Day Eight - Deadwood - Sturgis - Wall - Badlands - Mitchell SD - Sioux City IA

This morning we start out with breakfast at our hotel which is the Hampton Inn in Deadwood. It is located at the far eastern end of Main Street. After breakfast we load up the BRM and head out. Starting the drive back east today. We drive route 16 east to Sturgis. Take a quick drive through Sturgis. It is where they have the big motorcycle rally every year in August. I’m sure the motorcycle rally is fun but to me it looks like a sleepy farm town. Before we get back on 90 we stop to fill up the BRM. I do a little PM on the Big Red Machine. I finally put on the new air filter we bought back in North Dakota. Hopefully we get at least a little better gas mileage. The old filter was rather dirty.

Back on I90 to Wall SD. Its about 80-90 miles. On the approach to Wall we see all kinds of billboards advertising Wall Drug. Including free water and 5 cent coffee. In Wall we get off to see the great Wall Drug. Wow has it changed from what I remember seeing it as a child. It is huge now with about 4 different entrances with maybe 7 or 8 different departments. There is a huge area out back that is a museum with all kinds of pictures and items on display. I do not remember it being this big. We get some pennies smashed in the penny smasher and buy a few trinkets in the souvenir department. Then we decide to have lunch in the café. We have free water and 5 cent coffee. Definitely Dave friendly prices! For lunch I have a buffalo burger and Jack has a Buffalo sausage. The buffalo sausage looks kind of gross to me but he says it tastes good. After lunch we pick up some free bumper stickers and head out.

Wall is one of the starting points for the scenic drive through the Badlands National Park. Route 240 is the route we take through the park. It is approximately 24 miles. There is an entrance fee but Jack has a Golden age pass he bought that gets us in for free. The views from the scenic drive are amazing. Unfortunately we do not have time take any of the hikes. We do stop for a short walk that is labeled a fossil hike. I though we would see big T-Rex fossils and such. It turns out to be just small fossils that were placed by the park service nothing great.

We stop at a number of the vistas to take pictures though. One of the vistas is called Big Foot Pass. I hope to find Big Foot here but no luck. We pull in to take pictures and it appears to be the picnic area we visited years ago when I was a child. At least the picnic tables look the same with the same strange looking canopy over them. I guess when I was a kid I complained because it was so hot and dry the bread on my PB&J sandwich dried before I could eat it. I find it hard to believe I would complain about anything. We stop and take a few pictures and talk to an older couple originally from Detroit who are picnicking. Next we stop at the visitor center a few miles down the road. We take a few pictures and get the National park passport stamp and continue on.

Back on I90 to Mitchell. It is about a 3 hour drive to Mitchell. The speed limit here is 75 so we can drive a little faster. Actually in both North and South Dakota the speed limit on the Interstates is 75. Nice for the speed but it kills the Big Red Machine gas mileage. Even though it appears we are in the middle of nowhere there is considerably more traffic in South Dakota than North Dakota. One interesting thing is that about ¾ of the way to Mitchell the road seems to come down a large gradual hill and the scenery changes. So far most of South Dakota was like North Dakota big wide open pasturelands with hills and rocks. Now it is greener with more trees and crops like corn. There have also been lots of sunflower crops all over North and South Dakota. We both wonder how they keep the birds out of the sunflowers.

We had a bit of a close call with the fuel coming in to Mitchell. I decide to wait until Mitchell to stop for fuel but about 10-15 miles before Mitchell the fuel light comes on telling us to stop now. As I mentioned the BRM doesn’t get good mileage going 75 mph. We make it to the first gas station we find in Mitchell and fill up. It is a Shell station. Then we drive the few blocks to the Corn Palace. It is a big building with Murals drawn on the sides made from Corn. A tourist trap I’m sure. This is a good time of year to see it because it is harvest time and the corn on the murals looks new. There are still a few murals on the front of the building they are working on. It is about 6:30 pm and unfortunately the Palace and gift shop close at 5:30 pm so we are unable to buy any post cards or trinkets. We take a few pictures and drive down Main Street back to I90. Jack mentions that the first time he came out here there were no interstates and he remembers the main two lane road they drove on across South Dakota came right through Main street past the Corn Palace.

We decide to take the more southern route through Iowa home instead of continuing I90 through Minnesota and Wisconsin. So we drive I 90 to Sioux falls and then get on I29 south to Sioux City Iowa. It is dark out and not much to see. Jack drives and I work on the blog. We stop in Sioux City for the night at a Fairfield Inn. Jack likes the free breakfasts at Fairfield Inns. It is late so we just have snacks and PB&J in the room for dinner.

Here are some pictures.

Jack at Breakfast in the Hampton Inn.


A sign from Sturgis.


Downtown Sturgis. It looked kind of slow. It probably only fills up during the Bike rally.


Dave putting the new air filter on the Big Red Machine.


Outside Wall Drug in Wall South Dakota. Wow was it big. We still got free water and 5 cent coffee though.


Jack getting his 5 cent coffee at Wall Drug. He complained that they don't give free refills.


Jack eating his Buffalo Sausage.


A scenic view of Badlands National park on the western end of 240.


Another Scenic view of Badlands National park. Some of what you see in the picture is called the wall. It separates the upper and lower prairie and is slowly eroding away. Now the roads make it easy to go up and down but the early pioneers had more trouble.


Dave in the Badlands.


Bigfoot pass. I looked for Bigfoot here but couldn't find him. The next picture of us at the picnic table is in the Bigfoot Pass picnic area.


Dave and Jack in the Bigfoog pass picnic area. These are the tables we think we picniced at almost 30 years ago during our family trip out west.



Dave and Jack at the Badlands Visitor Center.


Dave and Jack at the Corn Palace. Unfortunately everything was closed for the day.