30th May-2nd June: Days 52-55
The Badlands just sounds cool. Even if you know nothing about it. In reality it is a bizarre and otherworldly place that deserves all its accolades.
Named ‘Mako Sica’ (Literally ‘bad land’) by the Lakota tribe it was poor farming land that challenged the very disillusioned original homesteaders. The large prairie lands were formed on top of a variety of different layers of fragile sedimentary rock that in time have eroded in wind and rain to form colourful striped humps, lumps, pinnacles, sharp spires and canyons. The whole area is a national park and there is a fantastic road that runs right through the middle of it all.
We booked into the descriptively named Badlands Motel and RV Campground for 3 nights and arrived after a short 60 mile hop from the Black Hills area. This was just outside the park area in a small town called Interior, and had a fantastic view of the hills.
Interior itself is a small farming town, tired but alive, with a population of somewhere between 63 and 97 depending on which sign at which end of town that you believe. Even the locals are not sure. It has a gas station, a shop, a church, a small school and 2 bars, only one of which, The Waggon wheel, came with a recommendation. This was a leisurely 10 minute walk from camp and was a small perfect slice of Mid West life.
We drank beer and ate burgers whilst some light rock played on the jukebox and then I demonstrated my lack of pool playing abilities. The walls and ceiling were lined with dollar bills signed by locals and visitors alike and the remaining wall space was filled with a variety of neon signs advertising beers and motorbikes (For motorbikes read Harley Davidsons. There are no others in this neck of the woods.) We struck up conversation with the bar owner, Jerry. He was in his 70s, in the local uniform of boots, jeans, checked shirt and cowboy hat. It transpired that he has a collection of classic American cars and pick up trucks and offered to give us the guided tour whilst we were around. We did not need to be asked twice and arranged to come back in a couple of days.
The next day we drove up into the park, picnic packed and walking shoes on. We stopped in the visitors centre for some information on trails and headed off to do a 4 mile loop walk. It was much warmer, but not unbearable with a hat on. The trail took us right through some of the formations, which up close felt more like movie set props than real things. We ate our sandwiches (fairly quickly) sat on a grassy knoll, conscious of the danger of rattle snakes. Another creature that can try and kill you in the US of A.
The next day was scorchio. The weather seems to have moved from winter straight to summer without a significant amount of spring. We set off in the truck, first stop Jerry’s car collection. This was housed in an enormous shed just opposite the bar. He had a Gran Torino, an old Plymouth, a 20s Chevy, an 30s Ford pick up, a Lincon Continental Givenchy mark V and a host of other cool pick ups. After an hour of drooling over them all we continued our day’s trundles.
Next stop was the Minuteman Missile Visitor Centre. This area of South Dakota was one of the main sites for hundreds and hundreds of silos that housed a large proportion of the nuclear missiles that were pointed at Russia during the cold war. Just dotted around the fields, mostly unmanned, highly secure and primed to be launched within a minute after the final command was given. They could have been landing on target in Russia 30 minutes later. The visitors centre had some really good displays on the arms race, Cold War and the few scary ‘near misses’. Next we drove up to Delta 9. This is one of the unmanned silos. It is surrounded by chainlink fence with a gap in it. You just duck under a chain to get in (this keeps the cows out) and do a self guided tour by cell phone. Genius. The whole thing was quite sobering. We were just a bit young to fully appreciate the tensions of the cold war, but I can imaging it was scary stuff living through it.
Next stop on the roadie was Wall and Wall Drug Store. This started as a small drug store that gained fame by giving out free chilled water to all who passed, to get them to stop. Business boomed, and continues. Now the ongoing family business has expanded to fill a whole block selling mostly tourist tat. We were moderately underwhelmed.
Our trip home took us down the scenic drive through the Badlands. This is a fantastic road with countless view points. Difficult to describe really.
We arrived home hot and dusty, showered and headed back to the Wagon Wheel for a carbon copy evening of 2 days previous. At the end of the evening we added our doodled dollar note to the collection on the wall and rolled home. Onward bound in the morning.
