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Travelogue:
South Dakota (mainly), July 2012
By Roger W.
Reini
This is the story of a trip along the Lincoln
Highway and to the Black Hills of South Dakota, home to Mount
Rushmore and other historic sites, that my uncle and I made in
the summer of 2012.
Prologue - Why This Trip
Over the last few years -- since 2005, actually -- it had become
common for me to spend the July 4th period out of town.
2005 was when it began, prompted by Ford starting to shut down
the engineering offices and making everyone take vacation that
week. That year, I took the train to DC and drove down to
Virginia Beach to meet up with my sister and her family. I
went to DC one other year, and there were trips to Austin and
Chicago as well. There were some years I stayed home, but
this year would not be one of them.
Why did I want to make this trip? Mount Rushmore is a classic
American monument, for one thing. For another, it provided a
perfect reason to visit South Dakota, the 48th state that I have
visited, as well as the last of the Lower 48. For yet
another, it presented an opportunity to follow the historic
Lincoln Highway farther west than I had previously. And
for yet another reason, it was to be this year’s male bonding
trip with my uncle Bill, in lieu of a weekend at Hamvention in
Dayton (I had attended a workshop on writing at Louhelen Bahá’í
School the same weekend as Hamvention).
What did we want to see? Well, Mount Rushmore, of course.
It is an iconic American monument that every American should see
in his or her lifetime. My grandpa and grandma Reini, great-aunt
Hilia and aunt Marie went there back in 1965 as part of a big
trip to the West and Southwest (with a bit of the South) that
involved visiting my family (mom, dad and me) in Texas and my
great-uncle Waino's family in New Mexico. I asked Marie if
she wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, but she declined. She had to
take care of one of her cats who was nearing the end of his
life. Now in addition to Mount Rushmore, there is the Crazy
Horse monument, Badlands National Park, Devil's Tower National
Monument, the Minuteman National Historic Site, and a number of
other places. There are too many to see on one trip!
There would also be a side trip to Minneapolis on the way back
so that Bill could visit his sister.
And there was a slim possibility of a side trip to Spencer,
Iowa, to pay our respects to a famous cat who used to live in
the library there: Dewey Readmore Books. I say "slim"
because Spencer would be a significant detour from our route,
and there might not be enough time to visit. As it turned
out, there wasn’t time to make the detour.
Top
Monday June 25
Today was four days out from the start of the trip. I had
already stopped the mail and the newspapers during my time
away. I would soon need to start packing in earnest,
although with a trip of such a short duration, I wouldn't need
to pack that much -- one, maybe two bags in addition to computer
and camera bags, neither of which were very large. There would
be the bag for the CPAP machine that I needed to use while
sleeping (also not very large). Did I need to fold down my
rear seat to hold everything? I wasn't sure. It wouldn't be a
big deal to do so. As it turned out, I didn’t need to.
As I previously stated, there was an opportunity to travel on
the Lincoln Highway, and that started out as one of the purposes
of this trip, but would there be time to do so? Past
Chicago, the Lincoln Highway would pass well south of the
fastest route to the Black Hills, I-90. Back in 2005, I had
driven the Lincoln Highway all of the way through Illinois but
only a little bit through far eastern Iowa. Would there be time
to drive that portion again, or to drive some of it in Iowa? We
might not know until we're on the road. We'd be prepared with
our guidebook just in case.
Top
Thursday May 28
Today was one day before departure. Last night, I made
arrangements for a hotel in Indiana for tomorrow night.
This morning, I went to the local Quick Lane facility to get the
oil changed, tires rotated, and other things checked for the
trip. I did some work while waiting for my car to be serviced,
working on some minutes and checking my e-mail. A TV was
on in the background showing Good Morning America on
ABC. One of the stories was on the major wildfire near Colorado
Springs, threatening the Air Force Academy among other
places. I'd been to Colorado Springs four years ago and
wouldn't mind going again, but if we were going there this
weekend instead of Mount Rushmore, I think we'd be canceling the
trip or changing the destination. Later that day, I
finished my packing, but I would wait until tomorrow to load the
car. No need to expose everything to the summer heat.
Top
Friday June 29
Today was the last day of work prior to Ford's yearly shutdown
of the engineering center during the week of July 4. But for my
uncle Bill, today was the last day of work, period. He was
retiring today from over 30 years with the federal government,
most of which were spent at the US Army Tank Automotive Command
(TACOM) in Warren, where he served as an electronics technician
on projects benefitting the Army and our country, and no doubt
capable of bringing great harm to our enemies.
Things were slower than normal today; clearly, a number of folks
had gotten a jump on the holiday. That was all right by
me, for it allowed me to concentrate on things with fewer
distractions. There were also some last-minute
preparations for the trip, meaning the mailing of bills and the
pulling of money. By 3 o’clock, I was finished; I’d done my
weekly backup of files, and I was set to leave. The
parking lot was already pretty empty as I left. On the way
home, I topped off my gas tank at the Kroger gas station on Ford
Road in Dearborn Heights. It only needed 4 gallons or so.
When I got home and opened the door, the phone was ringing. As
is my custom, I let the answering machine pick it up to see who
was on (I don’t have caller ID on the landline). It was my
aunt Marie, wanting to know when Bill could head out; I said
right away. And with that, I backed up the contents of my
laptop’s hard drive and packed some last minute items, and I was
ready to go. While I waited for him to arrive, I continued
backing up my photos to the cloud. I’d just started the
year 2005 when he arrived. I got my car out of the garage,
and he put his in for the duration of the trip. He loaded
his things, and then, a little after 5, we were on the road.
