We had an early morning wake-up call today as we were on the road by 5 am (most of us still in PJ’s and the girls still asleep on the sofa bed!). The sun was already rising and we also got to see a rainbow (a remnant from the previous evening’s storms, I guess!).
Our first stop after leaving Custer State Park was Wall, SD at the site of the famous “Wall Drug”. The history of this store is a really great story. Check out this link if you’ve never read about them http://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx. The neatest thing (or most annoying, depending on your point of view!) is that they have frequent signs starting 100 miles away advertising their stop. It really is a ‘must see’ on any trip across I-90.
We explored part of the many gift shops (this place is HUGE—it would take a full day to see it all, I think!) and had breakfast in the cafe. I recommend the donuts—no one else really liked them but I thought they were good (for a cake donut—I mean, they weren’t Krispy Kreme or the donut place in PCB but they were yummy!).
(the free ice water that started an empire!)
Back in the RV, we continued heading east. We decided to skip Badlands NP because of time – plus we are all a little ‘scenery-ed’ out! The landscape is becoming much more flat… a few rolling hills but a lot of farm/cattle land was visible from the highway. Near Exit 170, we noticed an interesting sculpture of a skeleton man walking a skeleton of a dinosaur—I thought I had a picture of it but it’s not in my memory card… anyway, kind of funny!
Near the Missouri (or Missourah, depending on who you ask!) River, we crossed into Central time and lost an hour today (one of the reasons for the early wake-up time!). We also noticed that the wind has picked up considerably—South Dakota could really give Wyoming a run for their money in a ‘strongest wind’ competition! Actually, we later learned that it’s nearly this windy all of the time—which we decided would make most of us about crazy! I guess with few trees on the prairie, there’s nothing to slow it down.
Our next stop on the ‘SD Roadside Attraction Tour’ was the famous “Corn Palace” in Mitchell, SD. This is also another ‘must stop’ along I-90. They have fantastic murals made of colored corn cobs on the outside of the building which are replaced yearly (we got so see the work in progress). Indoors is an auditorium/sports arena with permanent corn-cob pictures. They built the first one over 100 years ago as a way to attract visitors to the town so I guess it’s definitely done that!
Our final (and best!) stop of the day was a slight detour north to the town of De Smet, SD. I am going to do a whole post about our stay in De Smet for the Laura Ingalls fans (so if you’re not, you can just skip it!!). We spent the afternoon touring the Ingalls family’s original homestead from the 1880’s and actually spent the night at the onsite campground. If you have any “Little House” fans in your family, this is really a must-do trip. They have done a nice job of recreating the look and feel of the original (not that I know what the original looked like, but it seems authentic based on my extensive readings of the books!!). They’re also very ‘hands on’—you can touch, pick up, open just about anything and they have quite a few activities for the kids to participate in as well.
We spent about 3 hours exploring the homestead and since we were staying on site, were able to walk around more even after they were officially closed (they don’t even lock the buildings which shocked me… I guess vandalism/theft must be minimal out here!). I was also able to pick up my ‘souvenir’ from the trip—150 pounds of hard white wheat berries—for about 1/2 the price I can get them in Georgia! Thank you SO MUCH Ann at the Ingalls Homestead!!
After showers and a few rounds of horseshoes (Emma is still the family champ!), we were out for the night. 
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