Bill Huth, a professor friend of ours, and others had told us "You must see the Badlands." It is about 80 miles from Mount Rushmore so we put Maggie and her bed in the back seat and took off. We did stop at Wall Drug. It was a city block all made into what started as a drug store but now you can buy just about anything a grandparent would want to buy a grandchild. They don't have any alligator heads but I guess I am too used to Florida tourist stops. We had lunch there and they advertise "Free Coffee and Doughnuts" but in smaller print "to Honeymooners." We didn't qualify by almost 47 years and Lib won't let me eat doughnuts anyway. OK, we did it. Now, when a new RVer pulls in this evening I can mosey over and say "Have ya been over ta Wall Drug?"
Why the Badlands? Imagine you were a settler in the 1800s and were moving your family out west complete with two covered wagons, the mules, etc. and, after following miles of flat plains (assuming you also made it over the Smokey Mountains) you come upon this:
Try getting that wagon over this, padnah!
Bill Huth was right. It is an amazing landscape. It was formed 65 million years ago when the earth was warmer than it is now and the Gulf of Mexico actually flooded the central U.S. all the way to Canada. It is full of sea fossils. The scientists have identified the different layers of fossil life that changes the hues in the landscape as shown below.
While most of the area looks like the photos above, there is an expanse of prairie and there is much wildlife on the prairies. Lib took this photo of some Big Horn sheep that walked past Fiona.
Plus there are plenty of prairie dogs around and even Buffalo (we didn't see any Buffalo but Wall Drug will sell you a Buffalo Burger).
We made it home after a stop in Rapid City at the Wal-Mart where we bought some provisions and I got a much needed hair cut!
Below are some photos of the Badlands you may enjoy. Signing off and disappearing into "no wifi/cellphone land."
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