Just kidding! It was a busy day.
South Dakota Badlands, Minuteman Missile Site, National Grasslands Visitor Center, Wounded Knee Museum (done by the anglos), Sturgis, fake center of U.S than real center of U.S, drive, North Dakota Badlands, drive, bugs, drive.
I tried to get up early but didn’t want to get out of bed. Around 8am I made my way to the Badlands National Park of South Dakota. I did the loop, got out several times and had a picnic. The badlands are very unique. Especially considering the land around it is so farmy and flat.
I than made a very quick stop at the Minuteman Missile site. I need to read more to understand it better and passed on the tour because I would have had to wait 45minutes in a small trailer.
I than made a quick stop at the National Grasslands Center where I got to see a nice exhibit and all the different plants. There are over 300 different species. Just of grass.
My next stop was the Wounded Knee Museum. It’s over an hour away from the actual massacre site and run by whites. The Sioux are too private about it and having visitors on their land. It was really well done with a Ton of information and just makes you disgusted with some parts of U.S history. Especially the story about Lost Bird. I won’t forget that.
I made my way to Sturgis for the motorcycle museum but couldn’t find it. I think Sturgis is a place you need to experience during the rally. The Black Hills area has great towns but Sturgis wasn’t really one of them esthetically or entertainment wise without the bikes.
I had about an hour in the car before I came to Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It claims to be the Center of the U.S but technically speaking it is not. They do have a cool monument with flags and other monuments for Peace and the Korean War. They also informed you how to get to the actual center in the middle of a field. Luckily I was visiting a week after the crazy storms or else everything would have been under water. The Dakotas are still flooding but only near the rivers. So, I made the drive into the middle of nowhere, down a long dirt road, squeezed through a barbed wire fence, and was in the geographical center of the United States. My road trip would not have been complete without it.
I than made the long drive into North Dakota. There really is nothing to do in North Dakota besides two National Parks. I made it to one but the other one was still too wet. Not even the cities have much going on. After a stop at two Visitor Centers in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park/North Dakota Badlands I made a quick drive into the park. I have seen so much beautiful scenery I did not want to do the full 2hour loop of the park. I got to see green badlands, buffalo, and wild horses right off the highway.
I ended the evening and night by driving across North Dakota with a beautiful sunset, talking to friends, and in a rainstorm of bugs.
Thoughts:
I want to be more local business conscious. I think that will be easier when the road trip is done.
Ohh slave labor, ooohhh world.
The South Dakota Badlands were really different depending on what part you are in and there not even that big.
I like visiting caves but after I did a wild tour and visited Carlsbad there not the same. Maybe I need a break.
Having a pilot truck in construction sites seems wasteful.
You can drive along the North Dakota Badlands on I-94. The park is huge. I think much bigger than South Dakota badlands.
Medora, ND is a cute town. Maybe North Dakotas only cute town. It’s the state’s major tourist place.
I saw lots of prairie dogs.
The buffalo looked very sick, or hot. Their hair was failing out ansd they seemed to be brearhing heavy.
All my money goes to gas.
I think I did over 600miles of driving today.
It seems like all the traffic at night is always heading West.
What a pretty freaking sunset. Too bad it was behind me.
EEEWWWWWW. It’s raining bugs. My poor car.
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