Day 3 - Another day of Driving in Tornado Alley (The Adventure continues)

It certainly seemed that way.  The wind continues to buffet us about as we drive interstate 80 and then 90.  Today we rose before 7 to make 8 AM mass.  Can't expect us to miss mass regardless of where we are.  This one was in a little town called Adair.  I say little as the priest, just before the end of the mass itself, mentioned congratulations were in order for one gentleman.  He graduated high school and was headed off to college in the fall.  He was the only one graduating as he was the only high school senior from the town.  Talk about small!!!!!
After the mass, we headed off to find a supermarket as we never had the time yesterday to gather our food for the trip.  We could only find a Walmart supercenter about 20 miles away but it was in the right direction which was West.  The nearest large chain was Kroger and that was 52 miles away.  So off the Walmart we went.  I saw that the we could take rte 80 but the GPS put us on a side road which turned out to be a road under construction.  They were milling the road so it was all chewed up, loose with gravel and full of pot holes.  Most annoying since 80 would have worked but it was not good enough for technology.  Shopping took about an hour and we found most of the items on the list.  After checkout and stopping for gas (3rd time remember we get maybe 8 miles to the gallon, we were on our way again.  As it turned out, we were to be on the road to the tune of 500 miles.  It was going to be another long.  But then again, it is an adventure.

Iowa is basically flat as a pancake and endless acres of tilled fields with nothing growing.  Maybe it is too early but I would figure that by May, something should be comiong up.  I am talking about tens of thousands of acres, all plowed and showing lovely brown dirt.  South Dakota is also showing some large tilled fields but there is plenty of cattle and horses too.  However, some areas are hilly as opposed to flat but basically the same situation.  You see very few people and homes along the way, except in the cities.  The roads in both states leave something to be desired.  At times, very bumpy and lots of construction work to slow us down.  I will give them credit.  Iowa's speed limit is set at 70 MPH while SD is 80.

We arrived at the campground in Belvedere, SD around 5:45.  It was almost empty but as the evening come more and more RV's showed up, many of them from GAH.  I did not recognize anyone but there were quite a lot of them in the beginning.  Well, we got settled, actually put on the air conditioning as it was 85 degrees, and went about our business.  Chiara started dinner, with chicken cooked in olive oil, tomatoes and garlic, side of rice and salad.  It was a great meal since we had not had a decent one since Thursday.  I got back to blogging and sent out the initial one a few hours ago.  I still do not have pictures showing as I am having troubles loading them to this laptop.  I will take it up with Nello and hopefully figure it out.  After dinner and clean up, we found that the shower was backed up.  That means the tanks were full and needed to be emptied.  Not an issue when it lite, but in the dark its a little tricky.  I could not get the hose to connect.   It took me about 10 minutes and the evening bugs were keeping me company.  I finally got things squared away, unhooked the hose and come in to wash my hands.  Oh what a joy!!

So the score card after two days, is one unusable bump out, a ripped floor, 1,000 miles driven, a soar neck and rear end from sitting and sleeping with a bad pillow.  Tomorrow is the Bad Lands NP and Mt Rushmore.  See you later!