Badlands

We were hooked up and headed out by 8 a.m. It was overcast, but going to be warm. We headed east on I-90 and took the 35 mile long Badlands loop road out of Wall. We didn’t stop in Wall, too touristy. The Badlands were harshly beautiful; unfortunately it was overcast so the light was really flat. Here are a few pictures. Never mind the pictures, they aren't coming up right now, so later!

Just outside of Badlands National Park we found this humble abode! This house was built in 1909 and lived in just as it is until 1949. The family that lived here LOVED living on the prairie in their sod-house. The wood used was from Cottonwood trees in the area. Notice how far the well was from the house. It was a hard life, but it was also basic and simple.

We stopped a few times to make breakfast and lunch. I love traveling with my own kitchen and bathroom! We crossed into the Central time zone. Lost an hour, darn. The prairie here isn’t just flat like I expected. Lots of rolling teeny hills and every once in awhile you see a farm or cows. There is a drought existing here. A lot of the water holes are almost dry and the corn hasn’t gotten very tall. It is more exciting than driving across Nevada is all I can say!

We got into Pierre, the capital of South Dakota around I think 4:30. We are staying at the city park. We have electric hook-ups and it is $15 a night. The Missouri river is flowing along behind us! It was 94 degrees and humid so we’ll wait a bit to go explore.