SW Adventure

[Lapchik]

Friday May 29, 2026 (453 miles)
Today I knew I'd be home, but I had that South Dakota wind to deal with first. Wide open throttle, getting just 70-80 mph. I avoided the reservations, since my experiences have ranged from unpleasant to life threatening on them. I criss crossed the old deadwood/black and yellow trail, and saw a herd of buffalo. They had calves, and quite a number of white buffalo as well. I stopped at South shore for a quick break, and got a phone call from my dad. "Mom hit something in a construction zone on the way to get your kids and the car is messed up. She can't explain what's going on, and I'm 3.5 hours away. How close are you to DeGraff?"

Luckily I was only 80 miles out, instead of in East Montana as I had originally routed. I called Mom and then headed towards her. When I pulled up, she was under the car pulling rocks out of the guards. She had followed the GPS around some construction, and hit a pile of milled asphalt when returning to the pavement. It did a number on the plastic covers, but didn't hurt anything mechanically. The brakes had some rock in the dust guards, but we got most of it out. I had her start driving, and while going around a corner two rocks bounced out from under the car. One hit my right leg and one hit my face, and the car quit squealing.

We picked up my kids and made it the last twenty miles home. Tomorrow I'll have brakes and suspension to check in detail, and rocks to remove, but we're all where we need to be now.