Traffic was very heavy northbound on I-275 as we approached that
freeway; fortunately, we were headed southbound and had no
problem getting down to Michigan Avenue, where we turned to head
west. Before long, we were on I-94 passing through
Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor and headed west. Our destination
this evening was the Hilton Garden Inn in Chesterton,
Indiana. It would be a late arrival due to our late
departure, but that was expected. We stopped for supper in
Battle Creek, but not at our intended restaurant. Our intent was
to go to the Cracker Barrel, as we would do whenever we drove
down to Dayton, but it was busy tonight with a 20-minute
wait. I didn’t feel like waiting, so we went to Denny’s
instead. We were seated right away, but it took a long
time to get served. With 5 minutes to go before we walked
out, we were served (finally!). I had a spaghetti and
meatball dinner, while Bill had tilapia. It may have taken
us a while to get our supper, but once we got it, it was
good. Then we continued onward.
It was dark by the time we reached Chesterton. We had room
202, a reasonably comfortable room. After settling in, I
studied my Lincoln Highway guidebook and Google Maps to figure
out where we were going tomorrow, to know where to pick up the
highway.
Top
Saturday June 30
The pants I worn yesterday had developed a hole in the front
right pocket, the one where I keep my keys and change. The hole
was now large enough to allow change to fall out; that was not
good. Bill suggested we find a sewing kit to make an
emergency repair. We could find one at a Walmart along the way,
he said.
I got up a little after 5:30, or 6:30 Eastern, and did my usual
morning e-mail and Web checks. Bill awoke around an hour later.
Breakfast was down in the lobby at 7, but it wasn’t free at
Hilton Garden (the restaurant also operated for dinner). I
had the full breakfast buffet, while Bill had an a la carte
selection of two items
Today, we were going to follow the old Lincoln Highway west for
as far as we wanted, not knowing how far we’d get. There
was no place we had to be today, unlike on Sunday. We
could pick up the highway by heading south toward Valparaiso,
and after we’d checked out after 7:30, that’s what we did.
I had brought along my copy of The Lincoln Highway Companion to
follow the old route. It indicated multiple versions of
the highway, as the routing changed in many instances over the
15 years it was actively maintained. Much of the route
today has become multilane or divided highway, but some sections
are still two-lane. We followed both types of roadway
through northwest Indiana as we traveled westward. Some of
the time, we were on US 30; other times, we were on side
streets.
At the intersection of US 30 and US 41, there was a
Walmart. There, we found the sewing kit and picked up some
other items, such as toothpaste and a 12-pack of Diet Rite Cola
for the road. We had a cooler, and we were going to use
it, and we did. As we went westward, we stopped a number
of times to take pictures at historically significant spots: the
Ideal Section in Dyer; Dixie Highway signs in Chicago Heights;
Route 66 signs in Plainfield, etc. The Ideal Section of the
1920’s has been completely obliterated by 1990’s vintage
multilane highway, but some markers are still present.
It was slow going between Matteson and Joliet in the southern
part of Chicagoland; the road was being widened. For
lunch, we stopped at the Ace Drive-In in Joliet, a place
mentioned in that Lincoln Highway Companion. After eating
the food there (I had a burger), we could see that it deserved
the mention. From there, we continued onward through the
far western suburbs before finally breaking away from the
Chicago area. In Plainfield, we drove a stretch of roadway
that was both the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. There were some
sights in DeKalb related to the highway, including some
commemorative markers and an interpretive gazebo. There
was also an artwork entitled Lincoln on Lincoln: a dog dressed
as Abraham Lincoln, including beard. Rather amusing, and
definitely picture-worthy, I thought.
Farther west, in Rochelle, there was a vintage Standard station
that housed a visitor’s center. Well, when we got there,
the station was there, but the visitor center had moved a couple
blocks over to the railroad park. That turned out to be at
a crossing of two major railroads, and there was a small rise
with a covered awning where people could watch the trains pass
safely. There was a gathering when we arrived, expecting
the next trains to pass. And it turned out that not one
but two trains went by while we were there. I got some
good pictures and four movies of the trains as they went
by. That was an unexpected event for the trip.
This trip along the Lincoln Highway was very interesting, but it
was taking a very long time. We’d only traveled 150 miles
or so in five or six hours. Now we didn’t have to be
anywhere in particular today, but we did have hotel reservations
in Rapid City, South Dakota for Sunday night. Every mile we
didn’t travel today was a mile we’d have to travel tomorrow, and
we were still quite a ways from Rapid City. So with some
reluctance, we decided to end our Lincoln Highway adventure and
start heading to Rapid City in earnest. Rochelle was near I-39,
making it a good place to depart from the highway. And so,
we backtracked a few miles and got onto I-39 heading northward.
I wouldn’t attain my goal of taking the Lincoln Highway farther
west than I had before (not counting the stretch in Wyoming a
few years ago). I-39 ran into I-90 and became a tollway in
Rockford, but we only had to pay once before crossing into
Wisconsin.
As we traveled through Wisconsin, our roles changed. I had
been doing the driving since leaving Detroit. Now, Bill
took over, not only to give me a rest but also to let me search
for a room for the night. While he drove us through
Wisconsin, I used my MacBook Pro and my MiFi portable hotspot to
find a room. How far did we think we could go: La Crosse,
Wisconsin? Perhaps. Rochester, Minnesota? Better. And so I made
a reservation at a Hampton Inn in Rochester. Later, we had
supper in Sparta, Wisconsin at the Happy Trails Roadside Diner.
There were three bicycles hanging from the wall there, and among
the historic pictures on the wall was one of astronaut Deke
Slayton, who was from Sparta. The food was decent enough.
The terrain became rather hilly as we neared the border with
Minnesota. We can thank the Mississippi River for that, I
imagine. Once we crossed over, the terrain flattened again
after several miles. And so onward we drove until we encountered
the exit for Rochester, which wasn’t directly on I-90. No, it
was a few miles north. But it wasn’t too difficult for us
to find the Hampton Inn and get our room. The parking lot
was very busy; it turned out there were multiple wedding parties
staying here. I think we got one of the last rooms available for
the night. We didn’t do very much that evening; the big
thing for me was to download our pictures from today into iPhoto
for me to identify and review. Some of them turned out
pretty well. I ended up going to bed around 11.
Top
Sunday July 1
I’d gone to bed around 11 last night and woke up around 6:15.
