Badlands: A Misleading Name

Unlike the clientele at the Kankakee KOA, the guests of the Sioux Falls, SD KOA were quite pleasant and respectful of those trying to get some rest. These KOA experiences just keep getting better and better. The facilities keep improving the further west we travel. Odds are the trend will come to a halt at some point, but as for now, it's fantastic. The one thing I feel awkward about is free Wi-Fi. This is how I'm able to blog during the trip, and it's at a campground. I never grew up camping but I always viewed it as an experience "roughing it". The first time I truly camped was when I hiked Mt. Washington with Kate and her dad about 5 years ago. She'd been doing that practically all her life so to her it was almost second nature. I have this notion that if you sleep in a tent you're meant to cook your own food, carry out what you carry in, and ultimately shut yourself off from the outside world for a few days, weeks, whatever. But here I sit, typing away, checking the out of town scores, making sure it won't rain tomorrow in Cody, Wyoming or even this coming weekend in Seattle, walking 50 yards to take a hot shower, use a toilet, or even play pinball.

At this point, "roughing it" feels like it should be defined as having to write a rough draft of your blog in Word before you get to your campsite where you can connect to the internet.

But I'm not complaining. And after having the opportunity to shower on a daily basis, neither is Kate or anyone else west of the Mississippi.

Today I truly felt like I arrived in the West. I'm pretty sure it's not a feeling most people get when hanging out in Illinois, Wisconsin or most of Minnesota. But it didn't take long for it to hit me while driving through South Dakota. I can't say I've ever seen rolling landscapes stretch all the way to the horizon. During parts of our drive I could probably go for an hour and count the number of trees that I saw on one hand. It's really astounding to me the amount of "nothing" out here. And I really shouldn't say "nothing". There isn't "nothing" out here. There's alot out here. And there's alot of it. What truly amazes me is the amount of wide open space there is. So much space to put nothing.

Yesterday was the first time I'd traveled over the Mississippi River. I've flown over it before, but I feel like this time it really counts. It's also the first time that I traveled back over the Mississippi River heading East. It's also the first time that I traveled over the Mississippi River heading West twice in one day.

We took a southbound route to get our picture with the "Welcome to Minnesota" sign and had to double back to head in the right direction. Unfortunately that was only one of a few guidance miscues Kate had yesterday. She's a fantastic traveling companion and I love her to death, but the next opportunity I have, we need to take her down to a Verizon store and get her GPS checked out...

Minnesota is long on Route 90. And boring. It's like driving down 495 but there are more trees. As soon as we hit South Dakota, the outlook changed. Driving today was visually stimulating with the different colors of land on either side of the road, not to mention the speed limit is 75 out here. It's almost as if the Mississippi River was intended to be a visual and cultural divider.

Billboards for Rush Hour 3 and the new Gillette Sensor razor have been traded for Casey's Cafe, home of the Perfect Cheeseburger and reminders that abortion kills and that Jesus died for my sins. Town names no longer sound "eastern" in nature, but are now called Pipestone or Deadwood. Radio and television call letters now begin with a "K" instead of a "W". We're definitely not in Massachusetts anymore.

We also traversed another time zone line today, or what Kate and I like to refer as "time travel". A car ride that would normally take 6 hours only takes 5, as far as the clock is concerned. That makes life easier, it gives us time to relax or take in some more sights.

Today we stopped off in Mitchell, SD. Mitchell's claim to fame is the Corn Palace, a building in the center of town of which the outside is constructed from different colors of corn creating a mosaic. Each year features a new mosaic with a special theme chosen for that year. There are also mosaics inside made from corn which depict typical South Dakota scenes.



We continued through South Dakota where it was all flat and unassuming until we reached the crest of a hill on I-90, where we were greeted with what I consider the most outstanding view I've seen this trip yet. It was the valley of the Missouri River in Chamberlain, SD. The river was wider than I could conceive and the cloudless blue sky reflected perfectly like a giant mirror, bisected by speedboat joyriders. The land across the river as we drove was a stark difference from the rolling fields from before. Now there were short little mounds that stretched on, silhouettes of mountains in the distance. We continued onward until we reached the "240 Loop", which takes you through the Badlands of South Dakota.



South Dakota provides the complete opposite of a hayfield which expands to the horizon in the Badlands. And to the contrary, they're quite great.



















































After our trip through the Badlands, the 240 loop drops you off right in Wall, SD; home of Wall Drug - a tourist oasis which dates back to the Great Depression. They still offer free ice water and 5¢ coffee as they did back in the 1930's. But only one word describes Wall Drug: kitsch. And I loved every minute of it. Only in America...