South Dakota - Our Little Surprise

After a long and hungover morning in Chicago, Kayla and I began the long drive to Sioux Falls. Let me tell you, this was the hardest drive we had to do on the trip. Why was it the hardest? It wasn't the longest drive, we had to drive about 4 hours each. We also discovered the Crime Junkies podcast, which we were fully immersed in. It was such a long drive because the entire drive there was only corn fields. And I mean the ENTIRE drive. We passed through Wisconsin, which was mostly corn but had many cheese stops. By this I mean cheese filling the gas stations. Unfortunately I am lactose intolerant so I didn't try any, but any cheese you could think of is in that gas station.

Needless to say, Kayla and I were immediately regretting our cross country trip. We considered spending two weeks in Chicago. We thought about turning around. We thought the whole trip would be this empty. Sorry Wisconsin, but we thought this trip would be boring! But once we got out of Wisconsin and into South Dakota we realized, boy were we wrong. Well, it took us another 5 hours of corn fields to get to the best part. And by best part I mean the camp site we stayed at.

We booked the campsite through Hipcamp, which is where we found Uncle B's. Upon arrival, we were greeted with these stunning views along with friendly hosts who gave us fresh eggs and a kit for s'mores and firewood. Keep in mind this was a $50 campsite.

After a long and hungover morning in Chicago, Kayla and I began the long drive to Sioux Falls. Let me tell you, this was the hardest drive we had to do on the trip. Why was it the hardest? It wasn't the longest drive, we had to drive about 4 hours each. We also discovered the Crime Junkies podcast, which we were fully immersed in. It was such a long drive because the entire drive there was only corn fields. And I mean the ENTIRE drive. We passed through Wisconsin, which was mostly corn but had many cheese stops. By this I mean cheese filling the gas stations. Unfortunately I am lactose intolerant so I didn't try any, but any cheese you could think of is in that gas station.

Our campsite (on the right) was near a small walkway, where there was a pond through the grass. There was also a small garden by the bathrooms, which was the first hot shower we had in over two days.

A few steps past was a farm full of peacocks, dogs, and chickens. At sunset Kayla and I walked through the water and looked at the animals. The dogs were a bit terrifying, and I do not say that lightly. They were almost rabid. I imagine they were there to protect the other animals. I wouldn't steal from those dogs if my family's life depended on it. But they were fenced in and loved the treats I gave them.

When it started to get dark our host, Uncle B, put on the only kid friendly movie he could think of: Guardians of the Galaxy. When I tell you this was the best part of an amazing night, I mean it. Guardians of the Galaxy is one of my favorite movies for the soundtrack. Here I am, eating homemade popcorn, watching my favorite movie in the middle of nowhere, with the song Come and Get your Love playing in the middle of a cornfield. South Dakota, you are full of surprises aren't you?

The next morning I woke up early and went on a run. It was surreal being surrounded by corn and dirt for miles. I was running great until I remembered the previously mentioned podcast, Crime Junkies. I realized that if I went missing on a run, in the middle of nowhere, with no Wi-Fi, I would never be found. A beautiful view turned dark as I turned around, and made my fastest run back to the campground. I am not going missing in South Dakota, not today.

We took off early to Sioux Falls, which was about 30 minutes in the opposite direction. We heard amazing reviews from everyone in the area, and we were expecting an amazing view. Unfortunately, we were not met with our expectations. We found a run down town with a few waterfalls around.

Yes, it was cool, but this is not why we drove 24 hours. Again, we were regretting the trip. Is the Midwest this boring? Sorry Sioux Falls, we were not impressed. We continued to drive another 5 hours towards Rapid City in hopes for something better.

While on the way to Rapid City, I had to pee so badly. We weren’t planning on stopping for another 3 hours, I begged Kayla to pull over at the next gas station. We put in a gas station which was a bit out of the way, but it was an emergency. Once we got there, we noticed the gas station was filled with tourists. We checked our location: we accidentally stumbled upon the Badlands. Oops!

Our day got completely rerouted, who stumbles upon a national park? We drove straight to the mountains. We made a few stops along the way which were some tourist traps that caught our attention. Our favorite trap was feeding the prairie dogs.

This site was definitely for children, but we fell in love with these little guys. We got to feed them peanuts.

Once we finally got to the Badlands, we found this view within about ten steps. No hiking involved for this beautiful view.

At the end of the day we finally got to Rapid City. This was a bit like Sioux Falls, where we heard a lot of great reviews but we didn’t experience a lot of them. We were, however, attracted to this lake on the edge of Rapid City. It was in Custer State Park. There was a small beach that was secluded enough to sip wine and enjoy the sunset.

We camped out at night. We ate chips and salsa in our tent and fell asleep. With the chips in the tent, mind you. We were very aware of bears and animals, but we weren’t worried in our area, as we were very close to town and the highway. We camped in a spot with no woods. We woke up in the middle of the night to two animals circling our tent. It was terrifying. I took the chips and ran them into the car. We believe that they were foxes, but I didn’t stay long enough to find out.

I awoke at 6am to the most wind I have ever experienced. The tent was completely off the ground except for where our bodies were. It felt like the beginning of Wizard of Oz where a tornado will take us to another dimension. We made the collective decision to pack up the tent.

On our way out I brushed my teeth outside. The wind was so bad that when I spit out my tooth paste it landed on my arm. Fuck, we were done with Rapid City.

South Dakota, we really didn’t expect much. You were most definitely a surprise.