Somethin's Buggin' Me

This morning we hopefully woke up at 7:15 thinking we’d be on

the road between 8:00 and 8:30. So we were feeling slightly defeated when it was 9:30 as we pulled onto the road. No more morning showers, gas getting, or anything fancy like that! I think that tomorrow we’ll be out of here much quicker…stay tuned! Anyway, the ride was through Iowa, Minnesota and the beginning of South Dakota. We were both impressed by the flat

ness of everything until we hit South Dakota where there began to be little hills everywhere.

We were listening to a book on CD today while we rode and we had to turn it off to be able to enjoy the scenery properly! Beautiful sprawling farmland with mogul-like hills, cows and sheep here and there and, occasionally, a pond. There were also hundreds of billboards. The most prominent ones were advertising attractions for our exit, number 332 off of I-90 W in Mitchell, SD. Mo

st often we saw ad

vertisements for the Corn Palace. This was something I knew about ahead of time but had sort of forgotten about. We started seeing signs probably fifty miles in advance. By the time we got off the exit, we decided we had to pay the place a visit. We found the campsite and decided to set up camp before heading off to see what the fuss was all about! Rich started dragging stuff out of the car and Otis and I headed for the dog area. Within ten seconds I was COVERED in bugs. Granny and Mom and anyone else who has walked with me recently know that I am instantly bothered by bugs.

However, I have a whole new take on what a lot of bugs means! They were biting me left and right and were swarming all around me. I’m pretty sure they were mostly mosquitoes but I didn’t stick around long enough to study the nasty things. Poor Otis got a very short walk and then we were barreling back to the car. Rich saw us comi

ng and thought we looked pretty funny until I threw him the leash, hopped in the car, and started yelling “Ok, never mind, it’s a hotel night!!” Two minutes later, the swam that had unfortunately followed me back from the dog area was all over him and he was throwing Otie in the back and jumping in himself. We waited several minutes, complaining loudly about the nastiness of the situation. As we looked around at the other campers, they were all wandering around, sitting at tables and in general minding their own business and NOT ONE of them even waved a hand at a bug! We decided that we had experienced some kind of fluke and decided to finish setting up. There were still bugs but it was nowhere near as

bad as before.

Once we finished up, we headed out to the Corn Palace. This is a place that is billed to be completely made of corn. Well, it wasn’t. It was a building with corn glued on it all around. We didn’t stay long enough to take the tour or hear the lecture but we did poke around a bit and noticed that they have a large auditorium inside with basketball scoreboards and everything. Interesting. It was a Tourist Trap like we’ve never seen! The best part, though, were the two old pictures of actual corn palaces from the early 1900s that WERE built entirely of corn. That and the fact that they had all kinds of free brochures in the lobby to help us plan out our day tomorrow, which includes Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, and the Black Hills. We are beyond excited about this.

At this point, the Navy Sailor in the car decided he needed to practice. We did pack the trombone after all! We found an empty office building in a secluded area with a shady parking spot. Otis and I waited in the car (I started working on my blog and he was working on some ice cubes I handed back to him). Suddenly amidst the scales and various exercises, I heard shouting. I looked up and saw poor Rich holding his trombone in one hand, dancing around and waving the other one, hollering at the bugs. I’ll admit it, I laughed. A few minutes later, I heard coughing and choking. He had swallowed several bugs in one big breath. He powered through for about twelve minutes before he gave up and got back in the car. The verdict is that South Dakota’s bugs are disgusting and, even though it’s one of the most interesting and beautiful states so far, we would never live here!

Now, off to our

evening showers (for morning efficiency) and diving into the tent while leaving the mosquitoes out. We will feel most triumphant if we manage to outsmart these formidable opponents!

The Next Day

Yes, we did beat the bugs! No mosquitoes slept with us! We’re off to a much more efficient start this morning and looking forward to a beautiful day, lot

s of sights and the help of crossing another time zone to give us even more time to enjoy everything. Have a great day!