Summer Vacation Trip - Day 3

I got up at 0645, still at Rest Area near Chamberlain, SD (Interstate crossing of the Missouri River).  We walked around to see the scenic view and Lewis and Clark Memorials.  After cleaning ourselves up a bit, we drove west on I-90.  We ate breakfast (leftover pizza).  The weather was amazing and I really loved the 80 MPH speed limit!  At 0800, we started our NPS Passport Book project for the day: getting stamps from all the National Parks we'd previously visited in the area.  Our first two stops were at Minuteman and Badlands - Mollie really enjoyed seeing a prairie dog village at the latter location.  We reached Rapid City at 0945 and then drove to Mount Rushmore (arrived at 1030).  After that, we also visited Wind Cave and Jewel Cave (in the Black Hills).  Along the way, we ate lunch (snacks, leftovers).  To complete our scramble, we followed US-16 Truck, US-16A, SD-87 (Needles Parkway), US-350, US-16, US-85, WY-585, US-14 and WY-24 to reach the final Passport Stamp for the day: Devils Tower (1500).  Once Mollie was satisfied (and the South Dakota section of her book was mostly filled), we followed WY-24 and US-14 back to I-90.  After we were back on the Interstate, we stopped for early dinner (Taco John's) in Gillette, WY (1545) and then went shopping for binoculars at Walmart (next door).  We were headed northwest by 1645 and passed the time on the prairie while listening to several good NPR radio shows.  We made it to our hotel in Sheridan WY by 1830.  We cleaned up the car (finally feeling organized) and rested in our room (TV, books, brochures).  Mollie made all kinds of plans for our visit to Wyoming and was very excited about the coming days.  Bed time was at 2200.  We had a great time on our Road Rally and had almost no traffic all day.  The weather was perfect and we got some exercise throughout the day.  Our National Park Adventure is in full swing!