Chicago, Illinois - 09/20/12

We departed Waterloo, Iowa at 8:00 a.m. Today our route will continue on US-20 through Iowa and into Illinois.

As we passed through Dubuque, Iowa, fond memories flooded back on the trip we took in our 1989 Pace Arrow motorhome to the gambling boat in Dubuque in the summer of 1992. On that trip we had my mother, two of my aunts and two of my female cousins on board. My mother had made arrangements for one evening to be spent at the Timberland Lodge, on the Illinois side, while Sharon and I spent the evening in our motorhome on the Timberland property. We all had such a wonderful time on that trip.

We stopped in Lena, Illinois to check out the Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Park for future reference and to dump our gray and black water tanks. It turned out to be a very nice scenic park, nice campsites with electric hookups and close to Galena, Illinois.

We arrived home at 2:15 p.m., completing a 5,022 mile trip through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Iowa.

On to our next adventure!

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Mitchell Corn Palace - 09/19/12

We got off to an early start this morning and arrived at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota at 9:00 a.m.

The World’s only Corn Palace stands as a majestic, uniquely American, folk art icon on the rolling prairies of South Dakota. Mitchell’s first Corn Palace was built in 1892, when the city of Mitchell was just 12 years old. Early settlers displayed their agricultural bounty on the building’s exterior to prove the fertility of the soil and to attract immigrant farmers to settle here. To this day, over 100 years later, the tradition of the Corn Palace continues in Mitchell.

"Corn-By-Number" Decorating
Each year a new decorating theme is chosen and the outside of the Corn Palace is stripped and redecorated with new corn and grains. Over the summer, 3,000 bushels of rye, oat heads and sour dock are tied in bundles and attached. When the crop is ready, 275 thousand ears of corn are sawed in half lengthwise and nailed to the building following patterns created by local artists. This folk art wonder attracts thousands of visitors each year and is the center of community activity within Mitchell.

Today much of the work is done by hand and it is a delicate and detailed process. In early June the border trim of rye and sourdock is removed from the building. The new sourdock and rye is cut, tied into bundles and stapled to the building, typically by the end of July. After the old murals are removed in mid-August, sketches created by local artists are transferred to roofing paper and nailed to the mural panels on the building. These sketches also serve as blueprints, as each color of corn and the area it covers is indicated on the drawing. Just think of it as a large-scale corn-by-number. Thirteen shades of colored corn currently are planted in separate fields to maintain color purity, and the very best ears are handpicked for use on the Corn Palace. Each ear of corn is then sawed in half, shaped and trimmed to fit in the designated spaces, then nailed into place.

This year’s theme was the 2012 summer Olympics. The creation of Olympic athletes with colored ears of corn was amazing. This was my third visit and Sharon’s fourth visit to this wonderful place. Sharon was here in 1962 with her family and she and I visited here in 1992, 1996 and now 2012.

On to our next stop… Waterloo, Iowa!

We departed Mitchell, South Dakota at 11:10 a.m. Our planned route will be to take I-90 eastbound to I-29. We will then take I-29 southbound to Sioux City, Iowa where we will pick up route US-20. In keeping with our desire to minimize Interstate travel, we will travel US-20 eastbound across the entire state of Iowa.

There is quite a contrast between South Dakota and Iowa. The western part of South Dakota is a mountainous region. In the central part of South Dakota there is a vastness of rugged hilly terrain. In the eastern part there are vast areas of agriculture. Iowa, on the other hand, was totally agriculture driven throughout the state on US-20, with vast rolling hills of well maintained farmland.

We arrived at a Walmart in Waterloo, Iowa at 6:40 p.m. This would be our home for the night.

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Mitchell, South Dakota - 09/18/12

We departed the Badlands NP at 11:20 a.m. Our destination today is Mitchell, South Dakota to view the Corn Palace. Mitchell is about 200 miles east of the Badlands on I-90.

We decided our route to Mitchell would not be on the I-90 Interstate highway. We wanted to enjoy the local scenery and culture on the back roads. Therefore, our route from the Badlands to Mitchell would be eastbound on SD-44 to SD-37, then northbound into Mitchell.

Our last view of the Badlands, as we were driving east on SD-44, was the silhouette of four wild horses off in the distance to the north, high up on a butte. A fitting tribute to our exit from the Badlands. The remainder of our trip to Mitchell was filled with scenery of the vast rugged ranchlands that occupy this part of South Dakota. The land here is not suitable for farming crops, so it is mainly used for raising cattle and horses. It really highlights how difficult life must be in this desolate part of our country.

We arrived at a Walmart in Mitchell at 4:45 p.m. This would be our home for the night.

