Day 5!

Today we started from Rapid City, SD at 8:30 AM (mountain time). We had a good breakfast at the hotel then we were off. Our first stop was the Cabela's store in Rapid City for a visit. Then a stop at the gas station that was nearly disastrous.

After filling up and cleaning the windshield, Kevin decided we needed to have the box of CD's up front to listen to. After taking them out of the bed of the truck he set them on top of one of the coolers while fixing the other items in the back of the truck that had come loose. We then hoped in the truck and took off headed to Mt. Rushmore. As we turned out of the parking lot onto the side road, Kevin watched (in the side mirror) our box of CD's go flying across the road spilling out EVERYWHERE! He slammed on the breaks and yelled "There went our CD's". I had NO CLUE what he was talking about b/c I didn't know he got the box out. We quickly jumped from the barely stopped vehicle and ran back to pick them up out of the road. All 75 (or so) CD's fell out of the box breaking some of the cases and sending individual CD's skidding across the asphalt. We gathered everything up and got back to the truck to try to fit them all back in again. While I stood beside the truck organizing them, Kevin walked around the front of the truck to the other side and noticed a LARGE 3 inch roofing screw on the ground about 6 inches in front of the tire. If we would have not stopped at the exact moment that we did we would have ran over it. The way it was laying would most likely have punctured one of our brand new $150 tires. So, we praise God for this little mishap, even though a few of the CD's are probably ruined with scratches. I can replace a few CD's cheaper than a tire. Sorry, no exciting pictures of us scurrying across the road frantically picking up CD's.

With the mess all cleaned up and put away we then headed to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty cool, although it was open it was very limited what we could do because of the season. Therefore, Kevin had to find his own entertainment. See pics below.

We then headed out of Rapid City toward Billings, MT. The scenery was very interesting along the way. Lots of ranches and pasture land. We saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 mule deer and around 300 (give or take 50 or so) antelope. We did manage to stop and take a couple of pictures today.

We arrived to our hotel this evening around 7:00, brought all our stuff in then headed out to dinner. We ended up following the suggestion of the front desk agent and went to an out of the way Mexican restaurant called Torres. It was pretty good, but we learned a couple of things that are not like the Mexican restaurants back home. This one charged for the chips and salsa and the yummy yummy cheese dip I usually get to have with my chips was not like the cheese dip I am used to. Instead of white, runny and spicy it was just nacho cheese like you get at a sporting event concession stand. That was a little disappointing but now I know to ask what the cheese dip is like and if the chips and salsa are extra $$$.

We will be heading out VERY early in the morning and plan to get to Calgary, Alberta, Canada by tomorrow evening. Please continue to pray for safe travels and that we do not have to empty out our whole tightly packed truck.