SOUTH DAKOTA

SOUTH DAKOTA
ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We had a fun morning before we left York, NE. We made contact with another young friend, Ethan Woods, who went to church with us in Portland. We invited him out for breakfast and had a great visit. He said he really likes Nebraska.....go figure! His new job starts on the 6th. He's excited.

Leaving Ethan and York, we headed West across Nebraska on our way to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. Never been there before; looking forward to seeing it.

Much of Nebraska is flat as a pancake. I'm pretty sure we could see Topeka, Kansas this morning! The sky was clear and I was standing on the curb. The wind sure blows hard around here, too! Derek said it never stops. I can see why. There's nothing to block it or slow it down. Both trees don't have any LEAVES yet!

Not too far out of York I was passed by a fast moving red pickup with emergency lights flashing. I figured he was a volunteer fireman. I pulled over with the other drivers and let him pass. About half a mile away the road Tee-ed; the fireman went right, passing two other farmers on the road. We took the left fork heading west. About two miles down the road we spied a big flatbed truck on fire. As we approached all the flashing lights and police cars we put it all together. The truck hauling a big load of round hay bales was engulfed in smoke and flames. The driver had successfully unhooked the tractor and drove it forward at a safe distance. I waved at the nice Officer as we passed by and snapped photos of the burning hay.

That's the second hay truck we've seen burning on this trip. Then I remembered the volunteer fireman in a big hurry and figured he was supposed to be headed HERE! Ha Ha! Must have gotten some bad directions, I reckon.

Moral of the story: NEVER TEXT AND SMOKE AND TOSS YOUR BURNING BUTT OUT THE WINDOW WHILE HAULING HAY!

We actually found some HILLS in Nebraska! Pretty cool! No trees, but stacked up dirt! There are still patches of snow out here on the plains. Still remnants of winter. It's 73 degrees today!

In Oregon we can head East on I-84 to Biggs Junction, go across the bridge into Washington, then on the right at the top of the hill is Sam Hill's replica of England's, STONEHENGE. We went to that. We also went to the REAL Stonehenge last Fall, in England. Well, today, we went to CARHENGE! That's right, old car lovers.....CARHENGE. Some people just have a lot of time on their hands! But it was funny!

We passed several herds of wild Turkey along the road. We've seen a lot of them the past two weeks traveling! We passed two small herd of Buffalo here in South Dakota. They are awesome! Hoping to see some up close later on. Excited to see Mount Rushmore, Geronimo and other local sights while we are here. This is a beautiful area.

I love the mountains!