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Bev's Journal We Proceeded On... Part II: The Journey West |
| 29 August 2002 Custer State Park Custer SD We have been camping here in CSP for 5 days, and so far this has been the best part of the trip. There is abundant wildlife in the park, and several times, we have met buffalo on the park roads. Yesterday morning, they wandered nonchalantly by our camp. We’ve also seen prairie dogs, mountain goats, deer, antelope, elk, and wild turkey. When you enter the park, the signs say “Wildlife At Large” and they mean it. You have to be very careful driving, especially at night. We’ve had deer start across the road in front of us several times at night and had to slam on the brakes. But the most exciting encounter we had was rounding a corner and meeting up with a full grown male bison coming at a trot straight at us down the road. We yielded, and he crossed the road. But that was a heart-stopper. The contrast in the terrain of western South Dakota is fascinating. In a short space of time, you can go from prairie tallgrass to moon-like landscape (Badlands) to wooded foothills (Black Hills) to mountainous, complete with tunnels through giant granite monoliths (Needles Highway). We both feel that western SD is a region we want to check out further as a place to settle down. Rapid City, which is the second largest city in SD, has a population of about 60,000 people, and is right on the edge of the Black Hills. There’s an unpretentious sophistication about this part of the country that calls to us almost as much as its natural beauty. None of the parks around here have hookups, so we’ve been boondocking. We haven’t quite got the hang of how long we can run the battery without running it down, but luckily, we are allowed to use the generator during certain hours in the park, and can recharge the battery. It’s been, shall we say, an experience. |
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| 23 August 2002 Sleepy Hollow Campground Wall SD Well, we have seen the famous Wall Drug – zzzzzzzzzzzz. We came here hoping to experience a masterpiece of kitsch, and found a mountain of tackiness. I haven’t seen this much cheap, crummy souvenir stuff since the last school picnic I went to when I was 12. All along I-90 you see signs for Wall Drug; I’m told that there are Wall Drug signs in the Paris Metro and all over the world. In this case, the hype far exceeds the appeal. I read somewhere that Wall Drug was once on USA Today’s list of the Top Ten Corniest Places in the US. Couldn’t agree more. |