DE VII - Big Skies Trip Report

[Scott B.]

4842
13
17
1320

Miles driven.
States visited.
Nights slept in teardrop.
Pictures taken.

The seventh annual Desert Expedition trip was a quite a trip. Old friends, new friends and new places. This was a very educational trip as well. We visited/learned/saw several significant places and events of the history of our great country. Of course, we ate well and camped at some fantastic sites.

What follows is an account of our trip, written daily by Laura with some input from me. And, of course, photos.

I will start off with a fitting quote from Theodore Roosevelt - "It is an incalculable added pleasure to anyone's sum of happiness if he grows to know, even slightly and imperfectly, how to read and enjoy the wonder-book of nature."

 

[Hun]

Big Skies - getting there

6/16 Friday
After weeks of awaiting a work contract approval, Scott's day at work was booked with meetings, conference calls, and tasks. Our plans for a leisurely afternoon of loading the rig and departing by 4 pm dissolved and when Scott finally arrived home at 2, it was hurry up and pull it all together. We were ready to pull out of the driveway by 5 and decided on Slope's barbecue in Cumming for dinner before heading out of town.



We beat the dinner crowd and started our trip by 6 pm. Except for a 15 min traffic delay at the Georgia-Tennessee state line, our first evening's drive was uneventful. We were greeted at the Manchester TN KOA by an excited camper wanting to check out our Teardrop and then settled in for a good night's rest at 10:30 local time. We were thankful for the fan creating a breeze in the heavy humid air.

6/17 Saturday
Woke up in Tennessee and bedded down in Iowa, a 5-state, 620-mile day. We started the day with breakfast at Cracker Barrel in the outskirts of Nashville. We trekked north through Tennessee catching the western tip of Kentucky and crossing the Ohio River at Paducah and into Illinois, my home state. We happened upon Uncle Joe's BBQ in Ina, IL at Rend Lake. Thinly sliced brisket piled high made for a delicious lunch, not Texas BBQ but award winning nonetheless. Cutting west across southern Illinois, we crossed into Missouri at St Louis on the New Mississippi River bridge (opened in 2014) - the Stan Span, short for Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge. Clearing city traffic we headed north for Iowa looking forward to an early arrival at camp. On a gas stop, noticing the fridge power had gone out we knew we'd have some troubleshooting to attend to. As we neared Iowa City we ran straight through a mighty thunderstorm complete with nearly hail-like raindrops pelting on our rig. Thankfully it was short lived or we drove right out of it, and found dinner at Frontier Family restaurant in Iowa City. Not letting the Art Deco decor throw us off, we enjoyed tasty Iowa beef in the form of chopped steak dinner. We headed north out of town to enjoy the evening at Sugar Bottom campground at Coralville Lake which was overflowing with families enjoying lake recreation on the holiday weekend. As nearby campers serenaded us with Mariachi music amid beer-drinking corn tosses, Scott traced the fridge power issue to a blown fuse under the hood. We repacked the truck bed and took a few moments to take in all the activity around us. Deciding to retreat into the Little Guy, we showered and closed the doors to the outside world, succumbed to our exhaustion and drifted off to sleep.

6/18 Sunday
Woke up in Iowa, bedded down in South Dakota, 3 state, 630 mile day. Awoke early, left the lake and drove north to Cedar Rapids to get a glimpse of the Brucemore estate. The beautiful brick mansion, built in the 1800s by a family from New York City homesteading in Iowa who had created a fortune meat packing. The mansion is nestled in a 26 acre garden in the center of town. Although we were departing earlier than the gates opened on a Sunday, we took in the street view.





We grabbed breakfast at a diner down the street and then made our way to Minnesota to continue our westward travel. We found an authentic Mexican restaurant in Worthington and dined on burritos while a parade streamed by through the center of town celebrating a Latino holiday. Dropping south back into Iowa for a highpoint stop - Hawkeye Point, just south of the Minnesota-Iowa state line enabled a welcome post-lunch walk. The Iowa highpoint is flat terrain and one can see majestic miles of corn and soy fields.





