Day 2 started out in a very cold and snow covered Rochester, Minnesota. It wasn't any new snow overnight, but Roscoe was in snow drifts up to his shoulders for his morning ritual, I really wish I had the camera with me to capture the moment when he slid down the drift and was basically peeing from a handstand! Too funny! So we took to the road and in the early morning crossed into state #4: South Dakota! Now some of you might be thinking what a boring state, and how horrible to drive across this long, boring snowy state. I have to disagree, South Dakota may have been my favorite state, it was definitely the most entertaining! Within 5 miles of entering state line you begin seeing signs for both the Corn Palace and Wall Drug. I had heard of Wall Drug and was VERY excited about stopping there, but the Corn Palace was new for me. (Although Sue and I decided not to stop at the Corn Palace I guess it is a pretty fun place to see) The entire outside of the Corn Palace is done in corn and the design changes every year. Below are some of the fantastic signs to see along the way in South Dakota.
Please remember these were taken while driving :)
As you may be able to read, it's only 25 minutes to Wall Drug!!!
Roscoe is REALLY excited about Wall Drug too - this was just before his best meal of the trip
So the day was going really well and the driving conditions were great. It was really cold, but no snow and very very sunny. The only problem on the trip was that Roscoe had yet to eat since the beginning of the trip, which made it almost 30 hours since his last meal. I tried to feed him the first night in Rochester, but he wanted nothing to do with food. (Don't worry though, he was drinking plenty of water) So at a little gas station in South Dakota, with worry overtaking me I bought Roscoe this:
Yes I know I might be a bad dog Mommy, but... my little buddy needed to eat. So with a full belly it was on to Wall Drug. It really is quite the site and I would HIGHLY encourage anyone driving across South Dakota to stop at this landmark. Inside you can find a large array of everything you ever imagined, and I even found out was a corn cob pipe was (you know like from Frosty the Snowman). I also had a delicious bowl of ice cream! It was a great pit stop!
Posing by the famous Wall Drug sign
Me and my cowpoke just hanging out down by the Wall Drug!
Just in case you were all wondering what a corn cob pipe looked like too
After leaving Wall Drug it was back to the road. Earlier in the day Sue had suggested that we also stop at Mt. Rushmore since it really was only an hour total out of the way. I have to say that at first I wasn't sure I wanted to stop, I was afraid it would put us too far behind and we wouldn't have made it all the way to Billings, Montana. (Our original stop for the night) We did stop and I am so glad we did! It was so amazing to see such a masterpiece and such a fabulous piece of our country's history. The sun was just starting to get low in the sky and it made for some beautiful pictures.
At the entrance of Mt. Rushmore with all the state flags, each post has the date the state entered the union
So majestic and regal
Road trip buddies! Me and Sue!
So it was back to the road after visiting George, Tom, Teddy and Abe. We quickly left South Dakota and headed into state #5 Wyoming, it was just getting dark and starting to snow a little. We talked to Ryan's dad Bob and he said there was a big snowstorm headed our way. I don't think we really took him seriously because it had been so nice all day and it was barely snowing. Within 30 minutes, the snow had really picked up and was starting to coat the roads. I was driving and had to slow down to about 35 mph. Sue was the perfect co-pilot telling me where the road lines were and how to navigate the roads. The wind was picking up and it was near whiteout conditions and it was getting harder to drive on the snow packed roads. Luckily the little town of Gillette, Wyoming was only 10 miles ahead and it became our new stop for the night. We made it there safely, but it was definitely time to relax with our nightly Stella Artois and watching some TV to relax. We needed to rest because we were hoping to get all the way to Seattle the next night! Lights out!
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