Road Trip Day 8

Today began in Montana, just West of the South Dakota state line. Kenton was the only one awake with when we stopped at the sign around 8am this morning.

Next stop, Beach, ND - the first town we came upon on I94, and looked for a place to eat breakfast. This was about the only thing in the small town that was open and seemed to be the obvious local hangout. Most tables were filled with folks my grandparents age, visiting about church and farming and when the next potluck will be. 

Kenton decided to take a couple pictures of me at breakfast. I really like the first one...

The second one... not my best expression.

After breakfast we headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

After the bison sighting, we went back to the visitor center to get the kids their badges.

Then we drove into the town of Medora and had “a beer” at this cool local saloon.

There were signed dollar bills all over the walls and rafters. Rob estimated probably about $4,000 worth. We decided to sign and leave one of our own.

It would be super cool to come back someday and try to find it!

Here we are looking at a map and contemplating a little change in plans to our NW Road Trip.

And we had to take a crack at this little shooting game. It was only 25 cents to play. Jenica ended up beating me by 2!

Medora weather station 

It was such a cute little town and the people were so friendly.

An older gentleman enjoying the park with us offered Kenton some licorice while we waited outside for Rob and the girls to get ice cream. It’s so nice to be in the land of normal hospitality again, and not be treated like we have the plague because of Covid fear.

After our fun exploring the town of Medora, North Dakota we hit the road again and headed into South Dakota. This time Tenley was asleep and Kenton couldn’t find one of his shoes, so Jenica is the only one at the sign with me.

While we were on the road, the kids caught up with scratching off the states we’ve visited so far this year in the RV. 

We drove through Sturgis on our way to Rapid City, where the biggest motorcycle rally in the country just wrapped up. There were still remnants of the event, with tents everywhere and merch stands, many of which were being torn down and packed up. Have any of you ever been to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally? I’d love to hear about it!

We arrived at the Rapid City Walmart around 7:45 and it closed at 8:30 so I hurried in to get our groceries for the next 5 days while Rob and the kids went across the street to play miniature golf. 

The kids had been asking to play mini golf so what a great coincidence (blessing) when we parked right next to the Pirates Cove Fun Center.

After mini golf, we played in the Walmart parking lot while we waited for things to cool down. I think it was in the low 90’s today, and we haven’t been able to find anywhere to fill our propane tank so we are trying to leave the A/C off until we can plug in at our RV Park tomorrow.

Jenica made the longest hopscotch I’ve ever seen, and Tenley made a 4-Square court for us to play on. Kenton made up his own game with rocks he found in the parking lot. I didn’t take any pictures because I was having so much fun playing with them.

I love seeing their creativity blossom the more they are away from screens. Jenica even had the idea tonight that her and her siblings should do a skit, so she is currently working on the script for that, with speaking roles for Tenley and Kenton also. 

Stay tuned... maybe that performance will make it here on the blog.

As usual, thanks for following our adventures! Until tomorrow...