Today was a productive day for the Gray clan. Didn't see a lot of sights, but we got some well needed miles behind us.
We survived the night in Holiday Inn west of St. Louis without incident. A batch of thunderstorms moved through after dark and gave us a brief scare, but all we seemed to get was lots of rain. The A/C couldn't seem to keep up with the intense heat, so we all sweltered a bit as we tried to go to sleep. Steph was up early this am, on the treadmill around 5am to keep up some semblance of training for the Chicago Marathon in October. We packed the car and roused the kids early, loaded them in the van in their PJ's and made in on the road shortly after 7am. After a nutrious backseat breakfast of powdered donuts, chocolate pop tarts, granola bars and Sprite, the kids were primed and ready to face the day.
We ticked off a lot of miles today, but didn't have lots of scenery. We blazed accross Missouri (looked like North Mississippi to me...) and turned north at Kansas City. After passing from Missouri into Iowa, the only noticable change was the increase in potholes on I-29. As a native Mississippian, I'm proud to say that our roads and roadside parks are light years ahead of anything we ran across in Iowa. Probably the only memorable thing in Iowa was the water - it seemed to be covering fields everywhere. Every creek and river was at or near the top of its levee.
Late in the afternoon we finally passed into South Dakota. Steph was driving and took great joy in the 75 MPH speed limit. We stopped in at the South Dakota vistor center and gathered up maps and brochures on all of the sights we hope to hit over the next couple of days. We rolled into Sioux Falls, SD around 5:30pm and got settled in at the Hampton Inn. I made a quick run to gas up the van ($3.98 a gal), add some ice to the cooler and grab a few adult beverages for the tour across South Dakota. The kids enjoyed a long soak in the pool while Steph and I enjoyed a beverage and studied our travel loot from the SD visitor center. The kids just wrapped up their showers, so we're off to grab a quick bite for dinner.
No new pictures to post today - the camera and camcorder are resting up tonight in anticipation of a big day tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who is reading - and keep the comments coming!
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2 comments:
Sounds like a well deserved adult beverage after a productive day of traveling! Amy
Thanks for the update. I managed to get it on my wireless at home. Morgan and I worked on Beth's house all day yesterday until around 8 last night. Went through the boxes that Glenda packed. Still got a ways to go though. Have a great time. Tell Taylor that I will have to wait until she gets home to send her birthday present; we love you all Mamie
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