East into the Midwest

The next day, we woke up to an amazing sunrise and continued our journey to our next destination: Sioux Falls. We headed south from the Slim Buttes and drove past the beautiful Bear Butte as we made it to the Black Hills at Sturgis, SD. We got onto I-90 and headed back eastward, making the obligatory stop at Wall Drug (our fourth time this year) plus with a few other stops along the way at various thrift stores as we were in no hurry. In spite of the near triple-digit heat, Faith returned to the van from one such store with a beautiful fur-lined, patchwork leather, trench coat with a fox fur collar (her description) that she somehow got for all of $15. I’m sure it will come in handy in a few months, but it was a rather surprising sight to say the least. We got into Sioux Falls late Tuesday evening and parked at my company’s office as we were planning on spending the rest of the week in town so I could get some work done in-person. The next three days were fairly uneventful: I went to work, Faith got supplies for and worked on crafts to sell at an art show planned for late Fall, we hung out in the evening, and we slept in our van in the company parking lot. We didn’t do much Wednesday night, spent Thursday evening at a local park, and saw a college friend Friday evening. As night approached on Friday, we left Sioux Falls and headed down to Sioux Center to see family over the weekend.

We met up with my sister, Jeralyn, and her husband, Gideon, and hung out with them at their apartment over a few beers and chocolate milk (a housewarming gift from us). The next morning, we brought them to a local favorite of Faith and mine while we were in college: Olivia’s Bakery, a Mexican bakery with the most delectable treats that far outclass the more popular Dutch bakery in town. After that, we spent our afternoon hanging out in town and with J and Gideon before having a lovely dinner at of our favorite local restaurant: Los Tulipanes. After briefly letting the food settle, we joined J, Gideon, and their friends in an amicable game of sand volleyball. Faith watched and let her knee rest as it was still recovering from hiking the Maah Daah Hey Trail. I did my best, and I’d like to think I did well, but it’s hard to keep up with those young whippersnappers. The next morning we bid J and Gideon farewell and met with Faith’s great-aunt and uncle, Sharla and Brian, to attend church and have lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening chatting with them before hitting the road again. We made a short trip eastwards to Spirit Lake where they had graciously offered us their lake house to stay in for a few days. We made one stop on the way to grab some food and treats before arriving a little before dark. We made ourselves at home and indulged in some key lime pie while watching a comedy from the 90s. That night, we shut off all morning alarms for the first time in a while; we fully intended on sleeping in as long as we could.

The sun rose and kept rising high into the sky before we got our lazy but well-rested bones out of bed. I had taken the day off to get some R&R, so Faith and I had all day long to just hang out. I worked on the blog some while Faith worked on her crafts. We snacked throughout the day while discussing our route into the eastern US and other trips that we wanted to do. Faith made a lovely dinner for us, and we finished the night by playing a few rounds Rummikub. The next day was a work day, so I got up early and worked while Faith made coffee and began her crafts for the day. Similar to the past two days, Tuesday was very windy, so we didn’t end up going out on the lake at all, but we did take a lovely walk in the evening before making dinner, watching a movie, and heading to sleep. The next day was pretty similar: get up and work while Faith makes coffee and works on her crafts. Around lunch time, we cleaned the house, packed up, and hit the road again towards eastern Iowa to see my grandparents in Hudson. We got there late in the evening and spent the rest of the night chatting with them and catching up after a summer of adventure. We spent the next morning through early afternoon with them and went out to brunch before we said goodbye and headed down to my parents in Cedar Rapids. We wouldn’t see my parents again until long after my birthday, so we spent the evening chatting over a lovely birthday dinner followed by chocolate fondue. We kept talking long into the evening before calling it quits until the next morning.

Stats

• ~900 miles of driving
• 3 days and 3 nights at the office
• 2 Wall Drug donuts
• 3 days at the lake
• 1 key lime pie

Animals Seen

• Deer
• Turkey vultures
• Crows
• Squirrels
• Prairie dogs