Melissa writes:

So the evening started off well...
It was 12:30p when the red accordion "accidentally" spoke it's piece while being shoved into the car.
May took first shift driving and Vogel was her trusty co-pilot.
Nick and I slept. mmmmm sleep.

Somewhere in the night, Vogel took over the driving and May turned co-pilot.

We made the switch again at about 9:30am (in Ohio).
I became the driver, and Vogel my 2nd in command.
And so began the quest for breakfast - Vogel wanted an omelette...
We figured there must be an Ihop or Waffle House somewhere along our path.

Wait...! There's a Waffle House! Where? Back there...(frantic pointing)! We'll get off on the next exit!

The very next exit happened to be a good 5 miles down the road.
Not starving at the moment, we made the decision to stop at the next one.
Little did we know, Ohio's route 80 doesn't have a "next one".
Neither does Indiana.

Desperation occured at about 11:30am when we caved, and stopped at the Hardees. Yes Hardees. Blech.
(that was for you Tracy)

Nick switched to my co-pilot, Vogel and May went to sleep.
We promptly passed 2 suitable breakfast joints.
We didn't wake Vogel.

I drove. After a while Vogel and May woke up and realized that Nick was sound asleep.
We took pictures and made various jokes about how a co-pilot should stay awake and CO-pilot.
Humpf.

Vogel and I had lovely conversation I must say.

I made one mistake during my drive...
I listened to Sock Monkey.
He wanted his picture taken in Gary Indiana.
We passed Gary Indiana at first, then decided to go back because, well, it's Gary Indiana.
From The Music Man! Where Michael Jackson was born!
You know! Gary Indiana!
Well, it sucked. It was the most run-down depressing place. Homeless people and boarded up buildings everywhere.
We took a couple of pictures (without getting out of the car I might add), and split.
$1.50 wasted in tolls.
Dern you Sock Monkey.

I drove until we needed gas which was in Wisconsin.
We got off at the exit and found the Wisconsin National Guard. Who knew?.
We found a big ol' rock formation, which we later found out was called Castle Rock.
(no not the film company you dorks)
We proceeded to take lots of pictures at Castle Rock.

When finished at the Rock, Nick took over the driving, with Vogel as co-pilot.
We drove to the gas station, then across the street to grab some grub at the German restaurant.
The town was called Target Bluff, the place "The German Haus", the grub - not so good.

Melissa, Nick and Sock Monkey -- tourist photo at the German Haus

Sock Monkey at the Target Bluff German Haus

The driving continued.
Nick drove until Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where we stopped to have some dessert.
The place was called The Frying Pan, and it would've been so much better than Hardees had we happened to be there 9 hours earlier.
Our waiter was a cute kid - college type, who was quite good at his job.
I wanted to take him with us, but left a hefty tip instead. ho-hum.

May took over the driving, and I became co-pilot.
I was frightened. See confessional.

We arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota at 3am local time.
Which was rather confusing because we had approximately 7 clocks, and I don't think any of them were on the correct Mountain time.
When we checked in, the hotel guy said people have a lot of trouble with their phones not changing time zones, because the hotel is right on the edge of Mountain/Central time. "But they do change eventually."
I was still complaining that my phone hadn't even changed to Central time from Eastern time when he said "except blackberrys. They never change."
Blackberry - expect a phone call from a disgruntled customer when I get home.

We "snuck' Vogel and Nick into the hotel so we wouldn't have to pay for two extra people.
Snuck meaning we all went in a side entrance.

Pictures were downloaded, emails were checked, May showered, we slept.