The snowy weather forecast for the west caused us to decide to scoot through South Dakota faster than we had anticipated. We left our friends in Burks Falls and made our way to North Bay. There we enjoyed lunch and a visit with Bill and Lorna Powell, our district reps for Village Missions, who are now retired. Road construction met us for most of our drive to Sault Ste Marie.
The border crossing was easy. Glenda was given a piece of paper with a list of permissible and non-permissible items. The only thing we had to surrender was a sliver of yellow pepper. The promise of phone service through Bell Canada fell very short through Michigan and Wisconsin. We found wifi at a McDonalds and tried to converse through their website chat. That proved to be futile as well as frustrating. We didn’t want our families to worry about us (we text them daily to let them know where we are and that we are fine). Doug found the price for another phone and plan and we were prepared to buy both. But the saleslady said that AT&T (who Bell collaborates with) is not active in that part of the States, and maybe once we enter an area that they are our service would resume. And sure enough, when we reached Sioux Falls SD we got our connection back. But that wasn’t the best part. We found some really good eggnog in Tomah, WI – Southern Comfort is the brand, blended especially to be “enjoyed” in Southern Comfort Whiskey. We will never know what that tastes like, but it sure is wonderful in Northern Comfort, our coffee!
The landscape through Michigan and Wisconsin is much like home and the scenery and Autumn color was beautiful. We stopped for lunch at a Lake Michigan beach and the only 2 people we saw was a guy driving a jeep with a dummy in the passenger seat and another guy dumpster diving. Weird. Minnesota was very windy with large wind farms everywhere. The wind was so strong the day we traveled there that we had to cut our drive short, although Doug fought long and hard!
The Badlands are incredibly beautiful! Pictures don’t and cannot capture the majesty of the landscape. We must have taken a million pictures! The driving terrain through the Badlands is a little (or maybe a lot!) scary – steep ups and downs and curves without guardrails. We always thought it was called the badlands because outlaws found their home there, but that isn’t why – it’s because it was difficult to travel, the land was bad. Wall Drugstore was our next stop. We were looking forward to stopping there because we had been there about 30 years ago as we traveled back to NS during Bible school years. We don’t remember it being such a tourist trap. The store started as a meager drugstore in the 1930’s and today covers at least 2 city blocks, and sells everything touristy. Reminiscent maybe of the growth pattern of Masstown Market only larger.
We spent 2 nights at Rapid City Walmart and rented a car to tour the Black Hills. Walmart camping is actually quite interesting. One evening we saw 6 cops arrive at a restaurant and 2 of them went around the back while the other 4 circled around the front. We thought maybe something was up but when we spoke with them turned out they just met for supper.
At Keystone SD, where Mt Rushmore is, we watched a chain saw artist do a little carving. We noticed Denis Clay among the carvings so we included his picture below. Lol. It was cold and rainy/snowy at Mt Rushmore. It is a wonder to behold. But the Crazy Horse Memorial, 17 miles SW of Mt Rushmore is splendidly well done. It is a work-in-progress memorial to Native peoples. Lakota leader Crazy Horse was chosen as the subject for the project. Like the mountain carving of presidential heads on Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse is carved on a mountain. When finished, it will measure 641 ft long and 563 ft tall. The visitor center is full of Native memorabilia and literature and history. The project is sustained through admissions and donations. No government aid. We totally enjoyed visiting the site. The web site: http://crazyhorsememorial.org/
In stark contrast is The Wounded Knee Memorial. Actually “historical marker” is how the road sign reads. The sight consists of a large sign giving a short explanation of the massacre of the Lakota tribe by the US cavalry and a mass grave across the road from the sign. The visit to this site had a lasting, deep affect on us. A detailed account of the visit is given in a separate blog titled “A Visit to Wounded Knee”. We were dismayed at the lack of care to honor these people and the poverty and sense of hopelessness that is there.
Let's Do The 180! 