Bill woke up later. I had plenty of time to take my morning
medicine, check my e-mail, my Facebook, etc. Around 7, the phone
rang; it was my aunt Marie calling to talk to my uncle
Bill. Later, he spoke to his sister Jean, whom we’d be
visiting on our return trip.
This being a Hampton Inn, there was a breakfast bar in the
lobby. The waffle grill was there, but I didn’t use it.
No, I had the scrambled eggs with sausage and peppers, a banana,
some yogurt that might have been banana flavor in part, and a
muffin. Good Morning America was on the TV in the
breakfast room; the broadcast was coming from Minneapolis.
At one point, probably the top of the hour, the local news took
over. The breakfast room was pretty busy, as you would
imagine with a full hotel. Some of the people there had to have
been from the wedding parties, but I bet that some were Mayo
Clinic patients. Once we finished our breakfast, we finished
packing up and made sure the cooler was filled with fresh
ice.
Around 8:30, we left Rochester and picked up I-90 heading west.
The drive was uneventful; we listened to Breakfast with the
Beatles as we drove. A few hours later, there was the sign
for the South Dakota border. We had made it to South
Dakota! And I had now been in all of the lower 48 states (not
counting Alaska and Hawaii). But we had to leave it right away,
for I missed the exit for the state welcome center and had to
loop around, and the loop took us back into Minnesota. But
it was a worthwhile loop, for we found quite a bit of tourist
literature to help us refine our plans. And what were our
plans for the day? Drive to our hotel in Rapid City, obviously;
that was prime. I also wanted to visit the famous Wall
Drug, which we would pass on our way to Rapid City. If
there were time in the evening, I would want to go to Mount
Rushmore. It turned out there wasn’t time for that, but
I’m getting ahead of myself.
We stopped for lunch at an Arby’s in Sioux Falls, and we also
gassed up the car. We swapped positions in the car; I had
been driving, but now Bill was. I looked at the tourist
literature as we drove westward. On the radio, Breakfast
with the Beatles had ended; it was now time for the Euro 2012
final, Spain versus Italy. Who would win? Spain would, and
rather handily, too: 4-0. As we listened to the game, we
noticed the sights and sites, such as Porter Sculpture Park,
home to the world’s largest bull head. And then there were
the billboards for Wall Drug. They started in Minnesota
and were a constant companion until the time we reached
Wall. I took pictures of many of them -- not all, although
it seemed like it.
We crossed the Missouri River at Chamberlain and appreciated the
scenery as the land turned from flat to hilly. It became
flat again, but then the land dried out and became more
rugged. We were nearing the Badlands, and eventually we
could see some of the Badlands in the distance. There was
a scenic turnout along I-90, and we stopped there for a few
pictures. There was a fair amount of haze, so the pictures
wouldn’t be the greatest, but so what: we’d be coming back to
the National Park in a few days. Then we continued onward
to Wall. I was wondering if Wall Drug would be open when
we arrived there. I needn’t have worried; it was open from
7 AM to 10 PM every day.
Wall Drug is a very large place, occupying a whole city block.
We’d parked in a lot a block away and walked over. We had
our cameras with us, and we used them to take pictures of
several of the exhibits and artwork. Bill looked for some
items for his wife (and my aunt) Marie and his sister
Jean. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular this
evening. That wasn’t quite true; I was looking for some
aspirin. I found some here; it was still a drugstore,
after all. You could also say that it was a Wall mart.
Rapid City was 50 miles west of Wall. Our home for the
next few days was the Holiday Inn Express at exit 59, near the
Rushmore Mall. I’d been led to believe it was west of
LaCrosse Road, but Google Maps was wrong; it was east of the
road, located next to an Econo Lodge, an Outback Steakhouse, a
Boston’s sports bar, a gas station and a Denny’s. We got
settled in our room, room 115 very close to the lobby. We walked
over to the Denny’s for supper. Bill had tilapia, while I
had a Santa Fe Skillet that was almost too hot to eat.
Then we went back to our room for a bit of reading and
preparation for tomorrow before turning in for the night.
Tomorrow was looking to be very busy.
Top
Monday July 2
I woke up around 5:30 in the morning; I could already tell that
the sun was up. Bill had beaten me up, and he was in the
restroom; unfortunately, I couldn’t wait for him to finish. I
pulled on some clothes and went out to the restroom in the lobby
near the swimming pool. Good thing we were close to the
lobby! A newspaper was waiting for us outside the door;
what was unusual was that it was the local Rapid City paper, not
USA Today as is typical. One of the morning’s major
stories was the cancellation of fireworks in most area
communities due to the extreme fire danger.
After I took a shower, we went to the lobby for our
breakfast. Unfortunately, all of the tables were occupied,
so we had to bring our meals back to the room. I moved my
MacBook Pro to the floor to clear some table space. The
MBP had become really discharged overnight even though I’d had
it plugged in; that was probably due to a loose plug. I’d
use the adapter extension plug in the future, and the laptop
never discharged to that level again.
Our plans for today had us going to Custer State Park and
driving the Wildlife Loop, then visiting the Crazy Horse
Memorial and Mount Rushmore. Those were rather ambitious plans,
so we couldn’t dawdle too long getting ready. Our first
destination: Custer State Park. The park was some 28 miles south
of Rapid City. After stopping for a restroom break at the
visitor center, we set off on the Wildlife Loop. This road went
along the eastern, southern and western edges of the park. It
took us a few minutes and a few miles to see our first wildlife:
some antelope. Not longer afterwards, there was a lone
buffalo on the right side of the car. Bill was in a better
position to take a picture of it than I was, but I was able to
get some pictures by sticking the camera up through the moonroof
(I was pulled over at the time, of course). Other drivers
that passed by in the other direction said there were two large
herd of buffalo on the other side of the park. We continued
onward, seeing more antelope or deer on occasion. Later,
we came across a herd of semi-wild burros looking for handouts
from anyone who passed. Kids were having their pictures
taken with the burros, and the burros didn’t mind. A
couple of burros came up to our car. On my side, the burro
rubbed up against the rear-view mirror just like a kitty cat
would rub up against you while waiting to be fed. On the other
side, I got a picture of Bill taking a picture of a burro up
close and personal. We continued around on the Wildlife
Loop, and we encountered one of the herd of buffalo. We
got out to take pictures from a safe distance away. I saw one
buffalo a long ways off running toward the herd at a very good
clip considering his size. I zoomed in on him (or her) and took
a short movie; since that made the animal appear very close in
the viewfinder, I got the feeling that we should get back in the
car right away. But that was just an illusion. We saw
professional photographers or videographers set up in the field;
hopefully, they got the footage they needed. We passed by
a prairie dog town but didn’t stop there; there were a lot of
other park attractions that we didn’t visit, for that
matter. Perhaps if I return here, I’ll spend more time at
the park.
