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| Prairie Dog |
Another busy, sensory overload day even though we thought it would be a rather boring day of mainly driving. It all started yesterday. Chuck had mentioned that he would have really liked to see the Bad Lands National Park, but since we changed our motel reservations it wasn't going to happen. But as we were looking over the route and distances, we realized that: 1) Bad Lands were only an hour from where we were staying and 2) it was actually a short driving day. SO...
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| Bad Lands NP |
Today we got up early because we knew it would be warm and wanted to go through the Bad Lands before it got too hot. It was already 80 when we left our motel at 7:10. Karen was concerned that since she had seen so much green that hills with no trees would be a letdown. Not at all. They are actually a marvel of nature--prairie grass on top of mounds of colored rock. Also, there are two parts to this National Park--the upper plateau and the lower plateau. We were able to see the colored strata from below, above and at eye level. In many ways the Bad Lands reminded us of Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.
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| Martin VanBuren |
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| Andrew Jackson |
After leaving the Bad Lands we couldn't agree on what the rest of the day would look like, so we decided to take a break at a coffee shop in Rapid City, South Dekota. God orchestrated that! We navigated to "Alternative Fuel" coffee house which happened to be in the middle of the city (74,700) people. Fun coffee place--although we had smoothies and we were able to sit outside because even though it was 85 degrees or so. There was nice shade and a strong breeze that keep us comfortable. We learned that Rapid City is called the city of the presidents, not because Mt. Rushmore is close, but because there was a bronze statue of every president on the street corners right around where we were. We strolled up one side of Main Street and down the other to see about half of the presidents. It was great and also there were many cute shops to peer into. Having enough of that, we continued the journey for the day.
Sturgis, South Dakota, which is about half an hour from Rapid City was a transitioning point from prairie grass to "black hills". We jested about why the hills are called black, coming up with many differing reasons, but decided that the "black" came from what the hills looked like with pine trees--and
the stark contrast to what we had been seeing for a number of days. And the hills were real hills where a person cannot see for miles and miles. It really was like driving 58 from Chemult to Oakridge. Then we entered Wyoming and the scenery changed back to prairie. A ways into Wyoming we looked and there in the distance were the Rocky Mountains, topped with snow. What a sight!! So the rest of our trip to Buffalo, Wyoming was with the mountains as a reminder that we are getting closer to home. Surprise! There were quite a few motorcycles on the road in South Dakota... most were Harley's.
Observations from today:
- There were fields of large round bales of hay--hadn't see much hay in fields up until today.
- Saw more horses than any other place. Also buffalo outside the Bad Lands
- Overhead message signs on the free still alert to Yellowstone National Park being closed because of severe flooding.
- Interstate 90 has gates that close the freeway in the event of severe storms.
