So says the motto for Chaos Travel Inc, the tour agency we jokingly refer to as our booking agency when we do our own travel planning. We had adventure in spades in Spearfish Canyon SD 2 days ago when we encountered a major damaging hailstorm through the canyon.

We booked an RV park in Spearfish SD so I could establish residence there which allows me to vote, take advantage of no retirement income tax and lower our insurance costs. To establish residency as a nomad, you have to stay one night in SD and have a residential address, which our mailing service gives us. So we went off to the DMV appointment in Sturgis in the morning and spent the remainder of the day exploring Deadwood, the former goldmine in Lead, and the beautiful drive through Spearfish Canyon.

Beautiful, that is, until a crazy thunderstorm came through and pummeled our truck and everything else in its path. We pulled over for at least half an hour then drove on – through washouts covering the roads and almost no visibility. I had never before been through a storm like that – it was relentless. Being in the truck was like being on the inside of a drum – so loud you couldn’t hear each other talk.

When returned to the RV park we found that we had hail damage on the truck and the camper vent covers had all cracked, letting in water. Ray was able to tape up the covers so we could hit the road the following day on our longest single-day trek so far – 400+ miles to Yellowstone.

Our poor (new!) truck. What an adventure!