A long day on the road has come to an end; of the 8 days I've been on the road this was the longest in terms of driving and shortest on highlights.
Pictures:
Here's what I got from today; if you're looking for scenic shots you won't find them, but a few randoms that might be amusing.
Highlights:
Woke up at around 9 in Sheridan
Weather is awful, snowing in Eastern Wyoming, high 30s for temps, visibility is awfulDrove to
Devil's Tower, the site from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Don't remember the movie, but its a pretty cool site.
Stopped in Sturgis, bought some tough looking motorcyle shirts for other people to wear (I'm not tough)
Headed east to Mt Rushmore. Only Dan Weber goes to Mt Rushmore and can't see the mountain. Fog made it impossible to see, if you think I'm making this up, I'm not.
Headed east to Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, at least I knew I'd see something.
Got in car and headed east on I-90, nothing to see but rain, fog, and lines on pavement
Got to Wall Drug, was blown away at the size of the thing. More on that below if you're interested.
Headed east as far as I could go, ended up driving about 500 miles today.
Staying in Oacoma (kinda like Tacoma, with an O at the front, so I have no idea how to say it)
My hotel is the Oasis Inn and it kicks ASS! Great web connection, TWO beds, and very clean
Between the Ears
I left Sheridan, Wyoming headed east towards Devil's Tower and and was blown away by the weather being as crappy as it was. Its June for chrissakes and the High temperature was in the low 40s with snow flurries out in Wyoming. It is June, and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the weather was half-way decent.
But its not, and that's not something I can do much about. I stopped at the sights I planned to see; namely Devil's Tower and Mt Rushmore. Devil's Tower was easy enough to see, and its a pretty wild looking formation out in northeast Wyoming. And chances are, you know what Mt Rushmore looks like, but I'm embarassed to say I've achieved a feat not many can say they've done: I've gone to Mt Rushmore and didn't see a single president. It was kind of a bummer--its not like its on the side of I-90, and after paying $10 to park a car (to visit a free national park...such crap) I walked in to the viewing area and saw bleachers, but no faces etched in to stone. Between those two stops I went to Sturgis, which is the home of the big biker rally every summer; I'm not a huge motorcycle guy but it sounds like its a Woodstock for bikers once a year, and the town kind of looks like you'd expect.
I left Mt Rusmore in kind of a cranky mood; I made the effort to go there and it wasn't in the cards for me to see it, which was out of my control. But I got worked up on them charging for parking, without letting people know you can't see a lick. And I got a little more worked up after I remembered a conversation I had with a guy in kalispell about Mt Rusmore. His point was Mt Rushmore is a symbolic middle finger to the native american folks in the area who were basically slain to advance white causes....some food for thought...
I think our country is really damn cool, but you have to question, why this location? In a sports analogy, I'd be pretty pissed if Wisconsin invaded Illinois and built a statue of Brett Favre, Robin Yount, and Sidney Moncrief on Michigan Avenue.
My last tirade with myself was about the effort and support the country put in to the monument back in the early 20th century. Rushmore was built from 27-41; essentially right after the Depression (sound familiar), and came along with a number of other big investments in our country's infrastructure. Given our economic situation, maybe we consider investing money and time in some public improvement projects to get folks working on making the US a cooler place to live. Rather than collecting welfare and doing nothing (I've come across this twice on my journey thus far), why not give people an incentive for more welfare through volunteer work? cleaning up parks? converting cable boxes to digital so we can stop with the ads?
Again, I digress.
I decided I needed to do something funny, so I went to a Dinosaur park, which was a nice break. Annie got to run around with Dinosaurs, I got to take some pictures and stretch the legs, and it helped put the Rushmore experience out of mind. Plus, my niece told me earlier today she's a big fan of dinosaurs and I happened to be in the hotbed of dinosaur activity. 
After consulting with my ma, I decided I'd head east as far as I could get, but promised I wouldn't push it. About ten miles after Rapid City, it was clear I wasn't going to see a thing and should just put the petal to the metal and haul ass. The only thing that stood in the way of me and Sioux Falls was Wall Drug.
I had seen the Wall Drug bumper stickers and really had no idea what it would be. I had a few souveniers I wanted to pick up, and thought it'd be at least a fun couple of pictures. You can see for yourself in the pictures, but its really something you have to experience. The amount of stuff you can buy in there is unbelievable, and its kind of an old school Wal Mart. As cynical as you may be about the place, I respect how successful they've been and it really is fun to check out all of the different things they've got in there.
My sisters and mom have an activity called "Schmying" which is essentially when the three of them head to discount stores (places like Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls, etc.) and comb through just about anything to find things. I realize that sounds completely vague, and the best I can guess is they spend time chatting, looking at stuff, and bringing home a few things that may be useful. Wall Drug is the perfect location for Schmying, and God help the people of Wall, South Dakota if the three of them ever pass through at the same time.
I did a little bit of shopping myself; I was looking at the customized coffee mugs/lisence plates/keychains in Wall Drug and thought how hard of a job it must be to select the names you purchase from the manufacturer. For example, I saw a South Dakota license plate with a "Blythe" but not a "Barry"...so just how does the person know which ones to buy?
But I ramble.
Annie digs the hotel, there are two beds, which means I dig it too.
We're going to sleep in and let the rush hour traffic in to/out of Oacoma die out before hitting the road. With about 800 miles between here and Chicago, I hope to have some decent weather for the home stretch, and even though it may not be scenic mountains I'm looking forward to some interesting sights of the midwest.
Field of Dreams field in Iowa?
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester?
Camp Randall Stadium in Madison?
Mars Cheese Castle?
Tommy Barlett's Waterskiing Extravaganza?
Other suggestions from the peanut gallery?
In any case, thanks for reading through the rambling, and have a great start to the week,
D
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