Up by six, we meet our friend for breakfast a little after eight at his favorite spot. It was good to see him and catch up; he was mad we didn’t stay with him in his guest room. I didn’t realize his son had moved away, but I’m not much for arbitrarily asking to stay with someone without an invite. I love breakfast; it’s my favorite, but we now intermittent fast and don’t eat until noon. We were having a good time catching up and didn’t realize how late it was, so we got out a little later than planned.
We topped off at Costco and then hit the road. We made the turn north just outside Council Bluffs on I29. I was spouting off all kinds of facts to Amanda, pointing out the railroad tracks I ran on while up here. I texted a couple of friends who were on the borrowout with me that I’d just come by a siding we frequently had long waits at. I told them I never thought I’d be back in that area again, especially so quickly!
With the diuretics kicking in, we made frequent stops. We were making good time with the South Dakota high speed limit, though. Then, we made the trifecta stop in Sonic Falls: Chick-fil-A for our favorite lemonade tea drinks for the afternoon with no ice to maximize our free caffeine. Starbucks for a pick-me-up for Amanda, I was holding off till the afternoon, on points, of course. Lastly, a top-off from Costco; too bad we couldn’t do that on points! As much as we’ve hit these places, we need some sponsorship!
Our friend’s fiancé lives in Sioux Falls and told him that if we wanted to stop for a potty break and see Nicodemus swing by, Nico is a huge Dogo Argentino. I was already very familiar with Nico from sleeping with him on the couch when I’d visited before. We hadn’t met our friend’s finance, and Amanda hadn’t met Nico. So we took her up on the offer and made the quick detour.
I guess she didn’t recognize us and wasn’t expecting us to stop by. Our friend was sleeping and hadn’t relayed the message that we were actually taking her up on the offer! She was busy working; she has a dog grooming business out of her basement. Thinking we were salesmen, it wasn’t the warmest of welcomes until Amanda said we were Barkley and Amanda. Then we were met with huge hugs! She was busy with dogs fixing to come in but rushed us to see Nico.
If I didn’t know him, the enormous 120-pound barking beast would have terrified me! He calmed down but had forgotten our closeness from years ago. He liked Amanda but kept a close eye on me. We could tell she was busy with clients coming in and out, so we said our goodbyes and hit the road.
The wind was terrible; the northbound wind that pushed us to Sioux Falls was now trying to push us off the road as we headed west. 40-50 mph gusts were not fun to drive in with the 80 mph speed limit. We had a trim piece on Amanda’s door that was getting hammered by the wind and was about to come off. I stopped to inspect, and it was only a matter of time before it would fly off and be carried to Canada. So I tucked in behind an 18-wheeler at a dismal 65 mph and put it on the adaptive cruise. We followed him for 45 minutes before we ducked off in Mitchell for tape and epoxy to repair the problem.
That killed our chances of making it to the cabin by dark. There is always some adventure on road trips! We grabbed our afternoon Starbucks, one hot drink with two large cups of ice and some non-dairy cold foam made for more bang for our buck out of a free coffee. I had a tourist trap on the itinerary just for a drive-by if we had time. It was on all the top South Dakota lists, The Corn Palace. It was pretty much a convention center and wasn’t worth getting out at, but we drove by, coffee in hand, for a look to say we’d been.
The next stop was the Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture in Chamberlain in the Missouri River Valley. It’s a huge metal sculpture at a very large rest stop that overlooks the valley—surprisingly clean and with big bathrooms for a rest area. The valley was beautiful, and going down to the river and back out was a 5% grade.
It was dark when we hit the Badlands, but we’d return to see it in a few days. The turn-off of the interstate was sad with the now lower speed limits. The map showed 30 miles but over an hour to the cabin. After the turn towards Custer, it slowed even more in Custer State Park with tons of 20 mph curves. I put the cruise behind a park van and let the Yukon do its thing while I watched for deer. It did well despite tight curves; I was sad when they turned off, and I had to drive! The curves were so tight, and I sat so tall the rearview mirror blocked my view.
It felt beautiful even if we could see it: curves, hills, and tall pines. The seemed thick as we turned off on a dirt road with a few miles left before the cabin. Then, on to a narrow, long barley, traveled driveway to get to the cabin on the side of the hill. It was right on the side of the hill, so much the parking had to be built up to have a spot to get a vehicle.
We unloaded the massive amount of clothes, cooking gear, and food we brought. Then, I began to cook dinner while Amanda put the kitchen away. We had a white bean and mushroom stew with some sourdough toast we’d picked up at our breakfast spot. The stew was good, but we didn’t sit for long. We needed to unpack the bedroom.
Before unpacking, I had to rearrange the beds. The master is a very windy staircase; only half my foot would fit on each step. When looking at this Airbnb online, Amanda and I knew she couldn’t do the stairs with her knee, much less down them in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. So, I asked the host if we could put the twins together in the downstairs bedroom. It took a bit of maneuvering to get them positioned right with the slopped A-frame walls. I bought a bed converter at home to bring with us, along with some king sheets. It’s not the best setup, but this cabin location was worth the hassle.
We completely unpacked, hanging clothes up and stuffing drawers after that. Initially, we wanted to wait because it was late, but we were glad we knocked it out. Yes, we are the type that uses dressers in hotels, too! It makes you feel more at home, so I always like to unpack if our stay is a few days or more.
We were worried about the lack of AC, but the crisp mountain air was enough. We sleep bundled up and with the AC down low at home. I wanted to keep the window open above my head, but Amanda got too cold, so I closed it, and we hit the sack.