A Long and Rainy Day

Slept well in Missoula. I think this tent idea was a good one so far. It was cloudy in the morning, and that really didn't change at all throughout the day. There was some drizzle, some rain, and even a dazzling thunderstorm in Rapid City, not far from where I am camping. Fortunately though, the skies finally cleared for me here at my KOA at Mount Rushmore.

This is my long travel day for this trip. I covered more than 700 miles today, and didn't get to the campsite until almost 9:30 so I had to set up my tent in the dark. Which is easy enough when you have a car that has a "headlight" option.

It's remarkable that considering how far I travelled today, you'd think I'd have crossed a time zone. But I'm still on Mountain Time for one more day.

Tomorrow is a much shorter drive as I plan to spend some time here at the KOA and tour Mount Rushmore. I deliberately made the first two days longer so I could take my time as I move further East

Didn't really take many pictures today, because there wasn't much to see. To what can I liken driving through Montana to? It's like when you're approaching Calgary from the West after coming out of the Rockies. You see the foothills slowly give way to the city of Calgary and the prairies beyond. But in Montana the foothills never end, and for literally 400 miles, you're driving around these hills that are not big enough to be called mountains (at least not by BC standards).

Just met a couple at the restaurant/pub here at the campsite. They are from Pittsburgh and have spent the last three days here at this campsite. Apparently there is a light display at Mount Rushmore every night. Pity I won't be here to see it. Still, they had nothing but good things to say about Mount Rushmore. Frank, the husband, asked me why I was a Red Sox fan if I am from Canada (I was wearing my Red Sox shirt that Pastor Gary brought me from his Israel trip).

Highest Temperature: 27C/81F in Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Distance Travelled Today: 712.6 miles / 1149.3km

Total Distance Covered: 1287.3 miles / 2076.3 km

Running total of states: 5 (Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota)

Lifetime total of states: 13 (First time in South Dakota)