Next came the Crazy Horse Memorial. In deciding between which to
visit first, Crazy Horse or Mount Rushmore, we went with what
was closer to where we were, and that was Crazy Horse. We
drove through the town of Custer to turn up the road to the
memorial. Our first glimpse of it came rather suddenly,
about a half-mile from the entrance to the grounds. I remember
pointing at it and excitedly saying “Look, there it is!”
We drove in, paid our admission, and found a parking spot.
Our first destination in the visitor center was a short video on
the history of the monument; when that concluded, we left the
theater and entered an exhibit area that had a view of the
monument, models of the grounds once the monument was completed,
and some artwork, probably part of the Standing Soldier
Collection. We toured the Indian Museum of North America
and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center and
marveled at the exhibits.
We had lunch at the Laughing Water Restaurant across the
courtyard from the main visitor center. I had a buffalo
burger, while Bill had a salmon burger; both of our burgers were
good. The courtyard presented more opportunities to gaze
upon the monument and take pictures of it; we each took the
other’s picture in front of the monument. Farther back was
the model of the monument that was being used as a reference for
the mountain carving, and behind that were more exhibits,
including the family home and the sculptor’s studio. In a
corner was a repository of rocks blasted from the mountain; for
a donation, you could take home one of these rocks. We would do
so, making our selection on the way out. I took a larger rock,
while Bill took two smaller rocks that, combined, would be the
size of the rock I took.
Another attraction was the chance to take a bus ride much closer
to the mountain and learn some more of the history behind
it. We took advantage of that opportunity, and it was
worth the $4 bus ride. The flies that were biting my
ankles through my socks were definitely a nuisance, but I’m glad
I got to see behind the mountain and get a closer perspective on
the work. As we listened to the talk from the bus driver,
one of the sculptor’s sons drove past. Seven of the sculptor’s
ten children continued their father’s work, with six still
active today (the seventh died in 2011). The bus driver said
that the most common question he’s asked is when the work will
be finished. There’s no way to know; that will depend on
how much money is available. And they won’t be looking to Uncle
Sam for help; no government money has been or will be accepted
for it.
After Crazy Horse came Mount Rushmore. There was some rain
en route, but by the time we’d arrived there, the rainclouds
were gone. I got my first glimpse of the mountain as we
turned to enter the parking facility. There was no fee to
enter the grounds of the memorial, but there was a parking fee
of $11, good for all calendar year. We parked in area 1 of
the garage and walked up one flight of stairs to reach plaza
level. Straight ahead of us past the entrance portal were
the carved faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, iconic symbols of the
United States. We walked along the Avenue of Flags leading
to the Grand View Terrace; I located the flags of Michigan and
Texas. When we reached the terrace, our view of the
monument was unobstructed. I got some close-up pictures of
each president (thank you, zoom lens), and we got a ranger to
take some pictures of the two of us in front of the
memorial. Next came a walk around the Presidential Trail,
which enabled us to get as close as we could to the
mountain. There were four plaques placed around the trail,
one for each president, in places where one of the faces was
highlighted. These locations presented different
perspectives on the monument, while the plaques summarized why
each president was being honored, along with quotations from
sculptor Gutzon Borglum on why he chose to honor them. The
first portion of the trail was accessible to everyone, but the
remainder involved stairs leading down to the sculptor’s
studio. That was an interesting location, for it contained
the model that was used as the master for the mountain
carving. The model is more fully fleshed out than the
mountain, for the plan was to carve their bodies as well as
their faces; however, the advent of World War II and the death
of the sculptor put the kibosh on those plans, leaving us with
what we have today. Then came the climb up another flight
of stairs to get back to the main viewing plaza. Adjacent
to it was the vintage viewing plaza, which also provided good
views of the mountain. That viewing area was in place when
my grandmother, grandfather, aunt and great aunt visited in
1965. The rest of the visitor center had to be completely
different from what it is today. We went down to the lower
level to see some of the exhibits there and to view the
bookstore. I found three books there, one on Mount
Rushmore (appropriate) and two on Crazy Horse and the Lakota
(also appropriate).
By this time, I was getting pretty tired and wanted to head
back. As we were leaving, Bill ran into a former co-worker
from TACOM and spoke to him for a few minutes. We headed
back to Rapid City by way of US 16, passing through
downtown. We saw some of the statues of US presidents
erected on street corners downtown; the one that caught my
attention was the statue of Harry Truman. In it, he’s depicted
holding up the newspaper that said DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.
We stopped for supper at the Perkins restaurant on LaCrosse
south of I-90. I had their turkey dinner, which was good
but on the filling side. I couldn’t finish it all; the
muffin I’d ordered as dessert came back to the hotel with me,
where I ate it later that evening. The big project for this
evening was downloading and identifying the pictures we took
today. I had taken 253 pictures, while Bill had taken 81.
Now what were my thoughts on seeing these two magnificent
sculptures in the mountains? They were both moving and
thought-provoking in their own ways. Mount Rushmore is an
American icon, honoring four of the US’s greatest leaders.
