Today was supposed to be an easy 400 mile day and the start of the fun stuff. I got up early and hit the road to knock out some miles so I would have more time for sightseeing. Along I-90 in MN I came across an area where there were windmills as far as you could see and every direction. Like I said I was trying to get some miles done so I pulled of the interstate snapped a few pics and hit it again without even pulling my gloves off. This becomes a reoccurring and costly theme. At one point I managed to burn a tank of gas in 1 hr 37min. The cross winds through SD and the steady 90 mph speeds started to take a toll on me by early afternoon. My neck was sore by the time I got off the interstate. I rolled into Badlands National Park about two and the wind was still howling. I reach for the camera and find an open zipper and an empty pocket. Dammit. I figure I either I didn't zip the pocket up all the way or the constant winds just worked it loose. So all you get from the Badlands is cell phone pics.
It was still early and I really wanted to get out of the wind and warm up so I ditched the plan to camp there and decided to push on to the Black Hills. I must admit I wasn't prepared for the cool weather, I hadn't packed anything other than t-shirts or the liner for my jacket. I called Cheap to let him know how things were going and to tell him how cold it was and he said to "HDFU 'cause it's all in yer head". Dina found me a campground just outside of Rapid City SD in the black hills so I headed that way with one quick stop to buy a new camera. By the time I got into the mountains it was starting to get dark so I said skip it I'm pulling into the next campground I see. Next corner I find Creekside Camping, the very one the wife had told me about. The cabin I stayed in had a thermometer outside that read 52 degrees. Cheap is full of it, I knew it was cold.
