Vrooom, vrooom...... We chugged in to Sturgis, South Dakota - population 6,700. For those of you not in the know, Sturgis is best known for their annual week-long motorcycle rally. This year is the 70th anniversary!!! This sleepy little town transforms into one the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world hosting nearly 500,000 visitors and exhibitors during that one week. Yikes! The population was only 6,702 the day we showed up. Driving through the town, you can see the massive infrastructure built for just that one week - most noticeably were the bars and saloons. They were huge indoor and outdoor structures with stages and scaffolding quietly waiting for August. You could envision the party.
The reason we decided to drop in to Sturgis is that CPs parents are Harley enthusiasts. There are also several people at Wayside Glass (CPs father’s business) that share in that enthusiasm and are huge Harley-Davidson fans. Most cities have a Harley-Davidson store, each with merchandise specific to that city or region of the country. The artwork and “colors” of the area carry a certain sense of pride with it. Sturgis - the Mother Ship - was actually our third Harley-Davidson shop where we picked up some local shirts. Pretty neat stuff!!!
SM - When we were checking out of the store, I looked into the parking lot to see a young-ish woman laying down in the bed of her pick-up truck. She was wearing only a bikini. She was sun-bathing. Only in South Dakota, only in Sturgis, and only in the Harley-Davidson parking lot...
We rolled out of town and took a short drive down the highway to Mt. Rushmore. If you recall, we had purchased a National Parks annual pass back in Jamestown, VA. What a bargain. We had traveled the east, midwest, southwest, and pacific without a problem. Just flash the pass, get a park map, and head on in. Mt. Rushmore - not so much. They wanted us to pay $10 to “park” at the monument. Phooey! We didn’t bite. We had clear, albeit brief, views of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Why pay? So, CP drove as slowly as possible with SM hanging out the side windows of the RV snapping pictures (picture crazy paparazzi trying to get “the” shot). It took three passes by the monument to get our satisfactory pictures. We probably spent $10 in gas doing so, but it is the principle! We’re not going to pay $10 to park in a lot in the middle of nowhere!
Back in Aspen, our friends Karla and Brian recommended we swing by the caves in South Dakota. We had no idea what they were talking about until we did some research. There are several different cave-type National Parks in South Dakota. Who knew? We decided to visit Wind Caves. Native plains people seemingly always knew of its existence, but in the late 1800’s a white settler discovered this place for the anglo-saxon history books. This young man was on a summer walk through the Black Hills and passed by a hole in the earth just larger than the width of a basketball. A whistling cool breeze blew up from this hole and piqued his curiosity. He went home, grabbed some string (for a way to mark his route and get back once in the cave) and a candle, and headed into the hole.
Since then, other explorers have uncovered 120 miles of caves on this site under the rolling hills of western South Dakota. Park rangers estimate that only 5-10% of the cave has actually been explored. We decided to take a two hour, mile and a half long, guided tour of the caves 250 feet under ground. It was amazing. We thankfully dressed for the 60 degree temps of the cave seeking refuge from the 90 degree weather outside. Unlike most caves, Wind Cave is not made up of stalactites and stalagmites. Based on the type of material and the erosion patterns, this cave contains a few unique formations - calcite boxwork, popcorn, and frostwork all of which line the cave walls and ceilings. Check out the pictures. This was by far the most unique and unusual National Park we’ve visited. Check it out! Cool stuff...
We made our way to a last minute reservation at the Rapid City KOA and hunkered down for the night.
In the morning, we decided to make up some time driving. We were still only 2 hours driving distance from where we started the day before at Devil’s Tower. We pushed eastward. All along the highways and bi-ways of South Dakota are hand-made, small, painted billboards (signs actually) that read Wall Drug - 100 miles ahead. Or - Wall Drug Home of Free Water and 5 cent Coffee. CP had mentioned this place way before we even started this seven week trip, so Wall Drug made its way onto the list of must-dos. What else is there to do in Nowhere, SD?
SM - I was either sleeping or blogging, not paying much attention to our surroundings as we came into town. CP spoke up and said... “I think we’re in a parade”. I came to only to find us in the right lane of a two lane road through the small town center of Wall, South Dakota. The double yellow line of the middle of and the sidewalk of the other side of the road were swarming with locals. We crawled down our side of street as the waiving members of the Wall high school class of 1960 rolled by on a float to our left. “Hey hon - check out the fire engine! Oooh, a cool Dodge Road Runner...”. We ducked on to a side street, left Murph behind, and on foot blended into the crowd to watch the rest of the parade. What a trip!
There is not much to Wall, SD. The parade was over 20 minutes later. Now, on to the real reason we came... Wall Drug. In the 30s, this place was just a small town drug store. As businesses surrounding the store closed, the store expanded physically and the products it sold. To drum up some interest for passers-by and tourists, Wall Drug started putting signs all over the state directing people to Wall and their store. The gorilla marketing worked and now people (including country-traveling Bostonians) come from all over to shop at Wall Drug. The store now has 76,000 square feet and sells pretty much everything. They have a souvenir shop, a gourmet coffee shop, a western art gallery, an animated T-Rex, Jackalopes, a Train Station water show, a pizza parlor, and more. A whole lot more! We shopped around for some time, but only bought few post cards and scored a free bumper sticker - Where the Heck is Wall Drug? - more gorilla marketing.
Must do, SD - place #2 - the Corn Palace. We had been talking about visiting this place long before the trip too. Mitchell, SD - home to said palace - was conveniently another blow-by stop on our way to the evening’s pit stop. We had envisioned a rural oasis - a quaint corn-decorated barn on farm with little pigs and sheep flitting about. And the inside as a museum/homage to the staple crop of the area. Disappointingly, we weren’t even close. The building was covered with different colored ears of corn affixed to the exterior walls in a patterns to create images - this years theme was transportation. Check out the picture. Although it was amazing art (and easily the highlight of the stop), the Corn Palace was a complete bust. It’s in downtown Mitchell (no barn, pigs, or sheep) and is attached to the city hall. It doesn’t even have it’s own building!!! Basically, this place is a small-town convention center. No museum. No tour. Nothing. They did have a huge gift shop to sell a bunch of crap to tourists, but other than that it’s just a shell. Do yourself a favor if you’re in the area.... google the Corn Palace, enjoy some on-line pictures, and drive as fast as possible right past the exit to Mitchell, SD.
We hurried on out of there and pointed Mel to North Sioux City, SD. The prior evening in Rapid City, we had heard in the distance the dull roar of race cars tooling around a local track. We had been too tired to partake of the races, but SM was still wanting to cross that adventure off the small list of trip must do’s. North Sioux City was a nice compromise - it fit nicely as an evening’s pit stop, it had a clean KOA, and a local race track a few miles down the road. After settling in a bit and having dinner, we jumped on our bikes and headed to the track for a night of racing. SM had way more fun than CP. As late dusk hit, we made our way back to Mel to crash after a long day of driving, sight-seeing, and racing.
In the morning we took a quick ride to Nebraska (only a couple miles away) and grabbed some breakfast at a Panaderia, then we headed to Iowa! Final destination: Cedar Rapids!
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