Day 17: "To Quincy's Quiet Acres"

How did we fall into this tourist trap?

States:South Dakota - Minnesota - Wisconsin
Miles: 739.7
Weather: Cloudy

$$$
Gas: 133.89
Ice: 2.07

Total: 135.96

Signatures: +0
58/100

Well, here we are, another day into our trip, and still experiencing new things. We wake up in our nice, cozy little motel room (yeah, right…) approximately ninety minutes late, as has become the norm. We clean the room, shower (once again, a necessity), and hit the road for a long day of driving.

We leave Rapid City, devouring the rest of the cold pizza from the night before to get us going. We drive the short distance (roughly sixty miles) to the famous Wall Drug Store of Wall, South Dakota, and feel extremely touristy is doing so. What I have heard from other travelers is true, you really do see an incredible amount of signs for this place when you get within fifty miles or so…It’s obnoxious, but keeps us somewhat entertained during our morning drive. Upon our arrival, we browse Wall Drug for a short while (which is a massive store, by the way), and then head back to the car, as we had received our tourist fix for the day in a matter of minutes.

So back onto the road we went, with our only goal in mind being to reach Quincy, Wisconsin by this evening. We pass through the rest of South Dakota and into Minnesota, which is an entirely uneventful drive. Phil has the desire to drive much of the way today, which MJ and I clearly do not object to, as it allows us valuable time to read and sleep. (For those who care to know, MJ finished Dark Star Safari, and is now reading Life of Pi, and I finished In Cold Blood, and am now reading On the Road).

We reach Wisconsin around 8:30 p.m. and proceed towards Quincy, as we are now in familiar territory. It’s a bit sad though, as I almost feel as though we are not on our road trip anymore, but rather a simple weekend camping trip to our beloved northerly neighbor. We arrived in Quincy as it was getting dark, set up camp on the shore of the Wisconsin River just outside of a cabin, and cooked a scrumptious dinner of instant potatoes. The cabin belongs to Maurissa (thanks so much for letting us use it!!), but we were not able to go inside, as we did not have access to a key. No matter, all was well in the world of roadtripping. After a nice evening of campfire talk, we went to bed a few minutes after midnight.

Matt