The Crazy Horse memorial reminds us that, as the Lakota tribal
leaders said at the time, the red men had their own heroes,
too. The spirit motivating the building of the Crazy Horse
memorial is admirable and cannot be denied. The plans for the
memorial campus once the monument is completed are very
ambitious, but I hope they come to fruition. I’m proud to have
contributed in a small way toward its completion. It’s doubtful
I’ll be alive to see the project completed.
Top
Tuesday July 3
The alarm clock went off at 5:05 AM; the only problem was,
neither of us set it. Bill wasn’t happy about that.
Neither was I, yet I stayed up to check my e-mail. I was on the
verge of getting up, anyway. Around 6 o’clock, Marie called to
talk to Bill. I continued to identify the pictures we’d taken
yesterday until we went to breakfast. Today, we were able
to eat in the breakfast bar area; was it less busy because we
were up earlier or because there weren’t as many guests at the
hotel? The parking lot seemed just as full, so I suspect it was
due to our eating at an earlier time. But we needed to eat
an early meal today, for we had a bit of a drive ahead of us.
Today, we planned to go to Wyoming to visit Devils Tower, made
famous by the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was
over 100 miles away from Rapid City. After the long drives of
the weekend, we did not feel like continuing with the driving on
Monday, and so Tuesday became the day. As we headed westward on
I-90, we were listening to the ‘60s on 6 again, as we did for
most of the trip. At one point, news broke that Andy
Griffith had died, and tributes and reminiscences started
pouring in.
The territory seemed to become more rugged as soon as we crossed
the Wyoming border. We stopped at the Welcome Center to
use the restroom and to pick up some literature, and then we
continued to the exit for US 14 in Sundance. This was the
southerly approach to Devils Tower. As we traveled northward on
Highway 24, we first saw it as a dark shape in the distance,
made indistinct by the haze. There was a turnoff on the
other side of a pass, and we stopped there for a few pictures,
although thanks to the haze, the pictures wouldn’t be the
best. A better opportunity came a few miles later with
another turnoff much closer to the mountain; we stopped to take
a few more pictures there.
A few miles down the road, we turned down the road that led to
the park. There was a bit of a backup to get into the
park, but soon we were inside. On the left, there was a
prairie dog town; we didn’t stop there then but planned to do so
as we left the park. The parking area was full, so we had
to park in one of the subsidiary parking areas a short distance
from the visitor center. I needed to use the restroom rather
badly, so that was my first destination; the only problem was
that a lot of other men and boys needed to use it just then, so
there was a line. Fortunately, it moved quickly, and we
were soon ready to walk around the tower. There was a
trail that went 1.2 miles around the tower, although with a
short rise before reaching the trail. The trail stayed close to
the base of the tower and meandered up and down, but it always
gave great perspectives on the tower. At one point, there
was an observation area farther away from the tower, but
positioned to give a good look at the tower. There were
binoculars mounted there that gave folks a good view of the
summit and of the mountain side. From here, we could see some
people climbing the tower or, more accurately, climbing down the
tower. They weren’t visible to my naked eye, but I could see
them using the zoom lens on my camera.
There were a number of shaded places on the trail, but there
were a number of places that weren’t, and it became rather warm
in those unshaded areas. Fortunately, shady locations were
almost always just ahead. We went on until we had returned
to our starting point, and then we went inside the visitor’s
center for a bit. It was from the visitor center that I saw a
good photo opportunity with Devils Tower and the American flag
side by side. That opportunity did not go to waste.
Soon, we were headed out of the park and remembered to stop at
the prairie dog town, where the prairie dogs were out in
force. There were signs saying not to feed the prairie
dogs, yet someone had thrown bigs chunks of bread to them, and
they were trying their darndest to eat them. I got a
number of pictures of the prairie dogs, taking full advantage of
my camera’s zoom lens. They were cute critters. Never mind
that they might have been carrying bubonic plague and other
nasty diseases, they were cute critters. And then we were out of
the park.
We decided to return to South Dakota by taking advantage of a
loop road around the tower, which headed north then east.
It went through some very small towns, but there weren’t any
good places to stop for lunch or to get gas. We weren’t
able to do either until we reached Belle Fourche back in South
Dakota. We were trying to get there, anyway, as Belle Fourche
had the marker for the geographical center of the United States.
It was south of the actual geographical center, which was some
20 miles north on private property that the owner did not plan
to develop in any way (44.967787,-103.772846). The marker
was at a visitor center off the main highway and on the Belle
Fourche River (44.674432,-103.852746), and it definitely was an
elaborate marker and good photo opportunity. With that
taken care of, we ate lunch at a Subway restaurant in town, then
drove off to reconnect to I-90. We drove through Sturgis
and got gas there, then drove briefly through the town, which
was getting ready to host the big bike rally in a month’s
time. There was a motorcycle museum in town, but we missed
seeing it. Then it was back to Rapid City and back to the
hotel around 4:15. Time to download and identify today’s
pictures, and time to rest for a bit.
Suppertime came around; where would we go? We decided on the
Golden Corral south of the hotel. When we got there, it
was rather busy on this Tuesday night. The food was OK; it
wasn’t really different from any other Golden Corral. However,
when we were ready to leave, we discovered that the cleanliness
of the men’s room left a lot to be desired. Bill refused
to use the men’s room there, and I didn’t blame him.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t wait. Fortunately, I didn’t have
to spend a long time there, and I got out as quickly as I
could. I doubt I’d want to visit there again. Bill
went over to the Wal-Mart across the parking lot to look for a
few items while I waited in the car. Afterwards, we went
downtown to walk the streets with the statues of the
presidents. It was getting dark, so we didn’t see all of
them, perhaps half of them. Still, they made for an
interesting display on the streets of Rapid City. Then it
was back to the hotel for the evening.
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Wednesday July 4
There wouldn’t be any fireworks today, thanks to the extreme
fire hazard. But we would spend the day doing something
appropriate for the 4th of July: going to a national park,
specifically Badlands National Park. We set out around 7:45
going east. Since we were approaching Wall Drug from the
west, we saw plenty of their billboards again. I took several
pictures of them as we traveled eastward. At the second
exit for Wall, we exited the freeway, but we weren’t going to
Wall Drug, not yet. This was the western access road to
Badlands National Park, and the entrance was some six miles
south of the freeway.
