"If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing." -Coco Chanel

Today was a day filled with animal encounters and putting miles of road behind us. We began the second day of the trip just like the first--with an early morning wake-up call. Except this time our alarm clock was three baby raccoons rummaging around for goodies in the bed of our truck. At 3:45 am Kevin sprang out of the tent. I assumed it was because nature had called, but I quickly realized that instead the sound of the raccoons taking the lids off of our supply bins woke him. I wisely stayed in the tent while Kevin tried to scare them away; they were not afraid of humans!!! Thankfully he was able to shoo them away, and the raccoons only rummaged through our supply bin so nothing was lost. Needless to say, we were both wide awake at that point and the intense humidity was not conducive to tent sleeping so at 4 am we decided to pack up camp and get on the road. Little did we know that we would have another run-in with wildlife today! 

Before long we were in Kansas City, Missouri so we decided to stop for breakfast at another restaurant featured in Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. We are trying to avoid all chain restaurants on this trip in an attempt to test out some more adventurous cuisine. So far we have been successful. 

After breakfast it was Kevin's turn to nap and my turn to drive. Our next destination was Sioux City, Iowa. Of course during my time behind the wheel a softball-sized black bird managed to fly into the passenger side mirror as I cruised down the highway at 75 mph. We collided with quite the thunk. Just my luck. Kevin says he saw it fly away, but I think he may be trying to make me feel better about the whole thing!

After several hours on the road we arrived in Sioux City, Iowa. While there we saw the monument honoring Sgt. Floyd from the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was the only Corps member to die on the trip. It is now believed that he died of appendicitis, although no one knew what appendicitis was at the time of the expedition. Lewis diagnosed him with something called "bilious colic." The monument stands over his remains and overlooks the river the expedition followed--the mighty Missouri River. Lewis and Clark also named a tributary river "Floyd's River" which can be seen from the memorial. 

Next we headed to Sioux City's Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center to explore some more. This museum was fantastic! There were great artifacts and interactive displays. I wish that my students could visit the museum; it had so many of the artifacts and stories we read about in Allan Wolf's book New Found Land. The giant bronze statue out front was impressive, too!

We had originally planned to spend the night near Sioux City, but because we got such an early start today we have decided to put some more road behind us. We dug into our cooler and made some turkey and salami sandwiches and loaded back into the truck. We are going to stay in a hotel near Pierre, South Dakota. A shower and some cold air conditioning and a full night  of sleep is just what we need for what we have planned for tomorrow...the badlands, Mount Rushmore, and the Devil's Tower! 

We are so thankful that we decided to leave the pups behind! It is quite humid here this week. The dogs would have been miserable, and we wouldn't have been able to explore like we have. 

I am looking forward to resting up and seeing some more of this country I'm lucky to call home! Only three more hours to go until we reach our resting place for tonight. Keeping our fingers crossed for no more wild animal encounters today!!!