Cowboy Country

– 10 August –

Driving into South Dakota was amazing. The landscape changed every few miles, from flat farmland, to grassland, to arid plains, to rocky outcrops. Our journeys always take much longer than the GPS predicts, thanks to children’s bathroom breaks, lunch stops, leg-stretching, “I’ve lost my iPod down the side of the seat and can’t reach it” moments and “look at that view” stops. This journey had so much to see that we stopped lots more than we planned, just to take in the landscape we were passing. A rest area on the I90 had a fantastic overlook of the Missouri River, and was based at one of Lewis and Clark’s campsites during their exploration of the western territories. It was also the time when we saw our first “beware of rattlesnakes” sign. Obviously, the children and Keith were desperately looking out for one to photograph, rather than run away from!

Where Lewis and Clarke camped overlooking the Missouri River

Also along the I-90 were signs for Wall Drug. Dozens and dozens of them. We had seen it mentioned on the web as an interesting store to visit, but these signs really piqued our interest (well done Mr or Ms Wall Drug Advertising Person) and we decided we just had to visit – if only for the iced water, 5c coffee, homemade cherry pie and cowboy boots that they had for sale!

Intriguing signs

Well, we’ve got to stop for that!

We chose our campsite online, as we have done with all our others, but this was based purely on its location and view. We weren’t disappointed. Our site was just a mile from the entrance to Badlands National Park and the view from our window was one of rocks, buttes and towering rocky formations. Very beautiful.

Our first meal at the campsite was all set to be eaten outside but had to be abandoned after a few minutes, when we were hit by a huge thunder storm that continued for several hours. This did work to our advantage though – the heavy rains all night meant that the colours in the rocks were even more vibrant the next morning, so we headed out to explore the park. As is becoming our pattern in National Parks (see Keith’s last blog post), we began in the visitor’s centre with an interpretative film, and then set out to see it for ourselves. I could go on about how beautiful it is, how awesome the rock formations are, how diverse the shapes are – from tables to cathedrals… but instead I’ll just share a few photos!

We took LOADS of pictures!

Badlands

Keith on a narrow ledge

Family picture!

Katie on a very high cliff

Badlands

We have been on the lookout for wildlife on our travels, so we excitedly pulled off the road when we caught our first glimpse of a prairie dog town. We squinted and gazed until we saw the first little head peak out of the ground – and snapped away with cameras to capture this moment…. then we looked around, and realised that the little critters are everywhere! Hundreds of little heads popping up out of their holes! Cute though.

Prqairie Dog

Prairie dog

After a morning of driving, walking and photographing lots of rocks, we decided to check out Wall Drug. It’s a drugstore, in a town called Wall. Wall Drug. It was bought by Ted and Dorothy Hustead in 1931 and was floundering in its early years, thanks to the depression and many local farmers giving up on their lands and returning east. Then the wife had a fantastic idea (it’s always the woman who saves the day, isn’t it?!) There were hundreds of people passing Wall on the nearby I90, but they were not stopping. To get them to call in to Wall Drug, she offered free ice water to anyone who stopped at the store. Fast forward 82 years and Wall Drug is a destination on its own – it is now a department store of sorts, punctuated by oddities, frivolities and downright weirdness, all mixed in with western hospitality and charm. There still is a pharmacy, and a cowboy boot store, a 6ft tall jackalope (rabbit with antlers), and a roaring T-Rex, a cowy hat department and a cafeteria offering home-baked pies and (even now) FREE ICE WATER. The place is quirky and crazy and we loved it!

Wall Drug lunch!

The main arcade in Wall Drug

Jess was not sure about the roaring dinosaur

Keith reassured her by feeding her to it!

Roaring T-Rex

The following day we spent time being a little educational. The kids have been learning about the pioneers who travelled west in covered wagons. We visited the oldest remaining prairie homestead in the area, which is now run as a hands-on museum. We all dressed up and had a great time exploring the farm, visiting the house which still contained a lot of the original furniture and trying out all the equipment that the original occupants would have lived with.

The original Prairie Home

Homesteader Katie

Jess fetching water

Keith was in hog heaven when we spent the afternoon visiting the different sites of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. At one point during the cold war, Western South Dakota really was the front line of defence against the soviets, with 150 active nuclear missiles spread across the plains and ready to go. Once launched, they would reach mainland Russia in just 30 minutes. Thankfully, most of these have now been decommissioned (and replaced by bigger and scarier missiles, apparently – 450 active ones in the US right now. Yikes.) but this one has been preserved (without the nuclear payload) for visitors. It was fascinating – we visited the missile itself, still in its hole in the ground just a few hundred yards from the interstate.  And then, just a few miles away, the launch facility deep in an underground bunker, which can be toured with a NPS ranger as a guide. Our guide was very informative and was able to relay stories obtained first-hand from missileers who had manned the facility up until its closure in the 1990s.

Inside the control centre

Kids helping to fold the flag

We spent another day exploring the Badlands, this time getting braver about which roads to take and where our truck will allow us to explore. We followed a gravel road, that became a rough trail, to reach the top of Sheep Mountain Table for some amazing views for miles around. Taking the road less travelled meant that we saw some more local wildlife – a white-tailed deer, which decided not to move when we passed, more prairie dogs, an antelope, a mountain goat thing, a bighorn sheep and, the big one…. wild BUFFALO! We saw a herd grazing far away in the distance and, while we ate our picnic lunch, we watched the herd moving across the plains. A few miles further along we got a lot closer to one lone animal – spotted by Jessica, our eagle-eyed animal finder – who was grazing not far from the road. They are amazing creatures – I can only wonder what it must have been like when the plains were covered in them, before hunting all but wiped them out in the 1890s.

Of course we did!

“Cars don’t come along here!”

Worth it for the views!

This is the mountain we were at the top of

Those spots are buffalo…

BUFFALO!

Picnic in the truck!

Looking for Buffalo… there must be some around here somewhere!

Our last day staying at Badlands was a quiet one – Butch the truck has passed his 5,000 mile mark on the odometer and was due an oil change and while this was happening I took the chance to go to the supermarket. This was a rather lengthy trek – the garage and the supermarket were over an hour from the campsite – but that’s what you get when you stay in the middle of nowhere! While we were on our way the heavens opened and we could see some really ominous thunder clouds in the distance. The car radio made a funny squealing sound and we heard our first tornado warning! The warning was for a storm with golf-ball sized hail, 60mph wilds and the possibility of a tornado. They don’t mince their words – “mobile homes, vehicles and houses WILL receive significant damage.” Luckily, it stayed well away from us in the truck and from the camper back in Badlands. I hope this is our first and last weather event of our trip – we really don’t want to see if an RV can fly like Dorothy’s house in the Wizard of Oz!

Just a short hop to our next destination – the Black Hills.

– Em x