South Dakota

Wow, this was a trip. Lisa, Nick (age 3), Darien (age 4), Liz, Lindsey, Chris and me…We rented an RV and took off. Went to Blue Mounds Park in southwestern Minnesota. It was raining so we stopped at a hardware store off the road and bought ponchos for everybody. We wanted to go to the park because there were bison there which are not readily seen I the city. The older kids bounded off after we got to the park. Nick and Darien refused to walk a step. We had to bribe them…you walk to this stone and I will carry you to the next. Damn kids.

We went to the famous Wall Drug. Forget the city. The girls all got silver rings and we looked at the large corn cob display. Always a challenge with the two little boys. For years I thought we had problems because the boys were three and four. But now I think their behavior was related more to their personalities…still rocking the boat.

We went to the Statues of the four presidents.Toured the park there and even went into some caves. The Black Hills were gorgeous. I had not realized why they were called Black hills, but after seeing them I knew. We then went into the drier parts of the state where the kids could climb on rocks.

We stayed in KOA campgrounds. Thank goodness for Chris. He hooked us up every night and knew how to navigate the campgrounds. Most had laundromats and swimming pools. Great for us. Chris also had a girl friend from an earlier church camp. He called her “collect’ every night. Not sure her dad was happy about that.

Sometimes the little boys would misbehave and one or other of the adults would have to take them out. Spent a lot of time in “time out’. But it was a fun trip. Chris would admonish me often saying that the RV was not a sports car, so please slow down. OK.

On the way home we were tired and wanted to sleep. Not Tom. He had drunk a high octane drink early in the evening and was wired. He must have told every terrible seven-year-old joke there was. And laughed and laughed. We did not!

When getting gas to fill up the RV before I turned it in, I scraped the side so there was red paint on the side. I scrubbed and scrubbed and got most of it off. The RV guy just looked and laughed. He did not charge me extra, Whew!