Day 6 Cross South Dakota

Day  6, cross South Dakota from Sioux Falls to Rapid City

We made the drive across South Dakota in record time, stopping only a couple of times for comfort breaks.  The Star Restaurant in Murdo was a good lunch break, but much more modest than the billboards along RT 90 would have suggested.  The homemade apple pie was outstanding as were the Buffalo burgers.

We returned to the highway and stayed on it as far as Cottonwood.   There we left the highway for the Badlands National Park.  This is not off the beaten path but the popularity of the park in no way diminishes the experience.  The Badlands are nature’s sandbox and wow, was Mother Nature in a creative mood when these peaks and valleys were being laid down, carved out and windswept.  Just the scale and spread of the place is mind boggling.  I have never felt so small and insignificant as I felt when surrounded by these structures. 

This is near the top of a ridge hundreds of feet high.

After a breathtaking drive among the spires, we ended up at a ramp for RT 90 in a little town called Wall.  For more than 200 hundred miles we had been beckoned by various merchants of Wall via billboards.  So we passed the highway ramp and proceeded into this tiny town.  Nestled against the highway, Wall is another of those rare places that raise corniness to an art form.  A short stretch of old time Main Street, is populated with stores that entertain as much as sell, and friendly people.  Wall Drug lives up to its reputation as a kitsch palace, but don’t ignore the other little shops across Main Street.  Wall is definitely worth the stop despite the highway hype. BTW, I traded in my UCONN baseball cap for a genuine leather cowboy hat at Wall.  This was not so much a fashion statement as much as an admission that the sun (87 degrees in the badlands) is too much for my pale skin to handle.  Gloria also looks pretty good in her cowboy (or is that cowgirl) hat.  Pictures of those will follow tomorrow.

Mount Rushmore was only 65 miles from Wall, but our hotel in Rapid City stood between us and Mount Rushmore, and the lure of a shower and soft bed beat out a late day view of the presidents.  

While talking to a merchant we learned that Yellowstone has been receiving a significant amount of snow recently, with more forecast.  Two days from now we are supposed to be on Beartooth highway driving from Billings, Montana to Cody Wyoming and the K bar Z ranch.  We may need to alter our route to avoid driving in the mountains of Yellowstone if what we heard is true. 

Check back in and we will keep you posted.