6/27/17 Custer State Park

Happy Birthday, Alex!  It is hard to believe that he is 17.  We got started after breakfast to drive across SD from Sioux City to just below Rapid City.  It was a beautiful day and the traffic was light.  We finished Brian's Winter and listened to some 60's music.  We stopped for lunch in Rapid City and had a nice conversation with a truck driver.  The girls were amazed as he walked in to order with a gallon sized reusable mug!  The girls finally got to see the difference between the East and the West - the land got drier and the trees became scarce.  They also spotted their first mesa.  We finally got into camp about 2 PM and set up our tents, etc.  We went into Custer to get gas and go grocery shopping, but when we came out of the grocery store, the sky was darkening and it surely looked as if it was going to rain.  We decided that we would stop at Subway for a take-out dinner so that if the storm hit, we would not have to cook in the rain.  As we were finishing up our order, the storm hit.  It was a wind driven rain and looked as if it were raining sideways!  The temperature dropped from 92 to 58!  We finally decided to dash to the truck and we got drenched!!!  We got back to camp and elected to sit in the truck to eat - we also kept it running so we could blast ourselves with the heater in an attempt to dry our clothes.  Eventually, the rain stopped and we were able to get out of the truck.  Our screened vestibule was wet so the rugs got wet - not a major deal, but the end of the girls' sleeping bags got damp, but not too badly.   We cleaned up a bit around camp, wrote in journals and read a chapter of Caddie Woodlawn and despite the fact that it was a bit early, we all climbed into bed.  We did lose another hour so our bodies have not adjusted yet.