Crossing South Dakota - to get a new rental.

It was obvious what happened to our car, although most people hit deer - they don't get hit BY the deer. We are headed to Sioux Falls, SD to the airport there, which is about 370 miles East. 6-7 hour drive. We passed bikers for days, even ran into a couple in GA who were headed home to FL. We took US 14 for part of our drive. I love getting off the main road to see something other than the highway. This turned into one of the most beautiful drives I've ever experienced. At one point, I looked out and realized why the writer, Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote "America The Beautiful", wrote the line "amber waves of grain". The wind was blowing, and there were miles of grain on hills that were flowing like waves. Stunning. Pictures and videos cannot capture the beauty and grace of that view. As if that wasn't enough to bring tears to my patriotic eyes, there were fields upon fields of sunflowers. I pulled over, got out and took pictures, because as difficult as it was to capture what I was seeing, I had to try. Those views will stay in my memory for many years. When work is stressful, and people are crazy, I go back to that moment with Alex on the side of a road in South Dakota.

Rest stop in SD for lunch. If you couldn't tell, Sweet Baby Ray's is one of Alex's favorite things! The fields of sunflowers were on both sides of the road. When we finally reached Sioux Falls Regional Airport at about 6pm, we had put 5,692.5 miles on the 2020 Ford Escape. By far my favorite car we've rented. Although she was battered, God protected us, and the car did what it was supposed to do, so I was grateful. This airport didn't have much to offer in rentals, so our next vehicle was definitely a step down, but again, grateful heart!

We drove over the border into Minnesota, found a little hotel, ordered Gluten Free Dominos Pizza (best employees and great service) and crashed! Woke up to a rainy day, but refreshed and headed to Wisconsin.

Have a sunflowery day, and thanks for riding along!