Photos by Retiring Guy
Next Stop, Rapid City
During our roads trips, I tend to pay less attention to what is going on in the world. The biggest change is that I don’t have access to the print edition of the New York Times, which is my primary source of current events. I still receive news feeds from various sources — the Times, Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — but usually I don’t take in more than the headlines and read the opening paragraph.
So I’m not totally out of the loop. I’m aware that someone referred to Trump’s current behavior as deranged — Really? You just figured this out now? — and that Wisconsin just recorded its largest ever number of Covid cases (2,034). According to the New York Times tracking, 8 of the top 20 cities with the largest percentage increase in new cases are located in Wisconsin. Two years ago, a national survey on drinking revealed that 8 of the 20 drunkest cities are located in Wisconsin.
Any relationship between these two rankings? I suspect there is. Most of the cities on both lists are college towns.
Most of our driving on day 2 of our trip took place on I-90 in South Dakota. The closer we got to Rapid City, the more western the landscape became. A rest stop just east of the Missouri River bridge crossing provided one of many spectacular views of the day.
We slowed down the pace once we turned into the Badlands scenic loop, where we stopped at most of the overlooks. The first one allowed us to walk around what felt like a moonscape. The area was not handicapped accessible, by any means, but at least one family pushed a baby stroller. Not sure how that this bumpy excursion was going for the kid. At another overlook, we were part of a socially distanced group of people that spotted, from afar, a pronghorn. The animal started moving toward us at a moderate place. We quickly took our pictures and retreated to the parking lot. No one wanted to mess with an animal with horns.
The frequent stops allowed us to accumulate steps – nearly 15,000, according to JoAnna’s Apple watch, as we walked over rough terrain and, at some locations, down and up steps. It also broke up what was another 8 hours in the car.
We made a brief visit at Wall Drug Store, the infamous tourist trap at the western edge of the Badlands. I reluctantly suggested it, as JoAnna had never been there. I checked it out during a 1983 road trip
There. I checked it out during a 1983 road trip to Washington with Paul Stearns. I don’t think we did much more than walk in and out. We were both underwhelmed. I can’t picture what the interior of the store looked like back then, but I don’t remember it
having a mini-mall arrangement with lots of individual vendors, a seriously unCovid layout.
The store wasn’t packed, but there was a steady flow of foot traffic for this time of year, and parking was at a premium in the vicinity of the store. I’d estimate that no more than 30% of the people milling around wore a mask, which made us feel both uncomfortable and unsafe. We made our visit short.
After checking into our Rapid City hotel and putting our feet up for a half hour, we headed to Mount Rushmore, a half hour drive south of the city that took us into the scenic Black Hills. The major advantage of an off-season visit is the availability of plenty of parking within a very short walk to the entrance. The sculpture is a magnificent work of art, but there really isn’t much else to do there. Not during a short visit like ours, anyway. We walked the Presidential Trail, a 0.6-mile path that meanders along a combination of paved path and
boardwalk, including nearly 500 stairs, through a pine forests. It affords a variety of up-close and sometimes neck-craning views of the four presidents. (Isn’t is amazing how lifelike the irises of Abe Lincoln’s eyes look? I guess it will depend on how well the photo reproduces on a sheet of paper.)
Back in Rapid City, we found a Mexican restaurant, with patio seating, located in a very healthy-looking downtown business district. Not an empty storefront to be found.
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