Today we stopped at the worlds largest ball of popcorn. It was behind glass and a little underwhelming. But there was a cool old fashioned village there to look around.

The rest of the day was spent driving through the corn fields of Iowa. When we got to Sioux City it became really hazy. We thought it may have been smog but it’s more likely from the Canadian wildfires.

We drove through Nebraska and the scenery became more rolling hills and less cornfields. Then we crossed into South Dakota and the badlands began, like a lunar landscape.

It was 6pm by the time we got to a fuel stop just outside the badlands national park. We were both really hot and bothered. We’d been driving in 40 degree heat all day, with the sun streaming into our windscreen all afternoon.

We had a little break in the air conditioned gas station, had a free coffee, then decided to continue into the national park even though the sun would still be setting.

What a great decision this was. The sun setting over the badlands was a magical sight, the different layers and colours coming to life.

Then we had to drive 40 minutes to the boondocking site I’d read about. It’s free camping overlooking the badlands but just outside of the national park.

We passed two campgrounds on the way there, but they looked crowded and horrible. So we continued on in the dark, putting our trust in Google to get us there.

After 40 mins the road turned off to a rutted gravel path and we drove in it. Caravans and campervans of all shapes and sizes lined the edge. We drove to the end and found a spot, careful not to drive off the edge.

There was a super moon up, a blue moon and there was plenty of light from that.

We were both excited to see what we would wake up to in the morning.