Badlands National Park is amazing! And our visit began with a helicopter ride! It was really neat to see the rock formations from above. We spent all day in the park, stopping at scenic lookouts and walking on the trails. In the evening we spotted bighorn sheep and prairie dogs. We even went back later that night for an astronomy program. Telescopes were set up to view the moon and a few planets — we saw Jupiter and its four moons!
We drove 968.4 miles this weekend! Yes, I’m counting that .4 miles, just like you marathoners count your .2’s. We left Arlington on Saturday morning and arrived in Cedar Rapids on Sunday evening. The drive alternated between miles of farmland and miles of wooded areas.
On Saturday we drove through a herd of locusts that made very loud splats when they hit the car. They were large and gross. In the late afternoon a big storm crossed our path and since we had made it halfway we decided to stop for the night in Dayton, Ohio.
On Sunday we saw more farms and woodlands, lots of windmills, and several signs for Steak ‘n Shakes. We didn’t stop at one of those, but we did grab lunch at a place called Culvers, home of the ButterBurger. Also home of delicious custard. Yum yums in my tum tums.
We crossed the Mississippi river! And in Iowa we got to visit the World’s Largest Truck Stop. That place has a library, a barber shop, restaurant, gift shop, and an auto section that sells very neat accessories for your big rig.
Kenan took some cool time-lapse videos along the way. Here’s a glimpse of the drive in 45 seconds!
alpaca your suitcase 