Day 4

We woke up to view our campgrounds for the first time.  We realize, from looking around at the professional campers, that we forgot plants to place around our camper, covers for our tires, tablecloths for our picnic table, sign displaying our name and numerous other camping accessories.  OUR camper however has a lovely mural of Mr. Rushmore, an extra large 'rent me' decal and numerous signs explaining how to hook everything up adorning it's exterior.  There is a knock on the door and the KOA manager tells us we are flooding our campground because our hose was not hooked up properly. There is small 'east bay' around us.
  Halee wakes up and walks around with BB and Beki to catch another toad in the pool that displays a closed sign.  So she climbs over the fence!
The rest of the kids wake up.  Breakfast consists of Dry Fruit Loops or a bagel - only blueberry because the plain ones have gone moldy in the refrigerator we forgot to turn on.  Pump out next - Lordy, Lordy!  Bricker and Halee have agreed to help.  The hose is hooked on after everyone has put their rubber gloves on.  Halee unscrews cap and we make the connect.  As soon as the water starts running, Beki, Bricker and Halee all proceed to start gagging.  BB comes out to help finish the job. 
We finish up unhooking and head out to the Badlands.  We took all electronics and forced the kids to take in the scenery.  BB is white knuckle driving and the roads are skinny and laden with motorcycles (all headed to Sturgis). 
We see a mountain lion, 10,000 prairie dogs, bisons, cows and numerous birds.  We stop and the kids go for a hike.  We start to look for them and notice the 'watch for rattlesnakes' signs.  We, with love, began to scream their names to get down here NOW!
Went to Keystone to check out the Sturgis Rally riders.  The boys really enjoyed some of the outfits the girls on the bikes were wearing.  Remember they are 11, 12 and 13 years old. 
We head to Mt. Rushmore.  We meet the last surviving worker from Mt. Rushmore.  He worked eight hours a day, six days a week, for 65 cents an hour.  That was good money for that time.  He worked there four years and mostly on Lincoln.   Of the four hundred workers, he is the last living worker at 89 years old.  We asked tons of questions and really enjoyed talking to him.  We of course bought his book and carried on.  We stayed at Mt. Rushmore for a few hours and loved it!!!  We forgot to mention that we all had on Muppets and Sesame street shirts and hats and were getting quite the stares!!!   As we are driving out of the park, we stop to ask one of the employees how to get to Deadwood, SD.  He takes a look at our crew and says that it is really not a place for children!!!  Major change of plans - we head to Custer.  Our final destination is Sheridan WY were we have reservations at the KOA.  Keep in mind that we still have not eaten. We decide to get to Gillette, WY and find something there.  The kids nestle in with the movie 'Little Big Man' donated by Uncle Tim. 
Nora fills the toilet nearly outdoing Bricker from yesterday, however today Beki did get sick out the side of the PV.  No stopping for that and again no sympathy from anyone.   Halee slams her finger in the door similar to Tim and Bricker yesterday and Nora has to free her finger from the door.  Three down, four to go!

We realize that we are further from Sheridan than we thought, so Beki calls the KOA in Sheridan to see about stopping somewhere else.  There apparently is not a KOA before Sheridan.  We are still three hours away and it is now 7:30pm.  Again it looks like we will be hooking up the PV in the dark!  We get to Custer and only see a subway.  We decide to go to Gillette for food.  Meanwhile, we break out the chips and salsa and ration each child's portion ensuring that BB and Beki get some this time. 
Nearing Gillette, we see an Applebees sign and decide to order food to go.  BB drops off the crew to get food and goes to get gas.  Applebees cannot guarantee the food to be safe for Peter, so we end up with A&W and Taco Bell - quite nutritious.
While driving to Sheridan, the road is long and quiet and we feel like we are the only ones on the road.  Out of nowhere comes an old beat up car with the windows all dark. It passes us and then slows down.  We pass them and this continues until it starts to creep us out. It was like one of those scary movies.   A bus comes along and we stay close to them for the rest of the way.  As we arrive in Sheridan,  Halee takes her turn in the bathroom and stinks up the entire camper.  We find our Ko- a as the kids call it now and  Beki goes outside immediately with rubber gloves in hand to hook up - in the dark!  BB is left inside to with all five kids watching her unclog the toilet without a plunger but with rubber gloves.  BB takes care of it as the kids run out of the PV screaming  'She touched it - She touched it' and laughing hysterically.   Beki can hear the whole thing and is just thanking the good lord that she is outside.   This is all happening during 'quiet time' at the campground.  We finish up, clean up and change into our matching pajamas.
  We made popcorn with the whirly pop popcorn machine that Aunt Linda gave us.  We sat up for two hours with the kids, re caped  the day and told stories and just enjoy this special time with them. 

Quick reference - we refer to the RV as the PV - story in day 2.

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