We left our remote campground on the north bank of the
Missouri and headed northwest to Rapid City South Dakota. Google guided us over about 20 miles of gravel roads. That much crushed stone is not something we are used to. Oh, we have gravel roads here in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia, but for the most part, they aren't regularly traveled roads where folks live, work, and, worship. As we crunched along, we saw lovely houses, with nice trucks and cars sitting in the yards. The buildings and equipment indicated that the farms/ranches we were driving through weren't just little "forty acres and a mule" kind of operations. We passed what I would call a small village. The most prominent building in Dustville (I made that up) is a quite-impressive church with a large cemetery. Like everything else on this part of our trip, Dustville was covered with, you guessed it. By the time we got to asphalt the Explorer and the Frolic had turned to a dull clay color. We watched for a carwash for the rest of the day. (The picture is one I found online, but it's about right.)
Our good friend, Kim Volsteadt lives in Guam, but he grew up
in South Dakota. Before we left Guam, we told him that we were planning to
visit SD. He instantly told us, “Be sure you eat at Pizza Ranch.” We saw a
sign for a Pizza Ranch in Mitchel SD. So, in honor of our friend, we stopped in
for Sunday dinner (noon meal). We weren’t disappointed. We enjoyed rubbing
shoulders with the locals and we enjoyed the buffet that not only included a
variety of pizza, but, also fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and dessert
options.
We were amused with the number of roadside signs advertising
attractions up ahead. The winner for number of signs and oddity of signs is
“Wall Drug.” A friend who had been to SD, told us it wasn’t worth the time
and effort, so we didn’t go, but you might want to. One creative ad campaign used old fire trucks. We must have passed twenty or so. Some were even sitting on all four tires.
About an hour before Rapid City, we pulled off for the
“Badland’s Loop.” It is a National Park road that takes one through this collection of unusual
and interesting geology. We turned around at the Visitor Center/Museum/Gift
Shop. Basically everywhere one looks in this park one sees something that he
wants to look at more closely. I kept hearing, maybe whistled a few times, the
theme musical motive from the movie “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” It
wouldn’t have surprised me to have seen Clint Eastwood slouched on his horse,
wrapped in a serape and clenching a cigar in his scowling mouth. It’s an
incredible place.
My poor pictures don't do the place justice, but here are a few.
I would say the Badlands aren't a bad place to stop, but that would be to easy, so I won't.
You will be glad to know that we found a carwash not far from our exit off of I 90, near Rapid
City. It was a good thing, too. We had a fairly late change in plans as to where we would stay in Western South Dakota. We were fortunate to find a spot at Heartland RV park. Frolic was the smallest camper in the place. I'd guess some of the rigs parked there were in the half-a-million to a-million-dollar category. Frolic's main appeal is cuteness. The little trailer is a lot cuter without a coat of Nebraska dirt on it.
We stayed three nights at Heartland.
It was a good jumping-off place to see the sites—and there is a lot to see, in
the area. The pictures and brief comments below will give you an idea as to why we
found Western South Dakota to be a very interesting place to visit.
You've already seen the Badlands.
We really enjoyed Mt. Rushmore.
Here is a picture of our home state flag on display on the avenue leading to the monument.
This isn't my picture. I chose it because it shows the Crazy Horse Memorial with a model of what the huge sculpture will look like when, and if, it ever gets finished. Both of these huge sculptures are impressive, not for their scale and grandeur, but for the story behind them.
A piece of trivia: We were told that the great Lakota Sioux warrior's name really translates, "His horse is crazy." The Museum featuring Native American artifacts and art is also quite impressive. Speaking of Museums, the "Journey" historical museum in Rapid City, featuring the story of the Lakota, as well as an overview of the rapid changes that the last couple of centuries brought to this region, is well worth a couple of hours' visit.
https://www.journeymuseum.org/visit/
I'll include a few more pictures of Western South Dakota in my next post, but I'll say here, "We didn't come close to seeing everything to see in this region.
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