Day 4 - Tuesday, August 11

Note: Lindsay and I will be moving into our new apartment tomorrow, and I don't know when we'll be getting internet hooked up, so it might be a few days before we can post another entry. Check back often.

P.S. I had my first day in court today. I had seven cases. Before the judge even walked into the courtroom, the prosecutor walked over and handed me a dismissal of one of the cases. Maybe my cousin Joey told her about my crazy eyes (see Day 3).

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Day 4 of our trip, like Day 3, was spent entirely in South Dakota. My sister saw us off in Sioux falls. Here we are, looking like two people who stayed up until 1 a.m. playing Mario Kart:

Our tripometer reached 1000 miles at the Missouri River in Chamberlain, South Dakota:

On our way out of the cafe after lunch, we noticed that there was a Crazy Days sale going on. Over my left arm, you can clearly see that the sign says, "CRAZY DAYS - Everything." But the sign right next to it said, "WIND CHIMES not on CRAZY DAYS." For a wind chime fanatic like myself, this was a hard pill to swallow, as evidenced by the stunned look on my face:


Look how swirly and sparse my beard looked as we crossed the Missouri. I've seen several small children here in Alaska with more impressive beards than me:

The Badlands - the first national park of our trip:
One of the coolest places I've ever seen:

Lindsay summiting one of the rocks in the park, wearing the recommended climbing attire (flip flops and the same clothes she wore on Day 2):

We followed the Badlands with a trip to the world famous Wall Drug:

Lindsay getting some of the world famous free ice water at the world famous Wall Drug:

Having now seen it, I can't figure out what the big deal is with Wall Drug. Reminds me of Paris Hilton: famous for being famous.

We got to my friend Dan's house in Rapid City at about 5 p.m. (groomsman #7 - we saw groomsmen 4, 5, and 6 - my brother Nat and my friends Nate and Matt - in Sioux Falls). We made the short drive to Mount Rushmore and grilled the staff about George W. Bush's continued absence from the rock. We took this picture in protest:

Dan and me, lookin' sexy:

We were lucky enough to stumble upon some wild mountain goats. You can tell how wild the one on the left is by the tag in its ear and the massive tracking device strapped to its neck:

There was a meteor shower that night, but we couldn't see it on the video poker screen in the bar we were at.

Sioux Falls to Rapid City - 348 miles