Day Three: Custer SP, Rushmore, Montana

Phew! Glad to be on unmoving (is that a word?) ground tonight. Seems like we've been in the car a very long time. Hmm.

Today was another fantastic day! We've settled into a good traveling groove. We took our time heading out to Custer State Park which we decided doesn't get enough press! The scenery was breathtaking and the wildlife was pretty exciting. Abby wanted me to mention that the buffalo even blocked our road! Noah won the prize for seeing the first wildlife: a white-tailed deer. After that it was buffalo, pronghorns, some kind of furry river creature, a turkey, and more prairie dogs. After a very windy (curvey, not breezy) road which left a few of us dizzy and disoriented, we then went to Mt. Rushmore where it started to hail as we pulled away from the ticket-taker. Needless to say, we took our pictures, but didn't linger. From there it was already 1:30 and we needed to get on the road. With only one stop between Rapid City, SD and Billings, MT we got into the hotel by 7:30 with lunch on-the-go and dinner in the room. A quick dip in the pool and we are ready for bed. We're racking up the bonus points at Country Inn & Suites - we've given up playing the 'which hotel is the best deal' game. Just find the CI&S and go for it. They're affordable, comfortable, and you get breakfast - and we all fit!

Here's some quotes from the day:
Levi: I can go hiking because I have a knife! (It's a 3" plastic knife)
Mom: Mmmm, smell the pine.  Noah: It's much nicer than farts.
Levi: (about the turkey) Guess what, Mom! It pooped out 4 magic eggs! (What???)

One lane tunnel 8' wide

Much of our day revolves around some aspect of the bathroom as you may have noticed.
Note: I did NOT tell him to do this!
(Like the bow? He carries it EVERYWHERE. Purchased in the Badlands with the 3" knife)

Mt. Rushmore!

And then we met a twin of our moving van! (Only we know that they've made it to OR already)

I'm loving watching and listening to Josh as we travel across these states and see the hills and mountains. He's really in his element. I think, and he may have said it a few times, that if he for some reason had to hike the rest of the way to OR, he'd be A-OK with that.  :)

Though the fast food market is testing some of our digestive systems (again with the bathroom stuff, right?), I'm glad to report that Levi got over his stomach bug before we hit the road on Monday. Yea!

Oh, speaking of gas...the other funny thing we noticed: the more remote the location, the cheaper the gasoline cost. Go figure! I bet we've paid an average of $3.89/gal... which given the way prices were escalating in GR, we expected to pay closer to $4.50/gal. Praise God for remote gas stations with cheap gas!