oct 24 - melissa writes:
So when we woke up, we had grumpy Vogel.
ALLEGEDLY May and I were snoring in sync with one another, and Vogel almost had to get his own room.
Ok - I have to take back the allegedly. Only because Vogel had proof. He recorded us on his phone.
Sheesh.

We were pretty hungry, and decided to go down to the continental breakfast before it closed.
We didn't make it.
However, the girl that was packing it up said that "The Ponderosa serves breakfast."
The Ponderosa was the place with all the whooping the night before.
It must be safe during the day - right?

So we get Nick all packed up, check out, and put all of our stuff in the car.
We decided to walk to breakfast, because it really is all of 2 blocks away.
We arrive at The Ponderosa to find a sign on the door that says "serving lunch at 11."
Hm.
That leaves so many questions open...
Does that mean you're not serving breakfast anymore?
Does that mean you're closed until 11?
What time is it anyway?
Can we come in and have coffee until you serve lunch at 11?

Nick poked his head in and asked all those open questions.
Yes.
No.
10:36.
Sure!

Come to find out, The Ponderosa has the approximate square footage of an apartment in the East Village.
Nothing to be frightened of...or is there...? (insert scary music)
Our waitress was sent from Heaven.
She came around and filled our coffee cups whenever they were empty (which took about 30 seconds), she found out what the lunch specials were going to be, and even let us order early.
We heart her.
We ordered lots - you see we were starving by this point - and happily drank our coffee.
They turned out to be the hugest sandwiches ever!
Yummmmmm!

We bought t-shirts (which match accidentally, so if you see us one day with the same t-shirt on, please refrain from cracking jokes).

Then we were on our way to Devils Tower.
I drove, May co-piloted.
It's really in the middle of no-where, but no-where is quite pretty.
Once you enter the Devils Tower park property, you have to drive really slow, because the road goes through a prairie dog town.
Those little rascals are everywhere. The seriously must multiply like rabbits. Wow.

Devils Tower is very cool. It's about 1000 ft high, from the base, and has a sort of green tint due to the lichen? growing all over it.
Apparently there were people climbing it, but we couldn't find them.
We did however find this great guy Daniel, who is writing a book.
He is doing 50 jobs in 50 states.
He's traveling around, and working for 1 week in each state.
How cool is that?!?!
Check out Daniel's progress at www.livingthemap.com

We asked Daniel some questions on camera for his blog.
How often do people climb Devils Tower?
"Well, there are 2 people climbing today, and about 1000 people per year climb Devils Tower. 5 people have died over the years - all due to human error not equipment error."

Um...good to know - thanks Daniel.

So then we left Devils Tower and made our way back to South Dakota to try again to see the Badlands.
You know how sometimes on a trip, you have that one elusive thing that you can't seem to get perfect.
Well, we were determined to NOT have that happen.

We thought - oh good, we'll get to the Badlands, and the sun will be setting and it will be beautiful.
It was further than we thought.
And it started getting cloudy.
So once again we were racing the light.
We finally get to the Badlands Loop (having skipped lunch and needing gas - our trusty rental tells us that we have 94 miles to empty).
The Badlands Loop is about 24 miles, mind you.

We begin driving around a gravel road, that has signs like:
"Campground this way"
and
"Beware of Bison"
and
"Don't play with the Prairie Dogs or you'll catch a plague"

Wait...WHAT?!
(Apparently it's hard for humans to catch this plague, the sign was meant for your pets. We rolled up the windows.)


So, we keep driving around this gravel road and see some pretty scenery.
Vogel finally gets to see a bison, May never gets to see a Big Horn Sheep.

We keep driving, looking for the "Window" and "Door" formations.
Well, then we see a sign that says "leaving Badlands".
Hm.

At this point we could either turn back, or continue to what we think is civilization - or just a paved road would do.
So we continue on.
And on.
And on.

We don't think this is actually the Badlands Loop after all.
And now our trusty rental says 65 miles to empty.

The GPS says to continue on our gravel brick road, and we will eventually hit pavement.
We take some more pictures.
I drive a little faster.
It's getting dark.

At about the same time we do reach a paved road, the trusty rental "bings" at me and states 50 miles to empty.
The GPS says 18 miles to the main road.
We see a sign..."entering Badlands".
Hm.

THIS is apparently the Badlands Loop.
By now, it's dark enough for headlights, but light enough that you can see the scary, pointy rock formations on either side of the road.
The road, that's quite curvy, and has a drop-off you wouldn't believe.
"Bing" 44 miles to empty.

Our Badlands story ends well however.
We make it to the gas station at the main road with 36 miles to spare.
Phew.

With a nice full tank of gas, we head off to find some food.
There's nothing worthy in the first small town we come to, being that it's 8:30pm.
We switch drivers - Nick drives, May co-pilots.
She finds a great little diner. We grab some grub. And continue on our way.

Nick drives, Vogel co-pilots.
May and I sleep.
At some point in the night, they switch.
Vogel drives, Nick co-pilots.
May and I sleep.

Apparently there was a ton of fog, because when we arrive a the hotel in Dyersville, Iowa, they both seem a little on edge.
Something about 10 feet of visibility and having to draft a tractor trailer.
Hm.
We check in to our new digs - the Comfort Inn, Dyersville.
Vogel and Nick sleep.
May and I blog.