July 11, 2019
100 miles East of Rapid City, SD
More exactly MURDO, SD
Or, “Nowhere, SD”. (Same thing)
Extra-ordinary trip report as I wait for companions to return.
Well, this different! John pulls off highway 90 aiming for a museum that has been advertised on highway billboards for the last 100 miles or so. “Hey Alberto, do you mind?”.
I don’t. But he asks only because I don’t care for museums. Nostalgia is not my thing.
For $11 bucks we entered what seemed a one room full of crap. Went thru the second door and this this opens to what “seems to have no ending”! And more doors behind, and then the outside exhibits. This thing is huge!… easily $11 worth, if this is your thing.
Okay, I was impressed… but still, it’s all crap to me.
Antique cars, motorcycles, outboard engines, Briggs and Stratton engines and the like. A treat to bikers… Elvis Presley’s Harley Davidson, yes sir! The real thing. Also, a 1958 BMW Isetta 300… WOW! How good can this get?!
I am writing this in the cafeteria, John and Laura are lost in a sea of “beautiful things” (I’m being polite). I’m sure they will surface some time, hopefully, today.
The full report…
Rapid City, South Dakota
Everybody was with it today. I woke up at 5:55 am to find Laura gone for breakfast and John up and opening drapes.
I kind of felt bad for being late. Feeling bad only lasted one minute, I was up and ready to go.
Breakfast and by 7:30 we are on the bikes. Top of the gas and really be on our way.
No wind. Sunny. Temperature, a comfortable 71° F.
Four upcoming stops:
The Missouri River
The badlands
The Wall Drugs place
Rapid City (final fest.)
70 miles out from Mitchell is Chamberlain where a Lewis & Clark memorial is erected. It overlooks the Missouri River. Oh yes, it’s big. From the overlook its majestic. A native woman and tepee over 75 feet tall commemorate the place.
Back on the road. Onto the famous Badlands of South Dakota… Ooops, surprise. Just a 1/4 mile the oposite direction is a Minuteman Ballistic silo and museum. Quick detour, watched a movie (recalling the old “duck-n-cover”) and a few other Cold War facts. This museum was great.
Back on the road to the Badlands National Park. We all have our SENIOR pases, saved $50 bucks! That’s a lot of money fir what?! After going through the famous badlands… what a waste of time. It’s more hoopla than geographical drama.
Outa here!!
Along highway 90 there are this billboards, WALL DRUG, yes, “drug”.
“Wall” because it’s the town if Wall, “Drug”… must have been a drugstore that grew, and grew, take over all other stores. The complex is huge! You go from store to store inside the complex. It must be at least twenty stores. Selling as much nick-Mack’s as you can imagine. Food, soda fountain, restaurant, shooting gallery, museum and i am short by a lot other things. It is all kinda-silly, but that’s the attraction. And to compliment, oh, I’d say thousands of visitors, truly a mob-scene.
Arriving to Wall Drugs was not easy. The temperature is 98°. We were glad to be there despite the crowd. Wall Drug must have the most potent A/C 1,000 miles around here. Ahhh, what a pleasure not cool down. I did not want to depart and face that heat, but depart we did.
59 miles further is Rapid City. No reason at all. It is just a destination on our way West, home bound.
That’s it.
Econo lodge, dumpy but clean and cool. More than that… OFF THE MOTORCYCLE!
