7/4/2014 Hill City, South Dakota

Day 7 -We have gone about 2,000 miles since leaving Fairfax one week ago.  From Kansas City area, we headed north on Route 29 up the western Iowa border then stopped in Sioux City, Iowa so John could find cell service for an hour and a half conference call for his DARPA project.  Back on Route 29 we were immediately into South Dakota where we hooked back up to Route 90 in Sioux Falls.  The corn got less and the cows got more as we moved through Missouri, Iowa and into South Dakota.  Pretty flat in these 

Black Dots Are Cows and Big Sky in South Dakota

parts until we reached the Badlands and Black Hills in western South Dakota.   Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments are very close but no time to visit this time.  Hope to stop on our way back from Washington state. 


Joan and Craig's Deck View

Our RV,  Craig and Debra on ATV

Our next rest stop is here at Hill City, South Dakota at John's sister Joan's (and Craig's) fabulous home on a hill (at 5,000 feet) looking at the back side of Mt. Rushmore.  And no, there are no bums carved on the back side ;)  This is one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Craig and Debra are both rock hounds and off they went on his ATV through the nearby cute little town of Keystone.  North by Northwest and National Treasure 2 were filmed near here.  Found a huge slag pile (rock debris from an old gold mine) and dug around searching for minerals that were cool looking or had value. Finished off the visit on July 4th with a thunder and hail storm.

John in Wall Drug

 They are big into billboards along the highways in these parts.  We saw hundreds of them mostly advertising Wall Drug which is a famous "drug store" in Wall, South Dakota.  Of course after seeing 400 miles of Wall Drug bill boards, we had to stop.  Google this phenomena which has made every national news show and magazine.  This is a sampling of some of the other signs we saw: "Eat red meat,  wear fur, and carry a gun.  The American Way."  As brother-in-law Mike would say, "Darlin', you ain't in Fairfax any more."