A quick tour of the farm museum and we piled back into the truck to continue our westward journey into South Dakota. Our first stop in South Dakota was in Mitchell to grab Cabela's t-shirts. At our second SD stop for gas, we were greeted by fellow travelers from Georgia and North Carolina who had ridden bikes from the east to west coast on I-40 and were headed back eastbound on I-90. We arrived at Badlands National Park just in time to get parked and watch a spectacular sun-setting color display light the sky.





The cool evening air beckoned us for a good night's sleep.

 

[Scott B.]

A close-up of Brucemore



Hawkeye Point, Iowa

 

[Hun]

Day 2 - South Dakota en route

6/19 Monday
Not yet accustomed to the 2 hour time difference, we awoke early and had a leisurely morning with a camp-cooked breakfast and map reading for the day's plans. By 7 we had eaten, washed up, and closed camp ready for our journey into Badlands on Loop Rd. The scenery was spectacular with peaks rising sharply all around us mimicking the look of drizzled sand castles in larger-than-life scale.





At the first overlook where we hopped out of the truck to enjoy the quiet of the canyon, we were greeted by red-shouldered Orioles playing around us.









In our 3 hour meandering drive through the park, we saw pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, multiple bird and flower species, and even had sighting of a white fox in the prairie grasses. At the end of Loop Rd, we turned north out of the park into the town of Wall (pop. 818), fueled up, enjoyed delicious bison burgers at a local diner and strolled through the infamous Wall Drug Store picking out souvenirs. Wall Drug Store has been in operation since 1931 and is a must see for all who make it up to South Dakota. Our next adventure was to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site established in 1999 where we experienced the gravity of the Cold War nuclear armament buildup. The US force of 1000 missiles housed in underground silos has been trimmed down to less than 500 today. A Launch Command Center (preserved from the 1960s) and a missile silo (complete with a non-nuclear training missile) are available for public viewing. We headed back into Wall for a few days' provisions and then onto Sage Creek primitive campground back in Badlands.



Several Bison, doing what bison do, grazed on grass near the road affording us the opportunity for some close-up photos.



Little did they know, bison was on the menu for our dinner with black beans and rice. We pulled into camp finding a level spot between a couple from Germany touring the USA in their Unimog and a guy from Oregon in a one-man tent.



The sky was clear, dotted with a few cottonball-esque clouds, the breeze blew briskly across the plains, and we relaxed while watching the sun disappear over the horizon. Total drive today 95 miles.

 

[VicMackey]

Great trip and pics. Keep them coming please.

 

[Scott B.]

 

[Scott B.]

 

[Hun]

Day 3 - Those black, black hills

6/20 Tuesday
Okay, either we are still on Eastern time or the 5 am dawns are waking us early. We enjoyed a camp breakfast, replete with Cafe Nutella (a personal specialty) when I spotted what looked to be a bison over by the horses. Without my contacts in yet, the grazing horse looked just like a bison. When I mentioned it to Scott, he looked over and said, that is a bison! Right there in camp with us! As the bison approached ever so close, busily grazing, we snapped a few photos. We know the rule - you can look on as long as the bison is doing what bisons do. He wandered off turning many a camper's head as he strolled mightily close-by.



Even the prairie dog did a double-take!



We packed up camp and headed out for our first off-road adventure - Sheep Mountain Table trail in the south part of Badlands. The path took us out to cliffs with a view stretching for miles over terrain, some lush green where the rivers cut through, some white and grayish tan with the ever present drizzled sand castle buttes.





After the trail we headed north into Rapid City to get a bite of lunch at Pauly's pizzeria, a new establishment in town needing a bit more practice in getting it right. After lunch, we embarked on our next adventure - the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at the Ellsworth AFB. A B1-B Lancer stationed out front let us know we were in the right place.



There were 30+ aircraft outside the museum along with a statuesque ICBM.





Inside the museum was a brief history of flight, the Air Force, and the Ellsworth AFB in particular. One of its main missions has been to man multiple launch control centers of the intercontinental ballistic missiles buried in silos throughout the western states during the Cold War years. At the height of the build up, we had 100 LCCs ready to launch 1000 ICBMs and have since de-escalated to less than 500 ICBMs. The history lesson was sobering to say the least. We called it a day, stopped for provisions and drove south to Custer State Park (the very first in the nation, est 1909) to bed down for the night at Center Lake Campground.



