After we got our errands done yesterday, we picked up the trailer from Spaders and headed to the campground.  Each and every site was a pullthrough; it could have not been more different from our adventure in the woods.  It was a relief to pull into our spot and not have to worry about trees.

We crossed the Missouri River today and managed to stay off the Interstates (except for a small jaunt on I90 out of Sioux Falls).  When Jamie and his brother did their cross country bike trip, they were constantly besieged by dogs.  Once thy hit the Missouri River, they were able to pick out perfectly sized pieces of driftwood.  They called this driftwood, "Missouri River dog bats" and used them to bat away the dogs.  We stopped at the Missouri River for brunch (turkey chili I’d made in Neenah) and let the kids roam a bit.  No-one wanted to roam.  It was too damn cold.  True to their nature, however, right as we were getting ready to go, the boys decided that they had to get down to the river and throw some wood or rocks into it.

We found the beef today; in South Dakota and Nebraska.  I have never seen so much cattle in the entire time I’ve lived in California as we did today in Nebraska.  It was a scenic (in a flat earth punctuated only with skyscraper-sized grain silos kind of way) day driving down from Sioux Falls.  We took 81 south from South Dakota and traversed Nebraska from north to south.  The wind pushed us from South Dakota all the way to I80 (Grand Island for those keeping score).  It was wonderful to have a tailwind and we rode through the cattle land at 60mph, the cross and head winds on 30 and I90 killed.

We got up late this morning; we have no clocks in the trailer, so I simply try to get out when the sky is light.  In Sioux Falls, that happens to be 8am.  Jamie bravely decided to hitch up the trailer himself this morning and he did a GREAT job.  I was really proud of him.  I got a lot of practice backing the trailer up yesterday and now I’m really comfortable doing it.  I battled cross winds along I90 and got blown all over and then got used to it. 

We got a lovely tailwind going south and cruised at 60mph.  Lion King musical soundtrack blaring from the speakers and jeez; those boys know each and every syllable of each and every song.  They even know the speaking parts between the songs.  We stopped at Kearney today and are camped at a nice little State rec area next to I80.  Lots and lots of empty spaces; we’re the only ones here.  Since Mom and Dad love to share their sunset photos, I’ve included one from Kearney, Nebraska.