10:30, maybe a bit later than desired. The night before we checked out stuff to
do for today. We decided first to do the City of Presidents, which is in
downtown Rapid City, SD. Covering around a 4x4 square block area, each street
corner has a bronze statue of one of the U.S. presidents. Currently goes up to
George W. Bush. So we got there and snapped pictures with each one. I haven't
counted it up yet, but I think we got to most of them. Parking in downtown is
somewhat of a pain, at least the "pulling out" part of it. The parking is all
head-in angled parking, like you would see in those old shows set in some small
town. Not hard to find a spot, there are tons available. But pulling out is
hard, especially if you have a car parked next to you. You can't really see
traffic. When it got tough, the boys were my lookouts in the back row.
After that, we decided to go to Badlands National Park. It is near Wall, SD, so
it would be about a 45 minute drive back there. While at Mt. Rushmore, a guy
next to us was telling other people that he was there the day before and how
amazing it was. It sounded like he did some of the hiking trails, but he said
the scenery was spectacular. So we decided to head back that way and see for
ourselves. We were NOT disappointed. The terrain looks something out of
science fiction. Kind of like when Captain Kirk was beamed down to another
planet and you see all these mountainous growths around.
They have a "Badlands Loop" where you can drive thru and stop at many scenic
viewpoints to take pictures. Each view was more spectacular than the next.There
was also a couple of picnic areas as well, so we availed ourselves to one for
lunch. The drive through, with all the stops, took about two hours.
So we were then headed for Cheyenne, WY, or so we thought. When we were at Mt.
Rushmore the other night, we got a bunch of good pictures, but I kind of thought
we could do a little better. It was very crowded, and then it started getting
dark, so it turned out I didn't get a bunch of pictures that I had wanted,
mainly with us and the kids. We were headed that way anyway. and this would
tack on another 30 minutes (plus whatever time we spent there). We put it out
to the kids, and the consensus was that each one didn't mind if another wanted
to go back. So I took that to mean that they really DID want to go, but
wouldn't want to be blamed for the extra travel time! And, on the plus side,
the parking fee we paid the other day is valid thru the end of the year.
Luckily we kept the parking pass. So it wouldn't cost us a dime - except for
the bumper sticker that I forgot to get the first time. Oh, and some cool
kosher licorice flavors that Karen found in the ice cream shop.
The GPS took us on a nice tour of the Black Hills park/forest. I guess it was
trying to get me to the highway the quickest way, but it didn't realize that
some of the "roads" were just dirt trails. I felt like I was in the Dukes of
Hazard with some of the roads it wanted to take me on. Needless to say, I opted
to not take them, and it finally led me to some main roads.
From there we headed to Cheyenne - for real! We knew we would have to stop for
dinner along the way, which was going to be a barbecue at a rest stop. We were
shooting for about a hour or so drive before stopping. Problem is, in these
rural areas, there are no rest stops like on the main highways. It's just miles
and miles and miles, and more miles, of highway. But at around 7:00PM, we got
to a point where the highway breaks up as it moves thru a town, and there was an
actual rest stop, with bathrooms and water. We were in the middle of Wyoming
somewhere on Hwy 18. We were wondering if we would be allowed to bbq, but then
we saw they had grills at many of the picnic tables, so we were in luck. It was
a bit of a challenge to bbq, as the handle from the top cover was already mostly
broken off (will have to stop at Home Depot or somewhere to improvise with
another handle) and it was quite windy. But we overcame the challenge and
enjoyed a well-cooked meal.
Estimated arrival time in Cheyenne was now 11:20 or so. It was another 3 hours
drive. Ugh! So another 45 miles on the one lane highway (in each direction).
And then about 115 miles on what looked like a bigger road on the map. When we
drove thru an earlier town, I had half a tank of gas, so I figured I was good
for the 160 or so miles from that point on. But as the driving continued, I
started to regret not filling up. I wasn't thinking that even if I needed gas
later, places may not be open 24 hours in these parts. An Allianz employee I've
been working with suggested filling up anytime you see a gas station and have
half a tank or less in these areas. I should have listened. But, not to worry,
at another break in the highway thru a town there was an open service area. So
I filled up and calmed myself down.
When we got to the intersection to get on the main road (I-87, a TWO lane
highway in each direction), the entrance to the southbound side was closed due
to bridge work so you couldn't get to that entrance. The detour would be to
take the northbound side to the next exit and turn around. However, this isn't
NJ, and the next exit was 10 miles down!! I passed a U-Turn for Authorized
Vehicles Only, so I officially authorized myself and at the next one I turned
around. It was the middle of the night, pitch black, and the only other cars
were quite a distance away, so I figured I was in the clear. It saved about 10-
15 minutes off the new ETA.
Once we got closer to Cheyenne it started raining. At first, Karen thought we
were just hitting many more bugs on the windshield, but after a few seconds we
realized it was rain drops. Didn't really rain heavy, but enough to slow me
down to the speed limit, which is 75 on all these highways. I had the cruise
control between 80 and 85 most of the way. We finally reached the hotel at
11:15PM.
Heading out for Denver in the morning to get there in time to get provisions for
the Sabbath/Shabbos.
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