Did I mention there's a lot of corn out here?!
Suddenly the long flat road went down, down, down and we crossed the Missouri River, and back up, up, up to flat lands again. I just love, love, love these long flat highways where you can see just about forever. You can go miles and miles before seeing a meaningless speed limit sign - apparently only put there because the Feds make them! John's favorite kind of driving - "flying!"
There must have been 100 billboards advertising Wall Drug. At first they were for 5 cent coffee and free water bottle refills. But then they added saying like "Cowboy Up" and such. Finally one said we were just 150 miles from Wall Drug! It reminded me of the 100 miles approaching South of the Border. There were several billboards for 1800 Village. Remember, we're out in the middle of nowhere for hours. And then we see in the far distance a few buildings. When we finally passed them, it was funny that all that advertising was for such a small attraction in the middle of nowhere.
We checked the time and the map and decided to drive the short scenic drive through the Badlands, the sudden rock formations that just appeared after miles and miles of flat (lots of corn fields). Just before the entrance to the Badlands there was a little ground hog attraction. We stopped for a bit for me to try to get one to come close. A young girl practically had them eating out of her hand! No such luck for me. John stayed in the car with the engine and air running, making calls and checking email.
As we approached the Badlands entrance, we realized the a/c was not cool. Uh-Oh! We drove the short (nearly an hour) scenic drive with the windows down. Occasionally we'd try the air, but still no cooling. The road came back out to I-90 at, guess where..... Wall! Oh, boy! Maybe I'd get to see this Wall Drug while the a/c got fixed! We drove straight to the only auto repair shop. I'd found it on the internet, and it only had one review, but it was good. Jerry came out to take a look. He first wondered if it had "frozen up with the heat and unusual humidity. But if it were that, sitting for a while should remedy that, so we tried again. Still no cooling. He tested the pressure. It was fine. He checked some square things under rather hood, and they were quite hot. He suggested we go to the next town (an hour away) to have it looked at. He called the Honda dealer, but they couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything until ....Monday! Then he called a buddy at B&R in Rapid City. Lon said to send us there and he'd take a look. So, no Wall Drug. We had to hurry on down the road to Rapid City. We hopped in the car, and guess what? Cold Air! Still, it was important to find out what happened.
We met Ron and his dog. We talked to him about what had happened, and he suggested it had probably frozen up, and had thawed while Jerry was checking things and then making calls on out behalf. He really believes it's fine and we should go on along our merry way.
Next stop, Mount Rushmore! It was pretty amazing. We took a little half mile hike around it, and a man pointed out to us a special kind of pine tree that smells like vanilla. Sure enough, you put your nose to it and smell a strong vanilla aroma! Cool! We made it just in time for the last talk on the history of the making of the sculpture. A really great presentation.
Back in the car, and down the road to a very curious attraction, The Flintstone's Bedrock Camping and Theme Park! Really? Yep, really! Unfortunately, the theme park stopped letting people in 10 minutes before we got there. But the outside was pretty entertaining.
We met a man who works there and he told us all about what was on the inside and gave us recommendations for dinner. While we were talking, there was a line of antique tractors coming down the road! Tomorrow is the last day of the antique tractor convention.
Dinner at Cowboy was good. We were starving, but couldn't even finish our dinners! We were stuffed.
Then a quick stop in a winery.
Then back up to the lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore. Very good video. We all sang America the Beautiful and the National Anthem. Very patriotic. the end all present and former military personnel were asked to come to the stage for recognition.
Visited Wall Drug in 1965 during coast to coast vaca with the family. Still remember it! Glad the a/c fixed itself. Gary wanted to see Mt. Rushmore the most, but we never got there. I saw it on that same vaca. Impressive, eh? (At Wendy's)
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