Onward to the Badlands

August 12, 2010
Interior, SD

Today was an easy day. Up early to a sunny morning, we headed across the street to Al's Oasis for a quick breakfast and some shopping (what else can you do?). Geri picked up a few postcards and we found a few things (like cinnamon buns) in the grocery that we couldn't do without.

On the road, our drive was short and more or less direct. I-90 West for about 130 miles, then 15 or miles to our park. We're right along the White River, just outside the little town (think "crossroads", population 67 according to the road sign). We had to pass through part of Badlands National Park to get here, and that'll be one of the focal points of our visit.

We had to jockey a little bit once in our spot, as the whole park is heavily treed and we knew we wanted to have the satellite working if possible. Once I tried one spot without success, I was able to get a signal. The park has Wi-Fi and cable TV, so we won't be completely cut off from civilization if we have an outage. Phone service? Well, that's another thing since we're out "in the country". Cell strength isn't bad in the Park and up closer to I-90, so we'll be able to check texts and messages periodically.

Once we were set up and the air conditioning in full effect (it being something like 98°F out there), I put out the outdoor stove/grill and got some pasta water going. Geri whipped up a fabulous no-cook Caprese "sauce" (fresh tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, shallots) that went wonderfully (with a nice Chianti, of course) on a warm evening.