8:30am CDT
You wake up in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A little achy and still tired from the long drive from Milan (pronounced My-lahn), Ohio yesterday. Still thinking about why they would pronounce it that way and trying to remember if the sign there said if it was named after someone or if Mid-westerners just like to pronounce things strangely. Regardless, that long drive and slight achiness is what you have to look forward to today too. At least the bed was comfortable at this place. You get out of bed and stretch. Time to see if the free breakfast is more than just some pieces of toast and cereal...
9:20am CDT
Now in the car with a Styrofoam cup filled with surprisingly tasty coffee, you get out your phone to look up a hopeful goal for today. If you can make it to Rapid City, South Dakota, you'll be happy with today's drive. That's only 9 hours away, not so bad! You don't really know anything about Rapid City, but you're hoping the drive there feels rapid. Although so far the drive hasn't been so bad. You have gone over 1000 miles in 2 days but it's actually been pretty cool. You haven't crossed the Mississippi yet, which is the historic dividing line in the country, so you're about to see what this "West of the Mississippi" is all about once you complete la crosse-ing of it.
You enjoyed this experience in La Crosse, the town itself actually had some cool looking restaurants and you promised yourself you were going to try one and not just go to a bar for dinner because that's easier to do when you're by yourself. Everyone makes such a big deal about eating alone in a restaurant, but you don't really see what the big deal is, it's just food. Most people are on their phones with the people they're at the table with anyway! Nonetheless, the bar you had dinner at was pretty tasty, so it was fine. And it was pretty packed for a Wednesday night, but I guess that's Wisconsin for you... Even the hotel was fun! It had a hot tub and a pool so you could relax your muscles after being in the car for the vast majority of the day.
You drive out to the crossing of the Mississippi. It looks like any other river, but you guess this is still pretty close to the start of it. You contemplate driving your car into the river and using some part of it to stay afloat to sail down the river to New Orleans, Huck Finn style, but decide against it. That wouldn't be good for the environment anyway. Well, time to see what it's like on the other side...
9:50am CDT
You get back on the familiar highway you've been used to for so many miles by now. You're driving by yourself along Interstate 90's entire length - Boston to Seattle. You need to do this for a job that's starting on the other side of the country and you couldn't get anyone to take a week off of work to drive out with you, ugh some friends. You thought that the drive would be crazy, I mean 3020.54 miles is a whole lotta miles to be doing alone. Luckily, you started an audiobook that's 40 hours long, which, at a 45 hour drive, will leave you a few hours to contemplate if this experience was worth it.
All this contemplation was too distracting though, as while you were thinking about that, you've passed into another state! Number eight on this coast-to-coast drive, Minnesota. Unfortunately, the route that 90 takes through MN does not look like it will bring you close to anything interesting. No Twin Cities, no Mall of America, and not even that many of the 10,000 lakes, ugh. So far, it looks pretty much like WI did, all farms. At least maybe you can look forward to more yummy cheese to eat later.
12:20pm CDT
A couple hours into the drive, you start to get hungry for said cheese. The breakfast ended up alright, but not really filling enough. You look at the signs for upcoming places to eat but nothing is really catching your eye until you see a sign that says "Blue Earth 10 Miles". That's a pretty interesting sounding name, so you decide to stop there. As you get closer to the exit, you see another sign for Blue Earth "Visit Our 60' Jolly Green Giant." Um, yes? That sounds amazing!
And so it was amazing. The sign was a little inaccurate, as it is only 55 1/2 feet tall, but who hasn't rounded up before? Apparently he was built to commemorate the completion of I-90, which was right here in Blue Earth, MN! How quaint, and yet actually so giant. Also very fitting for this trip as you will be traversing this length of 90 that was completed here. You find that it is actually a pretty cool sculpture and that you can even go up on that ledge between his legs for a closer look ;)
You also grab lunch in Blue Earth, you look up a road side stand thing that's almost like a food truck but more permanent that has amazing reviews. It lives up to the hype and you're happy you decided before the trip to not eat at any national fast food places. You did go on this trip for a job, but this experience of driving across would be a waste if you didn't try out the local cuisine and check out the local sites. Even if those local sites are a giant in a leafy toga.
1:00pm CDT
The rest of the ride through MN is basically just more farms. The good thing about driving on these long stretches of road is that you know when the next rest stop will be because they tell you before you get there. It's great! Unfortunately, as you head West, they become further and further apart, but at least you know how long you will need to hold it for. The MN rest stops are much like most of the ones encountered in the western part of the country; bathrooms, a water fountain, vending machines, and a grassy area to walk around in circles to break up the drive. Everything you need, really.
2:30pm CDT
Speaking of rest stops, you decide you need to stop again, too many water fountain stops apparently, and look over to see that you're entering a new state. Goodbye Minnesota, hello South Dakota! Now all you have to do is get to the other side of this state by the end of the day, which is relieving but slightly intimidating that it really should take the rest of the day. This country is just crazy big.
