Sunday May 29 - Western South Dakota

Two hours west of Chamberlain lay the Badlands, an area of phenomenally eroded, layered grounds.  The most scenic portions of this are incorporated into Badlands National Park.  

 The day is chilly, overcast and drizzly, but the scenery didn’t disappoint.  The thermometer on the car thermometer varied between 48 and 50 degrees.  Normal temperatures at this time of the year are in the low 70s.  The formations in the badlands come from wind and water erosion.  

 The estimated erosion rate is an inch a year, but detailed studies have just begun.  There was a grove of cedar trees that showed the results of water erosion from higher places.  The trees were starting to get buried.

The erosion over the centuries has exposed huge numbers of fossils, including dinosaurs and mammoths.  The visitors’ center shows some of these.  It was too rainy to visit the fossil sites open to the public.

There are several places along the park road that have jagged formations on one side and lush prairie grasses on the other.  

 Jim got a picture of some far-off flowers that appeared to be crocus, but looking at the pictures and the park’s website on the computer showed them to be evening primrose.

Jim got a picture of a mule deer, one of a pair of bighorn sheep and one of the western meadowlark, which has a beautiful, lilting song.  It will be hard choosing among the many, many pictures for which ones to include in the blog.

Just north of the Badlands park is the town of Wall, which was named for a miles-long wall formation of the badlands.  The attraction there is Wall Drug.  Signs tout it starting hundreds of miles away.

 It is the Great Plains’ answer to South of The Border – a mixture of kitschy displays and merchandise with quick food.  This is Western themed.  Their dining rooms contain what they claim to be the largest private collection of Western art.  

 

 There were cowboy and Indian statues and large figures of local fauna – real and imagined.  An animated T-Rex roared and flashed and traumatized a little kid.

We are staying in Custer tonight.  It was 44 degrees with a heavy drizzle when we arrived in town.  The waitress at dinner tonight said that some folks that live about 5 miles away had 4 inches of snow this morning!  We had to cross through Custer State Park to get here.  There were a lot of pretty places, but we didn’t stop, due to weather.  We have now traversed 2046 miles. Jim, Ardith and Prius all seem to be doing well.

We are staying in the Mile Hi Motel for the next 3 nights.  It was probably built in the 1930s to 1950s.  The room is small but clean.  They have done their best to keep it up to date by having a flat screen TV, wired and wireless internet access, and a refrigerator.   The most important thing this evening is the heater.

Dinner was across the street at the Wrangler Cafe.  Jim had buffalo chili and Ardith had pork chop with mashed potatoes and green beans.  We shared a strawberry-peach pie which the cafe bakes in-house.  The food was good, solid American food.