Road trip across America… daily reflections by Ema and Elle.
By Ema ~ We are still here in Sioux Falls. I was up most of the night with my belly hurting. I think even though I dealt with the event of losing the keys well in the moment, I managed to wind my stomach upon in the process. I attempted to rest for a couple hours, but was up again until sunrise. Elle awoke me at 9:30am desperate to go and find a toilet. We went into the local Walmart we had stayed at for the night and brushed our teeth, took care of morning rituals, and got lost a moment in the swimsuit department. That’s mermaid life for you! We also filled our water jug, got more frozen fruit for our smoothies, and apples for Elle. That girl eats several apples a day, or whatever fruit is around. We have been traveling with apples as they seem to store the best. After such an awful night sleep I really felt a day of rest would be best rather than getting on the road again, but thought maybe a little nature hike would enliven me and opted to visit the Sioux Falls.
It was beautiful and worth the stop, yet I was still feeling the need to just pause a moment, rest, and tend to necessities. I researched local campgrounds and found a KOA called Journey with a laundromat, something we were in need of doing, so I reserved the spot. I was only fifteen minutes from the Falls so we headed that way and got to our site to set up. Once all was in order I immediately went to work preparing food. I made zucchini noodles thanks to my hand held shredder and sautéed it with red bell peppers and yellow potatoes, all organic of course. I added a creamy goats cheese mixed with dill to finish the dish. It was so good! I should have made more for Elle, as she was done before I barely began eating. She decided to cook a veggie hot dog and s’mores on the griddle as there are no fires here unless you want to rent a fire pit. Elle swam while I wrote my postcards to loved ones around the world. She will rest while I do laundry and then I shall join her in hopes to get a good sleep and be prepared for some long drives over the next couple days. Well, she is standing above me since she returned from her shower insisting I braid her hair, this is not the first time nor the last I imagine, so I shall close for now and update more soon. Life of the big sister. You have to love it… and I do!
By Elle ~ Today I woke up and we started driving to Sioux falls. We saw this amazing water fall which I thought was really cool as water falls are rare in Michigan and we don’t travel very much. We took lots of photos and I saw this animal that had marks of a lizard but the size and fur of a chickmunk so sissy and I debated on what it was while in the bathroom and soon left to journey on. After plains and cornfields we stopped at a koa journey. I helped set up but soon swam in my new watermelon swimsuit and sissy’s snorkel. I wasn’t gonna tell her but I did. After a few minutes I was kind of bored as i had no one to hang out with and sissy was making dinner so I just floated for a while when I finally got out. Sissy was almost done with dinner. I helped with the last part. It was amazing, yum! I also had a hot dog and s’more, which was good. When I was done and we did the dishes, I went for a little walk. I met this old man and his dog. They were playing fetch. The dog reminded me of Ellie, so we talked for awhile and soon parted ways. That was when I met another elder, this time a lady camped right next to us. Her dogs name was Bear. I talked with her and soon her husband said you want him? I exclaimed, I wish, and moved on. Sissy braided my hair. I was squirmy because I wanted to catch fireflies and the cicadas were driving me nuts, ahhh! Then I helped with laundry and went to bed.
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