Sturgis
- 4 minutes read - 794 wordsMount Rushmore
Wednesday I woke up with a sinus infection that had really kicked in to high gear, so I did nothing but lay around, read a couple books, and cough up a lung all day.
On Thursday, I wasn’t feeling all that much better, but got up and forced myself to start checking off some of the things I wanted to do in the area. First up was Mount Rushmore. Not much to say other than it is hard for me to imagine doing this project with all the technology we have today, let alone how them completed it 80 years ago:
Crazy Horse Memorial
Next up was a stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial, not too far away from Mount Rushmore. The size of this memorial is really impressive, but they have a long way to go before it is completed: I was there 18 years ago (almost to the day) with my family, and when you look at the progress they have made, it is going to take a long while:
Black Hills National Forest
Next up was the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, which took me mostly through the Black Hills National Forest, but also partially through Custer State Park. It was a pretty drive and I had my first major wildlife sighting:
Doing the loop counter-clockwise worked out really well for me, as there are three, one-lane tunnels near the Norbeck Overlook, and two of them have direct views of Mount Rushmore as you drive through:
Wall Drug
Friday I was starting to feel a little better, so I headed back out to check some more items off my list. I think anybody that has driven I-90 through South Dakota would probably agree, Wall Drug has more billboards than any other single store in America. I guess they worked, because I wasn’t completely sold on stopping here again, but after seeing all the billboards, I couldn’t resist a quick stop since I was going to be driving by it twice today: It’s about what I remembered, closer to a flea market than drug store, but the size is kinda cool and a good place to kill 30 minutes walking through it if you needed a place to stop in the area.
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is made up of three individual sites, all within a 15 mile stretch of I-90. I first went to the Visitor Center, which like a lot of Visitor Centers had a small museum like section you could walk through, and it also had a small theater/auditorium. I really liked this replica painting they had from one of the vault doors for one of the control centers:
I didn’t plan far enough ahead to get tickets to do an actual tour of the launch control facility, but they did have a “virtual tour”, and I happened to arrive on time for one led by a former Minuteman II missilier. The virtual tour is publicly available and was just one of those real estate virtual tours where you click the circles to move around, but having commentary from somebody who actually did the job was very cool.
Next I went to Delta-09, which was a launch facility for a Minuteman II missile. The self-guided audio tour was fascinating, and they had replaced the normal blast door with a glass one so that you could look down the silo and see the missile: The launch facilities were not normally staffed, they relied primarily on motion sensors to detect intruders, and a security force would be dispatched from the launch control facility. To get to the missile for maintenance required both security and maintenance team members, each had a different lock they could open. The opening of the locks was also deliberately slowed down so that if there was unauthorized access, a security force could respond in time before access to the missile had been achieved.
Last stop was Delta-01, the launch control facility responsible for ten nuclear missiles. There was also an audio tour available here, although it was a little less interesting since you aren’t allowed inside the fence line unless you are on a ranger guided tour. It was still cool to see the building though and how unassuming it is:
Badlands National Park
Next time I’m out this way I definitely want to spend at least a few nights at this Badlands boondocking site, right outside the Badlands park on the way to Wall, SD. You’re able to pull your rig right up to the edge and have a fantastic view looking out over the Badlands:
I don’t have much commentary for the rest of the Badlands, so I’m just going to leave you with a few pictures: