We're on our way - but maybe we should have stayed home!!

We're headed for Sturgis and points beyond. Yesterday was our first day out and it's not been without adventures. We finally got away from home about 3:30 on Tuesday. I guess we had a lot more things to complete than anticipated.

We were barely beyond Jamestown when Ole passed a semi on the interstate. As he pulled back into the right driving lane, out of what seemed like nowhere came a small white car passing us on the right - the shoulder of the road - honking and waving the middle finger at us. Where he came from we couldn't figure out as there was no car in front of the semi we passed when we pulled back into the right lane. Apparently he thought we were trying to run him off the road or something - although that certainly wasn't the plan. Anyway, he yelled at us that he was going to notify the highway patrol so we should expect to get stopped. We never saw a highway patrol so whether he actually reported us or not, I don't know.

All went well then until it started to get dark. By this time we had turned off the interstate at Glen Ullin and were headed south. I wanted to stop at the Shadehill Reservoir for the night, but that was not to be. Ole insisted we plug on and get as far as Faith,SD, another hour. The road, once you leave the interstate, is very rough and narrow and has no shoulder. The farmers have baled all the ditch hay and the ditches are full of the very large round hay bales. So if you hit the ditch you'll hit one of those big bales. We were flying along, over the hills and around the curves, when we topped a hill and there in the middle of the road sat a car - not moved off to the side at all. There was a piece of farm equipment, I think a hay baler, down in the ditch and a man seemed to be working on it. Fortunately he had his taillights on, but he had picked a very poor place to park. Ole dynamited the brakes, Daisy went flying off the davenport where she rides, all the things that were on the table went flying off and landed on Simon who was sleeping in the chair next to the table, even though I had the cabinets secured some of the doors flew open and everything came flying out. Anyway, it was a mess. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic so Ole managed to squeak between the car and the opposite ditch. There was no way we could have stopped in time to not hit that car. I can't imagine what that farmer was thinking when he parked in the middle of his driving lane just over the rise of that hill.

After catching our breath - me still wishing that we'd stopped back at Shadehill - we continued on. About 30 miles out of Faith a big buck whitetail deer popped out of the ditch and we hit him dead center on the front of the RV. No warning - just splat. I heard all kinds of noises rolling around under the rig - not only dead bodies, but something metal also broke off and went flying. We managed to find a place to pull off to the side, Ole got out to inspect, expecting to find the front of the RV trashed but there wasn't a mark. He'll inspect more underneath this morning before we take off.

Finally got to Faith, and of course by that time the city park that allows camping was full so we had to park on the street. Can't put the jacks down in the street and we're parked on a hill that made we feel like I was falling out of bed all night long.

Hope things improve. At this point I'm wondering if we were just supposed to stay home and not go on this trip.

Love Lena