Day 3 - Oct 8 - A change of directions from West to East to North to South - Wall SD to York NE

Over the past couple of days, the rest of the Mud Dragons could see that this trip has been bittersweet for me.  They could see that I was enjoying the stops, the fans (yeah, like there are any!?), and being on the road.  At the same time, we were all starting to question whether I had the heart to complete the eastern leg of the tour - Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, DC, Tennessee, and Louisiana.  So after some discussion, we canceled the eastern dates of the tour, and after spending the morning in Badlands National Park, headed south toward Texas where my mother lives with my sister and her family.  This was kind of a surprising development, but we all feel good about it, and we had a peaceful, smooth day of driving.

So, here's a recap of the day.

On Day 2, I was able to catch sunset in Badlands, and today (Day 3) I was able to catch the morning sun hitting the orange and white and yellow formations in the park.  

The park continues to be stunning, and once I'm there, it's hard to tear myself away.  

This is the approach portion of a like to Notch.  It's probably the most well-known hike in the entire park.  As I walking into the ever tightening canyon, the thought came to me, "This feels like being in an Indiana Jones movie."  It was extremely cool.

The photo below shows a wooden rung trail/ladder up to the cliff edge portion of the trail, that you can see in the following photo.

After a couple of hours in the park, I had to pull myself away, pile back into the tour bus, and get on the road with the new plan...heading south.  Ah, "I always like going south, it feels like going downhill."  OK, who knows the movie quote?  OK, Grant and Emily, I know you do...who else?  :-D

Just across the freeway from the east entrance road to Badlands NP, is the Minuteman National Historical Site.  

I decided that I should stop in, since I was already right there and everything.  So I did.  

This is a small site, and no, it's not a decommissioned silo, which is what I was hoping for.  What it is though, is a place where you can learn more about the nuclear arms race, mainly between the USA and USSR, starting back in the 1940s, and fully hit its stride in the 1960s.  At this site, they show short documentaries about the 1960s when things were really heating up, and that's what hit me right between the eyes.  As I was watching one video, they had footage of elementary school children doing duck and cover drills.  I was one of those kids.  I started elementary school in 1965, and at the time we lived just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana.  I remember doing duck and cover drills, and I now know how futile doing that would be if you were anywhere near a nuclear blast.  But, that was the message and the drill about how to stay safe...back in the day.  I then wandered around the other exhibits for a little while, but within about 10-15 minutes, I started feeling stressed and decided to get out of there.  

I wish we could all trust each other enough to just get rid of those damn things (nuclear weapons)!  But, sadly, given the world we live in, that's just not going to happen.

All right, back to the drive...

I've driven east-west through the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas, multiple times, but I'd never been on a north-south route.  And you know what?  There's no interstate that runs north-south through the western or central regions of those states, so it was a day of two-lane state highways.  That's OK.  

And so, I made it to Nebraska (add another state to the list).  And who knew that Nebraska of all places was the home of the great American Holiday, Arbor Day!!??  If you stop and think for a second, it makes sense.  How else would anyone in Nebraska have any trees around?  :-D

This also reminds me of a saying I once heard said regarding Iowa.  When someone asks what Iowa is like, one response says, "Iowa...it's more fun than Nebraska, but not as cold as Minnesota!"

Did you know that the central region of Nebraska is called the Sandhills Region?  These sand hills are a seemingly endless series of small mounds that go on and on and on.  Here's a photo that I didn't take (photo credit: https://www.sandhillsjourney.com/about/sandhills-journey).  The low hills are sand dunes that are now covered in grass.  Where did the come from?  At the end of the last ice age, massive glaciers in the Rocky Mountains melted and carried eroded sand far out on the plains to the east.  Wind then formed the sand into dunes, and grasses grew and now hold the dunes in place.  Now THAT'S cool!

In case you are curious, here's how big the Sandhill region is.  And I drove right through the center of it, and believe me, it goes on and on!

 Along the way I made new friends...

And saw old ones (we lived in Indiana for 10 years, and they grow LOTS of corn there too..

And after a day on the road, I called it quits in York, Nebraska, on I-80, about three hours north of Wichita, Kansas, my hometown.  Well, at least where we lived when I graduated from HS.  

And that, as they say, is that!

Thanks for checking in, everyone.

Day 2 - Oct 7 - Devil's Tower National Monument and Badlands National Park - part 1

Whoa!  What a day!!!

The first major stop, and originally, the only one for today, was Devil's Tower National Monument.  If you've never been here, you really should do yourself a favor and make the trip.

I took pretty close to a bazillion photos of this place, but I'll just share enough to give you a good dose and idea of what this place is like.

For one thing, it's a rock climbing Mecca.  Let's zoom in and take a look.

Look for the two climbers, one wearing a yellow shirt, in the photo below.

And now, zoomed in.

It was lunchtime after hiking around the base of Devil's Tower, and that meant it was time for some of the good stuff. :-D

Believe it or not, The Mud Dragons aren't an A-list attraction, so we often to do things on the cheap...not bad, just cheap.  As a matter of fact, at the end of the day, I stopped by a sandwich shop that shall remain nameless (Subway), and it I had it to do again, I'd take a second PB&J over the (Subway) sandwich I had tonight.  The strawberry jam is the BEST!  My wife made it, and if I would let myself, I'd just sit and eat spoonful after spoonful.  

And this was my picnic site.  You can't beat that.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Temps were in the low 50soF, there was only a gentle breeze, and when you sit in the sun, it was just right!  Plus, when I arrived at Devil's Tower, the sky was completely overcast, but once I started my hike, it cleared right up.  You've got to love those kinds of tender mercies!

Oh, and I had one last 44oz soda from my favorite place, Maverik, before leaving Maverik country later in the day.

And on we drove into Scenic South Dakota...where there are lots of great faces... :-D

I arrived in Wall, SD, early enough to have around two hours of sunlight, so I decided to catch some sunset scenes at Badlands National Park (national park #2).  The route I took, however included about 10 miles of gravel road through the Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

If you're not sure what a national grassland might look like...just take a look at this.  Yep, it's about what you'd imagine!  Heh heh.

And then I made it to the park.

Being in Badlands National Park at sunset was AMAZING!

I've been to Yellowstone and Teton National Park several times each, but I've never seen as much wildlife there as I saw here.  Here are a few examples of what I saw this evening.  I saw LOTS of bighorn sheep.  More than I've ever seen before.  I also saw deer and pronghorns!  So now I know "where the deer and the antelope play." 

And South Dakota does sunsets pretty well, too!

And that's the scoop for Day 2.  Let's see where Day 3 takes us.  So far the Mud Dragons are enjoying the outing.  Fans, well, they just don't seem to know who we are, but that's OK.  It'd have to be tiresome to deal with adoring fans - though we wouldn't know about that (HAHA).

Cheers!