Tuesday July 5, 2016
Left my parents' house at 7:30am instead of from home. This left my dad with
all our stuff that didn't make it in the final repacking of the
Impala which also included all of our laundry so we come home in August without so much to do! I almost stopped at home in Rochester as we drove by on 90 to check
to make sure we had everything but suppressed the urge and headed on.
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| The only time the trunk has been packed this way. Each night/morning stop requires a new packing situation. |
Stopped at a Walmart further across
Minnesota in order to fix my broken glasses... which decided to pop a
screw yesterday afternoon :/ The optometry staff said they couldn't
get it since they don't carry the brand and the springy type of
glasses I have is hard to fix. They suggested I use a bread bag tie
and thread it through the screw holes... Perfect.
Plenty of bathroom breaks in Minnesota,
two of which occurred on the side of the road. We stopped for lunch
in South Dakota and Chuck Roast wasn't thrilled with PB & J for
lunch. Bummer. That's going to be our regular lunch for most of the
month, so I hope he gets used to it! Pumpkin loved it since it's
their favorite food, so that worked in my favor.
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| South Dakota Rest Area |
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| Fort Niobrara Visitor Center |
Once we drove back through Valentine, I realized that I was relying on GPS to get us to our next destination, Nebraska National Forest, so we stopped for an early dinner at McDonald's for chicken nuggets, a cheese burger, a sausage muffin, and free wi-fi. Nebraska offered almost no cell coverage through the entire state :( The speed limit was 65 but I found myself speeding up on the empty roads. I kept a close eye out for State Troopers and at one point while stuck behind a slow-moving truck, I found one pulled over on a gravel frontage-type road. He was not in his car, he was standing a few yards away looking at cows. Seriously.
As we headed out of Valentine, I
noticed the sky getting dark more quickly than expected. Rain. The
winding roads of Nebraska were very unhelpful at determining if we
were going to get caught setting up camp in the rain or not. Once in
Chadron, we stopped for a bathroom break and more ice for the cooler.
Heading out of town, I used a snapshot of Google Maps in order to
find Red Cloud Campground in the Nebraska National Forest.
Successful mapping and only minor rain as we set up our $5 campsite
in under 10 minutes. Once in the tent, the kids colored and read
while I noted the happenings of the day. Bedtime's 9:30 so we can get
an early start to the day tomorrow.
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| $5 Camping Fee apparently broke the bank on day 1 |
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| Red Cloud Campsite #3 |
*Post-sleeping note: this campsite was
super noisy! The road running adjacent to the campsite was busy with
trucks all night. Also, the campers on the other end of the
campground had company that came a left a few times before 10 and
make obnoxious noises towards each tent as they drove by.
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