Day 2 - Luverne, MN to Deadwood, SD

Day 2 - Oct 9, 2014, Luverne, MN To Deadwood, SD

665 Miles, 4 National Parks and 3 states

Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming

Pretty sunrise as we head for Pipestone first thing in the morning.















 Very nice Native Indian pipes and other jewelry at this park.  It is one of the only active quarry locations on an actual National Park property.  All hand dug and quite beautiful rock!  Shannon got an earring/necklace set of a feather handmade out of pipestone - complete with some info about the Indian woman who made them.  I would have liked to buy more, but you can only have some much stuff, even when it is as beautiful and rare as this was.  Way worth the trip!

 





Absolutely love these fall colors!



Forget the wind turbines...these are South Minnesota born and bred...good ol' fashioned windmills in the middle of no where!!



On to the corn Palace!  Ok, maybe we aren't supposed to stop here as this wasn't a national park, but hey, it's the CORN PALACE!  Totally closed and under construction...  And this is what you would see if it wasn't under construction.

Picture stolen from the web!  Thanks to the picture taker person!

The corn palace as we saw it.

 But corn cob guy was very happy to see us!

 

After the long trek across South Dakota, it seemed like a good time to stop and make our bladders flatter...  By stopping at the iconic Wall Drug in Wall, SD.



I know I did!



https://www.walldrug.com/t-history.aspx  Wall Drug has a great bit of history and is the real reason to stop by.  The Husteads are a great example of Americana.  If you are ever by there, stop by for a free glass of ice water! And don't worry, there is a mini mall with ice cream and restaurants, and souvenir shops all inter-connected in a main street type store fronts.

 

I met this nice chick and you can that she was digging me, but I'm into my lovely wife.  Besides, she kinda seemed a little stiff and cold for my kinda gal.

Ryan met this pretty lady at Wall Drugs. Should I be jealous??!!



After meeting the nice lady above, Shannon tied me to the horse post!  I'm not sure why?



Ryan was "horsing" around.



 

We finally made it to Badlands, but we decided not to drive all the way through the park due to time constraints.  Shannon found out that Devil's Tower was open until 7pm, so we decided to go to the Minuteman Missile site and then hop over to Devil's Tower in Wyoming to take advantage of a couple extra hours of travel time.

 

Caught some wildlife in the park.

 

 

We found Minuteman after several 'out of the way' miles and some gravel roads.  Come to find out, there was a temporary location back by a gas station close to the entrance of Badlands! The permanent location was under construction.  So the adventure goes.  Anyhow, once found, I do remember that the ranger here was VERY pregnant and had a really unpleasant attitude.  We were a little bummed that we had spent so much time finding the place, and she sure didn't seem to fit into the usual helpful manner that we experience in most parks.  We had considered looking into filing a complaint, but decided that her pregnancy was the problem.  And I believe karma seeks people like her.  I'm betting her baby cried 24/7 after it was born.

 

Spent a lot of time looking for this one.  It had been temporarily moved but the NPS forgot to put up any signs.

The drive to Wyoming was neat, my first time to Sturgis!  I see why so many people trailer their bikes to this rally.  If I didn't have the new wing, I doubt I would have enjoyed the ride much.  Flat hammer down road of run a 100mph and stop every 11/4 hrs.  Of course with the new wing, it's 100mph but only stop every 2 1/2hrs, and listen to sat radio with the cruise on.







The camera is really working the red. I like the one below as it looks more natural.

Caught a rainbow on the way to Devil's Tower for sunset

Got to Devils tower at 6:20pm. The phone and web both said they were closed at 7pm. Didn't get our stamp because they decided to close at 4:30 and not tell anyone.  We were a bit disappointed.  Will have to send them a letter to get stamps mailed.

 

We wanted to stay in Deadwood for the night, so we headed back to South Dakota.  We wanted to hit Mount Rushmore even though it didn't qualify as one of the less travelled parks.

Stayed in Deadwood for the night.  Had a 6.95 steak/potato dinner at a casino that was celebrating it's grand re-opening.  That is the price they charged when they originally opened.  Great dinner!

Magner's Pear Ale is one of Shannon's favorite drinks! 

To maximize our fun, we stay in the lowest price hotel/motel that has decent ratings that we can find.  Most nights we hit the pillows when we get to the room and then out by 6am for breakfast and on the road.  While it is not luxury, the motel breakfast and accommodations are usually 'good enough.' 



As you can see, not all low cost motels are cheap!