Up Against a Wall

Today you can find us in Badlands, South Dakota. When you think "Badlands" you normally think of an area that isn't a good place. A high crime area maybe. Or, someplace that no one would want to live because its "Badlands". Maybe the water is no good. The thought could be that there is too much sun and no water therefore nothing grows here. For 818 people they have chosen to live close by in a small town called WALL.

Main street should really be called, Only Street because it really is the only street in this small community. It has a few shops and restaurants but the big store is called Wall Drug. It is the Pre Wal Mart store. Maybe that's where "Wal" Mart came up with the idea! The store consists of a whole city block. It has 3 restaurants that can feed 500 people in one sitting. The store sells every Nick knack you could ever think of. A small grocery store. An arcade. It even has a small chapel in case you forgot to talk to the big guy upstairs.

Once you get out of this small town the landscape opens up to nothing but open land. As far as you can see hills that look like Ruffle's Potato Chip ridges. During the cold war there was always talk of silo's that contained nukes at the ready. After many years a treaty was signed to reduce these civilization ending bombs. They have since turned this hidden silo into a National Park. Here is one that is only 1/2 mile from a busy Interstate Highway.

In the middle of a huge empty and plain field you can see this gravel area fenced off. Only a few metal poles sticking out of the ground to show that there might be something here.

Once the large metal door opens it would reveal this missile that was capable of flying over the North Pole and striking USSR at that time. There were close to 500 of these scattered around the country with most of them in this northern area. Today that number has been cut down but that number is not told.

Now for the reason this area is called Badlands. The farmers couldn't find any use for the land that lies a few miles south of Wall and the Interstate Highway. With its jagged peaks and soft volcanic soil nothing can be done in this area that encompasses several hundred miles in all directions.

Tomorrow we will hike and explore this area but today we just took time to meet the locals. The buffalo roam free with tons of Prairie Dogs busily digging more holes.

Keep your fingers crossed that the weather continues to stay like it has...warm.

Sound of Thunder

Believe it our not we got out of bed and on the road before 7 a.m. this morning. You're probably asking, Why? It was Buffalo Roundup today! Custer State Park rounds up their herd of buffalo every year at this time. We had to be at the Park before the round up started because they close the roads leading in. Some of us just couldn't handle the sitting around waiting for the herd to appear.

I guess the excitement wasn't enough to keep her up and the warm sun felt good in the early morning chill.

Soon, we saw a cloud of dust in the distance and slowly they started to make their way over the hills toward us. As they got closer the excitement in the crowd became audible. Once they were closer you could hear thousands of buffalo pounding the tundra. The musky smell soon followed as they passed by the fence several feet from us. An amazing sight to be witness to.

Once all the buffalo were in their pens the show was over and we decided to go over to the city of Custer and have lunch. A small town of less than 2,000 people call it home. After a good lunch that consisted of BBQ Buffalo Ribs, which was very good, we headed off to explore.

We drove Needles Highway that takes you through the Pine Forest and through tight tunnels that even in the Pick Up it felt as if you would get stuck.

A walk around Sylvan Lake revealed hidden waterfalls embedded in the rock.

Tuesday morning we are on the road again as we continue our journey east. Lets hope the weather continues to stay warm.

Nature Up Close

Today the day was spent watching the locals roam about. There is a place down the road called Bear Country. You drive your car through different sections of the park and have close up looks of these amazing animals. You don't realize how big they are and the different smells that come with each animal.

The scariest part was driving through the Elk, Buffalo and Deer section. It's rutting season and the males can get aggressive if they feel someone is trying to take their women.

The wolf's looked like they were not even paying attention to us. They were more interested in the "feed" truck. It was dinner time.

Some animals, the rams, just wanted to lay around and see who all passed by.

The bears were the highlight of the trip. There were so many of them. Some playing, some sleeping and others eating.

This one was pretty close!

Kicking Back

The day started overcast and windy. The motor home would rock and sway with a strong gust of wind. The sun was warming but the cool wind canceled out any heating effect from it. We woke up and lazily flopped from chair to couch to lazyboy. With plans in place to explore other areas around us they quickly evaporated with the naps that ensued. OK, so we didn't do anything on Saturday but we did have plans in Sturgis Saturday night that we had to attend. While we were visiting Sturgis on Friday, we saw an ad for a comedian/hypnotist. He would be playing in Loud American Roadhouse. We got there 1/2 hour before the show started thinking we would find good seats. The place was packed with big hair, tattoos, cigarettes and bandannas. Finding a space to sit was like watching a three legged dog trying to bury a bone on a frozen lake. Impossible. Back in the corner, we found a place next to the bar and settled in. We discovered that the Comedian was having a drink right next to me. I started a casual conversation with him and at one point said "We have come a long way to see your show!" He inquired as to where we had come from. Maryland, was my response. His reaction has been seen and replicated a few times now. A quick shake of the head as if to clear cob webs that have suddenly clouded the mind. The squinting of the eyes and finally the puzzled look. He finally said, What's the catch. Maryland what? No, I replied, the state. You couldn't hear it but you could see him mouth the word to himself...WHY?

The show was great. He had people on stage doing things that if they only knew what they were doing would be so embarrassed. All around us we could hear people saying "Oh no, he'll never live that one down." I guess living in a small community where mostly everyone knows each other, you don't want to be seen doing unmanly things or unlady like actions. Click on the link below to watch part of his show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPlKnfxpAT8

If you want to watch more just go to Youtube and type "Sailesh" in the search box. You'll find yourself laughing hard.

