States Traversed
District of Columbia
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Nebraska (brief stop)
South Dakota
Tuesday, July 8
Tuesday was spent entirely in South Dakota, beginning in Mitchell on the east side of the state and ending in Spearfish, 12 miles east of the Wyoming border.
After a couple hours of driving we took the scenic drive through the Badlands National Park. It was raining for the first half of our drive but the sun quickly came out and made for some beautiful scenery.
Following the Badlands we did the obligatory tourist stop at Wall Drug. Wall Drug inexplicably advertises itself well over 200 miles away on highway 90 and the expectation after seeing approximately 80 billboards is that you will walk into the greatest drug store on earth. Well, as probably should have been expected it was less than overwhelming. But on the plus side we got a free bumper sticker out of the deal so all was well.
Our poor Budget truck then begrudgingly took us up the mountains to Mt. Rushmore. We arrived just in time for the evening ceremony followed by the lighting of the mountain. We were surprised at the number of people still there at 9pm at night. Given our later arrival we did not get a chance to see all of the exhibits or see everything they had to offer there. However we saw the mountain lit up at night which was a great experience.
Our work in finding a hotel for the night was fortunately less eventful than the night before. Today we’re heading into Wyoming and planning to stay in Cody, just east of Yellowstone.
District of Columbia
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Nebraska (brief stop)
South Dakota
Tuesday, July 8
Tuesday was spent entirely in South Dakota, beginning in Mitchell on the east side of the state and ending in Spearfish, 12 miles east of the Wyoming border.
After a couple hours of driving we took the scenic drive through the Badlands National Park. It was raining for the first half of our drive but the sun quickly came out and made for some beautiful scenery.
Following the Badlands we did the obligatory tourist stop at Wall Drug. Wall Drug inexplicably advertises itself well over 200 miles away on highway 90 and the expectation after seeing approximately 80 billboards is that you will walk into the greatest drug store on earth. Well, as probably should have been expected it was less than overwhelming. But on the plus side we got a free bumper sticker out of the deal so all was well.
Our poor Budget truck then begrudgingly took us up the mountains to Mt. Rushmore. We arrived just in time for the evening ceremony followed by the lighting of the mountain. We were surprised at the number of people still there at 9pm at night. Given our later arrival we did not get a chance to see all of the exhibits or see everything they had to offer there. However we saw the mountain lit up at night which was a great experience.
Our work in finding a hotel for the night was fortunately less eventful than the night before. Today we’re heading into Wyoming and planning to stay in Cody, just east of Yellowstone.
Jeff and his hay
Our poor truck
Badlands
Mary Poppins made an appearance at the Badlands
Hi Bryan (and Amy)! We made it to Wall Drug!
Wall Drug billboard #84 of 136
Mt. Rushmore before the lighting ceremony
Mt. Rushmore after the lighting ceremony
If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you Quotes Heard So Far
"You ruined the road trip!"
"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."
"This is the most fun!"
"Meow"
Random Observations
- In Iowa and South Dakota, Super Unleaded (with ethanol) is cheaper than regular unleaded.
- We have not seen a Starbucks in about 6 states
- We perhaps over-idealistically thought that the cowboys of South Dakota would be rounding up the cattle on horses. Instead they were on quads.
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