A Lockdown Virtual Journey (North America) Day 9
Day Nine
An alarm at six thirty is unwelcome in my world. My sleep had been deep and as far as I recall, dreamless. I shut down the phone and while still in bed called my wife. I enjoy chatting with the girl I married nearly fifty years ago. After my decision to follow Jesus it was the best decision I had ever made and I am thankful she agreed to marry me. Like most marriages we have had tough times but we made the decision that we would stick with each other. I don’t think either of us has any regrets.
I quickly showered, shaved and arrived at Pete’s door just a few minutes late. I was let in by a complaining Chris. He was whinging on about it being typical of the RAF to always be late. I reminded him that we who had served in the RAF were only ever late for work never NAAFI or meal breaks. Pete gently reminded us why we were there. Heads bowed we gave thanks and offered requests for friends, family and Banbury to our Father. We then asked Him to bless our day and the hotel we were in and the people we would meet.
After a brief discussion we decided that we didn’t need any food, at least not immediately. That decision having been made we decided to move out. (Sounding more like cowboys every day.) Ten minutes later we were saying our good byes to the hotel staff. In the car park we loaded our cases into the charger. It was here that Pete suggested we break the monotony of the plains by every fifty miles or thereabouts the rear vehicle would go to the front. It seemed good to Chris and I so this time I led out.
We headed north and under the I90 we turned left to join it. We were soon cruising past ‘Catfish Bay’ and heading west. Again the horizon seemed miles away. The road seemed straight and the countryside was again flat. There were trees and farms but seemingly endlessly flat. I saw a sign that said the speed limit was eighty. Having thought it was sixty five I touched the throttle. Seconds later I settled in for a steady eighty. It felt good to see the trees and fields slipping past at a slightly faster rate. I was tempted to put my foot down and see what the charger would do. Common sense prevailed and I decided to be satisfied with eighty.
Soon after Hartford the road deviated from due west to travel in a north westerly direction. Apart from that it seemed rather like ground hog day. After a few more miles we returned to travelling due west. Soon after Pete had leapfrogged me Chris roared past and at a town named Mitchel we followed Chris as He once again needed to refuel.
Chris filled up and Pete and I topped up. Chris asked the fuel attendant if there was anywhere nearby to get breakfast? The fuel attendant pointed up the street to a Perkins Bakery and restaurant. We processed the vehicles down and parked up. It seemed a nice place and the staff seemed very friendly. Hopefully breakfast would be good. Chris and Pete had coffee poured for then and while the young lady brought a glass of water for me we perused the menu. The water was placed in front of me and our order was taken.
Pete and I ate our eggs, bacon and sausage and then sat back and admired Chris consume copious amounts of eggs, bacon and sausage. We had a brief chat and conclude that Chris in his previous occupation as a lorry driver had had more practice eating cooked breakfasts than either Pete or myself. We paid our bill and tipped the waitress.
Having gotten back into our vehicles we headed south and re-joined the I90 west. After the excitement of breakfast we settled into a mostly straight road with a few undulations. Fields of crops with occasional clusters of trees. Every now and again there were signs at the side of the road. These were mostly advertising farming equipment stores and some investment opportunities. There was just one brief change in the scenery, it was a rusty tractor by the side of the road. The house behind it was even more dilapidated than the tractor. All the other farm buildings we had passed had all looked pristine so this really stood out.
We must have been in a gradual climb for two things seemed to happen at once. The first was the signage alongside the road became more frequent. I remember one for a Sioux museum. I became aware we were travelling downhill towards a river. A very big river. The Missouri River. That got me wondering why in the UK we put river first – River Thames, River Cherwell for instance but in the United States, river comes second. I resolved to ask Chris when we next stopped. He good at Sudoku. Maybe he could solve this puzzle.
The bridge was flat and long the river was flat and wide. It looked tranquil but I could imagine it roaring through. It was good to see there were hills on the far side. I was looking forward to a change of scenery. Pete who had been leading since the fuel stop was passed by Chris on his hog. This was making it a slightly more interesting drive. The car never missed a beat it was a delight to drive and I had found a country and western station. It seemed appropriate. I did wonder how many years hence it would be till I could do a trip like this. In an autonomous vehicle? I would be able to sit back, admire the scenery or read. Hopefully not in my life time.
We were now passing signs advertising casinos, we had passed a few before but these were much more brash and in your face. The hills that had seemed to have been promised morphed into more of the wide open sky and flat farmland again. The signs were now telling us there were ‘hot slots and prime rib’ at the casino.
Just before Chris again led us of the I90 to refuel we were overtaken by a Winnebago which was seriously big. It was towing a large speed boat and behind that a Jeep Cherokee was also on tow. I think we were back to seventy when that convoy overtook us. We stopped to refuel at Kadoka. It seemed to be just like lots of other fuel stops except that there was a huge sculpture of a stag made of car parts. Quite amazing and quite impressive. It was also amazing that Chris didn’t know why river came second in the United States. Oh well must remember to ask google. This we did and to cut a long and speculative explanation short. It started in the seventeenth century when the word ‘of’ was between river and say, Thames. The Brits decided to keep river in front and the Americans for whatever reason placed it after.
We retraced our drive to the I90 and in minutes we were again heading west. Pete phoned and asked if I had seen the last sign. ‘Yes’ I replied ‘Fancy a look?’
At a place called ‘Badlands loop’ we left the I90 and went in search of the ‘Minuteman Missile Visitors Centre’. It must have been a well-guarded secret as we couldn’t find it! There was some building work on the left but nothing to indicate what it was. It was supposed to be just of the loop on the county road but all we saw was fields and some building work. If we ever pass this way again it would be interesting to pay a visit.
