Today was truly a day of park sprinting – I’m not even sure I can remember the details of all that we’ve done. We left Bear’s Lodge early and passed through more small towns in Wyoming. After looking up the state’s population (a stat I wish our GPS had!), I realized why it feels so different here. The state of Wyoming ranks 50th in population and has significantly less people than the city of Seattle in the entire state. No wonder we still can’t find a Starbucks! We crossed the border into South Dakota and made a quick stop in Sturgis, a quaint little town that is very busy preparing for the 70th annual motorcycle rally that spans the first two weeks of August. Everything in this town seems to cater to motorcyclists, but we cruised the streets in the Sprinter anyway and stopped at Harley-Davidson just to check it out. From there, we went to the Wounded Knee museum. My travel book said, “This modern facility interprets the history of the December 29, 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre through interactive exhibits with historical photos and documents.” So, that influenced our expectations and I was looking forward to seeing a modern tribute to this awful part of our country’s history. You can imagine our surprise when we pulled up to a tiny building that looked like it had just been converted from an Azteca restaurant. There were t-shirts hanging on a metal rack in front of the building, what looked like the start of a tipi in front of the door and it said Wounded Knee Museum. I read the description from the travel book again and we backed out, thinking this must be the cheesy tourist stop. As we were pulling away, I checked the address and we were appalled to realize we were in the correct place. On the inside, it was a little bit modern but the cheaply painted turkey “peace feather” that came with the cost of admission was our first clue that this was not going to be what we’d hoped. We read the typo-ridden displays and learned about the 300 Lakota, mostly women and children, who lost their lives. It was disheartening to learn the details about this day and the events leading up to what was the last major conflict between the U.S. military and the American Indians and the end of life as the American Indians knew it. We returned our turkey feathers and pulled away from “Azteca” feeling disgusted and ready to see something inspiring. Our next stop was Badlands National Park. I’d never heard of this place, but after watching the documentary I really wanted to stop here. As we pulled in, we were commenting on how this is probably called the Badlands because it looks so badass! We stopped to take pictures at the first outlook and it was amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this. As we approached the boardwalk that led into the buttes and spires (I don’t really know what that means, but I can’t really describe this place in my own words!) I was shocked. The sign said – Beware of rattlesnakes on the path. From bears and bison to this crazy, HOT, odd-looking place full of snakes. Get me out of here! As we walked along the boardwalk, we tiptoed down the middle thinking that would keep us the furthest away from the snakes. We weren’t prepared for the enormous grasshopper-like things that were hopping all over the place and landing on our legs and feet. We ran to the end of the boardwalk, took a few pictures, sweat out all the water we’d drank and quickly returned to the car. We were so thankful we didn’t push on to spend the night here last night. I decided that this place is called the Badlands because everyone who visits has a bad time here, but Deven’s theory was a little bit funnier. She thinks parents bring their kids here so they can return home and threaten them when they’re bad by saying, “If you aren’t good, we’re sending you to the Badlands.” That pretty much sums it up. It was a fascinating place to see, but we were over the heat, flying bugs, and snake warnings pretty quickly. Described by Custer (before he marched right through to push the Indians out of the more desirable land) as “hell without fire” it is definitely unlike anyplace I’ve ever seen. The result of 3 million years of erosion and home to many interesting fossils (which we did not stop to see – that’s how miserable it was here!), this crazy place has frequent droughts and a winter that lasts half the year. After a 30-minute sprint through this park, we headed towards Mount Rushmore. We stopped in Interior, South Dakota just 2 miles outside of the Badlands. This place was also strange – the gas station, called Cowboy Corner (which had the pump hanging on a coat hanger), was also the only “restaurant in” town. I think the population was about 12! We drove through the driest land I’d ever seen and we had more bugs splatter on the windshield than any other part of the drive. Deven thinks it’s because they’re so miserable they’re committing suicide just to get out! Soon, we started seeing recognizable landscapes again and we drove through the dark green trees (the appearance from afar is the reason for the nickname the Black Hills, I’ve learned) to Rushmore. We drove through the little town of Keystone, South Dakota – which is basically like the Vegas for families heading to Rushmore. No, more like the Reno for families heading to Rushmore. It was a small town full of tourists! We stopped at Rushmore, toured the museum, and took some pictures. It was now about 2:00 and we realized we hadn’t eaten anything all day. We’d been park sprinting and lost track of time. So, we sat on the side of the road with the Sprinter door open eating yesterday’s grilled potatoes and corn. Then, we sprinted to our next place – the Crazy Horse Monument. This place is amazing and I hope I can return to see the ambitious plans completed someday. We learned a lot about the development of this project, the family’s determination to finish their father’s work, and Crazy Horse’s quote that drives it all: “My land is where my people are buried.” We sprinted out of the there and tried to make it to our next stop, Wind Cave National Park. Their cave tours had ended, but we toured the Visitor’s Center and made a plan to return in the morning. On the way to our campsite, we called the Mammoth Site and realized their last tour was in 20 minutes. So, we hurried through Hot Springs, South Dakota and literally ran to make the final tour. We learned that in the 70s a developer and his crew hit a bone while bulldozing. He called the local university, who called in experts and they determined these were mammoth bones. The developer sold the property back to the city for the exact price he paid and the non-profit organization that took over the dig decided to leave the bones as they were originally found for the public to view them in-situ. We were so relieved – finally some history of Americans who did the respectable thing! After this, we were so exhausted. We made our way to our nearby campsite for the night, made dinner, and ended our long day. We didn’t even shower and that tells you how tired we were because this was the first site with a shower in 5 days…gross! But, all 3 of us (Deven, myself and the Sprinter) survived hundreds of miles between Sturgis, Wounded Knee, The Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, and the Mammoth site in one day. We’re 2500 miles in, learning a lot, having fun, and still smiling!
