Friday August 1

We left the campsite early today, and couldn’t resist a stop at the Mitchell Corn Palace. There’s not much to say about it other than, well, the place is entirely made of corn.



Stopped at a coffee shop, which was a great, relaxing start to the day, drove for a few hours, and couldn’t help but stop at a scenic overview about 20 miles short of Wall...

As soon as we got out of the car, we were shocked to realize that it was another stop we recall taking at break at on our 2002 road trip. Some of you may recall when I (Amy) somehow managed to have a little round cactus literally jump up onto my leg. For the rest of that trip, we kept referring to the little s*** that tried to get me.

Anyway, we were recalling that we were at the same stop as we started to walk around to stretch our legs, I looked over at Bryan to see him swatting around at something, it looked like he had a bee in his shorts. As I got closer, I saw that he also had a cactus stuck in his shorts and leg and fingers! This little cactus is nearly impossible to remove – it is shaped like a golf-ball with the very long prickers stuck all around it. I got my tweezers and tried to remove it, as Bryan began to feel like he was going to pass out. He proceeded to pass out. This picture was taken shortly before passing out.



Note: These cacti are known as South Dakota jumping cactus. Using the flip-flop as a jumping platform, the cacti will launch themselves 2 to 3 feet up the leg of any unsuspecting victim. Special Note: The South Dakota Jumping Cacti have a ferocious bite and should be avoided at all costs. Though unconfirmed, they may even be poisonous.


Luckily, he recovered after some time. And luckily I was able to take the reins and drive us on to medical care.






We did stop for Buffalo Burgers at Wall Drug while we waiting for the health clinic to open from lunch.

We also discovered in the morning that a stud that attaches the front tire to the car had broken off when we removed a broken hub cap that was flapping in the wind. In this case we were not 50 miles from the infamous catylitic converter dropping of 2003. Needless to say, Bryan had flashbacks of being stuck on the side of the road in the middle of the BADlands again. We stopped at two different repair shops that were unable to help us, and luckily then were able to get it fixed in Rapid City.

We rolled on into Sheridan, Wyoming for the night and plan to make it to Red Lodge, Montana in the morning…..



This was part of our beautiful drive through Wyoming.

Some cheap but well spent purchases so far:

50cents – two quarter 6-minute long hot showers at the campground
5cents – coffee at Wall Drug
FREE – water at Wall Drug
$4 – Buffalo Jerky

Things on our list of things to see:

Jackalope – check
Buffalo – check
Wild Horses – check
Wall Drug – check
Prong-horned Antelope – check
Corn Palace - check

Still to see:
Tumbleweed
Wild Wild West Show
Bears
Moose
Coyotes



Isn't this lovely?