Hi Gram,
I woke this morning to my alarm clock, but my body just wasn’t ready to get going. I stretched a little, tossed and turned, and finally got out of bed a couple hours later. After a small breakfast, I headed back to the room to sort through pictures and transcribe some of my notes into a blog post. As it got closer to check-out time, I packed up my bags and headed to Wind Caves. I was disappointed to find out that the cave tours were indeed suspended while they work on the elevator, but I took the opportunity to speak with a ranger to learn details about the caves, walk through the exhibit explaining some of the history, and watch a film talking about the caves and showing some great views of the caves, plains, and bison. I stepped outside to find the sun had come out and warmed things up a bit, so I decided to head to get a hotel near Badlands so I would be ready to explore that tomorrow. Shortly after pulling out of the visitors center, I saw a herd of buffalo that had taken over a parking area. With no other cars in sight, I pulled off a little and snapped a few pictures.

GPS had me following a paved road for the first few miles, then turned off to a dirt road. I thought it was a shortcut to the next paved road, but ended up being about 30 miles before we got back to pavement. It was mostly a smooth road, with the exception of one pot hole that I hit at around 50 mph and rattled my teeth. It had me nervous for the next 10 minutes that I’d damaged the rims and was going to have a flat in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily, everything held together and I was able to continue on. In the last few miles, the land around me looked like a scene from an alien movie, but filmed at a gravel quarry. There were huge mounds that looked like piles of gravel, but with plants growing on them and sheer faces. I thought “if the ground here looks this bizarre, I wonder what the park looks like?” I later realized that I had been driving along the edge of the badlands, and that’s what I had come to see after all.

I got to the south end visitor’s center, a small building that may have been a mobile home or construction trailer in a past life. Inside, they told me there’s not much to see down at this end, but the north end has more trails and a larger visitor center. I then walked around the exhibit, learning how the Europeans had decimated the native population, almost eradicated the bison, stripped the children of their culture, forced hierarchical government on them, and kept breaking promises. Then, during WW II, the government forced the Native Americans from their homes on short notice and used the area for bombing practice. Some people returned, but many never did and unused shells and bombs are still found to this day. It made me sad and felt guilty even though I didn’t do it and my ancestors didn’t get here until much later.

I thanked the rangers for their help and headed north through more alien landscapes until I reached the northern visitor center. I started to walk in, but realized that I was exhausted so I decided to come back tomorrow to learn more and do my hiking. I headed to Wall to get a hotel.

Wall is best known worldwide as the home of Wall Drug. Many cars for generations have displayed bumper stickers and signs saying things like “Where the heck is Wall Drug?” and there are signs all over the world saying things like “6,000 miles to Wall Drug”. Knowing this history and fully aware that it’s a tourist trap, I had to go check it out. What started as just a drug store is now a block long mall maze of tourist shops, candy stores, a chapel, a cafe, and yes one tiny drug store. I resisted buying anything, but walked through and got a feel for the place. Feeling I needed some fresh air to wash away the consumerism, I went for a walk around town to get some blood flowing.

Hungry for dinner, I found a spot along the Main Street thoroughfare and ordered a sandwich bigger than I needed. When I say “sandwich” I need to explain that the people here really love their meat and hate their salads. One of the few items that weren’t a burger or steak, and I’m not kidding here, was bacon and cheese sandwiched between two chicken fried chicken patties. So it was chicken-cheese-bacon-cheese-chicken. No bread or vegetables anywhere to be found. I’m looking forward to getting off the road for a bit soon so I can get back to normal eating habits. Overstuffed, I waddled back to the hotel for a nice hot shower and bed.

Sore and tired from all my activity and driving the past few days, I decided to take Friday as a rest day. I had phone calls to make, I needed to get caught up on my letters to you, and I just needed a day of taking it easy. I slept in a little, then got up an did my stretches and brain exercises before working on my computer and making my calls. I could only take so much of sitting at my computer, so I decided to walk down to get some lunch. After my experience last night with such a heavy dinner, I did a search for a sandwich restaurant. I found one that had pictures of sandwiches in their google reviews and headed that way.

The town of Wall doesn’t seem that big or congested, so I decided to walk to the restaurant and combine my hunger with my daily walk to get the blood flowing. The weather was beautiful, with the sun shining and temperatures in the mid 70’s, which led to a very enjoyable walk. When I walked into the restaurant, the bartender told me there was the bar side and restaurant side. I figured I’m one guy, so I might as well sit at the bar. I read through the menu, realizing that their definition of sandwich is heavy on the burgers, beef and pork, did not include turkey or chicken, and vegetables only meant iceberg lettuce and pickles. I went to check out their salad bar, which had some iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and tomatoes and an impressive variety of potato salad, macaroni salad, jello salad, and may other mayonnaise based options. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, their only non-beef option, and asked if I could eat out on the patio. I wanted to get away from the machine noise from the air conditioning or cooler, and started a trend. Nobody was out there when I first walked out and two or three tables had filled up by the time I left. I was actually really impressed with the sandwich. It was a reasonable helping of meat on a fresh bun. It had been slow roasted and seasoned by a professional and just melted in my mouth. Probably one of the best pulled pork sandwiches I’ve had in quite some time, and I told some of the bikers who sat down after me all about it.

After lunch, I took the circuitous route back to the hotel to see a lookout to see the wall of land formed millions of years ago. The town of Wall is named because the whole area used to be a sea a very long time ago. As the sea receded, the tributaries drained and cut deep lines that created steep vertical walls that divided the land that still stood tall from the lower land that had been washed away.

There’s a nice paved path that leads around a field to a bench overlooking the highway from atop this natural wall. Further along, I came to the huge sign advertising Wall Drug as well as an eighty foot dinosaur meant to draw in the tourists. After some obligatory photos, I headed back to the hotel to do some reading and get off my feet. The rest of the day was spent editing pictures, napping, and writing about my adventures.

Tomorrow, I’ll head into the north part of the Badlands to drive around the scenic loop and get in a few short hikes before starting my trek further east towards Illinois. For now, I’m off to bed.