From Pierre, we headed west along US Hwy 14 to the small town of Wall, SD.  This would take us through the farming fields and pastures of central South Dakota.  It was also the Old Deadwood Trail. They discovered the trail by following old wagon wheel ruts all …..The drive is about 120 miles and very easy.  But as you get closer to Wall, you start seeing the famous highway signs announcing Wall Drug and inviting you to visit. 

Had we taken the interstate, the signs would have started sooner and been larger billboards.  In fact, the signs start about 30 miles west of the border with Iowa and continue about every mile until you reach Wall.  The signage to Wall started in 1933 as Ted and Dorothy Hustead, the owners of Wall Drug, wanted people to stop along the road to visit their business and the town.  The key feature of the signs was the promise of “Free Ice Water”. 

You can imagine driving across the high plains in the summer in an older Ford Model A or a new Ford Model 40 (the most popular auto that year).  At the time, US Hwy 16 was the primary east-west gravel and dirt highway cutting straight across South Dakota.  Seeing the offer of free ice water and a place to stop posted on huge signs every mile or so made you want to see what that was all about and quench your thirst!  It worked then and it still works now! 

As a 10-year-old, I remember visiting Wall when we lived in Rapid City, SD in about 1960.  I remember a small drug store with a soda fountain.  But even then, it was already in the process of expanding from a single small drug store into a collection of adjoining, western-themed storefronts along Main Street. 

When we arrived, we discovered that it had grown so popular, it was now a major tourist stop.  And the drug store is still there, as was the promise of free ice water and an added promise of $.05 coffee.  They claim to still give about 5000 cups of ice water per day!  Only ice water, and not free ice that I had remembered! 

We pulled into our RV park across the railroad tracks from Main St, got settled, and then headed straight into town and to Wall Drug.  We walked to a few shops and actually found Gail’s favorite cake donuts with chocolate frosting for breakfast the next day.  A rare find indeed! 

Wall is located right on I-90 and at the intersection to the Badlands National Park.  With time left in the day, we headed to the northern entrance and decided to drive along the Sage Creek Rim Road to the edge of the park.   Just after the turn and in the parking lot at the Hay Butte overlook was a nice big horn sheep.  That was a surprise so early in the drive!   He almost looked to be posing for all the tourists and didn’t seem to be too concerned.  I assumed, like some of the buffalo we had seen, it was just his turn to be there!  Later we were told that there are only about 18 still in the park, so maybe my theory was debunked. 

We continued along the road.  There were several more overlooks along the drive with different views of the badlands with sighting of a few pronghorns, buffalo and wild turkeys in the distance.  And headed back to the RV.   Outside the park were also some longhorns!

The next day we drove the Loop Road although there is no actual loop.  It goes from the north entrance again, through the park, and to the south entrance.   And it goes more into the valley below the rim, so you are looking up at the structures.  And they are amazing.  Different from North Dakota.  We stopped at almost all the lookouts on the way.  Let the photos show what we saw better than we can. 

After the visitor center, we did a few short hikes on the Cliff Shelf Nature Trail, the Window and the Door trails.  Interesting walking across the badland’s erosions close up.  But again, very scenic in its own way.

We drove back the same road in reverse to Wall and saw things backwards.  One interesting site was a fox scoping out one of the prairie dog towns.  The dogs were all at their holes and “barking” a warning about the fox’s presence.  But I guess one didn’t duck in time and the fox got him.  Survival on display.  

One more day in the area and our 42^nd Anniversary!  Two years ago, we were in Metis sur Mer, Quebec at Auberge du Grand Fleuve overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway. And last year, we were in Ainsworth, BC at the Ktunaxa Grill overlooking Kootenay Lake.  And this year we are in Wall, SD at the Salty Steer restaurant overlooking the “T-Shirts 3 for $10” sign at Buffalo Gift Shop and Landstrom’s Black Hill Gold store!  

But first…

We started the day trying out our new Lodge griddle with a great pancake breakfast.  It works so much better that the little aluminum one we bought in Canada.  Then, we decided to backtrack a little on I-90 to the Minuteman National Historic Site. 

Another little backtrack here to 1960, my father worked at Martin Marietta, and they were building the Titan missile silos in South Dakota.  And that is why we moved there.  I was only 11 and didn’t know much about the missile defenses that were being installed there so this was an opportunity to learn more about what my dad did. 