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Badlands National Park - 09/17/12

Today is our last day in the Badlands. The windy weather has cleared out producing a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze with temperatures in the mid-60’s.

Sharon was feeling a bit funky when she awoke this morning so we decided we would just chill out around the campground. She was feeling a little better in the afternoon, so we visited a few of our favorite spots in the Badlands one last time.

One last marvelous sunset to view in the Badlands, with my sweetheart beside me. Life is good!

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Badlands National Park - 09/16/12

We woke up to a very windy, partially overcast day with temperatures in the low 70’s. It was a very strong wind that would blow at a steady 35 mph all day long. Undeterred, we headed out for a day of windy adventure.

Our first stop was to the Saddle Pass Trail. We had hiked this trail in 1996, for about 4 hours at that time. It is a strenuous climb up a high rock formation. At the top is a large flat grassland plain surrounded by other higher rock formations. We had no intentions of repeating this hike this time. Age has a funny way of limiting some of your activities. In 1996 we had to climb over large boulders that lined a trail up to the top. Now the park service has carved a gravel trail to the top making it a much more manageable hike up the mountain. The boulder-lined trail we took in 1996 is still there for the more adventuresome to pursue. Looking at the Saddle Pass Trail today, we were awestruck we actually succeeded in hiking this trail in 1996. At that time the temperature was in the high 90’s and we consumed all of the water we carried in our two large canteens by the time we made it back down to the parking lot. It was a beautiful site at the grass-lined top. It was on this hike that we spotted our first rattlesnake slithering across the trail in front of us. Fond memories of a great hiking experience in the past.

We continued our tour of other scenic wonders within this magnificent park. Every turn on the winding, hilly paved road through the Badlands brings a new breathtaking barren mountain vista to enjoy. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Conata Picnic area. Barren mountains surround this area on three sides that provided some relief from the harsh wind that was blowing fiercely out of the northeast. This picnic area is located on Conata Road (SD-509) a short distance from the western leg of the Badland Loops Road. Entertainment for our picnic was provided by tiny mountain chipmunks that scurried about the area looking for handouts. They were only about 6 inches long and the speed at which they ran up and down those mountains was absolutely amazing. It was a very entertaining and fulfilling picnic indeed.

We visited the missile Launch Facility Delta-09 just south of I-90 at Exit 116. There is a glass enclosure over the silo where the deactivated rocket is on display. Visitors call a number on their cell phone to receive an audio self-guided tour of this facility. It was a sobering experience standing right on top of a rocket that was once armed with a 1.2 megaton nuclear bomb. It brought back memories of how close the United States came to launching these missiles during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Thank goodness the Soviet Union blinked!

We wrapped up the day retreating to the comfort of our Casita, our vacation home on wheels. The velocity of the wind was brutal and the temperature had dropped into the low 60’s. Our nightly ritual of cheese and crackers with a fine glass of wine would be indoors tonight!

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

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Badlands National Park - 09/15/12

We got off to a late start today at 12:30 p.m. Our stargazing from last night made for a late bedtime resulting in a late wakeup at 9:20 a.m. We decided we would do a routine nonstop tour of the Badlands, scouting areas we would revisit later. We would also do our obligatory visit to Wall Drugs.

Our first stop was at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. This a wonderful place to visit to get a perspective on the history of how the Badlands were formed and the wildlife that existed here thousands of years ago. This center is much improved from our last visit in 1996. It now features a 97-seat theater with a short film on the history of the Badlands. The center also features paleontologists working on fossils in the center’s laboratory. Our visit to the laboratory really highlighted how tedious this profession is and the level of concentration required.

Deep canyons, towering spires, and flat-topped tables are all found within the 244,000 acres of the Badlands. They are largely the result of two basic geologic processes: deposition and erosion.

Millions of years ago the Badlands were part of a shallow sea. About 500,000 years ago the Badlands evolved into a flat flood plain. The receding waters began to cut down through the rock layers, carving fantastic shapes. Many of the layers are gently warped and faulted due to the mountain building activities that formed the Black Hills, 70 miles to the west. Erosion is ongoing. Every time it rains, more sediment is washed from the buttes. While the Badlands are permanent in human terms, they are short lived on a geologic time scale. Erosion rates suggest that they will erode away completely in another 500,000 years

At one time the Badlands had a subtropical climate similar to that of Florida. Fossil remains show that alligators were prominent here during the time this area was a floodplain. This area was also home to a variety of prehistoric mammals and sea creatures that did not survive the climate change that evolved when the Badlands were being formed.

There is a Badlands Loop Road that visitors take to view the magnificent rock formations throughout the park. From the Ben Reifel Visitor Center the western leg of the Loop Road runs 29 miles north connecting with I-90 at Exit 110. The eastern leg runs 8 miles north connecting with I-90 at Exit 131.

