Day 29 - Sunday, Oct 22 - Hill City, SD to Badlands NP to Mitchell, SD
Starting mileage: 7501 Starting time: 8:30 am
Ending mileage: 7847 Ending time: 6:30 pm
Travel mileage: 346 Travel time: 10:00 hours
This morning when we got in the car it was 32 degrees and there was frost on the windshield.
We went back to Mt. Rushmore in the morning to see it in the sunshine and to take some more photos.
After leaving the Black Hills, the terrain was mostly rolling prairie for the next 300 miles. Although it appeared to be mostly for cattle grazing, we did see fields of sunflower, corn, sorghum, oats, hay and something bright green that we couldn't identify.
Our first stop was the world-famous Wall Drug Store in Wall SD, just outside of the Badlands NP. There are signs for hundreds of miles around advertising Wall Drug. It is a huge place, with shops for jewelry, rocks, western gear, souvenirs and a huge cafe with the world's largest collection of western art. We had 5 cent cups of coffee, something they are famous for, and I had a piece of cherry pie. The story is fascinating. A young pharmacist and his wife bought it in 1931 and were about to give up the failing business in 1935 when his wife mentioned all the cars going by and suggested putting out a sign offering free ice water. Before they knew it, hundreds of people were stopping by for the ice water and buying other things while they were there. The next year they had 8 employees. Now it is visited by hundreds of thousands of people. It is still owned and run by the family although the founders have passed away.
The Badlands NP is famous for the colorful rocks, very similar to the Painted Desert at the Petrified Forest. Many unique fossils have been found there dating from 65 to 30 million years ago. It is also famous for the Prairie Dog colonies. The Prairie Dogs are very cute, standing guard and warning of intruders. When I got too close to one, he/she ran over to the burrow opening, barking and shaking his/her tail. It wasn't easy to get photos though. At one of the Prairie Dog colonies a coyote was prowling around looking for a meal! We also saw Bighorn Sheep grazing quite close to the road and bison off in the distance.
We stopped at the Minuteman Missile National Monument just outside the Badlands NP. This is to provide a background of the cold war and the nuclear arms that were built up on both sides in the 1950s and 1960s. Unfortunately, the exhibits at the visitor center were under renovation and the missile silo that can be toured were closed by the time we got there. A short video about the cold war showed some of the movie clips that I remember seeing in elementary school about "duck and cover" and avoiding a nuclear blast.
Ending mileage: 7847 Ending time: 6:30 pm
Travel mileage: 346 Travel time: 10:00 hours
This morning when we got in the car it was 32 degrees and there was frost on the windshield.
We went back to Mt. Rushmore in the morning to see it in the sunshine and to take some more photos.
After leaving the Black Hills, the terrain was mostly rolling prairie for the next 300 miles. Although it appeared to be mostly for cattle grazing, we did see fields of sunflower, corn, sorghum, oats, hay and something bright green that we couldn't identify.
Our first stop was the world-famous Wall Drug Store in Wall SD, just outside of the Badlands NP. There are signs for hundreds of miles around advertising Wall Drug. It is a huge place, with shops for jewelry, rocks, western gear, souvenirs and a huge cafe with the world's largest collection of western art. We had 5 cent cups of coffee, something they are famous for, and I had a piece of cherry pie. The story is fascinating. A young pharmacist and his wife bought it in 1931 and were about to give up the failing business in 1935 when his wife mentioned all the cars going by and suggested putting out a sign offering free ice water. Before they knew it, hundreds of people were stopping by for the ice water and buying other things while they were there. The next year they had 8 employees. Now it is visited by hundreds of thousands of people. It is still owned and run by the family although the founders have passed away.
The Badlands NP is famous for the colorful rocks, very similar to the Painted Desert at the Petrified Forest. Many unique fossils have been found there dating from 65 to 30 million years ago. It is also famous for the Prairie Dog colonies. The Prairie Dogs are very cute, standing guard and warning of intruders. When I got too close to one, he/she ran over to the burrow opening, barking and shaking his/her tail. It wasn't easy to get photos though. At one of the Prairie Dog colonies a coyote was prowling around looking for a meal! We also saw Bighorn Sheep grazing quite close to the road and bison off in the distance.
We stopped at the Minuteman Missile National Monument just outside the Badlands NP. This is to provide a background of the cold war and the nuclear arms that were built up on both sides in the 1950s and 1960s. Unfortunately, the exhibits at the visitor center were under renovation and the missile silo that can be toured were closed by the time we got there. A short video about the cold war showed some of the movie clips that I remember seeing in elementary school about "duck and cover" and avoiding a nuclear blast.
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| Day 29 route |
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| Our volunteer photographer missed the top of George's head |
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| David and new friend at Wall Drug |
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| Yes, that is me |
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| Carmen at Badlands |
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| Prairie Dogs |
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| Bighorn Sheep |
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