Outrun a Twister

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Geo: 44.0812, -103.231

Weather: 90s and HOT
Location: Rapid City to Sioux Falls, IA
Highlights: Sunrise at Mount Rushmore, Tornado and climbing the badlands
Lowlights: Lost wallet and Tornado
#of Swearwords: I'm not going to lie, there were a couple of Holy Sh$%!s(MISSING) in there
Activities: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Bear Country, Wall Drug, Badlands
Helpful hint: Wake up before sunrise to see Mount Rushmore (the best), never forget to do a room sweep, stay calmer than your kids when a tornado is in the fields beside the car and drive faster than the tornado.
Restaurants: Badlands Bar and Grill (eh)

Ok, so last night we had a family meeting of sorts where we discussed the plans for the next morning which included getting up at 445 AM. We cringed waiting for the response from the kids as the words left our mouths as confidently as we could muster because we weren't sure if it was the best plan either. They all looked at us like we were kidding. We called it an adventure and told them how much fun daddy and I had when we woke up in Hawaii at the crack of dawn to hike Diamond Head. We were so glad we did. Though, we were taking advice from someone else. Stand your ground, be confident in your decision and teach them that we take risks (and quite frankly, waking up 3 kids at four AM was a bigger risk for us then them).

I set the alarm on my phone to Stewies "Mom". At 445, we woke to, "Lois, mom. moom. moom. ma. ma. momma. momma." My plan was that they might wake up happier with a funny alarm. Everyone woke up beautifully. So far so good. We hopped in the car at 515 to make the 555 sunrise. We were in Rapid City which is 45 minutes from Mount Rushmore. You can stay in many places closer. Remember, I wanted to use Marriott points and the water park seemed like a good plan. We decided the night before to scrap day 2 in Rapid City because they were due for storms and we were up so early, we got done before noon.

We made it to Mount Rushmore just as the sun was coming up. That early in the morning, you don't have to pay for parking or entrance fee. Bonus. We didn't know that. Plenty of parking and NOONE is there. There was about 4 people there for the same reason we were. It really was a moving experience to have the park to yourself to see one of the most amazing landmarks in our country. I can't tell you what a great idea that was. I literally teared up being there. We all sat on the wall waiting for the sun to rise. They kids could even feel the patriotism and religious experience. I'm not kidding.

But, when we arrived, Paul realized he didn't have his wallet. I felt so bad because this was on of the most important things we did to him and he was distracted. He still enjoyed it. See, what happened was, Paul broke the most important code of checking out of a hotel that he religiously does and has the kids practice it...he didn't sweep the room. Oh, Ben tried. Ben, taking after his old man said, "Dad, we have to sweep the room." In a frenzy to stay on sunrise schedule, he was pushed out the room with a, "GET OUT!" According to Ben. We didn't want to waste a 445 wake up call and miss the whole reason for the before dawn rising. Big mistake, Huge. We didn't exactly know if the wallet was even there. We were just hoping.

We watched as the sun rose up behind us lighting up the presidents faces. Beautiful. It was quiet and respectful. I highly recommend seeing it this way. You could actually get there at 7 and there is still no one there. Well worth it. We left and headed to Crazy Horse. Paul called the hotel to tell them that we were still sleeping in the room (we hadn't told them yet we weren't staying a 2nd night.) and to tell the maids to skip our room. He didn't want anyone near his wallet. He's loaded, you know. haha

We got to Crazy Horse 55 dollars to go into the park. As far into the trip as we are, you have to realize that the kids don't take as much pleasure in staring at a rock as we do unless there is a waterslide coming off his nose. Not worth spending that much. We asked if we could just drive up and take a picture. The kids said they want to bring their kids back to see if its finally done. My dad went when he was a kid when it was started. Still not done.

We got back to the hotel in time for breakfast. Guess what? His wallet was there but we aren't sure we would have seen it. It was under the bed but there is no "under" there bed. We would have lifted the bedskirt at a glance and probably not even seen it again the wood and dark carpet. At least he found it.

