South Dakota Day One

We made it! It was a beautiful drive through Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and finally South Dakota. We stopped at a wildlife refuge area in Missouri, where we spotted bald eagles and other lesser birds. We took Dempster to a dog park in Omaha so he’d sleep for a while. We stopped to frolic in the snow (Kristen hadn’t seen snow in like 5 years). Dempster rode in the front seat for about an hour because he was going stir crazy. But he was so traumatized by the new experience that he threw up afterward. But he was quiet the rest of the trip, so it’s a tactic I’ll keep in mind…

When we finally got to our hotel, Dempster decided he was determined to sleep with Kristen. He leapt back and forth between our beds a few times; but mostly slept pretty well, considering he’d had lots of naps on the way.

Pictures of the first day are on Facebook. Today we’re up at 6:00. It happens to be a free national party day, so we plan to make full use of it by exploring Jewel Cave for the morning and the Badlands the rest of the day.