Day 03, (Tuesday, July 1st)

From: Chicago, IL
To: Rapid City, SD
Miles: 896
Time in the car: 12:30 hours
Weather conditions: Mostly sunny
Traffic conditions: Heavy traffic to exit Chicago area (Road work), Good after that
Number of stops: 4
Today's road:

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Pictures: HERE

Events: (Times given in CST)
06:47 AM, Leaving Chicago, IL
07:30 AM, Crossing border to Wisconsin
11:57 AM, Crossing border to Minnesota (Mississippi river)
02:30 PM, Crossing border to South Dakota
07:00 PM, Arriving to Rapid City, SD

Early departure from the Sofitel to try to avoid traffic from the city and not arrive too late in Rapid City (there is a pool there :)). I start driving while Pifi and Matthieu keep on sleeping to finish the night! Some heavy traffic due to road work at the exit of Chicago area but things get really good after that. Pifi took the wheel and Matthieu do so couple of hours after. It was pretty hot out there, but probably nothing compared to what we will have in Arizona!

We were supposed to arrive around 7:30 PM in Rapid City and we made it at 7, including all the breaks we took. Speed limit is a bit higher in the states we crossed and we usually add another 5 / 10 miles over it ;)

Arrived at the hotel, good surprise when we saw the room according the price we paid! With the early time, we decided to go and visit Mont Rushmore at night to save time in the morning. We took the car again and had to ride another 30 miles. We passed by some villages with this old tourist style, kind of cute!! And we saw, finally, the 4 presidents in the rock :D : Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. See all the pictures we took, it’s kind of impressive, nice to contemplate. To finish this work, they removed 45 000 tons of stone, 90% with dynamite.