Day 2,3, and of course 4

I really am trying to update this every day that we are on this trip, but with some of the motels that we are staying in and the slow dial up connections, it's just not worthwhile.

Day 2 - We started driving pretty early, and we passed Chicago. We kept on going and drove through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and made it to the border of Iowa. We ended up staying in Davenport, which is one of the Quad Cities.

I really wanted to try to not eat at any chain restaurants the entire trip, but sometimes that is just not possible!! We had dinner at the Lonestar Steakhouse, which was pretty good. We spent the night at a Motel 6 - my first time at a Motel 6. Very easy and convenient because we know that they allow dogs, but we probably drove up to 5-6 places to see if they allow dogs before finding the Motel 6. It was a decent room, but the standing circular shower just cracked me up.

Day 3 - This was a really early start for us! We were on the road before 8am, and we really wanted to make it to Rapid City, so we just kept on driving and driving. We drove through Iowa and into South Dakota. We did stop at a great rest area that looks over the Missouri River when we came into South Dakota. We took some pictures and then got back into the car to keep driving. We stopped for dinner at a very very small sketchy little town Kadoka, but dinner was really good! I had a Buffalo burger and fries at Jigger's Restaurant. Driving through town, we didn't see anything that looked like it would pass a Health Inspection, but then we saw this place which looked ok, and it had a police car and a bus in front of it. If cops and tour buses stop here, it must be pretty decent, right? We made it Rapid City at about 9:30pm. We stayed at a Red Roof Inn, again, another pleasant surprise of a motel.

Day 4 - We got up in the morning and headed out to Mount Rushmore. They advertised a breakfast speacial - where you can dine with the presidents for $3.95. It sounded great, and would be pretty so we headed out there first thing in the morning. Mount Rushmore is spectaculiar. We got some great pictures (look for postcards in the mail from us!) and then headed out to see Crazy Horse. At first, I was not really interested in coming here at all, but when we got there and saw the place and the plans that they had, I was really impressed. It is totally privately funded, and they refused $10M from the goverment to work on the project. I find this admirable, and I'm glad that they are standing their ground and not loosing focus of what they are doing and why. Considering Crazy Horse was shot in the back by and American soldier, I think they are going about it the right way. Scott said he thought I would like this because he knows that I don't go for government funded projects as much as private organizations. I thought that was funny, and it's something that I didn't even think of until he said it. He's right - I guess I did marry someone who knows me well!

We then went for a wine tasting near Mount Rushmore and got a couple bottles of wine (Prairie Berry Winery). We then ate lunch in Hill City, SD. Again, another buffalo burger - I can't get enough of it! Then we drove to Casper, WY. We took some little back roads which were incredible - and boring (a little 2 lane road). But we saw lots of sheep, cows, buffalo, and antelope. Very neat. There's not much going on in Casper, so we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant called Bodiccelli's in downtown Casper, and then saw Episode III. Amazing.

Now, we are headed to Denver!!