Travel Blog Sunday, August 1st 2022
Sunday:
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Awake at 4:30am, up at 5.
I am surprised to have slept so well in a hotel. The people in the room above us had finally stoped banging around at about 9:30pm. After that it was quiet and cold all for the rest of the night. Mom awoke at 6am. We took the elevator down stairs and used the exercise room for 30 minutes. I did weights, pushups, crunches and 20 minutes on an elliptical machine. Then we returned to our room. Cleaned up, showered, and made our way to the breakfast area in the hotel. There was not much there for mom to eat. Only a banana and some coffee, so I suggested that we go some where else. I quickly located a Cracker Barrel near by so we drove there and had a tasty breakfast.
As it turned out, the location of the restaurant was a perfect spot for My sister Karen and her family to meet and connect with us on the road. Our plan had been meet up and drive with one another to the black hills. This spot had made things easy. We were all together on the road by 10:30am. Karen and here family in their 2013 GMC pickup, and mom and I in her red Ford Taurus. I drove the Taurus and Alex led the way in the white pick up. He is typically a fast driver, so I volunteered to follow. on interstate 90 east out of Sioux Falls, we were immediately doing 90 mph. I was concerned how the day might go following him. But as it turned out we were all fine. The speed limit on that roads here is 80mph. And eventually he slowed down a bit.
As we moved west there was only the subtlest of change in landscape and topography. Lots of corn and lots of flat. However when we crossed the Missouri River, this all changed quite dramatically. Now our trajectory had a slight rise, and the corn was gone. It was now grass lands and rolling hills. This was the way it was for the next four hours.
At around 3pm we pulled off the the interstate to stop at Wall Drug. Mom had said it was not worth the stop, but since none of use had been there and since it is such a well known location we decided to over-ride her objections. She told us it was a tourist trap. Not surprisingly it was all that! We did not stay more than 30m minutes. All of use began to worry about Covid. It was very crowded! And then again it was, also a curious thing to see so many people in one spot in such barren (but beautiful) country. There were lots of Motorcycles, and lots old biker type folk, with their black leather garments, and brand loyalty patches (Harley Davison). They look like such a rough crowd, but they are quite the opposite in their manners. Part of me felt at home.
In the same direction of travel as our selves we were surrounded by many other travelers all driving towards the motorcycle festival in in Sturgis South Dakota. The festival is not until next week and so these were all the early birds. Much of what we saw were pickup trucks pulling cargo trailers with Harley Davidson stickers on them. We speculated that many of these were people delivering motorcycles out to Sturgis ahead of the festival and the riders.
Our goal for the day was to reach Mount Rushmore located in the black hills south of Rapids City. Thanks to the time change we made our destination by 3:30pm. We were now 2 hours behind our home in Michigan.
The black hills and the monument were beautiful. There were plenty of people there but it did not feel crowed. After our visit to the monument we drove an additional 25 minutes to Custer. We checked into the Bavarian Lodge. Its rating on my travel app, said it was wonderful. By all accounts this was a prefect description. Quintessentially a traditional mom and pop motor lodge. Clean and friendly. Everyone was happy with my choice, and was I too. After checking in we drove into town and had a meal at the Pounding Fathers brewery. We all shared our highs and lows, and there were no real lows. Then ice cream at the Purple Palace, and back to our rooms for rest. I was in bed by 9pm.
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