Sunday, April 28, 2013

WALL DRUG STORE

WALL DRUG STORE

Following church this morning in Rapid City, SD, we headed for the town of Wall, SD to check out WALL DRUG STORE. For an hour we saw signs along the highway, advertising Wall Drug. I realize that going to a drug store doesn't conjure up excitement. This place is nothing more than a lot of fluff and hype and a bonafide tourist trap. It's funny how a simple drug store business can be so bad that you put signs out on the highway advertising "FREE ICE WATER", and business starts rolling in. Now, evolution has taken over the "drug" part and created a myriad of "stores" selling, gadgets, souvenirs, food, drinks, and anything and everything tourists buy!

Wall Drug still offers 5 cent coffee and free ice water. Free donut and coffee to Vietnam Vets and newlywed's. the gimmicks have been handed down from original owner to family members looking for tourist bucks. Thousands come here every year. They usually give out 5,000 ice water drinks per DAY. What a cool gimmick! The place has grown from a single, small building to many buildings taking up two or three blocks!

Now THAT'S enterprise!



























Saturday, April 27, 2013

MOUNT RUSHMORE, SD

MOUNT RUSHMORE

First thing on the docket this morning was to change rooms. It was so small we had to take turns sleeping! And I had to go out into the hallway to tie my shoes! Our new room is twice the size now.

After coffee, we headed for the National Park. Approaching the main gate, I reached into my pocket for my Codger Card that has allowed us free entrance to every National Park we've been to. The lady Ranger said this $11 fee was for "parking". Ouch! It figures.

The famous mountain busts of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln were an amazing sight to behold! Fourteen years of work by more than 400 workers at a cost of nearly one million dollars, is now an amazing treasure for all of us. This mountain is solid granite, among the hardest this earth has given us. It should last forever... or not. The busts are 6 stories high. Washington's smile is 18' long!! Now THAT'S a big grin!

We took a drive around to the back side to see what was there.

We headed for Custer State Park to check out the Park's big herd of Bison, or The American Buffalo. There are more than 1500 Bison residents year round here. Each year there is an annual round up of the increased herd. They will be checked; get their annual physical, given shots and branded. About 1500 will remain in the Park. Others will be guests at the annual auction and will go to other places, including grocery stores. We saw more than 200 Bison today, including a dozen baby Bison. According to the Ranger lady, there are quite a number of babies being born this year. Must have been a hard winter and the Bison had to stay inside a lot.

We took a drive out to the area where a family is building a gigantic statue of the Indian, Chief Crazy Horse riding his non-crazy horse; carving it right out of a solid granite mountain about 14 miles from Rushmore. But no big rush. They've been blasting away on it since 1948. The bust itself is more than 9 stories tall. This will be much much bigger than Mount Rushmore.

We had lunch in their cafe. I settled for the delicious Bison Stew! Debby had the Indian Taco.

The Prong Horn Antelope were a beautiful sight! We must have seen a dozen or more. Also, Deer were very plentiful inside the Park; even more outside the Park! We spotted 4 right here in town across the street upon our return today!

This is a beautiful area. Maybe we should get us a home where the Buffalo roam, and the Deer and the Antelope play.
































SOUTH DAKOTA

SOUTH DAKOTA
ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We had a fun morning before we left York, NE. We made contact with another young friend, Ethan Woods, who went to church with us in Portland. We invited him out for breakfast and had a great visit. He said he really likes Nebraska.....go figure! His new job starts on the 6th. He's excited.

Leaving Ethan and York, we headed West across Nebraska on our way to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Mount Rushmore. Never been there before; looking forward to seeing it.

Much of Nebraska is flat as a pancake. I'm pretty sure we could see Topeka, Kansas this morning! The sky was clear and I was standing on the curb. The wind sure blows hard around here, too! Derek said it never stops. I can see why. There's nothing to block it or slow it down. Both trees don't have any LEAVES yet!

Not too far out of York I was passed by a fast moving red pickup with emergency lights flashing. I figured he was a volunteer fireman. I pulled over with the other drivers and let him pass. About half a mile away the road Tee-ed; the fireman went right, passing two other farmers on the road. We took the left fork heading west. About two miles down the road we spied a big flatbed truck on fire. As we approached all the flashing lights and police cars we put it all together. The truck hauling a big load of round hay bales was engulfed in smoke and flames. The driver had successfully unhooked the tractor and drove it forward at a safe distance. I waved at the nice Officer as we passed by and snapped photos of the burning hay.

That's the second hay truck we've seen burning on this trip. Then I remembered the volunteer fireman in a big hurry and figured he was supposed to be headed HERE! Ha Ha! Must have gotten some bad directions, I reckon.

Moral of the story: NEVER TEXT AND SMOKE AND TOSS YOUR BURNING BUTT OUT THE WINDOW WHILE HAULING HAY!

We actually found some HILLS in Nebraska! Pretty cool! No trees, but stacked up dirt! There are still patches of snow out here on the plains. Still remnants of winter. It's 73 degrees today!

In Oregon we can head East on I-84 to Biggs Junction, go across the bridge into Washington, then on the right at the top of the hill is Sam Hill's replica of England's, STONEHENGE. We went to that. We also went to the REAL Stonehenge last Fall, in England. Well, today, we went to CARHENGE! That's right, old car lovers.....CARHENGE. Some people just have a lot of time on their hands! But it was funny!

We passed several herds of wild Turkey along the road. We've seen a lot of them the past two weeks traveling! We passed two small herd of Buffalo here in South Dakota. They are awesome! Hoping to see some up close later on. Excited to see Mount Rushmore, Geronimo and other local sights while we are here. This is a beautiful area.

I love the mountains!