Time: 10:07 a.m.
Place: W.L. Johns campground, Lemmon, South Dakota
The kids are back in their car seats and the motor is running. We will be driving again as soon as Jasper fills the water jugs. Nika is already falling asleep.
I encountered another tick. This one was crawling around on my leg when I laid down last night. As a result, we all had thorough tick searches last night and baths and hair brushings this morning.
There are no showers or even running water at this campground, but there is a pump. Ula bathed directly under the pump, Nika took her bath in the bucket, and I took a sponge bath in the tent. Nika was the only one who had her water heated. The water directly from the pump was icy cold, but Ula kept telling me how nice and warm it was.
10:35 a.m.
"Welcome to South Dakota, Discover the Spirit!" reads the sign on the border.
" Is it possible?" Asks Jasper. "The landscape has become even more desolate."
It is 75 degrees F. and the sky is blue with little wisps of clouds. There are miles upon miles of dry looking grass in every direction, with the monotony only broken by the occasional big round hay bails, looking very much like giant shredded wheat biscuits.
12:06 p.m.
There is a drastic change in the landscape ahead. Big bare rocky hills, similar to the Badlands.
We just passed another Volkswagon van.
8 miles to Montana.
12:17 p.m.
Welcome to Montana!
Nika is in a really foul mood. She keeps screaming between bites of rice cake.
"We in Tana?" Asks Ula, "We going park here?"
Jasper says we will find a playground in Baker and let the kids run around and play for awhile.
1:43 p.m.
Leaving Baker, Montana. A sign reads, "No gas next 82 miles."
There's a drive-in movie theater out here that's still in business. White Men Can't Jump is playing Fri., Sat., and Sun.
Jasper just discovered a crack in the windshield. It's a "Y" shaped crack near the bottom of the glass, dead center.
Nika's fifth tooth has broken through the gums.
2:16 p.m.
I've spotted trees! A whole forest of evergreens. We are separated from the trees by more rocks, dry grass, and cattle.
There are even more trees ahead of us.
2:24 p.m.
We have seen two old abandoned log cabins.
Nika has started yelling again and pulling my hair.
2:33 p.m.
We crossed the Powder River.
Nika is asleep.
The terrain is becoming much more hilly. The hills are tall and steep, but are not quite mountains. Many of the hillsides are covered with pine trees.
3:00p.m. Place: Mile City, Montana
They have gambling in Mile City. We've passed a casino and a dance hall, both with gambling.
There is also a St. Vincent DePaul store here.
Nika is awake and in need of a diaper change.
It's about 90 degres outside.
6:28 p.m.
Driving again.
We spent quite awhile in Mile City. First we filled the gas tank. Then we spent about an hour in the public library, where we picked up two sleazy romance novels from the book swap and went through the phone book collecting the names and addresses of Volkswagon dealers and service centers, so we can send them to my mother, proving to her that Volkswagons do exist out here.
Jasper then called his mother to tell her that we are in Montana and that we are o.k.
We drove around town searching for a grocery store or restaurant where we could get dinner and were followed most of the way by a police officer.
We ate at a Pizza Hut near the interstate, but Nika was in a rotten, crabby mood all through the meal.
I just couldn't deal with Nika any more, so she is now riding in the carseat up front, next to Jasper and she seems quite happy. Jasper is reciting a Monty Python routine about the Spanish Inquisition and Nika is giggling.
9:09 p.m.
We've found a free camping area on the banks of the Yellowstone River at Forsyth. We are the only campers here, though. The rest of the people here are from Forsyth and are having a little party at the boat launch, drinking beer, launching bottle rockets, and listening to ZZ Tops music. Jasper says the same thing is probably going on in McHenry, Illinois tonight, the same music, the same kind of pickup trucks and sports cars, the same number of dogs (2), and even people who look and act the same. He says the only difference he could see was that in McHenry, the girl in the turquoise tanktop wouldn't be wearing cowboy boots.
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