Took this a few days ago after we crossed the Mississippi....


We spent a few hours at the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, SD. This was the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the basis for many of her Little House books. I absolutely love this place. If you go to their website (www.ingallshomestead.com) you'll see Tess when she was 5 petting a newborn calf.


Hey, look! It's Calamity Jane!



We've settled into a routine of driving a good distance and then attempting to get to our lodging in time to make use of the pool. Some pool situations are better than others. But to Tess, almost any pool is a good pool.


Donald tries to get a date at Wall Drug in Wall, SD.

We are constantly amazed by the diversity and beauty of our country. I know lots of you have had the opportunity to explore it by way of the road trip. But if you haven't, you should! Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little world... we get lulled into thinking that's all there is. If you have time, or even if you don't... make some and drive across a state completely different from the one you're in. Even with a vanload of pets and kids, concerns take on a new perspective. It seems trivial to worry about the cat pee under my gas pedal when I'm driving past wide open (and I mean WIDE OPEN) vistas where buffalo once roamed, where native americans once traveled, where covered wagons plied forth toward their dreams....