Retracing our steps we re-joined the I90 and again headed west. We soon passed a sign that stated the ‘Black Hills’ were seventy one miles in front of us.
The road was, again, mainly straight with just a few deviations ranging from North West to South West. The land looked uniformly flat with just a few undulations. The horizon always seemed miles away. After just under an hour of driving we passed signs for ‘South Dakota Air and Space museum’. It looked to be attached to what looked to be a big United States Airforce Base named Ellsworth. We couldn’t see much of either from the road. A brief chat on our phones and we decided to continue to our planned stop.
As we approached Rapid City from the east we saw lots of trailer parks – they actually looked quite nice not at all like they are depicted on TV programs. The I90 which somehow was also the fourteen turned south. After a few minutes the I90 went to the right to pass north of Rapid City as we continued south to the east of the city on to the sixteen. As we passed the south of the city we again turned westerly and, at last there were hills. I assumed these to be the Dakotas. There seemed to be signs advertising all sorts of stuff from camp sites to gold mines.
The road rose and then was, again, fairly flat but the horizon seemed much nearer. We passed a sign that proclaimed that the locals eat at ‘The Himalayan Kitchen’. I did briefly, wonder, how long folk got for lunch around here.
The countryside was changing and becoming much more interesting. There were hills and valleys and twists and turns. So much more fun to drive. Just before we passed a rather grand looking building proclaiming it held a ‘Founding Fathers exhibition’, we passed a ‘T Rex’ guarding a dinosaur museum. We were definitely in tourist country. The area looked to have lots of attractions that would be interesting to visit, but not on this trip for us.
We had however booked ourselves into the ‘American Buffalo Resort’. We pulled into the car park and went through the usual ‘sign this sign that’, ‘where are you from?’ and ‘why are you doing this?’ Chris’s now familiar explanation recited off pat. When all requests and questions had been answered satisfactorily we were shown where our small premium cabins were. We were also given a site map. We were quite close to the pool and crazy golf. Having put our stuff into the cabins we returned to our trusty vehicles and set off to view what we took this diversion to see.
Soon after the camp site we once again pulled into a familiarly signed ‘Conoco’ fuel stop. We topped up and decided against the mini-golf that was also on offer. We had been told that our destination was just twelve miles or so away. Once again we were on our way. I could see hills and even mountains. There were lush forests and the road was great to drive along rather than something that was dead straight and frankly, quite monotonous.
We passed a sign that stated our exit was two miles hence. This was confirmed a mile later by my satnav. We passed more signs advertising things from helicopter flights to gold mine visits and lots in between. We took the exit which was off the left lane and went under what appeared to be a wooden bridge! It looked brilliant and graceful. It had some metal braces but was mostly wood.
We soon skirted a built up area that seemed to be entirely devoted to the reason for this detour. There were advertisements for all sorts of stuff. A couple of miles further we pulled into the Mount Rushmore site. Bought our senior passes –quite good value really. Was tempted by the life time pass but resisted and we each obtained the one year pass not that any of us had plans to return any time soon.
It’s an impressive monument sculptured to honour the United States creator (George Washington), its growth and development (Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt). Abraham Lincoln was up there just because it wouldn’t have been right without him. Being only able to view the sculptures at a distance they were magnificent but not as dynamic as they appeared to be in the film ‘North by North West. We walked up to the viewing area at the end of the colonnade. Took photos of the heads and each other. I managed to get one where they were all on Chris’s hand. Pete knew who all the sculptured heads represented, I didn’t recognise Jefferson. I am not sure who Chris recognised if anyone, he wasn’t letting on. We went into the visitors centre and then onto the usual gift shop. ‘T’ shirts bought we headed over to
the café and had a drink and a snack.
Back at our vehicles we all programmed in Crazy Horse Memorial. In my charger I enjoyed a very pleasant drive through lovely countryside – I do appreciate hills, mountains and valleys. About half an hour later we arrived at Crazy horse’s work in progress monument.
It definitely is a work in progress but they are continuing to sculpt it as they have since 1948. What is there is impressive. I most enjoyed visiting the Native American museum. It was full of the histories and art of the many tribal groups. It was worth the visit just for this. We bought more ‘T’ shirts. These were more colourful than the Rushmore ones. The gift shop had some amazing craft stuff in it as well as the clothing.
The drive back was fun. The road was great and there were lots of twists and turns. At Hill city we stopped and topped up with fuel. Across the road was a little church with ‘enter here all welcome’ written on it. It proved to be a model of a much larger building up the hill away. As we drove through the town we passed a store named ‘Broken Arrow Trading Company’. I once worked with a chap whose radio call sign was broken arrow – He wouldn’t work and they couldn’t fire him! We passed the skeleton of a Pterodactyl. You don’t see many of them around these days thankfully.
We passed through neat clusters of houses, past lumber yards. We passed a few cars and were passed by a few. The hills framed some awesome cloud formations. Time passed and we once again entered the camp site that was our home for the night.
We parked up re-found our cabins and freshened up. We had decided to eat at the ‘Fort Hayes Chuck wagon.’ And hopefully enjoy the show. The food was Ok although I cannot remember what we ate, the beer was cold and tasted fine. The music was fun and the show entertaining.
Despite all three of us being a little knackered we decided to play a game of mini golf when we got back to our lodgings. Although I am the only one who plays golf I still managed to come third behind Chris and Pete. After the game and having promised to meet up at seven, we each retired to our respective cabins.
Home | South Dakota Missouri River Tourism (sdmissouririver.com)
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
sdairandspacemuseum.com
Mount Rushmore National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
crazyhorsememorial.org
Mount Rushmore & Fort Hays Activities | Mount Rushmore Tours