The center is actually for the Minutemen that replaced the Titans early on.  (And I think that maybe why we moved back to Texas after just one year.)  But it presented the full story of the transition.  We arrived at the start of a video about the Minuteman program including the whole reason for the need.  And it also covered the “duck and cover” practices we did in school among other historic things from that period.

But basically, we learned the Titans were liquid fuel propelled and had to be raised from the silos to launch.  The Minutemen were solid fuel, smaller, more powerful and could be launched from the silos.  So, the Titan was dropped and the Minuteman entered.  These were our major defense systems until the treaties were signed and some of the missiles and silos were destroyed.  Still very interesting and part of our youth.

Back in town for dinner.  Gail started with a Huckleberry Margarita!  And me with my regular.  After getting the anniversary photos, we decided to split a16oz (!) Ribeye and sides!  We were almost surprised that we finished it, but it was so good!   And our waitress (from Egypt on an intern program) recommended a “toofee” cake and after correcting her with toffee, we agreed to finish dinner with that.  She brought it with a heart shaped ring of whipped cream for our anniversary.  She was great and it was a pleasure to give a big thank you tip for her trip home. 

After great days across the prairie, the next day we headed quickly to the big city.  Rapid City to be exact!  We had only about 50 miles to go and I was really looking forward to the visit.  I have mentioned this before, but I lived here for a year with my family and have some key memories that I want to check out.  It will be kind of David’s Scavenger Hunt Day.

The city seemed so much bigger than I remembered.  The 1960 census showed the population at about 38,000 and the 2020 was listed at 78,000.  So, it was bigger and a lot busier!

First thing on the plan was to check out the house where we had lived. I still remember the address.  129 Stanley Ct.  It is a corner lot right on Canyon Rd heading up to the Hills. The house was still there but the landscaping was a little disappointing.  And the lot across the street where our ice rink was set up in the winter was still there too.  But it was now a manicured intersection.  And the hill up to my elementary school was as steep as I remembered too! 

So, we went up the hill to check out the school.  Pinedale Elementary now are the Panthers!  We went in the office but had to go through a security room entry.  A sure sign of the times.  As an alumni, I passed the test. The principle, Laura Kamarainen, came out with a warm welcome.  

My first question was if they now have a lunch cafeteria.  And she replied no.  I remember having to go home every day for lunch even if the weather was bad, but they had a gymnasium for recess.   This was just the opposite from what I had always had in Texas.  She mentioned that they now convert the gym to a lunchroom and serve two rounds of hot, prepared lunches.  Then it’s back to being a gymnasium for the rest of the day.  Another difference was the classes are now K-5 and the 6^th graders go to middle school.  But the school was otherwise the same.

We also drove a few blocks more to see the junior high that my sister attended 7^th grade that year.  It was now next door to the new high school upon the hill.

We headed downtown to check out the visitor center and the presidents’ statues, but Gail stopped at Prairie Edge Trading Company  & Galleries first.  We ended up spending an hour there!  Interesting store, but also a gallery and museum to native culture including interesting art, head dresses, drums, jewelry, etc.  One of the most unique things was the bead collection which was not only the largest collection of Italian glass beads in the world, but also had wood, bone and other beads and hides that were on sale.   

We finally made it to the visitor center and got some good information for our visit into the Black Hills and also the map of the presidents.  They had 42 statues (had not yet added Biden).  They created the Cit of Presidents public art project to draw visitors that were at nearby Mount Rushmore.  They were quite interesting.

After a quick stop at a roadside Food Truck court (with Texas plates) for some TexMex, we headed up to the famous Dinosaur Park that was also there in 1960.  The largest figure overlooking the city is an Apatosaurus (although most people confuse it with a Brontosaurus).  It is 75 ft tall and 19 ft tall.  And there are 6 other smaller dinosaurs on the hill as well.

With just one day to explore, we did what we could and felt good about the visit.  It was good to relive a few past experiences with Gail and y’all. 

Well, this posting did go a little long so let’s save the famous mountain carving and the famous gold rush towns for the next one.  Shouldn’t take too long to get that done.  Hang in there!  We’ll be back.