Day One, Sunday, September 10, 2023
Up at 7 a.m. Plan to leave by 8. Husband is making a big breakfast, cleaning out the frig, and I scramble with cleaning off the kitchen table so we have room to eat. It was all last minute packing that was going in my back pack. Camera, vitamins, glasses etc. Just stuffing it all away and I will sort out later. Got to get that table cleared!
Car's packed, said our good-bye to House Dog and heading down the road, little past 8! Not bad for me. Leg one is Husband driving. About 11:00 I decide to get my back pack reorganized. Remember I threw everything last minute in there to get the table cleared off for breakfast. As I am digging away I come across the t.v. remote!! Next to my glasses case! Both remarkably similar in size, shape, color. I "phone home" to let them know I have the remote and don't knock yourselves out looking for it. All good. The Adult Children are savvy enough to work the t.v using the buttons on the t.v. most people don't know exist.
Leg two driving is me at Sioux Falls, SD. A few miles into the leg I ask Oldest Son to close his window, little noisy for this sometimes sensory challenged person. Well lo-and-behold the window mechanism is broken and won't go back up. Stuck open about 6-7." There is a back story that is not part of the trip. Further down the road buy some duct tape, dumpster dive for cardboard and cover it up. Ugh.
Kadoka, SD was leg three. Husband driving again. We are now heading into the Badlands National Park to check out some scenery. We are following Husband's truckers atlas, a AAA Trip Tik, 3 smart phone map apps and sailing along! The roads are getting more "scenic" as the lines get thinner on the maps. Soon we are on gravel, then huge pot holes with deep puddles that are rocking the car and splashing clay water every where! At first its fun, still on a road on the map and vehicle is all wheel drive and not low to the ground. Then the car slides towards the ditch. Still ok and heading in the right direction. At the top of the next hill we see the road ahead is almost vertical and looks like mud! Now I am afraid. Did I mention it's now getting dark? We turn around. Back to the last paved road. We now have to go south when our destination is east. The car is filthy, the cardboard held on the window, we are tired. We get the hotel about 8:00 p.m. It's now raining. We have been driving almost 12 hours, check in, put a garbage bag over the cardboard window, and head out to Hot Springs, SD for an evening meal. Every and I mean every, road in town in torn up, Cones every where, it's dark, shift this way, shift that and not an open restaurant in sight! I am ready to cry. We finally find a Subway, closing early, most of the stuff is empty or put away. They do serve us, very friendly, no bad attitude. I would be slamming things around. Oh, we had Subway for lunch! Second ugh of the trip.
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