It was a very windy day today when we set out from the hotel,
and it was still windy as we entered the park. We saw two
groups of bike riders pedaling against the wind; they had to be
having a hard time. Pulling up to the entrance booth, I
had pulled out $15 for the entrance fee. But the booth attendant
asked Bill, who was driving, if he was over 62. He
answered that he was, for indeed he was. The attendant then let
him know he qualified for a senior pass: $10 provided lifetime
admission to most national parks and monuments. We could
have gotten one at Devils Tower yesterday and not have had to
pay today. He got the pass, and we were on our way.
We were driving the Badlands Loop Road from west to east, and
this would give us a good overview of the park. But we wouldn’t
see all of the park. We would miss the entire southern part of
the park, and we would miss the sites along the Sage Creek Rim
Road, such as a prairie dog town and the general hangout for the
bison herds. But we wouldn’t miss any of the scenic
turnouts along the loop road (there were ten, perhaps
eleven). Most of the turnouts provided views of
spectacularly rugged terrain; the one that didn’t was in the
prairie, and that provided a wonderful look all its own. I was
busy with my camera, taking a mixture of wide angle and
telephoto shots.
In the middle of our visit to the park, we stopped for lunch at
the Cedar Pass Lodge restaurant. We had burgers; mine was
Angus, Bill’s buffalo. We then visited the visitor center
down the road for a while, using the restroom, viewing the
exhibits, getting the road guide from the bookstore, etc.
Then it was back on the road until the next turnout. Here,
we noticed a motorcycle with European license plates. The
country code was H, which stands for Hungary. Somebody was
going around the world!
There were a number of hiking trails in the eastern part of the
park. We walked the Fossil Trail and saw models of a
number of fossils that had been found in the park. We took the
Window Trail and the start of the Door Trail but passed on the
Cliff Shelf Nature Trail. I might have felt like doing the last
one had it been at the start of our visit or at the start of the
day, but I was feeling rather fatigued and didn’t want to take
it. I guess I have a reason to come back to the park some
day. The Door Trail had a short boardwalk section and a
longer unpaved section, but it wasn’t clear to me where the
unpaved trail was. No matter; the scenery was still
spectacular. Walking back to the car, we countered the only form
of mammalian wildlife we’d see in the park today: a bunny rabbit
munching away contentedly next to the trail.
The final turnout was Big Badlands Turnout. This may have been
the location where my grandparents had their pictures taken
during their trip to the park in 1965. Comparing their
picture to the ones I took here, the terrain seemed
similar. And after we were done here, we noticed it was
nearing 4 o’clock. We’d pass near the Minuteman National
Historical Site on the way out, but it would be closing soon,
and the Minuteman silo at exit 116 would close at 4. They would
have to wait for another visit.
After leaving the park, we started heading back on I-90. We
stopped at Wall Drug again to see the rest of the facility that
we’d missed on Sunday. This time, I had some of that free
ice water, mainly from the “wells” in the Backyard (really
fountains) and took a few more pictures of the jackalope, the
totem poles, the carvings, etc. Then it was back to Rapid
City and back to the hotel. I had taken 426 pictures
today, and Bill had taken 125. No way was I going to be
able to identify them all in one sitting! I wasn’t going to try.
We were NOT going to return to the Golden Corral for supper,
that was guaranteed. Where would we go? To
Fuddrucker’s in the mall, that’s where. The mall stores
were closed early for the holiday, but the restaurant was still
open. A number of nearby restaurants were packed, but
Fuddrucker’s wasn’t terribly busy; it did get a bit busier after
we arrived, though. Yes, we were having burgers again, but
it didn’t matter; you’re supposed to have burgers on the Fourth
of July, ha ha. Then it was back to the room to start
packing for our departure tomorrow. I also made
reservations for a room in Minneapolis (Minnetonka, to be
precise) for Thursday and Friday nights. I had enough
frequent stayer points in my account to qualify for a reduced
rate for both nights. It would have been nicer had I had
enough points to qualify for free nights, but that wasn’t to be.
Top
Thursday July 5
I popped awake around 5 to use the restroom, but before I could
get out of bed, the alarm clock went off and woke up Bill.
He wasn’t happy, for neither of us had set the alarm. The maids
must have done so accidentally; they should be more careful.
Today, we were leaving Rapid City and heading for Minneapolis.
It would be a long drive, so we wanted to get a jump on things
by getting an early breakfast. In fact, we were too early,
getting some things before the breakfast room officially opened.
This allowed us to check out and leave before 7 AM. The
trip odometer read 1760 miles; I reset it as I turned onto the
ramp for eastbound I-90. An hour later, we were at Wall
Drug looking for a few gifts -- well, Bill was looking for gifts
for his sister, his wife and a family friend. He was partially
successful;
By 8:30, we had left Wall and were underway in earnest. We
stopped at the rest area near Chamberlain, which was also a
scenic overlook for the Missouri River. There was a marker
for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and
there was a walkway to the edge of the bluff. At the edge
or along the walkway, there were views of the river and of I-90
below. We took a few pictures out there and then continued
onward. Bill took over behind the wheel, while I continued
compiling an album of the best pictures of the trip for showing
Jean and Paul tomorrow. I also sent my niece Candice five
pictures from the trip, as she hadn’t seen any of them yet. I
tried checking into my computer systems at home, to see if there
were any problems. It appeared power had gone out at least
once, for I saw some error messages on my iMac. I figured
the best way to clear up those error conditions was to restart
the iMac, which I could do. However, I got concerned when
it didn’t come back up. I couldn’t reach it from my
laptop, nor could I reach it from my other system on my home
network. Something had gone seriously wrong, and I
wouldn’t know what until I got home.