We made it back to Road Hazard close to 1 this morning. The cool air made our steps quicken as we gathered our stuff and retreated into RH.

Today, I am sitting here in the lazyboy watching a coulple of bunnies round around outside. It is a beautiful sunny day with no breeze. Still, so much to see.

Sturgis and Deadwood

Today's history lesson took us to visit two cities. The history of one city dates back to the early 1900's while the other is a much more recent history taking us back to the early 1930's.

We began our journey back in time to the 1930's. The backdrop is Sturgis, South Dakota. Several guys got together who enjoyed riding their Indian Motorcycles and decided to invite people from the surrounding cities to come out one weekend to compete in some drag racing and hill climbing. They had so much fun that every year since then they continued to have these gatherings and well, the event grew. This past August they had close to 600,000 people come out to celebrate riding their motorcycles around town. Today, we walked down Main Street and tried to imagine what the sights and sounds would be like during the rally. The pictures below show what it looked like today while the other shows what it looks like during the rally. (The rally picture was taken off the Internet.)

Today, the streets are quiet with very little traffic. Most stores are closed with signs hanging on them that they will only open next year for the rally. It almost becomes a ghost town.

Not too far down the road, however, is another town who's history dates back to the early 1900's. You may have heard of it and the famous people that once walked these streets.

Deadwood, South Dakota.

The recent HBO series was about the everyday life in this city. Gold prospecting was the big commodity and the law of the land was strapped to your waist securely tucked in your holster. Wild Bill Hickok walked the streets and would often be found in the gambling houses playing poker. Calamity Jane was another character that was notorious in the area. Ahead of her time for being a women that could handle a gun with the best of them. Today, the tomb site of both of these characters sits high up on a mountain overlooking the city that they once roamed. Buried right next to each other as if still sharing stories to one another.

The city is still vibrant with activity as the Main Street is lined with gambling houses and saloons. The cobblestone streets don't echo with the sound of hoofs but of people running across and cars passing by. Having been rebuilt several times because of fires and floods the city still seems to hold the old town charm of yesterday.

The big draw seems to be the slot machines that you can find everywhere. With no shortage of Senior Citizens pulling on the levers for their shot at the jackpot. Tucked away in each gambling hall there seems to be a little piece of history. A brief conversation with the bartender will draw out the history of that building. In this room we have the spot where Wild Bill was shot. In this room we have where the shooter of Wild Bill was captured. This gambling house is owned by Kevin Costner and has behind the scene photos of when he filmed "Dancing with Wolf's" displayed throughout. In this saloon we have the area where the "Ladies" would work over the supervision of their Madam. So much history. The stories are straight out of the wild west movies that we grew up watching.

This area has so much to offer that we extended our stay to make sure that we had an opportunity to see it all and I am sure that we won't see everything.

Rock History

As we ascended the black hills of South Dakota we made a sharp turn and were exposed to Mt. Rushmore Memorial. Nestled in the jagged peaks of the Black Hills sits Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. Each with his own contributions that helped shape the country to what it is today.

You walk down the Avenue of Flags towards the monument with the sound of 56 flags slapping in the stiff breeze. As you walk, you look for your home state flag among all the states, District of Colombia and the Territories represented here.

A trail leads you through the tall Ponderosa Pine trees with glimpses of the granite faces. The sound of the wind cutting through the pine needles gives you a sense of peace. As you make your way to the base of the cliff, huge boulders that were thrown about when they were blasted or chiseled, tumbled down the mountain. Scars in these boulders show the amount of energy required to dislodge these rocks to reveal the faces beneath them. You look up at these huge portraits with a sense of pride knowing that you are walking through a part of history.

Once in the gift shop we met Nick Clifford. Many years ago he worked on the monument. He chiseled the chin of Abraham Lincoln and other features of Roosevelt. Today, his still strong hands greets you with a firm handshake as his soft voice retells stories of working on the monument and getting instructions from the designer and sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

The small town of Keystone, South Dakota is only a few miles down the hill from the National Park. With a population of only 311 those numbers swell when the bike rally in Sturgis goes into full bloom in August. The area gets over 600,000 people on their bikes. For now, the city is a quite oasis for a cold beverage and sitting on the porch watching the traffic crawl by. Imagining how it used to be a hundred years ago when the gold rush ruled the land.

Big Number

We have reached a milestone in our journey. This stop makes the 50th place that we have stopped since we started our journey 289 days ago from the deep mud in Solomons Island, Maryland.

After having rolled 9,938 miles through 22 states and endured 179 hours behind the wheel the 50th stop seems like a small number. In our journey we have had a few mishaps. The most memorable one being the Pick Up truck we tow cutting loose and trying to pass us on the on ramp to the highway. I could literally see it in the side mirror. I was expecting to see the blinker come on the Pick Up truck as it tried to pass me on the left. One tire blow out that caused some damage but we have another good story to tell from that. Countless discoveries in and around the RV of how things work.

Our 50th stop brings us here to Rapid City, South Dakota. The weather should be nice the next few days and we expect to go out and see Mt. Rushmore, Sturgis, Deadwood and a few other places around here. Oh, if you think we are "experienced" RV'ers because the number of miles we have logged, think again. The latest blunder I did was to forget to turn off the defroster fan in the Pick Up truck when we were towing it. Result was that the battery was completely dead when we arrived. Had to jump it!

Thanks Road Hazard for bringing us this far but we still have a ways to go.