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Day 91 Hill City - Belvidere
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Day 91 Hill City - Belvidere
We made a decision to by pass the Wounded Knee site south of our present position. Our reasoning was the area was not well reported in the Lonely Planet, suggesting it is the most lawless place in the USA and the average age of the males is 48, females 52.
We spoke to the Receptionist, her suggestion that we DO NOT stay overnight and the signs and indicators to the Sioux Massacre, are run down to the point you most likely are unable to read the signs. It appears the inhabitants are not attempting to lift themselves above a certain level of being.
Our path then took us back through the southern section of Rapid City and we took the opportunity to stock up a few groceries and have the latest photos transferred to Disc. Hopefully we will have some loaded tonight.
We then headed East to the Badlands, we were fairly quickly into the area and we had noticed a few less bikes around us. (a little quieter travelling)
The route took as around the edge of the badlands for a short stretch, took a left hand turn route through into the Badlands National Park. (Again our National parks pass saves us the fees.)
Well gee what turns up, yep you guessed, MORE Bikes.
Never mind we had lunch and then headed along the loop road through the park.
The landscape is in places is more what we would expect to observe on the moon, with parts overlaid with prairie grassland. The water eroded sections are quite dramatic with steep ravines and sharp hills.
The sections that have prairies grassland produced some prairie Dogs or gophers, they presented quite a challenge to photograph, they pop up on hind legs then just as quickly disappear into holes. Earnie seems to have taken Marian's role of "great spotter" because they are quite hard to discern in amongst the shrubs and appear even when standing up on their hind legs as little plants themselves.
Also some Antelope happily grazing casually in high grass as well, quite a treat to still observe wildlife.
We came out of the Badlands and headed into a small town called Wall, This has made itself famous on the route 90, because a guy decided to head from the east to set up a drug store in the town, but noticed that the traffic (Model T's at the time) just drove straight through on the way west, His wife suggested they give away free Ice cold water and advertise the fact.
He set up signs along the highway giving the distance from around 150 miles out "Free Ice Cold Water at Wall Drug"
This was in 1936 and was the beginning of the billboards along the route, it was very successful and the store has expanded to take up about a full block in the main street and the tradition is still alive with free ice cold water and coffee at 5c a cup. The store boasts in the summer season to host up to 20,000 visitors a day.
We took in a Forest service movie at the information centre, they are the guardians of the Grassland parks, of which there are 4million acres under their supervision and was established after various agencies were used to rehabilitate the grasslands from the Dust bowl era, a period when the farmers had created a devasting affect on the environment without the knowledge of the fragile nature of the prairie lands, by working together they have balanced the natural with man, farming, oil extraction, and nature. Certainly a remarkable lot of information, and worth gaining the knowledge as we continue our journey.
We must point out the information centres and the rangers and service people have been so helpful and informative as they guide and educate travellers and tourists, we appreciate the time they give to us, it assists us to appreciate the land we are travelling through.
From Wall we set sail East again and the highway 90 took a straight run through prairies and farm areas, when we say straight, there was no curves or bends in the road for about 30 miles before we came to a gentle curve into more straight road.
We found our KOA at Belvidere East and find the quiet of NO BIKEs, NO Railway, NO airplanes, as a bit of "Gee what a beautiful spot! J" The sites are concrete with large grass areas to ourselves, boy we don't know ourselves.
Settled in and had Roast chicken and vegies for dinner and a nice relaxed time flicking through the TV channels.
Where I stayed:
Belvidere East KOA
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