Off to the Black Hills
So are you ready for another one of my road trip blogs? I’m sure a lot of folks are more than likely groaning now and saying, “There he goes again. Another road trip described in excruciating detail. Ugh!”
If I just described your feelings my friend, please feel free to preserve your sanity and bid me adieu. I’ll not be offended. Different strokes and all that stuff. I’ll meet ya on the other side with maybe something that’ll shiver your timbers. Bye now…
So, are we all alone? Just the half-dozen of my buds who are brave enough to plod onward through the upcoming purple prose? If so, then lets get going!
I’ve tried recently to plan our road trips to see new things. Sure, going to Myrtle Beach or Gettysburg or Niagara Falls is nice, but we’ve been there multiple times. I can show you the tee shirts! So this time I decided to head northwest and picked South Dakota as our destination. Why there? Well, there are a number of attractions near there that we’ve never seen. I’m not exactly sure why. I’m sure lots of you have already seen these places, either as a kid or maybe as an adult.
But we never have. So I guess that’s reason enough, eh?
My son Tony’s last workday for the week was Monday, so we ventured out on a Tuesday morning. As a long drive was expected, we left before seven am. After a quick stop at our new local Dunkin’s Doughnut shop we headed off in generally the correct direction munching on sweet treats and sipping good hot coffee. The miles passed by under our wheels while we spent most of the day chatting, paying tolls and enjoying (???) the scenery along America’s interstates, especially I-90 which we would see a LOT of. Going through Chicago was, as usual, not entirely a picnic, but the traffic did keep moving and we soon left the skyline of the Windy City disappearing in our rear window. Lunch was at a truck stop north of there and not half bad. Eventually we reached our first stop of the journey at La Crosse, Wisconsin, directly on the Mississippi River. Supper was at a nearby family restaurant and it is best not dwelled upon. The beds felt good, however, after a long day on the road and we all slept well.
Wednesday we were again on the road a little after 7 am after a decent enough hotel breakfast. We jumped on our friend I-90 and would be on it the entire day. Lots of cornfields that day across all of southern Minnesota and some of eastern South Dakota. We stopped for lunch just across the South Dakota line at a restaurant/bar/casino place. Another meh meal, at least for me. Tony seemed to be enjoying all the road food. Good for him! Casinos seemed to be as prevalent as the corn was in the east and cattle were in the west part of the state. Obviously the laws there are a little different than good ol’ Ohio. Stopped at the absolutely obligatory Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Huge store with apparently anything you might want to buy and lots that you ended up looking at and saying, “Huh?” We grabbed some fudge (shame on us) and a refrigerator magnet and were off for our last hour on the road. Our home for the next four days was a hotel right off I-90 in Rapid City, South Dakota, the entrance to the Black Hills. It ended up being a good place.
The landscape from about the middle of South Dakota, actually just after you cross the Missouri River, changes from corn land with some trees to the beginnings of the Great Plains. Rolling land and mile upon mile of grass swaying in the ever-present wind. The prevalence of the wind was demonstrated by the many windmills we saw turning their 3-bladed fans and all facing west. Lots of electricity being produced there. If you looked closely you could see a tree or two here and there, but for the most part it was waving grasslands, windmills and the occasional cattle herd.
Supper was at a TGI Fridays next door to the hotel. They screwed up my order for a ½ rack of ribs and delivered a full rack. They were only going to charge me for the ½ one, but somehow they charged me zero instead. So my dinner was free. It was a nice introduction to our time in western South Dakota.
Thursday was our first “monument” day. After a dandy hot hotel breakfast we drove to Mt. Rushmore. It’s about a 25-mile trip and it goes through the nearby Black Hills. They’re quite pretty and very different than the surrounding plains, with steep-sided hills and lots of evergreens growing everywhere. Mt. Rushmore was very impressive, as I knew it would be. And of course it looks exactly like the thousands of pictures of it you’ve seen all your life. But somehow it’s much more impressive in real life. We ogled the four presidents for a while then Tony and I decided to take the trail down to the monument itself. It was a nice walk there and the view of the carvings was incredible closer up. We continued on the trail down, down and down to the sculpture’s studio in the valley where we checked out the working sculpture in miniature and other artifacts pertaining to carving the faces. Then it was up, up and up to the viewing area where we had started. You can be assured I was huffing and puffing when finally got back up there. Even Tony was winded! We bought souvenirs (of course) then drove further into the Black Hills to see the Crazy Horse Monument. The visitor’s center is quite a ways from the monument, so we took a number of telephoto shots of it from there. Basically, all that has been carved is Crazy Horse’s head. They’re working on his outstretched arm and hand right now. I’m guessing it’ll be another easy hundred years before it’s finished. You could pay for a bus ride closer and pay again for a trip up on his arm, but we chose not to. The visitor’s center had a lot of things to see relating to the native Americans of the area and a good souvenir shop. We lunched there and the meal was actually pretty good. And the view out the window toward the monument was, well, monumental!
Supper was at a family place down the road from our hotel and was fine. In that stretch of about a half-a-mile there were about six or seven casinos – little ones in about every strip mall. LOTS of places to spend a buck. Can’t imagine how they all stay in business.
