The Black Hills of SD

On Wednesday the 13th we did our first touring in the Rapid City area. Tuesday, the first full day after we arrived, was a laundry and commissary day. The Badlands are a transition region between an upper level of prairie and a lower one. The area was, eons ago, an inland sea. The layers of shellfish and other aquatic life are still visible as differently colored layers. This isn’t granite, and the erosion is what shapes the terrain. The loop that traverses the Badlands starts about 70 miles east of Ellsworth AFB and ends about 50 miles east. The loop itself was some 50 miles of mostly paved road. At the end of the gravel road was a campground with no utilities but with a nearby grazing herd of a hundred or so bison. We also enjoyed the antics of hundreds of prairie dogs. Along the way we stopped at the farm of an old homesteader from a century ago. There were still sod structures standing. As we exited the national park, we arrived in Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug. The place started as a water stop for the drovers on the cattle drives of the nineteenth century. Now it is a little bit of everything for everyone. It’s a tourist “must see” so we saw it.
On a different note, we got a package of mail from Cindy at General Delivery yesterday that contained a safety recall from Freightliner. It involves the recirculating ball power steering unit. We are going to get it inspected on Friday morning. If everything is fine, we continue on schedule. If not, we’ll lose three days and get away Tuesday morning after they install $900 worth of parts. That means we will get to do more in Rapid City than just the Badlands and Mt. Rushmore. There is a lot more to do. Thursday is Mt. Rushmore.