The western leg of the Loop Road exits at Wall, South Dakota, famous for Wall Drugs. Billboard signs posted on I-90 as far away as 400 miles, east and west, from Wall advertise Wall Drugs. It has been a required tourist stop along I-90 ever since it opened in 1931. The main street in downtown Wall is one very long block in length, running south to north, with Wall Drugs occupying the entire block on the east side of the street. Souvenir stores and bars occupy the west side of the street. They have a wide main street with angled parking on the east and west sides of the street and two rows of angled parking in the center of the street. They have several other large parking areas dispersed throughout the town to handle the influx of RV’ers during the summer and fall seasons.

At I-90, Exit 131, on the eastern leg of the Loop Road there is a Minuteman Missile Visitor Center. Visitors can view a short film on the development and deployment of the Minuteman Missiles as well as a brief history of the Cold War with the Soviet Union that began in the 1960’s. Both countries developed an arsenal of nuclear missiles capable of reaching and destroying the other side in just 30 minutes.

Due to innovative solid-fuel rocket technology, by the late 1960’s the United States had deployed 1,000 Minuteman missiles in the Midwest and the upper Great Plains, including 150 in South Dakota. All of these missiles were housed in underground silos built to withstand a nuclear blast and could be launched by crews stationed at launch control centers miles away. In 1991 the U.S. signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Soviet Union to reduce the number of nuclear missiles. All of South Dakota’s missiles were deactivated and 149 silos imploded. Delta –09 remains intact to help tell the story of the Minuteman’s role in deterring a conventional war and preserving peace.

Visitors can view the Launch Facility Delta-09 site. It is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A self-guided cell phone tour is available to guide your visit. The location is on a gravel road just south of I-90 at Exit 116. During the period of time this missile silo was active, traffic on I-90 was not aware that within a short distance from them was a missile loaded with a 1.2 megaton warhead. Designed to travel over the North Pole at a top speed of 15,000 mph, it could arrive at its target over 6,000 miles away in 30 minutes. The warhead carried the explosive equivalent of over one million tons of dynamite.

Visitors can also receive a ranger-guided tour of Launch Control Facility Delta-01 and have the opportunity to go into the underground Launch Control Center to learn how Minuteman nuclear missiles could have been launched during the Cold War. The Launch Control Facility is located north of I-90 at Exit 127, just 4 miles west of the Missile Visitor Center and 11 miles east from the Launch Facility Delta-09. For every ten missiles, there was a Launch Control Facility where Air Force officers constantly monitored and remained ready to launch the missiles. In addition an Air Force plane known as the "Looking Glass" could remotely launch the missiles from the sky. During the Cold War this airplane remained airborne 24/7, landing only for crew changes and routine maintenance.

Having completed a full day of travel (61 miles) through the Badlands and to Wall Drugs we retired to our campsite for our evening ritual of cheese and crackers with a nice glass of wine, to view the magnificent sight of the sun setting in the Badlands.

A wonderful day spent exploring the wonders of the Badlands.

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Badlands National Park - 09/14/12

We departed Custer State Park at 11:30 a.m. Our planned route is to take US-16 east to SD-36 east to SD-79 north to SD-44 east to SD-240 north to the Badlands National Park. A short drive of 101 miles.

We arrived at the Cedar Pass Campground at 1:45 p.m. and were fortunate to find campsite # 22 with an electric hookup. Since our last visit here in 1996, they have added electric hookups to 23 of the 55 campsites. They are also putting the finishing touches on a shower building, which is a nice added feature to this campground.

The weather here is dry and in the 90’s during the day and in the 50’s at night, so it is quite pleasant here this time of the year.

At 10:00 p.m. we went outside for some serious stargazing with our telescope. There is just no comparison to the sky at night like there is in the Badlands. It is devoid of any light except for the stars shining their brightness down to Earth from outer space. It is absolutely amazing; there are literally billions of stars transmitting their light from within our solar system, from millions of light-years away. We were very fortunate to see two shooting stars this evening. The awesome speed that these chunks of meteorites enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up is an amazing sight to witness here in the surrounding blackness of night.

The Badlands National Park is one of our favorite places to visit. It is a vast expanse of a moonlike landscape, so desolate at first glance, yet it is teeming with wildlife. There are Coyotes, Bobcats, Bison, Bighorn Sheep, Rattlesnakes, Black-Footed Ferret, Porcupine, Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, and Foxes.

Before nightfall, we saw two Bighorn Sheep grazing in the distance, while we were having our nightly ritual of cheese and crackers with a nice glass of wine. Life is good!

Tomorrow, we will begin our tour of the Badlands.

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