Friday was our “road trip within a road trip” day. We jumped on good ol’ I-90 and headed west. The interstate curves northward in Rapid City and doesn’t head back west again until it clears most of the northern part of the Black Hills. Before long we crossed over the border into Wyoming and exited the interstate on the road that headed toward Devil’s Tower. There was a longish line waiting to get into the National Park that surrounds the Tower, but soon we were through that. My senior National Park pass got us all in free! We were lucky to find a parking place there and soon I was walking up the trail to the Tower. Judy and Tony were disinclined to join me, so I trod up by myself. It was truly beautiful up there among the evergreens and the huge rocks that had fallen from the Tower over the centuries. The path is paved and, after you had climbed up to the rubble area, it’s virtually flat as it circumnavigates the monument. I walked about one third of the way around and enjoyed all the views and watching some folks and their kids scrambling among the big rocks. You are allowed to climb among the fallen rocks all around the monument, but to scale the Tower itself you need a permit. I saw no one attempting the face while I was there, but did see a couple ascending the trail with climbing ropes on their shoulders. I shuddered thinking about the hundreds of feet of vertical face they would soon be climbing.
Mountain climbing is definitely NOT my sport!
We made a stop on our drive from the Tower to watch a band of playful prairie dogs just off the park road, then hit the big souvenir shop just outside the park’s gate for refreshments and keepsakes.
Driving back to Rapid City we detoured again back into the Black Hills and visited Deadwood. Yes, the real Deadwood. I recalled fondly the HBO show with the same name and other things about the town such as this was where Wild Bill Hickock was dealt his “Aces and Eights” in the No. 10 saloon and was then shot in the back. There are lots of Western stories about Deadwood – it’s a real Wild West town. We stopped at a bar/casino/restaurant for lunch there at a spot across the street from the old No. 10 bar. A brief rain shower wetted down the streets while we ate and a singer entertained us and told jokes. After eating we walked a bit around the town. I was disappointed that all I mostly saw were bars, casinos and souvenir shops. Then I realized that in the 1800’s, discounting the souvenir shops, that is what was mainly there too! Along with the occasional brothel! I made a quick stop in one of the casinos and managed to make $20 in about 30 seconds. The travel gods were smiling on us today.
We drove back to Rapid City via Sturgis, the erstwhile motorcycle capital of the U. S. As the big bike rally wouldn’t be for a number of weeks, it was then just a sleepy town with a preponderance of motorcycle shops and bars.
We didn’t stop.
We drove through some more rain on the way back to the hotel. Back in the plains you can see the storms coming and going a LONG way off!
Saturday was our last day in Rapid City. We drove out to the nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base to look at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum that was located there. It’s a very nice small museum with lots of displays concerning flight and how the state figured in it. While there we took a short tour of a defunct MinuteMan II site. As the site was on the base itself, we had to surrender our driver’s licenses for examination at the gatehouse before being allowed to enter. We were given a very interesting tour of the base before arriving at the missile site. Our guide was quite informative about what we were seeing and we got to go down into the silo and see the missile itself. It was a dummy, of course. All the MinuteMan II sites were emptied and destroyed soon after the S.A.L.T. treaties with the Russians, but this one was preserved as a tourist site. It was a bit chilling reliving some old Cold War memories.
This evening we went to the movies back in Rapid City and saw the new “Ghostbusters” movie. It was very funny and a good counterpoint to the old missile tour earlier in the day.
I won’t go into much of the following six days as we were visiting Judy’s sister and brother-in-law in Tulsa and really didn’t do much noteworthy. Basically family stuff. I will tell you a bit about the following Thursday though. You might find it entertaining.
My brother and sister-in-law are both big fans of country music. Harris, my brother-in-law was born in Montana and pretty much raised in Oklahoma. Country music is undoubtedly in his blood. Anyhow, we were asked months before the trip if we’d be interested in going to a country western concert while we were out there. A group was coming that they really wanted to see. I said fine and they purchased tickets for us. The headliner was Vince Gill and the group was the Time Shifters.
And now, gentle reader, you need to be aware that I’m NOT a big fan of country music. I kinda like bluegrass, however, with all the banjos and fiddles and I hoped the upcoming concert would include at least some of that.
I should have known better.
The venue for the concert was the old Cain’s Ballroom in downtown Tulsa. If you’re from there, you know all about it. If not, Cain’s is a big, barn-like structure, open and cavernous inside. The stage is on one end of the building and the floor is all wooden and, according to my brother-in-law Harris, has springs underneath to make it more enjoyable to dance on. There are huge pictures of about 30 or more old country western singers hanging on the walls.
I recognized a few. Make that two. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.
There were not any seats other than folding chairs pulled up to folding tables. Oh and maybe some small bleachers along the wall.
There were LOTS of cowboy hats and cowboy boots, snap-fronted shirts and jeans. There were hundreds of folks attending and it seemed that Harris and Lori knew most of them. They were all REALLY looking forward to the show.
When the performers came out onto the stage, a large contingent of the audience left their seats and proceeded to stand in front of the stage.
Blocking all view.
They remained there the entire show. I think I saw a few cowboy hats bobbing above the crowd, but very little else of the performers.
I couldn’t pick one out of a line-up today.
This group performed a type of country western music called “Western Swing”. I guess everyone else knew that. I didn’t. Not that it would have made much difference. I love my bro and sis-in-law and had promised to join them. But… But…
I guess, that after listening to the group, I have at least discovered the one variety of c/w music I pretty much don’t like the most.
Can you guess what it is?
So, while everyone else was clapping, and dancing, and ya-hooing at the appropriate spots, (I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how they knew when to holler) I was smiling my suffering smile and wishing the hands on my watch would move a bit faster.
Way faster.
The group was, of course, persuaded to do two encore songs. The crowd just loved them.
What can I say. As I said, I love my bro and sis-in-law. And if anyone questions that, I’ll tell them this story. I have PROVED my affection!
So our sojourn in South Dakota and Oklahoma came to an end last Saturday when we returned to hearth and home. And dog of course. Barring only a tiny few occurrences, it was a good trip, a fun excursion for the family and a good couple of weeks away from home.
And I think the infusion of my favorite classic rock music on the way home has healed me of most of the wounds western swing had inflicted.
I hope so…
