•7:54 PM
September 29, 2010 7:53 p.m.
Day 6 was Sept, 9, 2010
We woke up in Onawa, Iowa. The odometer read 26,820. We will enter Mountain Time zone today, gaining an hour. I can't believe we will be entering South Dakota this morning! We will be seeing the Great Plains!
later...We stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota because I was of the impression that there would be few restaurants and fuel stops after this. Prior to getting into town, as I was driving, a car passed us on the left and crossed over in front of us, delivering our first ever rock chip to our windshield. This bummed out Self-Reliant Man a bit, but he said something to me about the fact that living in Florida guarantees this will be repaired for free on our comprehensive insurance and that, for this reason, it was the "best" damage we could have, so after an hour we scarcely thought about it anymore. I even kind of grew fond of it, because it reminded me of Mitchell, SD.
Driving through South Dakota, land got flatter and emptier, and then a remarkable transition took place once I-90 crossed west of the Missouri River. One could say we entered "the West" at that moment. The landscape changed suddenly to a series of mogul-type hills, and the land grew even emptier, even becoming void of trees. After 200 miles of driving after Mitchell, exiting the highway near Interior, South Dakota (yes, that is the actual name of the town), we quite suddenly came upon the Badlands National Park. Its beauty exceeded our expectations. We drove through part of the park to get to our campsite assignment at the KOA, with the desire to immediately return to the park after getting established at the KOA.
When we got to the KOA, we definitely knew we were in a new and different setting than normal, for everywhere we stepped, dozens of grasshoppers hopped out of our way. It was the strangest thing to me, and the children thought it was hilarious. My mind went back to Laura Ingalls Wilder books when the Ingalls family was deluged with grasshoppers, and I wondered if this would be happening to us, now. The KOA I would give a 9; it was a pretty good one, although we would be spending very little time here. Although thunderstorms were forecast for the area that night, the office person reassured us that they usually go around Interior, and that turned out to be correct. It grew overcast after dark, and we did see distant lightning, but no rain fell.
We returned immediately to the Badlands NP, and walked a nature trail. During this time, we really appreciated this unusual place, and we got to see some deer, and rabbits. A doe even patiently posed for photographs. Tomorrow we shall spend more time at this park.
Day 6 was Sept, 9, 2010
We woke up in Onawa, Iowa. The odometer read 26,820. We will enter Mountain Time zone today, gaining an hour. I can't believe we will be entering South Dakota this morning! We will be seeing the Great Plains!
later...We stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota because I was of the impression that there would be few restaurants and fuel stops after this. Prior to getting into town, as I was driving, a car passed us on the left and crossed over in front of us, delivering our first ever rock chip to our windshield. This bummed out Self-Reliant Man a bit, but he said something to me about the fact that living in Florida guarantees this will be repaired for free on our comprehensive insurance and that, for this reason, it was the "best" damage we could have, so after an hour we scarcely thought about it anymore. I even kind of grew fond of it, because it reminded me of Mitchell, SD.
Driving through South Dakota, land got flatter and emptier, and then a remarkable transition took place once I-90 crossed west of the Missouri River. One could say we entered "the West" at that moment. The landscape changed suddenly to a series of mogul-type hills, and the land grew even emptier, even becoming void of trees. After 200 miles of driving after Mitchell, exiting the highway near Interior, South Dakota (yes, that is the actual name of the town), we quite suddenly came upon the Badlands National Park. Its beauty exceeded our expectations. We drove through part of the park to get to our campsite assignment at the KOA, with the desire to immediately return to the park after getting established at the KOA.
When we got to the KOA, we definitely knew we were in a new and different setting than normal, for everywhere we stepped, dozens of grasshoppers hopped out of our way. It was the strangest thing to me, and the children thought it was hilarious. My mind went back to Laura Ingalls Wilder books when the Ingalls family was deluged with grasshoppers, and I wondered if this would be happening to us, now. The KOA I would give a 9; it was a pretty good one, although we would be spending very little time here. Although thunderstorms were forecast for the area that night, the office person reassured us that they usually go around Interior, and that turned out to be correct. It grew overcast after dark, and we did see distant lightning, but no rain fell.
We returned immediately to the Badlands NP, and walked a nature trail. During this time, we really appreciated this unusual place, and we got to see some deer, and rabbits. A doe even patiently posed for photographs. Tomorrow we shall spend more time at this park.
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| Sweet Girl with windblown face. |
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| The Young'uns. |
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| The tired (but happy) parents. |
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| The Mama deer. |
1 comments:
My husband has very dear friends in Onawa. He lived there for awhile and had great fellowship in a church there.