Badlands and Glitz

I hope you enjoy seeing pictures of the Badlands. There's one there that is included especially for Nita and Donna Bybee. They will recognize which one that is!

Although I have been to the Badlands before, I was once again awed by the magnificent scenes. It is quite amazing to see these formations rise from the grasslands and to realize that wind and water created all these shapes. Both before and after the 20-30 miles of Badlands, the terrain is gentle and rolling with yellow grasses blowing and bending in the breeze. We took time to "smell the roses" -- ie detour through the Badlands and to Wall, SD, home of the drugstore made famous by roadside signs throughout virtually all of the USA. We're in Sioux Falls tonight -- right near the eastern border of South Dakota.

As magnificent as Badlands are, Wall Drug Store is equally glitzy and touristy. It bows and scrapes at the feet of consumerism and tourists wanting to "buy something" -- and buy something we did! I found some prizes, among them, a baseball sized jaw breaker. No doubt some little boy or girl will think it is worth 3 or 4 tickets! Brian bought a couple of wooden nickels for 38 cents each (does that compute??) and we both selected some gifts to take home with us. We also totally enjoyed eating the junky candy that Brian bought!

Our lady in the GPS (her name is Susan) is quite patient with us when we disobey her directions. I tried to explain to her that sometimes we have to get off the Interstate to buy gas. She complains a bit, but then graciously directs us back onto the I-90 once she sees that we weren't ignoring her all together! We like Susan's company a lot.

It seemed to take forever to drive the 627 km we covered today. We lollygagged at getting started, and then stopped at several places along the way. I think we're still okay for meeting Sue in Louisville however.

We treated ourselves to Arby's for supper. We talked about going to an Outback, but decided it wasn't worth the bother since it is quite a way from the motel. We're going to look at the map and perhaps change the route for tomorrow. In any case, we will be in either Minnesota maybe, and Iowa for sure, tomorrow

The satellite radio is great when it works. Since it is connected through fm frequencies, we have to find and set appropriate frequencies as we go. It's easy enough to set them on the car radio, but it's a pain to reset them on the Sirius radio. I can't do it without stopping and working at it! I will definitely do something about the set up when I get home. It will probably mean replacing the car radio, but I'm in this whole thing too deeply now to give it up! We got hooked on listening to Elvis today -- believe it or not, there is an entire station devoted to Elvis music only!