After a few more hours on the road, we crossed over into
Minnesota. Our first destination was the historic National
Farmer’s Bank building in Owatonna; Jean had told us that it was
recognized for its architecture and its stained glass
windows. But would we make it there before 6 PM, when it
closed for the day? We were trying very hard to get there
in time. Fortunately, weather and traffic cooperated, and
with the help of the maps inside the Owatonna tourist brochure,
we made it to the building with 25 minutes to spare before it
closed. The building was now used by Wells Fargo, and
shortly after we went inside, one of the bank staff introduced
himself and encouraged us to go up to the balcony on the second
floor for a historical display and for better photo
opportunities.
It was indeed a magnificent building, especially for such a
small town. Apparently, the owner of the original bank had
wanted to be an artist, and so he indulged his love of art in
hiring the eminent architect Louis Sullivan to design the
building. There were two large stained glass windows on the
second story and another one in the ceiling; two murals occupied
the other walls on the second story. There were four large
chandeliers, or electroliers as they were called; nowadays, the
light bulbs were compact fluorescent. Of course, the
building was on the National Historical Register. As
closing time approached, we took some pictures of the outside of
the building, as well as of the historical marker across the
street in the park. I also took a picture of the Little
Professor Bookstore down the street; it brought back memories of
Dearborn’s old Little Professor Bookstore, which has been closed
for several years after the owners retired. We walked up
and down some of the surrounding streets before returning to our
car.
We had nibbled on peanuts, beef jerky and other things during
the drive; we’d not had a proper lunch. We figured we’d
better have a proper supper before setting off for the Twin
Cities. After driving around some more of the town, we went
towards the freeway for the greatest number of choices. My
first suggestion was the Perkins restaurant across I-35 at US
14, but as we went there, we saw Olivia’s Family Restaurant,
which was mentioned in the brochure as the Owatonna Family
Restaurant. Since we’d just been to a Perkins in Rapid
City, we decided to take a chance on Olivia’s. And it was
a good chance to take, for they served good food there. We
each got a chopped steak with baked potato; I got a salad, while
Bill went with the soup. I’d eat there again if I ever
found myself in Owatonna. However, I think they should
change their music channel. I was hearing a lot of 80’s
music, but it seemed off to me. I don’t think they were
the original songs; I think they may have been karaoke versions
with some guide vocals.
Minneapolis was about an hour north on I-35, but our destination
was actually Minnetonka -- specifically, the Hampton Inn on
I-394. I guided Bill to the hotel based on my study of the
atlas (the GPS display wasn’t available); we got there around
8:30 and were given room 211 for the next two nights. Once in
the room, we unpacked, and then I downloaded and identified
today’s batch of pictures - the smallest batch to date for the
trip. They were still good pictures, though.
Top
Friday July 6
I found myself awake around 6 o’clock but didn’t want to get out
from under the covers. It was chilly by the desk where the
computer was, which also happened to be next to the air
conditioning. I ended up going back to bed to read e-mail
and do other things with my iPad. After 7, Marie called
and spoke to Bill, after which we went for breakfast in the
lobby.
What were we going to do today? Three items were on the
agenda. The main item was to see Bill’s sister Jean and
her husband Paul, but that would be in the afternoon. In
the morning, we’d visit the Mall of America and then go to Radio
City, a ham radio store in Mounds View. Around 9, we left the
hotel to go to the mall, which was some 20 miles away. It
also was close to the Minneapolis airport. After exiting
Highway 77 onto Killebrew Drive (a nod to the old Metropolitan
Stadium that used to be there), we parked in the parking deck
and went inside. It was 9:40, and most of the stores had
yet to open. There was an aquarium on the lowest level,
but that was a $20 admission. We walked all the way around
the three lower levels (the fourth did not go all the way
around). On the third level was a full-line Best
Buy. We went in there with the intent of getting some USB
drives for transferring files, namely photographs; one drive
would have been for giving my pictures to Bill, while another
would have been to give photos to Jean and Paul. However,
Bill didn’t care for the selection or prices of the drives, and
so we left empty-handed. There were a number of full-line
restaurants on the third level, but it was too early for lunch.
In the center of the mall was an amusement park with a
Nickelodeon theme. On the first floor, we visited the Barnes and
Noble and each got a book on Minnesota bike trails.
Farther around, there was an Apple Store, and right across from
it was a Microsoft Store. At the Apple Store, I picked up
one of their new Smart Cases for my iPad. At the Microsoft
Store, I picked up the latest edition of Streets and Trips,
which I knew existed but had not seen anywhere. We ended
up having lunch at a Subway near where we entered. Bill
wasn’t that impressed with the Mall of America, considering it
to be not that much better than the Somerset Collection in
suburban Detroit. To me, it was definitely bigger -- similar but
bigger.
The drive from the Mall of America to Radio City wasn’t
difficult; it was mostly a straight shot on I-35W through
downtown Minneapolis. Traffic wasn’t too bad going through
town. We saw the Metrodome as we drove through
downtown. As we crossed the Mississippi River, the
presence of another bridge next to the freeway bridge jogged my
memory: were we driving over the bridge that had replaced the
one that had collapsed in 2007? Neither of us were sure.
Later, we learned that it was in fact that bridge. Back to the
drive: we were to exit at exit 28C, but when we got there, that
exit was closed. The overpass was gone, in fact; it was being
replaced. We’d have to take the next exit. But that may have
been for the best, as the next exit was for County Road I, the
street on which Radio City was located. Unfortunately, we
missed the store the first time through and had to turn
around. It was much easier to see heading eastbound than
westbound. Admittedly, we were fooled by the lack of antennas on
the building, something typically found at ham radio
stores. The store also sold telescopes and was located
next to a bike store; for anyone operating bike mobile, they’d
have a one-stop shop, ha ha. Now neither of us were
looking for serious gear that day. We ended up getting
some magazines, and I bought a Skywarn hat (that I don’t think
got put in my bag, as I discovered two days later back in
Michigan; it would eventually be mailed to me). Then we
drove to Jean and Paul’s place in northwest Minneapolis.
