-- Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...

Today is day 21 of our road trip… wow, 3 weeks in the Supervan and my mom and dad are still talking to each other.

Our plan for the day was to head north on Highway 385 to South Dakota, land of Mount Rushmore.  Since it was only a couple of hours away, my dad said we could take our time and not pack up right away. 

So if I understand this correctly, we need to rush less to Rushmore--

more or less. 

OMG, I can’t believe I just said that…

Our drive was nice, with many fields along the way full of bales of hay that looked like rolled-up carpets.

  How do they do that, anyway?

Then we crossed the state line into South Dakota…

Lots of interesting billboards along the highway…  Like this one:

Uh, catchy sign, but exactly what are they selling?

Here’s an interesting one … 

I've heard of "marriage mail" advertising-- but a billboard?

Check out the Firehouse Brewing Company…

What the heck are they brewing?  Whatever it is, I don’t think I want any.

Check out this Shell station… The sign said restrooms outside…

Are you kidding me?

We drove through a town named Hot Springs, South Dakota.  Check this out… “Fresh Start” Gas Station, "Brewster’s" Liquor, and "One Stop Shop" Tobacco…  okay, so who would care about this combo, right?

It’s right next door to the town church … haha.  All that’s missing is a gambling casino.   

But wait, it gets better… Take a closer look at the church marquee sign… 

someone PLEASE tell me this is a pun and it was misspelled intentionally … please .

Oh, check this out.  Hot Springs Ace Hardware Store.  They sell plants here. 

Their sign says:  Plants-- Buy One- Get One …  hah! 

Well duh.  As opposed to what?  Buy one and get nothing? 

We ate lunch at Dairy Queen.  This was the best offering in town…  Meager choices, indeed.  My mom and dad said it was probably the worst burger they had ever had, and with all the calories, it was a double disappointment.  If you are going to consume mega-calories, at least get something that tastes good to make it worth it. 

For example, if you are going to eat a donut, why on earth would anyone eat a plain cake donut or a simple glazed donut?  Get one with icing and sprinkles for crying out loud.  If you’re going to do it, do it right I say.  Anyway, I digress.  I’m glad they didn’t like the burgers, because my mom gave some of her burger to me.  I was totally satisfied with it-- no complaints here.  If it was that great of a burger, she probably wouldn’t have shared, y’know?   Don’t you just love the exit sign light?

This is good subliminal advertising...  My dad saw this exit sign light as we were getting ready to leave and sent my mom back in for a milkshake ...haha.

Now I don’t know what to make of this:

We left Hot Springs and continued our journey and arrived in Custer, South Dakota (as in Lt. Colonel Custer…). 

Maybe we should have gone here for lunch…  Their special today is the fact that they are ‘open’ I guess…

Today's destination-- the Rushmore Custer KOA Kampground.  Haha.

Our campsite was the pick of the litter.  It wasn’t a regular campsite-- the people there gave us a special site at the top of a hill since we were 4WD.  There was so much grass, I felt like I was in my backyard!

Pay no attention to that dog wearing the cone-of-shame…  just pretend you don’t see it… Gosh, I’m so embarrassed…!