Day 7, Chasing WiFi

Our day was relatively uneventful, much of it was spent chasing WiFi to meet the needs of Tyler’s work. Tyler and I were up early preparing the trailer and campsite for our departure, before heading down the road for him to take his morning meeting call. Once his call ended, we returned to eat breakfast, finished loading our items, and loaded up to head towards our next campsite in Custer, SD.

The drive to Custer was much longer than we anticipated. While it was not a long distance, the winding curvature of the roads made it difficult to haul the trailer quickly. We thought we had left with enough time to get to the campsite before Tyler’s next meeting, but ran out of time and ended up pulling off alongside the road for him to take his call. It’s fun to watch him in his work element, pacing around the tall grass with a stick, talking about the stock market. His iPad sat perched on the tonneau cover and every so often he would make his way back over to review his spreadsheets. The internet and cellular service may not always be ideal, but the backdrop of his traveling office has been breathtaking!

We started back on the road towards Custer and arrived just before Tyler’s next call. We were able to get set up quite easily. It’s amazing to me how quickly we can take down and set up camp now. This site has full hook-ups and will likely be the last camp we stay at in South Dakota. Tomorrow we plan to head for Nebraska once Tyler is finished with his day.

Between calls, we all took a short drive through downtown Custer to try out Horatio’s Homemade Ice Cream, a raved about, family-owned ice cream parlor. We each tried a different flavor: Tyler-Coffee, Me- Banana Cream, Ashton-Cookies & Cream, and Addi-Chocolate (boring). We haven’t had ice cream in months due to a nutritional plan we have been on and the kids both took their time to savor every last bite!

We dropped Tyler off back at the trailer and the kids and I set back out to check out the local shops. Custer is such a cute little town like many of the others we have traveled through. After seeing all there was to see, we fueled up and returned to the campsite. Oddly enough, I filled my pickup with Premium gas ($1.79) for a lesser price than Regular ($1.99). I guess you could say I let them twist my arm a little 😉

Since we planned Crazy Horse today, we decided to work out and eat earlier than what we have been to allow for time to see the memorial during daylight and also partake in the laser light show that happens at dark. After dinner, Ashton and Addi broke out the new chessboard we purchased for the trailer while out and about today. Addi is undefeated against Ashton, but her dad issued her a BIG L!

The Crazy Horse Memorial is just 4 miles from our campsite so we left around 7:30 pm. We made it in time for the last bus tour to the base of Crazy Horse’s face. It didn’t get us much closer, but we learned some history from the driver of the bus who also took some pictures for our family…both of which Addi’s eyes were closed. Another family offered to take a few photos for us that ended up working okay. After the tour, we sat through a short film and walked through the museum then returned to our car to await the laser light show. The display was nice, but I couldn’t help but wonder how this memorial has taken more than 70 years to make with still so much more work until completion. I wonder if it will be done before I leave this earth?

We returned to the trailer and the kids quickly became involved in another chess game. Their bickering and trash talk is keeping me entertained as I type this blog. Tonight I will not have to drive down the road to add pictures to my post and that alone thrills me!

We are all a little tired and sad to leave South Dakota behind, but we are looking forward to seeing what Nebraska has to offer. We will be at another Harvest Host tomorrow which always offers a unique experience!

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