After two months in Ohio, we were back on the road in the van. It was exciting. We were headed west to parts already visited, but mostly not. We were prepared with an updated van interior, additional solar, and the lessons learned from the first four months of life on the road.
One of the lessons we learned in North Carolina was to have a battery jump starter on board. We needed it before even leaving Ohio. Knowing that the battery probably needed to be replaced, we headed out, vowing to replace it in the near future. The near future came the next morning. The battery died each time we stopped the engine.
New battery installed, we headed west, stopping to spend the night at a Walmart in Minnesota. We met a couple of friendly and interesting fellow travelers there that evening. One was a truck driver, another was a woman who had been traveling for the last 4 years with her husband, much to her children’s dismay, and a couple of young people with their dogs hitchhiking to St. Paul.
The next day we decided to check out the free camping tip from the woman we met the night before. It would give us a shorter day of driving and get us to the Badlands in the afternoon the next day.
In South Dakota, we saw two very large sculptures along the highway. It piqued our interest, and we pulled off at the next exit to visit Porter Sculpture Park. Normally we don’t have time for side trips, but we were not in a hurry on this day.
This was probably one of the best side trips we had ever taken. We met the artist Wayne Porter and walked through his delightful sculptures accentuated by his beautiful and moving poetry. This is a must-see when driving through South Dakota on I-90.
Later that day, we arrived in Oacoma, South Dakota, and found the free camping site alongside the Missouri River. There weren’t many people there, and according to a policeman we stopped, we could camp anywhere. We found a spot away from everyone else and set up camp.
It was a peaceful place, but at this time of year, there were lots of ticks. I had battled ticks while staying at the farm and was really sick of them. We only stayed two nights. On the morning we were going to leave, Mark wanted to reattach some wires that had come off of the negative battery terminal at some point. When he opened the engine bay, much to our surprise and dismay, we saw this:
Within the last 48 hours, a mouse had made a nest and had babies in our engine bay. This was worse than the time in North Carolina when a mouse had gotten in and eaten some of our food. The mother was running around trying to figure out what to do. I took the nest carefully out of the engine bay and placed it under the van where she could see it.
She was running around with one of the babies in her mouth. At one point, she jumped onto the ground near the nest but then jumped back into the van with the baby. We didn’t know what to do. It was hot, we were not equipped to take care of newborn mice, and the mother was playing hide and seek in our engine.
My vegan heart broke as I realized we had to leave and hoped the mother would jump out to save her five remaining babies. In my gut, I knew they didn’t have much of a chance.
I couldn’t believe that for a second time during our travels, we had encountered a dead battery closely followed by a mouse incident. I was feeling that these were omens of more stress than fun for the next three months. I was about ready to give up and go back.
However, we moved forward rather than back. More adventures to follow.
WanderLyd 