Friday, September 11, 2009







Yesterday we started the day with Mike Tatum playing the Beatles' song "When I'm 64" to honor Mike Kincaid's birthday. It was a hoot!

We traveled west from Sioux Falls (yes, I have learned how to spell Sioux). Unfortunately, we forgot to go see the Falls. We've heard we didn't miss much. Along the way we stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD which is a large building covered in corn parts and grains. There are huge murals on the sides of the building which are made of half ears of Indian corn in various colors. The birds especially like the Corn Palace.
The terrain was very flat with corn, soy beans and hay fields as far as you could see. We saw the occasional wind driven generators and even passed a semi pulling a long trailer with one of the blades on it. We estimated the blade to be 80-100' long. It was definitely an "over-sized" load.
After crossing miles and miles of flat land we suddenly came to the Missouri river valley which was 400-500' below us. It was a beautiful vista.
After the valley, it was miles and miles of flat land again. Then all of a sudden, we looked and saw a canyon-like break in the terrain. It was the start of the Badlands. What a contrast! That was the moment when we all knew that we were OUT WEST! We took the Badlands Scenic Byway which is a 31 mile loop running through the Badlands National Park. (By the way, those of us over 61 can get a lifetime pass for $10. This allows entry of everyone in the car. Everyone else pays $15 per entry per car. Wow!) We saw spectacular canyons and mountains in various shades of gray with red strata. It was late afternoon and the shadows were very striking on the jagged terrain. We kept taking pictures at each overlook. Thank goodness for digital cameras. We also saw several colonies of prairie dogs. Fat prairie dogs preparing for winter. That seemed a long way away since the temp was 95 there. It had been 80 the entire day until we took the side trip.
After visiting the famous Wall Drug Store on the way, we arrived at Rapid City, SD for our tours of Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. More on that later.

3 comments:

  1. I'm very dissapointed. You were sent as "ambassadors of shag"....and all you send us are write ups and pictures of you standing in front of "backdrops" of the badlands, buildings, etc. Show me some pictures of you on the dance floor....say in Sioux City or even Chicago...with a crowd gathered around you AND THE NAME OF THE CITY BEHIND YOU! You all have smiles on your faces because you think we are buying your story. I bet you are really just in Myrtle Beach at SOS! Oh, and happy belated birthday Mike.
    Jeff

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  2. Connie and I did Shag in front of Ruby Tuesdays Thursday evening. When we pulled up for dinner, they were playing some R&B music over the loudspeakers, and we just couldn't resist! Don't know if anyone saw us, but we were right in front of the windows going into the restaurant.

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  3. You guys are the best! Glad you are having fun. Thanks for keeping us posted. Can't wait to hear the stories when you get back.

    JJ & MJ

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