Missiles and Drugs, Oh My!

Miles Driven: 340 September 9th - Brookings, SD to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, SD to Wall, SD
Total Miles: 2112.6
Camping Fees: $0

Huron, SD

Brookings, SD is a big town compared to the rest of the towns I drove through on my way to The Badlands, SD.  I woke up to rain and cold around 55 degrees in the Wal-Mart parking lot.  On the road early, I watched the vast landscape of nothing between the little towns.  Huron, SD boasts they are the home to the world’s largest pheasant, in case anyone ever gets that question in a pub quiz.

Pierre, SD State Capitol

Prairies Pierre, SD 

Pierre, SD  the state capitol, on the other hand is where they filmed Dances with Wolves, again, good to know if you are ever in a pinch.  I was driving through vast prairie lands of undulating hills and I could image the scenes from the movie.  Once you leave Pierre there is a sign informing you that there are NO SEVICES for 68 miles, so make sure you check your gas level.  Not sure what I was thinking because I was on fumes after pulling into the gas station 68 miles down the road in Middletown, SD.

County Road 44, Philip, SD

Penelope (GPS) is set to use “least amount of highways” when I drive to a destination.  As a rule, I do not drive on the highways because I want to see the little towns of middle America.  But in this case I should have been driving on the highway as Minuteman Missile is just off Interstate 90.  As I was on Route 14 I was directed to go onto County Road 44.  Basically, a county road in that part of the state is a dirt track between fields of cows.  I drove down roads that were meant for tractors.  My wheel axels did not span the  dirt tracks and having to negotiate the roads was tricky at times.  Bumping down the roads I saw many hundreds of crickets jumping to their deaths on the front of my grill and windshield.  I stopped on a makeshift bridge to snap a photograph of a really gnarly looking dead tree.

Gnarly Tree County Road 44, Philip, SD

Ending at the Missile Site I was instructed that to gain access I needed to go back to exit 131 about 30 miles up the road.  Calling I found there was limited spaces and the dates had been booked for the next couple of weeks.  Instead I snapped a couple of photographs and made my way to Wall Drug.

By the time I drove into Wall, SD around 3pm the sun was out and I was famished.  Wall Drug, how does one describe this place?  I would call it an over glamorized small mall in the middle of nowhere.  Don’t get me wrong, it was very cool walking around the multiple stores looking at the over priced items for sale.  As soon as you enter the state you see signs for Wall Drug.  I started seeing signs 250 miles away.  The Husteads who own the store, moved into the back of the store in 1931.  The store did not do well for the first 5 years.  The summer of 1936 so hot and Dorothy Hustead had an idea to put up signs for free ice water.  The people who had been driving for hours came in droves.  This was the beginning of a legend in the making.  Anyone who lives in South Dakota will let you about the store.

Wall Drug Wall, SD

I headed straight to the Western Art Gallery Café for a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and homemade gravy.   The sandwich did not disappoint.  Gravy was spilling over the edges and there was two huge lumps of mashed potatoes and the roast beef just melted on your month.  I finished off my late lunch with some soft served ice cream.

Stuffed Bison Wall Dug Wall, SD

Walking around Wall Drug I stopped in most of the stores just to window shop.  I did buy a t-shirt and picked up a free Wall Drug bumper sticker.  After spending 2 hours in the store and in the back yard where you can get your picture taken next to a stuffed bison and in a card board cut out of Indians in wigwams I was looking foreword to see the Badlands.