Iowa Bound! On the Road - Day 5~

This would be our longest day...  450-miles.  It dawned with filtered sunshine - giving everything a golden glow.  Courtney & I walked Farah - letting her graze - while Butch loaded up.

New Grandstand & Sky-bridge~

The day off the road had done us all good.  Now we were past the mid-point in our trip & were counting down the miles.  A huge dark cloud hung overhead - but no rain fell.

The Pavilion~

Butch had promised us a stop at Wall Drug & we were looking forward to it.  Leaving Wyoming for South Dakota took us past one of my favorite towns, Spearfish.  It had grown tremendously since my last time through.  Soon - we were into the mountains, past Sturgis & traveling through the Black Hills.

We'd made a stop for fuel around noon.  It was an out-of-the way place & Farah wanted out.  There was a nice green lawn area off to the side.  I was holding her lead, she was happily grazing when suddenly - the sprinkler system - which I hadn't noticed - erupted into the air all round us!  I think we both must have left the ground by several feet.  Butch heard the commotion & saw a Sprinkler Company truck off to the far side.  The guy had set off the system, without regard as to our presence.  Now that Farah & I had our jolt for the day - it was time to be on our way!

At Wall Drug~

Our eldest daughter, still a kid at heart, had to ride the Jackalope!  :-)  We did finally get lunch, not the best of food & overpriced.  We toured through every area we could find, the old western art is really something to see - no photos allowed.

Courtney rides the Jackalope!

The day was the warmest of the trip - mid-80's.  We had parked in what shade we could find & returned to let Farah out to graze in an open area for quite a while.  If we wanted to get to Chamberlain - we had no further time to dally.

We drove & drove - moving east into the dusk.  Deer carcass littered the highway.  It seemed like we saw one at least every few miles.  That made me nervous - we passed a state highway employee with a flat bed trailer full of them.  Dusk, Deer, interstate - just not a good combination.  I did some praying...

A full Moon rose out of the east - huge - an incredible sight.  Courtney thought her Dad was getting tired, so we called.  He pulled over & she switched rigs.  For whatever reason I had my second wind, turned on some tunes & we drove on into the night.

Following Butch & Courtney~

It was a relief to take the exit & see the lights of Chamberlain on the far side of the Missouri River.  Courtney had already decided she wanted a room in town with a nice big shower :-)  We dropped her off at the motel & tried to follow the directions to the Fairground in the dark.  We found a gravel road, not a light in sight & ended up back in town.  Our second attempt, we stopped a car coming the opposite direction & he was kind enough to direct us to the turn - obscured by trees.

This Fairground was small - we pulled out our flashlights.  We'd seen a professional horse-hauler at the Sheridan Fairgrounds, he had three black & white paints.  His horses were already in three of the four corrals.  Rather than put Farah next to a strange horse, we found a pipe corral & parked both of our rigs right next to the gate.  We were tired, but had a snack in the camper before bed.  What a relief to be this far with only one more lap to go!  Tomorrow - Glenwood!