Day 41

Date: Saturday August 15, 2015

Location at the beginning of the day: a rest area near Chamberlain South Dakota

Distance to drive: just over 200 miles

Hours to drive: about 3.5

Destination: Sheridan Lake Campground, Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota

Planned activities: shopping and arrive at the campground

Quote of the day: “Why are there state troopers on the highway.  The speed limit is so fast nobody is speeding!”

South Dakota, the land where you can get everywhere quickly and everyone wants you to visit their tourist trap.  The speed limit here is 80 m.p.h.  I don’t know if we have managed to hit that speed yet.  The highway is lined with cow filled fields and almost constant roadside signs advertising some kind of tourist attractions.  We are driving so fast on the highway that when trying to read some of the signs I miss some of the information.  I am not worried because every attraction has dozens of signs along the way to attract you to their locations. The first tourist attraction to start advertising on the side of the road was Wall Drugs.  Their signs started before we even entered South Dakota.  The cows like the signs because it gives them shade.  Who can blame them it is currently 42 degrees Celsius according to the truck. 

We could see the Black Hills in the distance as soon as we started driving in the morning.  They truly look black at a distance.  This is because of the dark green needles and dark brown bark of the Ponderosa pines that cover them.  We crossed the Missouri river and arrived at Sheridan Lake Campground by early afternoon.  We have a beautiful and fairly private site overlooking the lake.  It is beautiful!