Rapid City, South Dakota

Did I state earlier that South Dakota was flat and reminded me of Nebraska?  Boy, was I wrong!  After crossing the Missouri River the landscape changed drastically!  There are rolling hills, and more rolling hills.  Are those mountains in the distance?  Still nothing but farmland and open prairies as far as the eye can see, but now with hills!  We did several stops on our 257 mile trek across this barren State.  I now understand why they call it the "Badlands".  No trees, no lush greenery, and houses are few and far between. It's no wonder that in the 1800's the French trappers who wandered here called this "Bad land to cross" and the Dakota Indians labeled it "mako sica" meaning "Land bad"

We stopped at a small side of the road tourist trap to look at petrified wood.  Very interesting.  Spent about an hour looking over the different wood and even counting some rings on petrified trees. They also had a large fossil collection and Paul was fascinated by the fossilized dinosaur poop!

 Seeing many signs for "Wall Drug" over several hundred miles, we decided to check it out.  Wall Drug is actually located in the town of Wall.  In 1931 Dorothy and Ted Hustead bought the only drugstore on the edge of the South Dakota badlands.  After almost five years of not having any luck and about to give up, Dorothy came up with the idea of offering free ice water to weary travelers heading west.  Posting signs along the roads brought many travelers and is still a prosperous place today.  They still offer free ice water and even have 5 cent coffee.  It is very touristy, but a great place to stop, chow down on some buffalo burgers and buffalo hot dogs before continuing the journey west.

Jo

To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them.
Ralph Waldo Trine