You pull over at the first rest stop/ welcome center in SD and, after using the facilities, look at the welcoming sign. You've seen this Eisenhower Interstate System sign along your drive, but you learn that he basically pioneered the idea to make these crazy long highways across the country! While it would be nice to have better public transportation in this country, at least you can get from one coast to the other in around 5 days, which is a big improvement on Lewis and Clark, so there's that.
You get back on the road and see a sign that says Sioux Falls, SD is coming up. You decide to stop off and check it out, as it will be by far the largest city you will encounter prior to reaching Rapid City and also you doubt you'll be back around this way any time sioux-n.
3:15pm CDT
Sioux Falls is actually a really nice city! There are some cool looking shops that you walk around, a hip coffee shop that you obviously stop at, and the people seem friendly. There's a little downtown walk that you can do that is basically the main streets that go through the town, but it gives you some information on the buildings and history of Sioux Falls, which is a cool touch. There's also a bunch of statues and things around the area, which in some cases are very lifelike, which was interesting to see coming from the "proper" East Coast.
After getting your fill of the local culture, you decide to visit the eponymous falls for the city. They are also interesting and huge; the falls themselves seem to meander throughout the park they are in. It is a great day and you walk around with lots of other people. There are observation towers, old buildings from when the city was founded, and outlooks to look over the park. It's a really educational experience!
4:00pm CDT
But you can't afford to continue meandering around the park, it's still a little less than 5 hours to get to Rapid City. Your only saving grace is that soon you will be entering Mountain Time and getting another hour, but it's still a ton of driving. You're starting to question if all this driving was worth it. While it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, you're starting to feel like you are the road and you just keep going and going. But, being able to make stops like this one in Sioux City are worth it, when would you have ever thought you would be able to go to there? It's just interesting to see, in an intense way, just how different, yet how similar, we all are. It's almost poetic.
Driving through South Dakota is a much different experience than being in the previous states. There is still grass on your sides, but there's nothing on it. You suppose that there must be cows and ranches, but you don't really see anything. Just very flat land going on and on to the horizon. You've never seen anything like it before and it intrigues you. How can there be this much nothing?
Well that is, except flies. Yes, driving through South Dakota was the most flies you've ever experienced anywhere. Now you get why gas stations have those scrubs, windshield wiper fluid does nothing against this. It's pretty gross so you try not to pay attention to it as you traverse the great nothingness and flyness that is South Dakota.
7:00pm CDT
You start to get hungry again, not even just from seeing all the fly guts, and look for an exit with food along the road. The problem is that there aren't that many. You pass an exit very infrequently and many of the exits have a "no services" sign before them. You really are in the middle of nowhere for most of this drive, it's crazy. Finally you see a sign coming up for a steak house and this seems like the best place that one could get something like that considering all the actual and maybe ranches you passed.
7:30pm MDT
After dinner you get back on the road and start driving and soon pass into mountain time! Now you have another hour to play with, which will mostly help tomorrow morning when you're waking up. But this extra hour (and all the steak) is giving you energy now, so as you pass a sign that says that the Badlands National Park is coming up, you decide to check it out. Who knows when you'll get another chance to see this, plus you've heard it's amazing and you're a big Bruce Springsteen fan, so now's the time to go.
And it is incredible. You can't believe how long it goes on for. So much land and all so bad. It's just crazy beautiful. You try to imagine how the pioneers and Native Americans living here thought of this place. It seems almost holy or at least valley-y. And you feel lucky that it took you this long to get out here, it's so amazing in the sunset! The light bouncing off the rocks, the shadows created in the valleys, it's all too much after such a long drive. This is why does this crazy trip is worth it. You get to experience the Mississippi and Badlands in the same day and that's pretty cool.
8:30pm MDT
Luckily the Badlands have a path that loops around that you can drive along that passes through very interesting formations (although you won't say the most interesting as you don't get a chance to hike out to see more). By the end though, it's starting to become dark and you don't like driving in the dark, especially after starting so early. It's still an hour to get to Rapid City so you snap one more sunset pic of the other side of the park and sadly drive off.
The drive from the Badlands to Rapid City is uneventful. By the time you get back on I-90, it's pitch dark out, which reiterates to you how much in the middle of nowhere you are. There's also not many other cars on the road so you just focus on the road right in front of you can keep on driving. You make one last pit stop at a rest stop and use the time to look up a hotel online and book it. This is how you've had to do this trip as you don't know how far you'll be able to go on any given day, but the system works pretty well.
9:30pm MDT
You finally roll up to the hotel you're staying at and you feel like your car breathes a sigh of relief that it doesn't need to drive anymore for the day either. You give it a pat of appreciation as you step out. While cars might not be good for the environment, they do at least get you across the country in a quick manner, so there's that.
You exhaustedly check-in to your hotel and go to your room. You find out the pool closes at 10 so you get changed and run down, even if you are super tired you're not going to say no to a hot tub and sauna.
10:00pm MDT
However, you are happy that it closes at 10 because you're starting to fall asleep in the sauna, which wouldn't be good for you at all. You crawl up to your room, take a quick shower and close your eyes. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow too AND you want to see Mount Rushmore before you leave SD so you're planning on waking up early. Good thing you got that extra hour....
Now that your road trip is done (for the day) find out how to prepare for future road trips!
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