Gallivanting Grandma

Saturday – August 23, 2014     64 degrees & mostly cloudy

It rained last night and large menacing clouds hung low in the sky when we awoke. Today we planned to have a ‘down day’ so we had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel in Rapid City. Jeff had read about a local attraction called The Petrified Forest of the Black Hills  which, according to Trip Advisor, was worth seeing.

Trail in the Petrified Forest

We plotted a course on the cell phone and twenty minutes later we were driving up a steep hill off a back road behind campers and cabins. There was a small admission charge which included a twenty minute video, the small museum, and a self-directed trail guide.

Section of a Petrified Log

Numbers on the guide identified significant pieces of petrified logs along the trail. The forest had existed in this location millions of years ago and the petrified wood was discovered during the 1920s. From a distance, they resembled huge rocks because most of the trees had been over one hundred feet tall.

Scattered Logs

More Petrified Logs

My photographs really do not do justice to the park and we actually enjoyed the visit. The video was excellent and explained rock formations in this part of the world. Hiking on the trail through the cedar and pine forest also was great fun. 

View Across the Valley

Our next stop was Sturgis, South Dakota, Harley Davidson motorcycle Mecca. Although Jeff kept saying I was the one who wanted to go to this famous town, I think he was curious too. Fortunately, we missed the annual rally which happened earlier in the month. 

Sign Across Main Street in Sturgis

Tacky Main Street

Store Sign

What did we do in bike heaven? We walked around, did a little window shopping, admired the motorcycles that rumbled down Main Street, and bought a couple of T-shirts.

T-Shirt Store

Inside a T-Shirt Store

Photo of the Crowd During Rally Week

The Bank Saloon

We pulled ourselves away from Sturgis and drove to Deadwood, South Dakota which was a short ride away. Named after dead trees found nearby, the city has a National Historic District which had sounded interesting. Deadwood gained notoriety as a wild and lawless place and attracted gamblers and prostitutes during the ‘Wild West’ of the late 1800s. The graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are in the local Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Sign in Deadwood, SD

Caught in a long line of traffic as we approached Deadwood, we waited patiently. As we approached the town, we saw that Main Street was closed for an antique car rally and street fair. Loud rock ‘n’ roll music poured out from an entertainment tent and parking was impossible. We decided not to stop and continue on a quiet scenic road toward Mt. Rushmore.

Pactola Dam & Reservoir

Driving Into Keystone, SD

Keystone was the town located at the entrance to Mt. Rushmore National Monument. It had started to rain as we drove through. The town was full of tacky souvenir shops, fast food restaurants, cheap motels, fudge & ice-cream stands, and tourist families.

Main Street, Keystone

We continued up the hill and parked in a new parking lot. I had read about recent improvements to the facility including a modern visitor’s center. We donned our rain gear and walked toward the statues.

Mt. Rushmore

Presidents in the Rain

The presidents looked a little sad in the rain. Washington seemed to have tears running down his face and his nose was running. We stopped in the gift shop to see tacky presidential novelties. We were especially drawn to the plastic bobble-head Jeffersons. No wonder they were sad.

Borglum’s Dream

By the time we left the shop, the sun was shining again so we took a few more photos. The light was better and the quartet looked much happier. Four hundred workers carved the faces onto the granite side of the mountain from 1927 -1939.

Rain Clouds

By the time we returned to Rapid City SD, the sun came out and the storm clouds were moving away. One of the most amazing aspects of this trip has been the clouds. The land is so flat and the horizon is so vast that the sky is a huge 360 degree dome which surrounds a person offering great vistas of ever-changing clouds.

View of the Prairie From the Hotel Window

Friday – August 22, 2014      63 degrees & cloudy

The real reason we stayed overnight in Wall, SD was not because we had to see Wall Drug but to visit Badlands National Park.

Road to The Badlands

It was a short and easy drive to the National Park loop road which was like the mid-western prairie we’ve been looking at for the last two days. Then a sign led us to a scenic overlook and the earth literally opened and we were standing on top of the world, overlooking a deep chasm.

Big Horn Sheep

Photographer on the Edge

Big horn sheep clung to the cliffs and tourists walked out as far as they could to peer at the eroded landscape.

Warning!

Colorful

We drove along the road and stopped at several overlooks to take photographs. Unfortunately, it was an overcast day and the colored stripes of land erosion were muted.

Tourists on the Overlook

Badlands National Park reminded us of the natural formations in Utah. We talked about the surprise the early pioneers must have experienced when they came upon these unfriendly cliffs in their westward journey. I understood why Lewis and Clark and their entourage traveled north.

Amazing Views

Road Through the Park

Sign in the town of Interior, South Dakota

Thursday – August 21, 2014    Sunny & 75 degrees

My Homage to Corn

The day started in Sioux City North, South Dakota which is a stone’s throw from Sioux City, Iowa. I was tired and cranky last night but slept well and felt better this morning after a good night’s sleep. We were on Route 29 heading north by 9:30 AM and looking forward to another day on the road.

Yes, That’s Corn on Both Sides of the Road

The speed limit on the highway was 75 MPH so it’s intense driving especially among very large trucks. But the roads were straight with a grassy area separating the vehicles going in opposite directions. Jeff said he was sorry he didn’t bring a couple of bungee cords to tie the steering wheel in place. “Then with cruise control, the car could drive itself,” he stated.

