I have been very bad about blogging lately; but there hasn't been too much going on around here lately. We are kind of in that after winter/ waiting for spring (it's coming... I can feel it) lull and it seems as if every day is a repeat of the day before. Just a constant state of controlled chaos. But, in the middle of March we spent a few days outside the ordinary and made a road trip to South Dakota.
Mike has been itching to get a new motorcycle since his old one left our home a year and a half ago. He got rid of it because he kept having feelings that something might happen to him while he was riding. This came after his brother broke his wrist and wrecked his bike and after a near miss accident while driving home in his truck (which he said had he been on the bike, it wouldn't have been a miss). But, even though it was gone he still missed it. And this year he really wanted to try it again. He contemplated his riding and realized that he was a safe rider and mostly used the bike to take short relaxing rides out in the country instead of in a lot of high traffic areas. Even though you are only as safe as the other drivers that are around you, he wanted to get another bike.
After lots of research he found one that he liked at a local dealer but after hearing the price tag (not to mention the additional price of the modifications he would want) we scratched that idea. So Mike went to his next favorite location...EBAY! Now, I am very skeptical of ebay as I feel that you never know what the sellers true intentions are and whether or not they are legit. But Mike found an amazing bike that had everything he wanted and more plus was a great price. So after contacting the seller and getting a good feeling he went for it and ended up the winning bidder. Only one minor issue; the bike was in Rapid City SD (14 hours away!)
Two weeks later we embarked on our quest to retrieve the motorcycle. We decided to make it a family trip and go see the sights. The first night we drove 6 hours to Minnesota and stayed in a holiday in that had a small indoor water park. The kids had a blast playing in the water and Kylie loved the water tube slide. 
After a waterlogged day we were ready to tackle the next leg of the drive. We were making the drive during the day figuring we would stop as the kids needed a break and find something to do to pass the time. We had no idea how desolate South Dakota was and we quickly found that stopping would not be as easy as we originally thought. In fact when we were low on gas we found ourselves stuck with 15 miles to an empty tank and 10 miles from the nearest gas station. Dinner was had at a small town bar as it was the only place that served food within 30 miles. We were very thankful when we rolled in to Rapid City at 9pm!
We spent our day in Rapid City going to see Mt. Rushmore. How could we be that close and not stop. we were amazed by it; especially thinking that it was created out of nothing in the 1930's
using precision dynamite. We also visited the town of keystone but were disappointed to find only three stores open as it is more of a summer town.
We stayed at another water park that night and it was pretty neat. They had a small kids area with kid size water slides and a jungle gym and there was also two tube slides and a body slide for big kids (adults too). It was very crowded in there, so I never did bring my camera down and get pictures. Mike took some on his phone and if I ever figure out how to upload them I will get them posted.
The next day, we met the guy who sold us the bike and were very excited to see the motorcycle was everything he said it was. I was also very thankful for his and his family hospitality. Kylie and his nine year old daughter played together while I talked with his wife and the guys loaded the motorcycle up into our truck. It took a lot longer than expected and the family was so sweet to allow us to take up their time and invade their home.
After packing up we drove 14 hours straight home arriving at 6 am the next morning with a very excited Michael :)
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