Road Trip: chapter 1, on the road

Departure day. The truck was mostly loaded, we just needed to stow the camera, food, and backpacks. Shanna was in town, but she wasn't taking vacation to watch Liam. He was enrolled in  YMCA Day Camp all week. Our departure included dropping him off at the camp bus stop.

Then we were off.

I knew that this day would be a long drive. Galen knew it too, but I don't think he really understood. For now it didn't matter, we watched the rolling countryside, had bits of banter. The morning slowly presented itself as we put miles behind us.

There was none of that, "are we there yet" crap. He enjoyed the concrete and symbolic. At about 3 1/2 hours we crossed that state line into South Dakota, he was very interested in "where" it was. There was a sign for Minnesota, another for South Dakota, but where was the actual demarcation? Same thing hours later when we crossed from the central to mountain time zone.

I can't say we had long, deep discussions. Land Cruisers aren't known for a quiet ride and we were running at the speed limit with the windows down. Listening took effort, concentration. And we both seemed to enjoy watching the landscape.

The I90 corridor is farmland. Miles and miles of tilled earth. Miles and miles of big round hay bales. I called them "round cows." Galen insisted I was crazy.

We didn't stop much, snacks, gas for the truck, pee for the urinals. We did stop at a scenic overlook in western South Dakota just 'cause it sounded good. It offered a beautiful view, a nice break from the drive, and a chance for Galen to sit and have a moment with the wide open spaces of the Great Plains. He also tried pushing over a round cow.

We pulled into the first night's bivy was at the TeePee Campground on the outskirts of Rapid City, SD, at about 7:30 PM. It had been eleven hours since dropping off Liam. The campground turned out to be a simple & clean, just the thing for a road trip rest stop. We quickly set up the basics and got the charcoal blazing to make dinner. As it turned out he didn't like the hamburgers. I had purchased premium patties with cheddar cheese already mixed in, I thought it would be simpler. He prefers his cheese on top. Go figure.

The skies were clear, no rain in the forecast. I spoke with the campground attendant, mosquitoes hadn't been out much, nor any other annoying bug. So I made a calculated decision and just set up a ground cover, mattress pad, and sleeping bags, no tent. We slept under the stars. It was wonderful talking with him as the stars appeared in the sky. We eventually drifted off to sleep, but at some unknown hour he woke me to share a simple observation, he had never seen so many stars.

The rising sun is an amazing alarm clock, so gentle.

Galen seemed to awaken in a happy, joyous mood. The hard ground was more than offset by the stars.We were the only ones camping outside the confines of a motorhome, and we had the more relaxing experience.

Next door, easy walking distance, was Fort Hays, a film site for Dancing with Wolves. They served breakfast so we decided to forgo cooking and eat-n-drink where we didn't have to clean up the mess. We cleaned up our site a bit, went and ate, came back and finished cleanup. Then we were off to Mount Rushmore, home of the big heads.

to be continued...