Melissa and Andree's Journey Through the Heartland
or Who Ever Knew There Was So Much To See in South Dakota?

Somewhere around January, Melissa got a bug up her butt to go see the Crazy Horse Memorial. Andree thought this was a great idea, and a road trip was born. The young ladies requested vacation time in May 2001 from their respective employers, and Melissa bought an airplane ticket to Chicago.

The trip got off to a slightly delayed start when Andree went to O'Hare to get Melissa. After Melissa did not emerge from the terminals, Andree called the only numbers she had handy for Melissa -- one was Melissa's home number and thank goodness, brother Doug answered the phone. Doug clarified the nature of the problem: "Midway, Baby." He said he would page Melissa, and Andree headed South. 40 minutes later, Melissa was in the Buick.

Next stop, Schaumburg, to switch cars. Thew had generously offered the use of his M3 -- whoo hooo!!! Here it is, next to Devil's Tower, and the drivers too...

When we first traded cars, the BMW didn't seem like a good idea, because it was raining, and all fogged up and you couldn't see out the back. But we had faith and soon the sun was shining and the top was down and it was clear this car made the trip! Even driving through Nebraska was fun. This car seems to be happiest when it's going over 100. Somehow we were spared tickets but there were a couple close calls in WY. We put 2969 miles on that car -- next stop, oil change! Gas costs for the trip: $240.07. Prices were cheapest in dinosaur land.

Our first day we drove over 900 miles, and camped at a KOA in Nebraska just East of the Wyoming border. Day two, we tooled into Rock Springs, which was hosting a Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival. Here we saw the first of many convenience stores with a name that made us wonder what inspired this franchise...

The cowboy poetry scene was pretty bad -- lots of cheap digs at outsiders and tourists (despite being prominently featured in the WY tourism literature) plus a lot of tired internet jokes turned up in some of the acts. No pictures, sorry. We stayed at the Outlaw Inn Best Western where we enjoyed the use of a small fridge, comfy beds and the conveniences of modern plumbing, specifically the shower.

Day three we overslept, then headed North to Thermopolis. It was during this stretch that we had our only encounters with the law. Andree got followed about 10 miles by one Wyoming trooper, and Melissa was pulled over shortly after that by another who clocked her at 80 mph. He gave us a warning in honor of the national holiday, making sure we knew which holiday it was (mother's day). Then he proceeded to tell us about our destination (Thermopolis) and how he likes to take his kids there to play in the water parks in the summer. He told us to slow down, that we would stick out like a big black thumb in that car. Melissa used cruise control for a while after that.

When we got to Thermopolis, we drove a loop to see the featured buffalo. They were perched in a remote spot, no photo op here. Then we enjoyed a nice soak in the hot springs at the free public baths. Mmmmm, hot springs!

Then we pushed on. Melissa got directions from a nice park ranger who escorted us to the post office and then out of town. We stopped for a big juicy steak dinner and Melissa ordered Rocky Mountain Oysters to say she did it. I ate one too, to say I did it. They were tender. The steaks were really really good, and we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.

That night we camped at Devil's Tower. The night sky was filled with a million stars, and the next day we awoke to an amazing view of the Tower..

After a morning hike around the tower, we set off for the Black Hills of South Dakota. I should mention that for much of the trip we listened to books on tape of Dakota, by Kathleen Norris, recommended by our former JDA colleague Chris Bruns who grew up in SD. The book confirmed and enhanced our impressions of the area, and helped us better understand Mr. Bruns.

There's lots of wide open spaces in SD. We drove through some beautiful rolling hills here, later miles and miles of plains/farmland. Our first stop was Crazy Horse, our original motivation for the trip. Next we went to Mount Rushmore. Finally we headed Eastward to tourist destination extraordinaire, Wall Drug. Then we we did a loop through the Badlands, and boy are they cool.

That night we drove and drove until we were tired, and took an exit to what we thought was going to get us to a campground (we even saw a sign). But the road was dark, partly unpaved, and went on and on. Finally we gave up and camped on the side of a side road by a swampy cattle farm. We got a few bug bites, and got up early to avoid any encounters from the ranchers.

We kept going East, this time to the corn palace. No pictures here, but it is pretty amazing. This venue for sports and music events is decorated all over with corn kernels. When we were there a high school band was practicing on the stage. The decorations change from year to year. It was originally started to showcase the crops you could grow in that part of South Dakota, and became a major attraction. This is the kind of thing that makes America great.

We spent the rest of the day driving through South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin where of course we stopped for cheese!!!! It took us a while to find the cheese vendor Melissa had found on the internet, but we found it. We also saw Amish people plowing the earth with horses, riding carraiges, etc. We somehow failed to capture this on film too, but we did find out where all Thew's mail has been going....

Then we pressed on, munching cheese curds, getting burnt from the powerful sunrays. Melissa found another fast car to race with for a stretch. Don't know what it was, but it had a little more power than us...and was very loud.

We finally got home that evening, and headed out for beer and sammiches -- but not before taking our well earned showers! All in all, it was a great vacation!

DEVIL'S TOWER

Devil's Tower is an amazing destination. It is a sacred place for many native tribes, who have called the place Bear Lodge and Bear's Tipi among other names. Devil's Tower is of course a white man's moniker.

We hiked around the tower. That was a nice way to start the day. A light hike, this took about an hour.

We learned what not to do, on the way out. Luckily we didn't see any of these critters or Melissa might have gotten us in trouble again giving prairie dogs peanut butter M&Ms.

The BADLANDS

This was a phenomenal stretch of our trip. It was surreal, like being on the moon. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like to be a lost cowboy in these badlands that stretch on and have little vegetation except for some cactuses.

WIDE OPEN SPACES

Not exactly sure which state this was, but we saw lots of wide open spaces and big blue skies...

Ah, it was good for the soul...