We're on the road again. Westbound and down. We left Bills sisters place Thursday 4/28, and made it as far as LaCrosse, Wi. Goose Island County park came highly recommended so we decided to spend a couple of nights there and get a good look at the town of LaCrosse. First of all, Goose Island is actually an island in the Mississippi River. Because of flooding, brought on by rain and snowmelt up north, the top of the island was a little closer to the water. We were traveling the road to the island and both wondering if we would make it and still stay dry. Well, of course we did but there were a lot of the campsites that were under water. LaCrosse is a college town of about 50,000 people, nice little place but cold in the winter.  |
| See the electric hookups? |
We left there on the 30th with the intention of a one night stop in Welcome, Mn then on to Chamberlain, SD for a couple of days. Well, thank goodness that we have plenty of time before we have to be any where because about the time we hit Welcome, the wind picked up. We got rocked around pretty good on our night there but managed to survive. Welcome wasn't as welcoming as we expected it to be so will probably cross it off our list in the future. While in MN we passed up the opportunity to visit the Spam museum in Austin. Maybe next time!
OK, it should have been a good days drive to Chamberlain but that wind continued and it was relentless!! Straight out of the northwest. Sunday was a brutal day that started out at about 34 degrees. That temp plus the wind made hooking up very uncomfortable. We got on the freeway and the truck literally couldn't pull the trailer in "overdrive". We heard later on the local news that the winds were 30-40 with gusts above 50 mph. There went the fuel mileage. It was an exhausting battle and we gave up about 90 miles down the road in Sioux Falls. I was determined to get out of the Land of 10,000 lakes! We found a Yogi Bear park near the freeway that was nestled in a little valley and protected from the wind.
We finally completed the trip to Rapid City on the 4th, over 200 miles of relentless boring scenery. It's like the drive from Twin Falls, ID to Mountain Home, ID, over and over. Prairie after prairie. Of course there are plenty of billboards to tell you of all the upcoming attractions you must see and the most famous are the Wall Drug signs. They used to advertise how many miles to Wall Drug and they were all over the world. They've been upgraded a bit and I think the store has too. If you need it they have it. Not much else of interest out this way, just the few oddball things you see here. |
| Sculpture park |
So, the weather is still undecided, some cold, rainy, windy days and a nice one now and then. The trees haven't leafed out yet and the heater is still going. We've taken care of some of the business, got our motorcycle endorsement. Had a comedy of errors going on with the scooter and the SD licensing process. The federal approved licenses, also known as the enhanced license, is a paper nightmare and a typically governmental SNAFU.
Until next time, drive safe.
