660 miles
15.2 mpg (headwind, which will only get worse in Wyoming)
Lake Vermillion Recreation Area: $19 + $6 entrance fee

Left Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore at 5am to beat the traffic around Chicago as we aimed to head west on I-90. South Dakota’s welcome sign pales in comparison to Minnesota’s bricks and mortar, landscaped version – not that this is a PR arms race.

Today was a about corn. Lots of corn. We drove through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and into South Dakota. 13 hours of driving. Rather than “camp” at the Walmart in Mitchell, SD I spied Lake Vermillion Recreation Area in my AllStay camping app. And we’re glad we did. What a beautiful park, just 4 miles South of I-90.

(I’m working on a better way to post my Ricoh Theta 360 shots – stay tuned. Try this link, and please let me know if it works)

The view:

I can finally open up, and have a great view.

Tim took advantage of the hours of sunshine left in the day to go for a bike ride. Or at least pose his bike artfully next to a bail of hay. We’ll never know.

And now, please enjoy today’s Wacky Races episode. Thru the Badlands and on to Wyoming tomorrow.