We got up, had breakfast, and decided to take a walk to Wall Drugs. Jim and I have been to Wall Drugs before, many years ago. We even have coffee cups with their logo to prove it. BUT neither of us remembered this store. It, like Mount Rushmore, had made significant changes in 15 years. What we remember is one store with lots of goods right along the highway. Something like Jacks General Store in Ocean Park.
What we found today was halfway between two freeway exits and taking up an entire block. It is sort of a combination of Jake's Free Museum and Stormin' Norman's in Long Beach, Washington. When I told this to Jim, he said, "Jacks is useful." This told me he didn't find Wall Drugs very "useful."
It is, however, very interesting to browse through the complex. It is like a museum of sorts. There are 4 or 5 entrances into separate store areas: books, western wear, western and Indian art, t-shirts and souvenirs, a cafe that can seat 500, a traveler's chapel, and a small section of drug store items (a selection you might find at a convenience store.) The inner hallways are decked out with western, old town mannequins, stuffed game animals, and a variety of antique western artifacts. The street in front has been set up to maximize parking and a row of what looks like newly build western-style shops lines the other side of the street.
We saw a picture of the original store -- quite a change over the years. They are still skilled at marketing to tourists. Looking at the map I discovered that Wall is at the end of a scenic loop through Badlands National Park. That explains why the small town was so busy and the large number of motels to local population ratio for the small town.
We started off on I-90 and immediately ran into road construction, of course. We skipped the turn-off to the Badlands loop -- we have 614 miles to Chariton and wanted to get on our way. We'll save that for another trip.
We were definitely in the Great Plains. The road was perfectly straight, no trees, flat grassland all around and a 360-degree view of the horizon. We passed an attraction beside the road called "1880 Town." It was visible for miles and looked like a replica of an old western town. Shortly afterwards, we saw a life-size model of a dinosaur skeleton that looked like it was going to eat a smaller life-size skeleton of a man. I know that they have found a lot of fossil remains in this area and Mammoth Hot Springs is not too far away. Maybe there was some connection - but no signs of explanation.
We passed a sign informing us we were entering the Central Time Zone and set the clocks up an hour. A few hours into this, Jim said, "I could use a change of scenery." I said, "Welcome to the Great Plains." Just west of Chamberlain we started to see some small hills and ran into the first curve in the road. We were getting near the Missouri River. The receptionist at the motel had suggested to me that we stop at the rest stop in Chamberlain for a view of the river, so we took her advise.
It was very windy, but we had a great view of the river. There was a Lewis and Clark exhibit there as well. From now on it looks like we will be following the Lewis and Clark trail. We saw the familiar Lewis and Clark highway signs that are so common at home.
They evidently have poison snakes here as well as Oregon. We braved the trail but fortunately only ran into grasshoppers.
Back on the road, the landscape flattened out again and we passed a number of cornfields. The corn seemed unusually short though (3 or 4 feet). We passed a sign pointing out the home of Laura Ingle Wilder, author of "Little Home in the Prairie."
As we approached I-29, I discovered we could head north to Fargo (Bison). We decided not to. Instead, we turned south onto I-29 at Sioux Falls (population 153,888; elevation 1400). This was by far the largest city we've been through on this trip. It is named after the Big Sioux River which runs through town.
The Lakota Sioux called the river "Laughing Waters." You understand after traveling through this country how important rivers are. We saw a number of bare-headed riders. Seemed strange coming from an area where everyone on anything with less than 4 wheels wears a helmet.
About 60 miles later as we crossed the Big Sioux River into Iowa, Jim announced, "We are 368 miles from Wall Drugs." We passed a riverboat casino and a sign warning us that speed limits were strictly enforced with SPEED CAMERAS. Thanks, Gary.
Also saw a sign for a "modern rest area." Jim wondered if the non-modern ones had out-houses. Most rest stops in Iowa have Wi-Fi ... maybe that is what they meant?
We started to see some trees -- short ones-- or as Jim says, "Trees cleverly disguised as bushes." I'll have to admit after living in the Northwest for a number of years, midwestern trees do look like bushes. When I first moved to the Northwest after growing up in the midwest, one if the first things I noticed were the "tall" trees. I told my mother that, "they have tall trees here." She thought I was exaggerating and didn't believe me. But when she first came to visit, I saw her looking up at the trees and saying to me, "They do have tall trees here." Tall trees get in the way of viewing the sky or horizon. Short trees don't. You can still see lots of sky and the horizon from all directions in this country.
We stopped for the night at Missouri Valley( population: 2,838; elevation: 1007), just north of Omaha. I found a motel in the AAA guide book named "Oak Tree Inn" and we set the address for Miss Direction. When we arrived we found a 50's style diner, "Penny's Diner," next door and a sign saying to check into the hotel at the diner.
They give you a ticket when you check in for a free breakfast in the diner. (Or you can use it to get $7.75 off any meal there.) The prices are very reasonable. We used one of the coupons for dinner and only had to pay $3.00 for both meals. And we have the other ticket for breakfast!
The hotel and diner are surrounded by cornfields on 3 sides. This corn is tall and it looks interesting to see cars parked right next to the corn or to see the corn outside the diner windows. We must be in Iowa.
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