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July 12, 2013 Friday
Day 5
Departed early today, 6:15am. We thought the R & R Campground might refer to Rest & Relaxation, but at 2am we learned it stands for railroad. We were awakened by loud continuous blasts from THE longest train in the entire country. It must have rumbled by for at least 30 minutes. Every couple of minutes, the rumbling sounds were punctuated by screeching and bashing noises as if the train operator was slamming on his brakes at random moments.
We began our day by stopping by The Corn Palace to take some pictures. Couldn't pass up that "Ear-chitecture". The first Corn Palace was built in 1892 and the tradition continues each year as bushels of grains, native grasses & 275,000 ears of corn are used to redecorate the murals.
Leaving Mitchell, we bucked 30mph headwinds traveling 541
miles on I-90 all the way across South Dakota, crossing the Missouri River, noticing the transition from Midwestern cornfields to western plains & plateaus. We drove by cottonwood flats, the Badlands, and into The Black Hills. For several hundred miles we kept seeing huge billboards advertising Wall Drugs, so of course we had to stop in Wall to check it out. It was like an upscale "South of the Border" on steroids. We continued on I-90 along the edge of The Black Hills National Forest through Rapid City, Sturgis & Spearfish, SD.
Then we entered Wyoming - wild sage, forested hills, snowdrift fences, grasslands and wide open spaces. Further north we saw the snowcapped Bighorn Mountains in the Bighorn National Forest. We appreciated the lack of billboards along the highway & really enjoyed the spectacular vastness.
Stayed on I-90 (it is 1 long road!) past Sundance and Gillette, which we learned, is called "the energy capital of the nation" because they dig coal, which provides over 1/3 of our nation's electricity. Next was Buffalo & Sheridan, then to just south of the Montana border, Ranchester, Wyoming where we will spend the night at The Lazy R Campground. (Hope the "R" isn't for railroad).
We are now on Mountain Daylight Time.
Wildlife Sightings:
Pronghorn Antelope
Mule Deer
Flattened Fauna (Roadkill) Report:
Deer
Porcupine
Groundhog
Raccoon
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Sue and Pete Gryson Carol and Michael - we are loving your blog - great writing!
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