Sorry to all you hardcore followers out there for not posting anything yesterday. As you can imagine, we sure were tired when we finally arrived in Newcastle!
We finished loading up and hit the road Thursday (the 2nd) at about 7:30 pm. I'm happy to report that overall, the drive was smooth and fairly uneventful. But I won't disappoint you - there are a few stories to share, of course!
We passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then... Just kidding - there was nothing like that! But there was a Hardee's at our first gas stop. Did you know they apparently "hand scoop" their shakes and malts? Anyway, the miles and hours ticked past and I was very disappointed that I handy slept hardly a wink yet. As we pulled off for one particular gas stop, we past the aptly named Slumberland furniture store. Boy did I wish I was in Slumberland at that point! But I wasn't, so while John pumped gas I got out for a smoke. That's when things got a little interesting...
I walked up to the building - so as to not blow us up or and all - and although the station itself was well-lit, there was a dark gravel parking lot-type area to the side and behind the station. It was probably about 4 in the morning. I was trying to be particularly aware of my surroundings, especially since I had my purse. Suddenly this strange dude with glasses and dressed in all black appeared next to me. He asked for a light and I said sure. He was standing REALLY close to me so I took a step away before I opened my purse. Well, for every step away I took, he took two steps toward me and was kinda starting to freak me out. Then he started asking me all sorts of questions. I indicated which car was mine, hoping he'd notice I was with other people and they'd notice if he tried any funny business! Eventually John joined us but the guy just kept talking! At one point he asked if we were in the middle of Iowa (we were on the east edge of South Dakota). Finally he said, "maaaan I'm soooo stoned right now." I'm like why didn't you say so sooner - now I know what I'm dealing with at least!! Turns out he plays in a band with Bobby V, you know that guy from the 50s? Then he asked us if we know the actor Gary Busse because he plays for his band too. I never did find out what instrument he played, but from what I saw I'm guessing cowbell or triangle or something like that.
Back on the road we went, and eventually I did get a little sleep. At one point I woke up because it was getting light out and BOY was it FOGGY!!!! It scared me so I shut my eyes and tried for a little more sleep. The fog started burning off and that was good because there were a million billboards to see now! Not the big Lamar ones, the cool little old timey ones. In particular, there was a ton of advertising for a magical land called Wall Drug. They seemed to have everything you could want there! Yes, we stopped. Not sure who's brilliant idea that was - it was a little old town type place with store fronts on either side of a street and about, oh, 2 or 3 blocks long. And, seeing as how its fourth of July weekend, the place was PACKED!! But I got some sweet earrings and John and Michelle bought shirts. We thought about eating there. With the time change it was getting on the late side of breakfast time and we were hungry. We looked at the menu (and the prices!) and decided to move along.
It was good we did that. We stopped in Rapid City at a place called Firehose Brewery for lunch. Having seen a few billboards and at least seven old fire trucks on the road along the way, this seemed like the way to go. The service wasn't great but the food was tasty! When we got done eating, our server disappeared with the credit card, as you would expect. However, we kept seeing him walking around with the card and not coming back to our table! This was both annoying and suspicious. Turns out their internet went down and he was trying to find a place to run the card that would actually work. Crisis averted! We then hit the Harley dealer in town and agreed that our next stop would be The Sundowner Inn.
And so it was. We all agree that the room pictured on the website may not exist - neither of our rooms look quite like that! However it is clean, the beds are decent and the price is right so we are content. The website also touted the glorious fact that Taco John's is just two doors down. But, alas, the doors are shuttered and our yellow brick road to endless potato oles is just a concrete path to nowhere. While that threatened our potential for a satisfying supper, it did not prevail. Dan had a hankering for prime rib, so prime rib it was! After a bit of research we discovered that the best place in town for prime rib was The Pizza Bar. Yes, it is also the only place in town for prime rib but never mind that...
The food was great and we were all relieved to hit the hay and enjoy a restful night's sleep. Knowing that we began our quest just over 24 hours before our heads hit the pillows made the moment that much sweeter.
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