Slept in a bit before checking my internet in Walmart. Driving a bit further east today to visit the Badlands National Park.
The park is an hours east of Rapid Springs and all along the drive are billboards for Wall Drug Store. And when I say all along the roadside I mean literally ever half mile for the whole hour. There are hundreds of them.
I knew about this from others and also it is written in most things you read about Interstate 90 east of Rapid Springs. The drug store has been there since 1931 and made its reputation with a sign saying Free Iced Water. After buying the store the owner and his wife struggled in the small own until she came up with the idea of Free Iced Water. The people driving across the hot prairie would see the sign and pull in and while there buy something. It was just a husband and wife business but by the next year they had 8 employees and the store has grown ever since.
I stopped quickly to look at the store and bought a sign for a friend. In town there is also a lot of other stores cashing in on the tourist dollar.
Driving out of town five miles you come to the entry to the Badlands National Park. It is so called due to the prairie land suddenly giving way to eroded rock formations and jagged cliffs. Also not long after WW1 the government helped out returned servicemen with land for farming and this area became gave farmland land.
Unfortunately not long after there was a bad drought and the farmers could no live off the land and the government bought the land off them eventually. The park was formed in 1939.
The views of the various rock formations and cliff faces are amazing. Pictures can not totals show how this looks to the naked eye. I had lunch in the van at one of the few picnic grounds inside the park and then continued stopping along the roadway to et more photos.
It was 4pm by the time I left the park and was going to just go back to Rapid Springs again for the night but while driving thought I might got back to Deadwood to the Gold Dust casino to try to get the missing 2003 chip that I could not get from the casino a few days ago. By the time I got back there it as dinner time and I had a voucher for a steakhouse in one of the other casinos so went there and had a steak dinner.
Whilst having dinner I also thought about tomorrows driving and decided to do a longer day driving and stop the night at Riverton in the Wind River Hotel & Casino. It is a fair bit extra driving but worth it as I will get to Yellowstone National Park a day early and have more time there to explore the park. So I booked the accommodation online and will use the hotel to sort out all my luggage again.
After dinner I went to the Gold Dust but could not find that elusive chip even after playing for 2 hours at the tables. I stayed that long because I was winning and ended up quite a bit in front on the night.
I left there and droved to Spearfish Walmart where I stayed the other night.
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