And the wind cried hail mary

Day 3 promised the first major site of the trip – Badlands. To be honest, I don't know that I'd ever heard of them before planning the trip, and I didn't do any research on them so I could be taken by surprise. So I was really looking forward to getting there. Another long day of driving would reward us with star gazing under the direction of a park ranger in the Badlands amphitheater. After a short walk to the lake while the kids ran around the campground, we hit the road. Our first destination was the spider beetle, a VW bug turned into a giant spider.

After this brief taste of Americana for breakfast we were back on I-70 westbound. I started noticing a parade of old school busses converted to bike-hauling duty. Then the fancier RV's and not so fancy bike support vehicles paraded by. I asked Kristin to confirm my suspicion, which she did. It was the start of the RAGBRAI – the Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (http:/.www.ragbrai.com).   We must have seen 50 support vehicles done up in various team schemes. The world's oldest and largest bicycle tour appears to be going strong.

Fresh off the “straying from the plan” victory from the previous night we side-stepped across the Missouri and into Nebraska. We travelled through Omaha and Winnebago Indian Reservations, including witnessing first hand the spoils of casino money. The dichotomy of the rural residences and the casino town was incredibly stark.

Back on the Interstates we made a bee-line on I-80. Here's where we saw our first sisterships; one Winnebago Vista and two Rialta's. Still no old school VW sightings, however. Our last excursion was to the Corn Palace. Or should I say The Corn Palace, as there is only one in the entire world. Why anyone would decorate the entire outside of a building with murals made from corn is beyond me. But they do, and it changes every few years. More corn murals adorn the inside. It is, very corny.

I think we crossed the Missouri River today more times than Lewis and Clark. The third crossing, in South Dakota, brought a distinct change in the landscape. It looked the the biggest Scottish links course on the planet. It's amazing how many different landscapes we can see on any given day.  In particular, the west banks of the Missouri River look nothing like the east banks.  It's mind blowing.  

But not nearly as mind blowing as the Badlands.  Given that I had no idea what to expect, I was simply blown away by the beauty and character of this place.  I can't describe it in words, so this picture will will have to do until we do more exploring tomorrow.

  

We drove through the Badlands and stopped at the KOA in Interior.   There we parked next to a nice family of 5 from Baltimore. Well that's what they told us, but we knew better.  So when we told them we were from Annapolis, they offered up they were from the Glen Burnie area.  Ferndale to be exact.  1800 miles from home parked next to AA County residents.  It really is a small world. 

Unfortunately, the sky was cloudy so star gazing was not in the cards.  We would have all gotten a good night sleep, except a hail storm at 3am woke Kristin and me up.  That and a neighboring RV owner pulling in all sorts of crap so that nothing would damaged.  The hail was minor and mostly just really big, fat, heavy rain drops, but oddly enough we've had some rain every day so far on the trip.   At least the bikes on the back are clean.  For now.