Day Seven - Douglas, WY to Sioux Falls, SD

Day seven.
If anyone has seen the 1960’s movie “If It’s Tuesday it Must Be Belgium”, you might have an idea of what being in our car is like. We have been on the road officially for a week, and have made it through California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota (that’s seven if you’re keeping track). Traveled over 3,100 miles, and 471 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Okay, all but the PB & J sandwiches is true. Map…
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Only in our case, if it’s Tuesday, it must be Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The temperature outside is -7f, and we spent pretty much all day in the car. We headed up from Douglas, Wyoming going to Mount Rushmore. We had spoken with Ranger Joe from the park a couple days before and he told us the park only closed Christmas and for extreme inclement weather, which was extremely rare. So we drove and drove, roads that were solid packed snow and ice. Following snow plows down long deserted highways we made our way northward. We were just three miles from the famous faces when we discovered the gate was closed for winter inclement weather. So, we turned around and headed back down the famous Black Hills. We avoided the wild donkeys, deer and wild rabbits we had seen on the way up the mountain. Slightly frustrated, we headed across South Dakota on I90, taking a small detour through the Badlands, which are difficult, but not impossible to see in the dark. Sorry, no pictures for that one! So for those who are wondering how cold is fifteen degrees below zero? First I will say it is truly cold. Yes, it may be a dry cold, but no matter what you say, they call it zero for a reason. Anything below that is just ridiculous. Thomas was talking to a store clerk about the weather. He said it was a bit colder than he was used to since he wasn’t from around here. She told him that it was it was a bit colder than they were used to and they were from around here. Nice to know they natives don’t care too much for it either. I thought people lived up here because they liked to freeze. Hmmm, learn new things everyday. After several hours of Thomas crooning to Elvis on the radio, we discovered the local stations must have known we were on a road-trip, because they started playing all kinds of songs that pertained to our trip. Songs like – Baby it’s cold outside, and – I can see for miles and miles, just as we were passing through the national grasslands, which is miles and miles of rolling prairie. My favorite was when we passed through the Badlands and we saw a sign that said, “Prairie Dogs Have Plague”. About midnight we pulled into a hotel at the opposite end of the state we started in. So I will bid you goodnight, sweet dreams and warm temperatures.