Prairie Gal

“Prairie dogs!”

I jumped out of the Grand Cherokee and raced to the fence.  The bored critter eyed me with disinterest and shuffled back into its hole, but not before I netted a few blurry snapshots.

We had stopped at a gas station just outside the Badlands National Park for a much-needed fuel stop after many more hours on I-90, rumbling our way across South Dakota’s prairie land.  I persuaded Carolyn to let me into the unmasked establishment fully armored to investigate the local tchotchkes.

Our latest stop brought us to the Minute Man RV Park, a dusty, thorny, and somewhat run-down outpost situated just outside the Badlands. A perfect location to explore the craggy, towering spires.

The Badlands Loop ends near Wall, SD, which, if you’ve been paying attention on the miles and miles of I-90 you just drove, you’d know this small town is the home of the infamous Wall Drug. Of course we needed to visit! It was just like I remembered – more lovely tchotchkes – and I added a new magnet to the fridge.

Sunday would come bright and early, but for us traveling west, we had the time zone difference on our side. Wake up at 5am Mountain Time? No problemo! Now what to do with these morning hours…

I’m not even an amateur photographer, but I’ve heard-tell of the ‘golden hour’. What if we did a Badlands sunrise? (Side note: There will be a lot of LBC’s “what-ifs” on this trip…not all of them work out so well.) The pups were none too happy with us for delaying their breakfast as we motored to one of the first lookout points.

How many quiet sunrises do we watch? Me, not many. The snooze button is a daily practice.

Pause in the quiet, still moments to watch the sun flare across the landscape.

Returning to the campsite and filling the pups’ bellies and ours, we packed up camp to continue the journey west to Spearfish, South Dakota. Elkhorn RV Resort promised paved campsites, an espresso bar, and an on-site dog park. Are you thinking luxury? ‘Cause I sure am.

But not before we detoured to the Minuteman Missiles, a historic series of sites that never managed to grace my old AP US History book. You know the Cold War and build up of arms between the US and Soviet Union? Well, all those warheads needed a home, and Washington figured the Soviets couldn’t find them sprinkled across the remote Great Plains.

Manned for decades from inconspicuous house set-ups, these missile silos stood guard 24/7 against imminent threat. The final silos were retired between Russia and the US in the early 1990s, with this site turned into a historical marker.

Just a few hundred feet from the many cars passing by every day…

I’ll say one thing here. With great care should we as Americans select our next president who holds the great and terrible power to launch such destruction.

More I-90…

Spearfish is at the very tip top of the Black Hills in South Dakota. Early on, we discovered the show ‘Deadwood’ focused on a circa-1876 gold rush town located not 15 minutes south of Spearfish. I highly recommend the series (just beware the language, and violence, and sex, and well, it is HBO).

What a place, this Elkhorn Resort! Lots of full-timers with their big rigs — we counted four $2M+ Prevosts at one point, each with little pups yapping about. Maybe our ~70 lb, shedding, snuggly balls of energy aren’t considered a ‘best practice’ RV breed.

Seems we’re starting to get the hang of outdoor time. I made one of my favorite lunchtime meal preps…Mediterranean farro salad, my take on a vegetarian option. Lots of chopping, dicing, squeezing, and slicing, but wow, oh wow, those bursts of flavor!

The Tin Can’s residential fridge spoils me for how much it can store, though RV cooking is still something of a learning curve. Everything is more compact, with fewer resources. Sounds about right for everything about living life on the road.

We settled in for the work week ahead, trying to fit in sight-seeing to nearby Deadwood, home of many the wild west tale. The pups, meanwhile, were quite content with just the giant dog park and game after game of chuck-it. Oh Labradors. Harper’s ready to go again; we’ll be back in a bit.