Next stop was Bear Country. A sort of drive thru safari with wolves, elk, buffalo and bears. See, if you don't see them in Yellowstone, we can pretend we're seeing them in the wild. It was cool. They are right next to your car. You have to keep your windows closed because they will climb on our car. It was getting hot. Another reason to start out early. I mean HOT. Im not complaining. While we were in line, paul was getting irritating because it was taking them a very long time to take money and send us through and the other line was moving along. With the windows down, Paul announces how long it's taking. Then says to us, "there are two lines in this place. One for idiots and one for people who actually want to go into the park." This tickled Elizabeth's funny bone.

Back on the road to the Badlands. Along the way, you have not choice but to stop at Wall Drug. You are brainwashed for hundreds of miles with signs that direct you to Wall Drug. It started with a failing little store and the owners wife told him to put a sign out saying "free water" to draw people to the store. It worked. So, he decided to put up more signs. Early marketing. He hand painted signs and placed them in every direction leading people to his store. It was a success. We counted 44 signs in a 30 minute period before arriving. He has been known to have 3000 signs all over. It's a neat little stop with stores, food and oddities. We had lunch there but that was uneventful. It's worth a stop. Neat to say we were there.

The Badlands were next. Another strange and amazing land formation. So weird how different places can be in one country. Really cool to experience. Now we are in the 90s in a place that could have been filmed in Star Wars or Mad Max. They are like sandcastles frozen in time. The cool thing was that we realized you are allowed to climb them. That made the experience. To see them, touch them and really experience them. But it was HOT! People were hiking all over them but I had not interest in that heat. Neither did the kids. We made a climb up to get a view and headed back down. Good enuf for me. For us. If it was cooler, I would have done more. It had to be 98 degrees, maybe more. We drove the badlands loop and got back on the road to Sioux Falls. We are trying to knock some drive time off the back end of the trip.

We headed into some dark clouds though they stayed to the north of us in the fields. We were going East. As we came closer to the clouds, I noticed how close to the ground they were. Touching the ground. I whispered to Paul that I thought it didn't look good. He agreed. Just by a look at each other, we agreed that it looked very tornado like. We are driving through never ending fields and open land. Personally...I don't like tornados. It did seem a bit exciting though as long as it stays out of my way and moves along elsewhere. Just as we agreed what we suspected (quietly), the kids made an announcemet that "There is a tornado over there!" That alarmed me more. If they thought it was, then that just confirmed what we thought. I climbed in the back of the car to see what they were seeing. Elizabeth was shaking and tearing up. We tried to remain calm though it was the field next to us and I couldn't tell what direction it was going and i wanted to tell Paul to drive faster. If it is a tornado, it is a big one, not a visible twister.

Ben was making minute by minute announcements alarming everyone. Paul had discuss with Ben how his behavior was alarming everyone and Paul's calm behavior calms everyone. I don't trust Paul's calm behavior. When the plane was flying into the MSU stadium into a no fly zone right at our seats right after 911 at a MSU-UM game, he was calm. Grown men were panicking. Women were crying. I was shaking like a leaf. Later Paul told me he was crapping his pants too. He's right though. There's nothing you can do about it. I like that he can stay calm.

. As we were passing it, we came up on a rest stop. Paul asked if anyone had to go to the bathroom. Everyone said no. Ben says, "Nooo. (pause) Not now!" it was in a tone that told dad that he was insane if he thought he was going to go to the bathroom in a tornado. We headed straight into a rainbow and out ran the storm. I have no idea what it was and I don't care.

We stopped in Sioux Falls for the night and on to Omaha tomorrow. Our plan is to go to the Iowa Fair but the weather isn't looking good for a fair. We might do the Omaha Zoo. It looks neat. Indoor desert, indoor rainforest and bat cave. Sounds better than a fair in the rain.

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