You Can’t Fool Mother Nature!

My original goal for this journey was to visit several locations in Utah & then head south to avoid the cold weather of a New England winter. Apparently, Mother Nature had other plans for me… 🙄

Our last night at Theodore Roosevelt National Park was bittersweet. We had truly enjoyed our visit to this special place, but the cold weather had quickly caught up to us. It was time to move on! The temperature dropped almost 60° in one day, from 90° to 30°! It was also very WINDY & challenging to pack up the next morning. Trying to fold up the tent & tarps in a strong wind was quite an Olympic workout, but I was motivated to move as quickly as possible. The forecast was for even stronger winds & I definitely didn’t want to drive down the mountain in the worsening weather!

With Utah already having some early winter weather, I had to make the sensible decision that visiting there is temporarily on hold. Temporarily!!!

We’ll get there!

In revising our route, I chose to move through South Dakota as quickly as possible & head south through Nebraska. It was a LONG day of traveling! 🥴

It was rainy, foggy, sleeting & miserable driving conditions all day. I had to drive with my hazard lights on because drivers kept coming up behind me in the fog, driving at 70+ mph! The speed limit was 75mph. Even if I was familiar with the roads, I wouldn’t have been driving that fast in those weather conditions!

The drive was absolutely miserable. When it started getting dark, I wanted to find somewhere safe to hunker down for the night. That turned out be extremely difficult impossible. There was NO place to pull over, much less a safe place. There was no moonlight & it was really dark, but I had to keep going. At one point, my GPS announced “Take the next left & drive for 39 miles.” 😞There was NOTHING & NOBODY for that next 39 miles! Unfortunately, there was a lot of road construction along the way. It was mostly a 2 way/single lane road, with no lane markers! It went on & on & on. When I reached the 39 mile marker to turn, my GPS then informed me to stay on this road for another 49 miles! I wanted to cry, but I had to keep moving. I ended up driving 125 miles longer that night than I had wanted. 🙄

We finally reached Sturgis, SD & my GPS signal quit! I knew there were several hotels in the area, but without GPS, I was seriously stressing out. 🥺 I took an exit off the highway to collect my thoughts & ended up in another very dark & foggy area. I crossed a railroad track & arrived at a large, open gate. Backing up there wasn’t a good option, so I drove through the gate to turn around. As my eyes focused in the darkness, I was stunned to realize our location.

I had driven through the never locked gates of the Black Hills National Cemetery! Because of the thick fog, it was difficult to see, but my headlights caught some of the many thousands of pure white gravestones. It was an eerie feeling & I felt like an intruder. I turned around quickly & left quietly.

I decided to return the next morning to pay my respect to our fallen military members. There were multiple funeral services taking place, so I only stayed for a few minutes. The gloomy weather reflected the mood of this sacred place. The sight of 30,000+ glistening white gravestones was simultaneously hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing & heartbreaking. 💔

Never forget… 🇺🇲

Never forget… 🇺🇲

I’m probably the only tourist to travel through South Dakota & not see Mount Rushmore or the Crazy Horse Memorial https://g.co/kgs/g7wUh4 or any of the other famous landmarks. To be honest, there was a good possibility that I wasn’t going to make the drive to Mount Rushmore anyway. Between the drive UP (my fear of heights 😳) & the crowds, I was trying to decide what to do, when Mother Nature interceded on my behalf. It started to get foggy, rainy & slushy with sleet. Decision made! We’re outta here!

Moving on…

305 miles/5 hours later, we made it to Ogallala, Nebraska! 😁
That day’s weather menu included: sleet as we left Sturgis, S.D., followed later by pea soup THICK fog for an hour, entering Nebraska. Add in intermittent heavy rain & sunshine & occasionally both together along the way, but no rainbow. 😫 Also included was HEAVY winds & HEAVY rain, with hydroplaning. I drove most of the day with my flashers on again because people were still flying up behind me in the fog, doing 70+ MPH. 🙄
Luckily, I had the car radio on a local station in Nebraska because they announced a severe thunderstorm & tornado watch! It was so windy, I didn’t even want to open my car door for a Maddie pit stop because I was afraid she’d blow away! 😳
Did I mention the VW bug sized TUMBLEWEED that flew across in front of me??? The next morning, a nice, young cowboy 😍 offered to remove my souvenir for me!

We ended up staying in a hotel for 2 nights in Ogallala. The rain cleared up overnight, but the WIND was VERY STRONG the next day. Tractor trailers were warned to stay off the highways that day because of the 60+ mph sustained winds. The hotel was very basic & I definitely appreciated that they discounted my second night. 😊

We FINALLY made it safely to

Las Vegas…

New Mexico❣