Yep…back on the road again! It is so good to be out on an adventure.

This time, Addy is with me. Her dad already went to Montana for his new gig and they haven’t seen each other for over a month. I brought up some things for him to take back for storage until the new house is closed on and they can finish relocating.

We left yesterday and stayed in Mitchell, SD…home of the “World Famous Corn Palace”. It was a pretty warm drive coming up (mid-90s F), and when we went into two places to eat in Mitchell it was almost as hot as it was outside.

We got up this morning and had breakfast, then it was back on the road heading west. We made a few stops along the way to see some things and just have fun.

First place was the “Dignity” statue near Chamberlain, SD. It is on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. We hiked a little on some trails down behind the statue to see what was there. The views of the river, the railroad bridge and an old historic bridge built nearly a hundred years ago.

I decided we should make another stop after a few hours of driving and get out for a walk. We took the exit for Badlands National Park.

It was pretty busy, which is understandable given the holiday weekend, plus it’s tourist season. I have not traveled in summer in many years because of that and this was a reminder that I don’t need to do that very often.

Addy got her iPad out and started taking a lot of pictures and videos as we drove to the visitor center. We got out and it was like a blast furnace. It was 102° F…and it was still before noon!

We got back in the truck and went to find a couple of trailheads to check out. They were very quick hikes but we got some nice pictures.

We got back in the truck, wiped off the sweat, chugged more water, and hot the road westbound. Addy had a great time hiking and constantly looks around at everything to point out for me. We did have to watch out for rattlesnakes but never saw any.

After a few errands I needed to run farther west, we came back east and got to our hotel in Rapid City. It was an older hotel but still decent despite being a bit dated. Loran showed up and Addy was really happy to finally see her dad after a long time being apart.

The pool in the hotel has a waterslide, which I didn’t get to play on since my swim shorts are now too big (woot!) and I really did not want to lose them on the way down! I guess there are worse problems to have. It was still fun watching them play around in the water. We will be here for a few days so I may go buy new shorts that fit.

Tomorrow is unplanned but I know they are going to go do something. I will find things to do as well so they can have their time together.

See you tomorrow!

Shawn