Mountains!

So I was quite lucky that I happened to have a friend going to Iowa on business, as I'd decided that another 1000 miles of cornfields was going to be a waste of time. I hitched a ride back home

I picked up my car and headed west, deciding to take the northern route on interstate 90. On the first day I made it to the middle of South Dakota and got 5 hours of sleep at a rest stop.

The second day on the road was rather eventful. All in one day I got to see the Badlands, Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and then stopped at Wall Drug.

The Badlands were nothing short of awesome. Towering rock formations stand in every direction, like jagged teeth in the distance. A road snakes its way through the park, with pull offs, and parking lots here and there to catch the most spectacular views. I was able to stop here for a few hours and do some hiking, as every inch of the park is open to wandering. There are a few man made trails that you can walk on, but they are only for convenience. Since the entire badlands area was formed and is continually changing due to rapid erosion, the impact of hikers in the area would be washed away in a matter of weeks or months. Its hard to describe the Badlands fully, you just have to go there and see it.

On the west side of the badlands you come to the town of Wall, which is the home of Wall Drug. This particular store has billboards all over the world, literally. On interstate 90, I must have seen well over a hundred billboards about Wall Drug, many of them saying "Free ice water in wall drug" or "Coffee 5 cents, wall drug".

Seriously, after someone drills something in your head enough times you can't help but succumb. Marketing works.

It actually turned out to be pretty cool, it's basically a massive gift shop and museum. I doubt many organizations have a larger collection of old west photographs. They sell everything from guns to clothes and books. They even still fill prescriptions.

In one hallway they had a very cool animated plastic T-Rex dinosaur display. All you could see was its very large head, with the rest of the body hidden behind a faux concrete wall. It was a very complete display with danger signs all over, rain forest animal sounds, and the sound of the dinosaur breathing while he moved a little bit.

I'm standing nearby this display looking at some of the old photographs and newspaper clippings. I notice that there are a couple of young children standing right in front of the dino, looking on in awe. Their parents are standing back about 20 feet looking at photos too. The kids are probably about 5 or 6 and they obviously think it is real. Cute kids.

Suddenly and without warning the dinosaur erupts in an ear splitting roar, red lights start flashing all over and the ground starts rumbling. The dinosaur lifts partway out of his big concrete cage, ready to climb out and eat the innocent bystanders.

I though that was cool, but what really got me was the terrified screams of the children as they sprinted away from the display and back to their parents. I couldn't stop laughing, and I'm not sure that the parents appreciated that. The father walks up near the dinosaur to retrieve the sandal that the little girl left behind when she bolted away.

The Black Hills were very beautiful, with dense forest everywhere and wildlife all over the place. I think it would be a great place to hike and camp. I wanted to see more but it is a big place and I was expected in Denver. Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were very cool. I found out there is a hall of records near the faces of Mount Rushmore that was never completed. I wanted to see that but it's not open to the public.

Passing through the west side of South Dakota and Wyoming was more nothing than I ever thought I would see. I was sailing down country roads at about 90 mph passing up thousands of acres of ranches in no time at all. There is no cell phone service at all out there.

I stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming, meeting some fellow wanderers. After a few hours of sleep and awoke ready for Denver.

With my first mountain view on my right hand side, I hit the interstate toward my destination city. When I got there, my friend was still in school so I just headed west oh highway 72, directly into the mountains. My car does not like the mountains. At 9000 feet, the air is pretty thin in comparison to Chicago, so my poor car had a considerable loss of power. I enjoyed some amazing views of snow capped mountains, and took lots of pictures.