Do not let the bed bugs bite! (Warning more than one picture)

After three awe inspiring days in the Badlands and the Black Hills, I planned to rest one or two days in a hotel in Rapid City, SD and then go back to Custer National Park and drive the scenic route with lots of wildlife and then head to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

We plan and God laughs.

After only minor setbacks - the worse being a broken tent after it was blown across the street in Salem, Nebraska, I was brought to my knees. 

The first night I itched a little bit and thought I just had a case of the itchy-bitchies. Wrong. The next day I was ready to pull my skin off and was awakened at 3:30 with itchy everything on my upper torso.  After toughing it out until the clinic next door opened at 7, I was diagnosed with bed bug bites.  To make it worse, one of the little red with my blood critters crawled out of my jacket that was on the bed!

My skin is very sensitive and the nurse practioner said it was the most severe reaction she had ever seen.

She prescribed some wonderful white ornament that soothed the itch and lots of benadryl which made me sleepy all day.

This is my third day - the first without benadryl - and I am able to focus enough to write.

The hotel refunded my two nights stay.  I contacted the corporate office and hope to get compensation for the clinic visit, medicine and hardship.