Day at the Badlands

Made it to the Black Hills today. I spent far more time than I had anticipated at the Badlands and far more time stuck in road construction than I anticipated. The Badlands are beautiful. If I keep moving at the pace I'm going, it will take me a month to get to all of the things I want to see.

Today would have been a great day for the sterile environment of the Denali and the Interstate. It was pushing 90 out here and the back roads were SLOW. I got to the Black Hills late and I haven't done anything here yet other than set up camp at the KOA near Mount Rushmore. This is a whole different world than where I camped last night. Hundreds of RV's, a store, pools, scout troops, shower houses, ice cream, ATV rentals, and I don't know what all else. It chaos here - and loud.

The above picture is the first attempt at a pan shot with my new little Sony point and shoot. I took about 125 pictures with it today, so I hope they turn out. The Wi-fi here is about the speed of dial-up. Very painful to add pictures to this. I'm not even going to attempt getting my email tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can find a better wi-fi source.

Things I learned today:

There are places in the middle of nowhere that have roads covered with tens or hundreds of thousands of grasshoppers (dead and alive).

I stick out like a sore thumb in a small (really small) SD town. No one else had a button shirt, cargo shorts or flip-flops.

Wall Drug is a busy place, but I couldn't find a thing I wanted to buy.

Bob Seger - Turn the Page - Best Road Song of the Day today.

I saw license plates from Alaska to Florida and everything in between.

A lesson from yesterday that I forgot to share. A green banana will ripen in about 6 hours in a Jeep.

I have been waiting 20 minutes for 2 more pictures to load. Doesn't look like you are going to get them today. Wait, they finally loaded. I'm not even going to try any more.

Have a bunch places to visit in the Black Hills. I hope to have better wi-fi access in the next day or two so I can send some photos.

I'm exhausted. Goodnight all.

Tom