NO prime rib left at Outback and NO Dr. Pepper! It was about to be war, but we were so desperate for a meal we gave in and had ribeyes. Stomachs full, we made a stop for gas and then, you guessed it, another WalMart stop! Now, you might be wondering WHY we stop at WalMart everywhere we go and how we know WHERE they are. We always thought Jennifer (David and Karen’s daughter) was the WalMart queen. We now know that she gets it from her Dad, the WalMart king! Prior to the trip Karen mapped out the locations of WalMarts in every overnight city so we could choose where to get our provisions. It really wasn’t part of the plan to stop at every one of them!

The weary travelers finally arrived at the campground at midnight only to find a huge disappointment. We all agreed Rushmore Shadows is coming off our “do again” list. The park was extremely crowded, the campsites right on top of one another and the people on both sides of us were using our electricity. Maybe the morning will be better. - Karen

---

---