Wall Drug | Badlands National Park
Tuesday - 24 September 2002: - Mitchell, South
Dakota - Welcome to Portland. Jimmy! Tonight, Jimmy Buffett is
playing in Portland. I gave my four tickets to a friend. I know, I know...
no one else can believe it either. But don't forget, I have already seen his
Far Side of the World
tour twice. Sometimes, you just gotta make a choice. Sometimes you gotta let
your husband make the choice.
So, on with our day... Since eastern Wyoming, we have been seeing signs for
Wall
Drug
along the freeway. Free ice water. Coffee five cents. Free coffee and donut
for honeymooners and Veterans. My parents had visited Wall Drug and told us
not to miss it if we were through this area - and since we were camped ONE
BLOCK from the drug store - we went over, for breakfast. The food wasn't
that great - though the cake donuts were divine. And even at five cents per
cup, their coffee is over-priced. You could wander the huge store for hours,
but we just went for our usual souvenirs: tacky magnets for Lisa's fridge
and a tacky bottle opener for our collection and an assortment of postcards.
I send a lot of postcards.
If you stop at Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota, you can see a life-size
model of a T-Rex, grizzly bear, jackalope, gorilla, dinosaur, and bison. You
can shop for all sorts of cowboy-stuff: hats, chaps, shirts and look through
over 8,000 pair of cowboy boots. You can buy books, food, "art", jewelry and
if you are spiritually weary, you can stop-in to the Travelers Chapel. If
you are thirsty, they will give you FREE ICE WATER. I suppose, if you were
so inclined, you could spend a day at Wall Drug. We spent over an hour
nosing around - and we actually did see a few "drug store" items (band-aids,
baby lotion, shampoo, etc.) in one corner. There is a lot of history about
the store on display - they opened this shop in the middle of nowhere and
make a fortune by posting signs on the highway promising free ice water. (It
gets hot here in the summer and this was before air conditioning...) People
stopped. They bought stuff. The rest is history. I can't recommend that you
do or do not visit Wall Drug. If you are driving by Wall, South Dakota on
I-90, stop in; if you are driving around in Kansas, don't make a special
trip. Wall Drug is very popular with RVer's... it is one of those "been
there - done that" places.
But wait til you see what is across the "street":
Across I-90 from Wall, South Dakota is why Wall is named Wall -
Badlands National Park. A wall rises out of the prairie - beautiful
pinnacles, and jagged cliffs. On the top is vast grassland - complete with
deer and antelope playing (no buffalo were roaming). We drove the 31-mile
long drive and looked out over the view points and returned to I-90 -
looking east to Washington, DC. Here are my photos of Badlands National
Park:
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park
Pronghorn Sheep in Badlands National Park
At Murdo we crossed into the Central time zone, and later we
drove "across the wide Missouri" River. Luckily, we are a drug-free
motorhome because this sign is posted at the border by the Highway Patrol:
If you bring illegal drugs into South Dakota, plan on staying a long,
long time.
Then we arrived at Exit 332 in Mitchell, South Dakota - known to every
fisher-hunter in America as the Cabela's exit. We spent 90
minutes in this shop! DT found several things he needed. It's hunting season
and this "season" the color is obviously camouflage.
Cabela's carries the largest supply of outdoor and camping equipment
known. They also have a fascinating display of North American mammals and
birds - stuffed of course - along the back wall of the store.
Tonight we are camped at a real campground -
Lake Mitchell Campground - operated by the city. It is a beautiful spot,
very rustic setting (with full-hookups). We have been out a week now and I
have cooked dinner seven nights in a row. This may be a record - even at
home we go out several times a week! I guess we are having such long days
driving, and there aren't exactly a lot of dining choices here in the middle
of America.
RV Park:
Lake Mitchell Campground
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