July 4th Independence Day Special Edition from Rapid City Soth Dekota

Well it was a great day.  But before I go any further I have to say that while drafting my last blog entry I forgot to remember, or rather this morning I remmbered that I had forgot to inform those who keenly follow my gastronomic adventures about the details of yesterday's dinner. Well, it was some special treat; a personal size pizza with canadian bacon and a 24 oz can of Bud light with spiced Clamato.  Remember dear reader that this is a country where a Bloody Ceasar is a foreign concept..

And now, back to the trip. As soon as I left Pierre this morning I drove by the headquarters of the local chapter of the Varmint Hunters Association. I kid you not this association actually exists and its mission is to "To preserve our 2nd Amendment Rights by introducing individuals to the shooting sports and to provide the right tools and resources. Our magazine and events do just that!!!" They seem to be doing a fine job as I haven't seen any nasty varmints anywhere on this trip.

The landscape west of Pierre starts off looking like a pie crust with gentle rises and dips. Later cracks appear where a stream or small river snakes its way accoss the surface.  The fields where various crops are planted are huge, as much as 2 or 3 kilometres between fences.  And sometimes there will be a heard of cattle next to the highway.

Or a cluster of those grain bins I've mentionned before.

Later the rolls become more pronounced and the highway actually stops being a straight line.  This continues until you reach the Badlands which you enter just south off State Highway14 accross from the town of Wall. Wall started off as a drugstore in 1931 that has since grown into a series of linked shops that occupy all of one side of the main street in the town.  You can still get a glass of cold water for free and a whole bunch of other stuff, not for free.

The Badlands are really impressive. It's a bit like the Grand Canyon.  When you first come upon them you are riding on the top edge of large irregular shaped trenches that are hundreds of feet deep.  The stone walls are made up of layers of grey, pink, orange and beige rock.  There is little vegatation and not much wildlife.

I guess this is one of the reasons they call them the Badlands!

While there were some threatenning clouds I managed to escape all but one short shower that cooled me and the air down a bit.  About one hour west of the Badlands is Rapid City where I'm going to be camping out (The Ramada) for the next few days and from where I will be doing a series of day trips.
Well it's time to wrap it up and check the scores of the Alouettes football game. Go Als Go!