South Dakota - Day One

On Wednesday, Pete picked up the RV and started packing while I was at work. Wednesday night, Pete's bother-in-law Mike came in town for business. Pete picked him up at the airport and then brought Mike over to load the bikes. (Thanks Mike)

We are using JFred's 3 rail trailer (Thanks JFred). The DN-01 tire is a tight snug fit so it makes the bike lean a tad. As a result we were very nervous.

Having stayed up very late packing the bikes and spending time with Mike we slept in till 6am. Still feeling nervous about the DN-01 lean we decided to go to Wal-Mart and get more ratcheting tie downs. The DN-01 leans but the Land Shark is going no where with 5 tie downs on left side. Probably overkill but we feel better.

Here is our home away from home for 10 days! 29' RV sleeps 8, since it is only Pete, Slasher and I, I think we are set.


One of the advantages of having the RV is bringing our cat Slasher! She is doing so great and loving help drive the RV!


We headed out of St. Louis at 9am, was fun coming across Missouri on something other than a bike. We hit a few rest stops just to make sure the bikes were still with us ;) Just a piece of mind. The ride up through Iowa and south east South Dakota was really not that bad. we enjoyed seeing following the Loess ("luss") Hills of western Iowa.

We headed west on 90 from Sioux Falls to a beautiful sunset!


While watching the awesome sunset, Pete was remarking on how mesmerizing the clouds were ahead. I made a mental note we were 30 minutes out of Mitchell after being on the road for over 12 hours, I thought to myself maybe I better talk to Pete more to keep him awake :) Then out of nowhere we both see this BIG white/gray blur headed towards the windshield. Then we hear a HUGE bam on top of the RV. Pete pulled over to inspect and reports no damage or anything on top that shows a hit. Fast forward to Friday morning. Daylight inspection finds an owl carcass on the satellite mount. I will spare you the photos :)

We pulled into Mitchell to spend the night. Mike had mentioned if there is Wal-Mart, stay there they welcome RV overnight parking. So that is what we did. A really nice Wal-Mart SuperCenter that was open 24 hours. Nice of Wal-Mart to do this. However they got an additional $150 from us which is the norm when Pete and I enter any Wal-Mart. Note to self we really need to buy Wal-Mart stock.

Nice long sleep and we will be ready for Day Two: Cabelas, the Corn Palace, Wall Drug and finally our destination of Custer!

I am marveled by technology. We are traveling down I-90 while I blog on my laptop.

Other pictures from Day One:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stlscooterclub/sets/72157620598995832/show/