*It's been hard to find internet around here, so I wrote these both last night, and now it's Thursday morning and I'm on mountain time. Anyway, hope everyone is enjoying this blog, and I'm not opposed to receiving an email once in a while! :)
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we left from Waterloo and headed on to South Dakota. We left pretty early in the morning, but we took our time. I thought it would be a good idea to stop in Sioux Falls, which is right on the boarder of Iowa and South Dakota. The city turned out to be very cool. The downtown area was full of local sculpture displays, and best of all - the entire downtown was set up for wi-fi! Troy and I sat on a table outside and checked email, consulted maps, and just chilled out a little. We got some food and continued onward. Next stop was Mitchell, where the Corn Palace resides. The “palace” (just the town hall) is decorated with corn all around the outside. That’s all I’m going to say, because it wasn’t so great and I felt nauseated by falling into a tourist trap.
Tuesday was turning out to be the worst day yet. I was not in the mood to be in the car or around anothe
r person, and I was beginning to think I’d made a mistake in taking this trip in the first place. It was time to get gas, so I pulled off the road to a small town called White Lake. Driving to the gas station, I realized that this was a very beautiful town. It was really quiet and small, and the grass was lush and the sky took up most of my view. We decided to call it a day and set up camp there. It was only 7pm or so but we were ready to stop moving. The only campsite in the area charged us $10 for the night. We were the only ones there, except for some abandoned-looking RV. The site had its own sketchy-sketch bar that looked like a covered greenhouse. We set up the tent and decided to walk across the overpass of the interstate towards Main Street (for all intents and purposes, the ONLY street in White Lake.) The sun was on its way down and it was absolutely gorgeous. The road stretched on and on forever, and standing on the overpass above it was really magical.
The town of White Lake has a gas station, a park, a general store, a grocery store, a mailbox, a 2 bars. There was The Sportsman bar and Hamm’s. Troy and I decided on Hamm’s (after all, neither of us would fit in with anyone who’d patronize “The Sportsman”). Hamm’s was fairly large, with a bar and many round tables, a pool table, and a jukebox. There were only about 5 people in there, and by the time we left there were only 3 including Troy, myself, and the bartender. We got beers and played the most antiquated version of Photohunt ever. It was so old that it wasn’t even called Photohunt. Anyway, “Troymantha” got on the scoreboard - 1st and 2nd place. Mission Accomplished. Then we played pool (I won both games), and I was set to get back to our tent. I’d only had 1 beer, but Troy had 4 and I think he was fairly buzzed. He is a really cool drunk. He stops acting so Mid-Western, which means so polite, which means fewer “thank yous” and “sorrys” which I really hate in excess. We walked back in the darkness, acting all silly and running high-speed away from the mosquitoes that seemed to keep up with us regardless. Troy got one in his mouth and started spitting like a madman, which was the funniest sight I’d seen in ages. So we got back in high spirits, noticed that our tent had been erected unknowing underneath some flood light, successfully moved the tent into darkness, and settled in. I was so freaked out that we were going to be overcome by evil South Dakotans, so I broke out my trusty pepper spray and kept it next to my sleeping bag. I couldn’t fall asleep at first, but I guess exhaustion always wins out against fear. I drifted into a nice slumber, soothed by the distant sound of Interstate 90. In the end, White Lake made the day the best yet.
Wednesday
On the road by 8:00. Stopped at Wall Drug, because you kind of have to if you are out here. Wall Drug is just a huge store in the middle of nowhere. It’s special because it advertises itself all over the globe. With my purchase of postcards and a mug, I got a free bumper sticker that says “Where the heck is Wall Drug?” Yeah, man, I know. Well, anyway, we took funny pictures and then left.
We made it to the Badlands! And ohhhh are they baaad. As in, soooooo goood!!! See,
you’re driving through a semi-normal landscape. Kinda flat, but that’s to be expected here. Then you look to your left and see crazy formations that stretch on for miles and miles. It’s like being on Mars or something. We drove along a dirt road to take it all in. Every so often, we’d stop to get out and experience it more authentically, like, you know, without glass and metal separating us from the elements. I can’t even describe the sensation I got from being there. It’s definitely something that nobody should miss. The tall prairie grass that ran along the whole region was strikingly beautiful as well. The whole thing was something out of one of my happiest dreams. I just wanted to run with extra long legs towards the horizon.America is truly the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. There is so much variation in landscape and all of it is spectacular. I sincerely and honestly love my country.
Another crazy change of landscape happened less than a half hour away from the Badlands, and that was the Black Hills. This is also the home of Mount Rushmore. I wasn’t impressed, so we did a drive-by. However, the Black Hills are nice. We took a lantern cave tour of Jewel Cave - the 2nd longest cave in the entire world. There were no lights, so everybody needed to carry a lantern. I was scared at first, but I figured that there were enough 9 year olds with the group, it’d be OK. Our tour guide warned us that we might feel something scurrying by our feet. Yeah, rats. I was not excited about that. However, when we started back out of the cave at the end of the tour, and I’d still not seen a rat I found myself pretty disappointed. Such is life.
We got back on the road to look for some place to settle down. We got to Wyoming and stopped for dinner. Oh my God I love Wyoming. Nearly every man here wears a cowboy hat! I seriously want to move here.
We drove in the pouring rain in the absolute darkness. Everything is fucking FLAT here, in a good and eerie way. Lighting struck a few times and it lit the sky up so brightly that I had to squint. And yes, I did freak out. We kept stopping at motels but they were all booked. We finally had to settle for a way too expensive Howard Johnsons. And now I am beat. Goodnight.
