DAY 1 Epic Journey - South Dakota

Statistics

Miles driven: 600

Total drive time: 9hr 17min

Total Supercharging time: 2hr 52min

Time waiting on charging (not eating or sightseeing): 0hr 15min

Laura: 38 cows, 7 slug bugs

Ryan: 4 cows, 6 slug bugs

23 state license plates

The first day of our journey is one of our longest drives of the trip... across the vast expanse of South Dakota. To pass the time we played travel games like spotting state license plates, Slug Bug, and "My Cows." My Cows is a family competition to see who can spot the most herds of cattle and claim them first by enthusiastically shouting "My Cows!!" But watch out for those cemeteries because your opponent can kill all of your cows and make you start over from zero. Laura was a cemetery pro so Ryan had to sport the rally cap (and teach Laura what a rally cap is).

A quick stop in Mitchell to Supercharge led us to visit the Mitchell Corn Palace. Laura loved the artistic nature of the corn cob murals. Ryan was hungry for corn. We couldn't decide which T-shirt to get, "Get Shucked", "Got Corn?", or "Finally Ear" so we got nothing.

The Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo was outstanding and consisted of over 42 buildings loaded with every type of imaginable vintage/classic cars and antiques. Naturally, Ryan wouldn't stop looking for an electric car and was finally rewarded with this beautiful 1914 Beardsley Electric, possibly the last one in existence!

We wrapped up our trek at the Powder House Lodge in Keystone, SD just a few miles from Mt. Rushmore. They have a Tesla charger here that will have us topped off by morning for the next leg of our trip. The rooms here are family friendly and very clean so check out their website for your next trip to the area! http://www.powderhouselodge.com/