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Hi Everyone,
We finally found an internet connection in Custer, South Dakota and figured that I would update everyone on our travels so far. We made really good time and made it all the way to Central Ohio for our first night. The drive through New York was long and uneventful. It was fun to listen to music, giggle, and dance. We had a minor spat (just kidding- well if I call for bail money don’t be surprised) with a visitor service representative in New York, apparently I shouldn’t have worn my Red Sox sweatshirt!! The rivalry is alive and kicking, even in upstate New York. We made it all the way to central Ohio, to a little town called Mentor.
When we got to Ohio we decided to set up camp for the night, but we had a little problem. We picked a really good campground and went to pay when the clerk delivered some very bad news! Apparently it was going to get down to 22 degrees tonight and there has been some problems with black bears in the area. I mean come on, it’s Central Ohio, there shouldn’t have been any bears. So we decided to
hotel it for our first night. Motel 6 baby!
The hotel was interesting to say the least. We apparently were right next store to a mentally unstable woman who continued to harrass us all night. She made numerous disturbance calls on us, even though we weren't making any loud noises. I was washing the dishes but apparently I was being too loud. The clerk was pretty understanding and realized it wasn't all us but did say that if we had one more complaint against us, she would have to call the police! That would have been bad, our first night and we end up in police custody for real. Not good!
The next couple of days were spent driving. We stayed in Portage, Wisconsion on our second night and Mitchell, South Dakota on our third night. Mitchell is home to the world renowned Corn Palace. It's a pretty big building made entirely of corn. It's defeintly a tourist trap but it was cool to see!
South Dakota has been a lot of fun but it is pretty cold here, right now it is snowing and about 34 degrees, OUCH! Last night the town we stayed in missed
the snow but right next door they got six inches. The Black Hills have been getting hit pretty hard with snow, we heard from some fellow travelers that 90 West is closed from Deadwood into Wyoming, because of a pretty sizable snow storm. I think they got over a foot of snow. Apparently this is not normal weather for South Dakota in May. So far we have visted the Badlands National Park in South Dakota and it was so amazingly beautiful. There was only a handful of vistors there. The badlands are just this amazing canyons, red rocks, and mountains as far as you can see. They are all different colors and shapes with a backdrop of prairie and grassland. There were about 15 deers grazing on the grasslands and when they saw us approaching they scampered off. They were so beautiful.
After the Badlands, Jen forced me to go to Wall Drug (just kidding). For anyone that has not heard of my tirade about Wall Drug, here it is. Wall Drug was once a mom and pop drug store in this tiny little town in Wall, SD. They were almost bankrupt and started a pretty aggressive promotion of
their store, advertising free ice water for travelers. Well now it has turned into this massive complex of stores that enompasses the whole town. The signs for Wall Drug start 500 hundered miles before the actual store. It is ridiclous. Apparently they have 10,000 of these huge, unsightly signs all over the world. They even have one in Kenya, Africa. I think it is absloutley ridicoulous. But we went and looked around all the stores and got some shelter from the cold and rainy weather.
Today we spent the day in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The snow and cold kind of hampered us but we went to Mount Rushore and Crazy Horse Monuments. The Black Hills are so beautiful. you wouldn't expect them in South Dakota considering the beggining of the state starts of as the plains. We been walking and shopping around little western towns, getting a little bit of the local flavor. After this we are headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming. I am pretty excited, I've never been to Southeastern Wyoming. I'm expecting it to be quite different that Northern Wyoming. After that we are planning on heading to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
I
hope that all is well back home! I miss everyone all ready.
Love, Laura
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Jen
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purse
Also, what kind of serious camper takes a Coach purse. Shouldn't you have some kind of rucksack? Now, I am not sure if I even believe that you pladies are roughing it in the your tent. I think it is all for show and you are really loving life in every Ritz or Four Seasons you can find! Just kidding.