We enjoyed a private site at the end of the campground, watched the sun drift down below the tree line and enjoyed the cooling air before retiring for the night. (124 miles, 51185)

 

[Scott B.]

Breakfast...



At this point, he started not doing what buffalo, so I backed away...



On to Badlands.

 

[Scott B.]

Air and Space Museum

 

[VicMackey]

Great pics and write up. I know a guy in North Korea who would pay good money for that ICBM!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Looks like a great trip, Scott & Laura.
.
The Minuteman historic site is definitely on my list of places to go, as Cold War history is a hobby of mine, especially related to ICBMs.
.
There are 23 deactivated missile silos in Colorado and I've visited all but one (just saw them from the outside, not gone in, as most are private property.)
.
Minor quibble: The 1000 Minuteman sites that were active from about 1964 to 1999 or so were not all in South Dakota. They were actually spread out over 7 states: Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Missouri.
.
There are currently 450 active silos (50 of them are in Colorado, the rest are in Wyoming, Nebraska, North Dakota and Montana.)
.
During the height of the Cold War from 1964 through about 1989, there were actually 1054 ICBMs on alert, the 1000 Minuteman sites, plus 54 older, liquid fueled Titan II missiles spread out over 3 states (Arkansas, Kansas and Arizona.) Unlike the older Titan 1 and Atlas missile sites (which were sold intact to private owners after the bases were deactivated and sensitive equipment removed) the Titan II sites were removed under an Arms Limitation agreement which meant that the sites had to be blown up after the missiles and equipment were removed. The same is true of the Minuteman sites that have been deactivated.
.
The only Titan II silo that was not blown up was made into the Titan Missile Museum south of Tucson, which is run by the same folks who run the Pima Air Museum. If you're ever in/around Tucson and you're interested in Cold War history, the Titan Missile Museum is definitely worth a stop!

 

[Hun]

Thank you Martin for clarifying my brief history note. I'll edit my post. I did not mean to imply that all the cold war action was in South Dakota, although when I went back and reread what I wrote, it certainly could be taken that way.

Hope to see you on a future expedition!

 

[Hun]

Day 4 - The Mount of all Mounts

6/21 Wednesday
Yep. Up early again. We loved being on mountain time. That and long days of light. After a camp breakfast of Cafe Nutella and scrambled eggs with hash browns peppered with onions and bison (this time cooked!), we packed up camp and headed out of Custer State Paark into the Black Hills. Traveling north on Route 16A, with several long distance views of the spectacular Mount Rushmore, we wound through the Black Hill mountains getting ever closer to our destination, the National Memorial.




Arriving at the park, we made our way to the Presidential Trail along the base of the mountain sporting the great granite sculpture. 422 stairs later, we arrived at the museum to learn that Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt represented the founding, growth, preservation, and development of our great nation. The sculptor, G. Borglum selected Mount Rushmore for this monumental sculpture to show the grandeur of this country's ideals placing the sculpture as close to heaven as earthly possible. The blasting, carving, and smoothing was accomplished in 1927-1941, and the sculptor dies at the age of 74, just 6 months prior to the project's completion, his son Lincoln finishing the work.



Filled with gratitude for those who have made this country what it is, we embarked on a drive through the Black Hills on the Iron Mountain Road and Needles Highway.



Tunnels created by blasting through solid rock were just wide enough to accommodate our 7' wide teardrop trailer. The highlight of the route was ever so carefully passing through the lengthy Needles tunnel to see the Needles Eye high in the rock face overlooking a vast spread of vegetation below.







We wound our way up to Hill City and stopped for a truly Mexican and truly delicious lunch, tostadas and carnitas tacos. Escaping the crowds at Hill City we made our way northward on 385 to Deadwood. You know you are getting close to Deadwood when you see littered across the landscape - numerous fallen logs, whole tree size. I wondered, why so many dead trees? Deadwood, aptly named, is now a National Historic Landmark, 'entertaining guests since 1876.'



Deadwood was a wonderful surprise - beautiful old Western town feel, a bustling metropolis during the mining craze and the very place where Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead. We stopped in to explore the visitor center, strolled the river walk and drove through historic Main Street.

 

[Scott B.]

Who says trailers don't fit?





Somewhere north of Deadwood...



Good eats, too!