Street in Front of the Corn Palace

After about an hour, we got onto Interstate 90 West. This was another flat, straight ribbon of highway running between green cornfields reaching out to the horizon. We knew we were getting close to the wild west when we passed a billboard which read: Eat Steak – Wear Fur – Keep Your Guns!  

The Mitchell Corn Palace

We decided to take a break and stopped in Mitchell, SD which is home to the famous “Corn Palace.” Neither of us knew what it was which is why we wanted to see it. We followed good signs into town and parked the car. The street in front of the palace was closed to vehicles because of a street fair. There was food at one end, crafts in the middle, and amusement rides at the far end of the street. 

Food Truck

Corn Decoration on the Side of the Palace

We walked down the street admiring the decorations made of corn and hay on the exterior of the building. The entrance was around the corner and since the sign on the door said “free,” we went into the palace. We discovered that The Corn Palace was a sports arena and entertainment venue. A crew was setting up the stage for a Chris Young country music performance for tonight. Basketball hoops were pushed to the ceiling, chairs were set up, and corn decorations lined the walls.

Inside The Corn Palace

On the way back to the car, we stopped for a quick lunch at a bar-b-que truck and took more photos. This is NOT what we ate for lunch:

The High Cholesterol Diet

Now I know where all the Twinkies went!

We bought gas for $3.19 a gallon and found I-90 West. This was another day spent in the car admiring the South Dakota scenery. Similar to Iowa, there are vast flat farmlands with miles of cornfields in all directions. The most surprising and amazing discovery was that there were four or five bars and 4G AT&T service on my cell phone in both states. That’s better service than I receive at home!

Interstate 90 Crossing the Missouri River

Diversity in the Landscape

More Hills

Finally, Exit 110 appeared and we got off to spend the night in Wall, SD which is home to the famous Wall Drug Store. It was five o’clock when we checked into one of the motels in town. We had been on the road, with a stop in Mitchell, and stops to change drivers for almost eight hours on 75 MPH Interstates. We were tired!

Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota

Wall Drug Backyard

Wall Drug is a collection of tacky little shops along a Western theme street in the tiny town of Wall, SD (population 843) in the middle of nowhere just off Interstate 90. I remember seeing their bumper stickers on cars in New York in the 1960s & ’70s. Like South of the Border on Rt 95 and The Roscoe Dinner on Rt 17, Wall Drug is a travelers’ institution.

Shops Inside Wall Drug

Moose Drool

Wednesday – August 20, 2014      Mostly sunny & 71 degrees in the morning

Lobby of the DeSoto House Hotel

In the morning, we checked out of the DeSoto House Hotel in Galena, Illinois and drove back across a bridge to see Ulysses S. Grant’s house. Our former president arrived in Galena in 1861 to work in his father’s leather store. He was so popular after the Civil War that his neighbors donated a house to him and his wife.

General & Mrs. Ulysses Grant’s House

We opted not to take a tour of the house or spend too much time there. We had a long driving day ahead of us. There were several other historic houses close by which were open to the public. They looked very interesting to explore. Galena looked like a place to return to and explore.

Historic House and Inn

We left Galena and in fifteen minutes we were crossing the Mississippi River over a narrow old iron bridge. It was exciting to drive over the famous river.

Bridge Over the Mississippi

View From the Bridge

On the other side of the river is the industrial city of Dubuque, Iowa. We drove down to the water front to see the Mississippi up close and to take some pictures.

River Boat on the Ole Miss

We spent the rest of the day driving across Iowa on Route 20 through unending cornfields. I really don’t have to write any more than that sentence. It says it all. The photographs don’t adequately capture the vast expanse of sky or the ribbon of road ahead of us which divided unending green fields.

Route 20 West

Farm & Cornfield

After several hours, Jeff saw a sign along the road for Cedar Rock in Quasqueton, Iowa. This was one of the private houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We took the exit and drove about fourteen miles to The Walter House. It was small, but well worth the stop.

Exterior of the Walter House

Entrance

The Living Room

The Boat House

Lois, the manager, gave us a guided tour of the house and related the story of the house. It is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian designed houses and is entirely original. The architect had designed everything in the house: furniture, lightening, cabinets, kitchen ware, and dishes. On his frequent visits, F. L. Wright complained about anything which the Walters added to their home, so it is completely original.

Fun Ride!

After the tour, Lois gave us a ride back to the tourist office. She drove the John Deere tractor and we rode in the wagon. That was fun! When I asked Lois a question about farms we had passed, she exclaimed to her young assistant, “Hey Melissa! We’ve got a greenhorn here! She doesn’t know what a silo is!” Lois proceeded to tell me how to process corn into slurry for feed and recommended that we visit the John Deere factory in Waterloo, Iowa. “Just down the road,” she beamed. I thought that perhaps I could find a ‘Greenhorn’ tee-shirt there.

Back on Route 20

We asked Lois for a late lunch recommendation and she gave us directions to The First Street Deli in Independence. It was the closest town and it had three restaurants to choose from: Chinese, Mexican, & Deli. In this vast countryside, it was amazing how short fifteen or twenty miles became. We had good fresh sandwiches and then spent the rest of the afternoon driving.

Rain on the Road

Almost There – Where?

We arrived in Sioux City, Iowa about 7:00 in the evening. It was 82 degrees and humid when we stepped out of the car. We were very tired but glad to reach a destination. The Hilton Garden Inn was fully booked but there was an available room at the Hampton Inn in North Sioux City, South Dakota which was only twenty minutes away……