Jean was Bill’s older sister (nine years older, I believe) and
Paul was her husband. They had two dogs, Habibi and Jesse;
Jesse was much younger than Habibi and was more friendly.
Whenever he came by me, he’d want to lick my hands. Jean and
Bill spent a good part of the afternoon reviewing old family
photographs and other things that had been sent by their sister
Noel. Some of the photos dated back to when their mother
was a young child, so they were around 100 years old. That
would make a good scanning project, I thought. Later, I
showed them a selection of the pictures Bill and I had taken on
our trip, 96 out of hundreds; they enjoyed seeing them.
They prepared a wonderful dinner for us: salmon, brown rice,
peas, cauliflower, salad, and melon. I wasn’t too fond of
cauliflower, but the rest of the supper was fantastic. I
had multiple helpings of the salmon and the rice.
We spent around 7 hours over there, but eventually we had to
return to the hotel to get ready to leave in the morning.
We said our goodbyes and found our way back to the hotel, where
we called it a day. We’d have a long day on the road
tomorrow.
Top
Saturday July 7
I woke up around 5:30 again and checked e-mail on my iPad; it
was still a bit chilly over where I’d set up the MacBook
Pro. It was a slow start to a long day, for today was the
day we’d leave Minneapolis and return home. Once we got
up, we packed our bags and made sure we had everything. By
7, we were down in the lobby having breakfast. The eggs
and sausage I had were pretty good, as was the bagel with cream
cheese; however, the consistency of the yogurt left something to
be desired.
By 8 o’clock, we had checked out and were underway. As I
drove out towards the freeway entrance, I saw a sign for a
Hampton Inn and Suites to be built down the street from the
current Hampton Inn location. Construction had not yet
started. Then we got onto I-394 and headed eastbound. As
we passed downtown, I could see part of Target Field, home to
the Twins. But soon it and the rest of downtown were
behind us as we got onto I-94. Next came St. Paul, and
later came Wisconsin. We stopped for gas at our first
opportunity in Wisconsin, getting some drinks for the drive
ahead. I continued to drive until a rest area, where I let
Bill take over for a while. I was feeling rather sleepy or
fatigued and tried to nap. I rested, but I never
slept.
Bill and I alternated driving through Wisconsin on I-94 and then
I-90. Yes, we were going the southern route, so we would be
driving through or near Chicago. The Wisconsin drive was
uneventful; we passed the time by listening to this week’s AT40
repeat (from 1971) and the 60’s Satellite Survey (covering 1966
this week). Once again we passed through the Wisconsin
Dells, Madison, Janesville and Beloit, and then we entered
Illinois. Our plan was to take I-90 down to the
northwestern Chicago suburbs, then take I-290 down to the
Tri-State. Before then, we’d stop at the Oasis for gas and
a late lunch. As we neared the Oasis, though, the truck
ahead of us hit its brakes and turned on its hazard
flashers. Traffic was coming to a near-halt. I
couldn’t see anything past the truck, but the traffic report
from SiriusXM said that there was a car fire near the Oasis. It
took us 45 minutes to crawl nearly 2 miles to get to the Oasis,
and after filling the tank, we parked and went inside for lunch.
There were several choices available to us for lunch (Panda
Express, Sbarro, Subway), but we ended up going to McDonald’s. I
got a Southwestern salad and a cheeseburger, and we found seats
at a table in front of the east window. I’d brought my
iPad with me, so I tried to look for information about what was
going on. I eventually determined that the accident was
some 2 miles away, just past the next exit. Should we take
that exit to bypass the backup? With the accident just beyond
it, we decided to take our chances and stay on the
tollway. Eventually, we came upon the accident scene: two
cars had gone off on the right, with one on its side and the
other having burned. Belongings from the car were strewn
all over the grass. It was a terrible scene. According to
later news reports, one woman had to be airlifted to the
hospital with serious injuries.
As we drove through Chicago, Bill was behind the wheel while I
navigated for him; I was more familiar with the area than he
was. I was amazed at how high the cash tolls were; they
were twice the I-Pass tolls. We eventually got through
Chicago and scooted through Indiana and western Michigan.
We stopped at the rest area near Battle Creek for a restroom
break and for a driver swap; I would be taking us home. By
10 o’clock, we were on M-14 in Ann Arbor; by 10:30, we were home
-- well, I was home. I opened the garage to give Bill
access to his car, and he started transferring his things from
my car to his. I unpacked as well; I also turned on the
air conditioning, for it had become very warm inside the house
while I was away. It was 90 on the first floor and over 90 in
the bedrooms on the second floor. And I could see that the iMac
had a gray screen, an indication that something had gone
seriously wrong after the reboot. It was rather warm, so I
shut it off and let it cool.
Bill and I had not had supper, so we went to Sonic and ate
there. I’d never used their drive-in facilities before,
just the drive-thru window. He had a chicken wrap, while I
had a double cheeseburger. Then it was back to the house
where we said our goodbyes. As Bill drove off, I put my
car in the garage. But would I go to bed? Not right away;
it was too uncomfortable upstairs. I opened the windows and put
on the fan, which helped, but I didn’t get to sleep until well
after 2. During that time, I restarted the iMac after unplugging
everything that was in the USB ports. It successfully booted, so
I plugged the USB cables back in. But something wasn’t
right; I could not see the hard drives that were plugged into
the USB hub. I restarted again and got the same gray
screen. Then I had the idea to unplug just the hub; doing
that allowed the boot to complete. Something was wrong
with the hub; I left it unplugged overnight. It would
resume working in the morning.
Top
Afterword
Since I’d returned home on Saturday and had one day of rest on
Sunday, I could have gone to work on Monday. But I didn’t;
I took that as another day of vacation, for I really needed the
rest. Yes, I needed some vacation to recover from the
vacation. We’d packed a lot into one week, seeing sights
that everybody, or at least every American, should see at least
once in his or her lifetime.
THE END
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Back to Travels page
©2012 R.
W. Reini. All rights reserved.
Written by Roger
Reini
Revised
July 14, 2012
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