Today’s forecast was for temperatures in the mid to upper 90’s, so we decided it would be a good day to do some of the things that require driving and not too much time outside.

We started at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. When we were out here 13 years ago with Brian’s Dad they didn’t have a museum or visitor center, just the underground bunker you could tour. Since then they’ve added a very nice museum facility with very informative (but extremely scary) displays explaining the Cold War and the buildup of nuclear weapons around the world. We didn’t get to visit the bunker as they are booked up 6 weeks in advance. Still a very informative stop and interesting part of our history.

Then it was off for a quick stop to see Wall Drug (a mandatory stop if you are in the area). 

We continued on to Rapid City, we were extremely grateful we didn’t have the trailer as there were wind gusts of over 45mph the whole way. Saw lots of other campers going 45-50mph trying hard to control their vehicles.

In Rapid City we made a quick stop at the World's Largest Quarter Pounder. Very strange, but you know us.

Then it was up to Dinosaur Park on the hill in the center of town. Brian remembers visiting it when he was a kid and when we visited with our kids in 1995 we brought them to see the park. It’s a WPA project from 1936 where they created these huge cement dinosaurs on the top of a hill. By today’s standards they look very dated, but it brings back fun memories of our kids climbing on them (Brian too). 

They are in the process of remodeling the park and based on the rendition we saw, it’s going to be an amazing place by early next summer. Guess we’ll have to visit again one day.

From there is was back to the Badlands, specifically Sheep Mountain Table. It’s a small unit of the park that very few visitors drive to, we saw a total of 6 cars the entire time we were there. They recommend a high clearance vehicle, which probably keeps a lot of people from visiting (and it’s in the middle of nowhere on a dead end road). You get to drive onto the top of a large plateau and look down on miles of Badlands. 

Even though it was 95 degrees, the really strong winds made it very tolerable to be outside walking around. The road on the top (past the sign that warns you not drive without 4-wheel drive and high clearance) things got a bit interesting. They’ve had lots of rain out here (very unusual for August) and the ground turns to the slipperiest mud you’ve ever stepped (or driven) in. Needless to say, we got a chance to test the 4-wheel drive on the truck. It passed with flying colors (even if we got a bit nervous).

We then drove through the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands on the way back to the camper. It’s at the ‘bottom’ of the Badlands and contains miles of mud flats, stream beds, sod tables and grass as far as the eye can see. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be much cooler and we’re planning on spending the day hiking in the Badlands.