28 August 2015, Friday Breakfast is “from scratch” oatmeal pancakes and black raspbery jam. Westudy maps to plan our route after we leave South Dakota. O hasextended our stay at Custer State Park for a third night. In the townof Custer we have much better phone reception and wi-fi so we cancheck on the fires in Glacier. Campers we spoke with yesterday saidit was a bit smokey up there but not
27 August 2015, Thursday Our 40% chance of thunderstorms parked itself over our campsite from midnightuntil 3 am. Winds were 30+ mph with gusts to the mid-50’s and notrees to shelter us. Our REI quarterdome shook and rattled throughthe storm. At times I felt as if we were in a little bubble beingtossed on the ocean. Sometimes the windward side of the tent (myside) almost flattened in the gale, but it always
26 August 2015, Wednesday On the trail again. We are up and back in Jazz, aiming for breakfast inSioux Falls, SD.The skies look a bit threatening, but the forecast isfor only scattered showers today with a front passing throughtonight. The chosen restaurant for breakfast, which advertises“brunch all day, doesn’t open until 11 am. We arrive in town at 8am. We are directed to a nearby diner by a young woman in a
25 August, Tuesday We wake lying on very flat ground (it is prairie after all) in Blue MoundsState Park. It’s a warm summer morning. No blustery winds! I startsinging “Oh what a beautiful morning…” O admits he has thesame song going through his head. We take our time preparingbreakfast: potato cake flavored with onion, cheese, pepper andbutter. We have some of our fresh grapes, an apple and cherry tomatoeswith it. After 9
24 August, Monday We’re up at 6 am. Although we again slept well, we were awakened by the flapping of the tarp in the 35 mph gusts. We’ve gone from using air conditioning in the car to getting warm jackets down from the skybox over the course of just two days. We have our breakfast – today the coffee cools off too quickly – then head back to Grand Marais after packing everything
23 August, Sunday It’s a bit disconcerting, after 5 nights on a 24 inch wide air mattress in a small tent, to end up sleeping in a king-sized bed. Nonetheless, we both sleep very well. I spend much of the morning catching up my blog. I still cannot upload photos. Next stop: Grand Marais again to do laundry and replenish supplies. We stop at the NFS office to inquire about camping nearby instead