Friday (Jul 15)
The Black Hills are stressful. Traffic everywhere all the time.
I knew I didn’t have a great chance of scoring a campsite in the Badlands on Friday night, but I did have just enough hope of doing so to add a thin layer of hurry and stress to today. That plus the crappy traffic from the moment I entered the highway helped me to decide to punt the longer tour through Custer State Park. I will miss The Needles, which I remember fondly from my childhood, but if I’m not going to to take the time to enjoy them, why bother? Also there are 12′ tall tunnels, which my van should make it through, but still… who need the drama?
I will also miss the Crazy Horse Memorial and it’s really cool rambling shambling museum, but … same logic as above …
Escape this mess and move on to Rapid City, city of bronze president statues at every corner. On my last trip in 2002 I lucked out with the statue of Nixon. Could’t find ole Tricky Dick this time. Just a bunch of dudes i waistcoats and pigtails.
Fast moving Storm Alert! There is clearly weather coming this way. When I finally found a sandwich shop that existed and was open outside the school year, the dude said the storm drama would happen in the Black Hills to the west more than town. That was a comfort as I am headed east. Sure enough as I headed onward the dramatic clouds followed, but not much actual weather after I left the city.
WHUFU page for: Badlands Interior Motel and Campground
Cedar Pass CG in Badlands NP was full on Friday night, so here I am. It is in the town of Interior, at the edge of the Badlands, so the name makes more sense than you would think at first.
Six rows of sites, the hook-ups for the big boys are on the inside and the tent sites are on the edges. Some sites have picnic tables, some don't. I decided I'd rather be on the edge with an unimpeded view of the Badlands than in a couple of rows with a table.
The shower was nice and very welcome. Things are well-worn but well maintained also. Nice place, and a godsend when the Park is full.
tonight:
Cedar Pass CG in Badlands NP was full on Friday night, so here I am. It is in the town of Interior, at the edge of the Badlands, so the name makes more sense than you would think at first.
Six rows of sites, the hook-ups for the big boys are on the inside and the tent sites are on the edges. Some sites have picnic tables, some don't. I decided I'd rather be on the edge with an unimpeded view of the Badlands than in a couple of rows with a table.
The shower was nice and very welcome. Things are well-worn but well maintained also. Nice place, and a godsend when the Park is full.
Half full kind of guy that I am, I will take comfort that for $6.50 more than the National Park, I am getting a shower, my first since last Friday, and which I need very much.. On the half empty side of the ledger, I was REALLY looking forward to an extended moonlight hike on the Badlands hiking trails near the Vis Cen, which I remember as one of the better experiences of my life back in 2002 when I came through here. I guess I could just drive over there and do it later, but then I’m parked at the roadside rather than a campsite so I might get busted for afterhours hiking … I know I’m not gonna do it.
Saturday
Flies. Not a lot of them, but very active. I don’t think they woke me up, but they sure the heck didn’t let me go back to sleep, what with landing on my lip or my eyelid. I covered everything but my face, which helped, but made it even more disgusting when they did find me.
The coolest thing I did today was identify the high points of my truly epic moonlight hike here fourteen years ago. The waxing gibbous moon last night would have been PERFECT to re-create it, so I have made myself a little bummed all over again (sad emoji).
After some leisurely park touring I get my game face on because next is putting in hard time on I-90 and the eastward trek for the rest of the afternoon. Actually, I was heading towards my date with destiny – I meet a Senator today!
I escape I-90 at the Missouri River, and zag north along the bluffs above the river got about 40 miles to continue eastward on Route 30, more or less parallel to I-90 On that road I stop at the only place that doesn’t look like it sucks, and I am triply lucky – it doesn’t suck, they are closing soon so I almost missed them, and John Thune US Senator was doing a photo op in the back room! This is his home town, the proud owner of the diner went to high school with him, and insists there is not even any hidden dirt to tell. Me and the Senator exchanged pleasant nods, I don’t shake hands with Republican legislators, they all have a faint scent of sulphurous evil to me … he left with his media crew, and that was that!
My goal was Lake Herman State Park, but when I got there it was full … as was it’s sister park 10 miles away. Oh Saturday night, why are you so hard? So, after studying trusty Allstays for a while … onward to …
WHUFU page for: Colman City Park Campground
What a great place! Walk over to the golf course clubhouse to check in, she gives you the wifi password, then you pretty much park on the grass anywhere you want. The wifi was great, it happened that I parked 30' from the bathrooms
What with food at the clubhouse, good wifi, and a short walk to the shower, I literally could live here a while.
tonight:
What a great place! Walk over to the golf course clubhouse to check in, she gives you the wifi password, then you pretty much park on the grass anywhere you want. The wifi was great, it happened that I parked 30' from the bathrooms
What with food at the clubhouse, good wifi, and a short walk to the shower, I literally could live here a while.
Things looked grim there for a while, but I could not be happier with where I ended up.
It was a little intimidating at first like in the Western when you push the swinging saloon doors open. So many of the trailers had Saturday night fun going that I felt like I was crashing a party. But like the Westerns, as soon as you’re past the swinging doors the music starts up again and everybody goes back to their business.
It wasn’t clear where to park or what to do. I was directed to the Golf Course clubhouse to register and get the scoop. Here’s the rules:
I can drive anywhere I want and park anywhere I want. I can park right next to hookups if I want, and if I don’t hook up I won’t be charged for hookups. So simple. Why can’t more of life be so simple!
Took me a while to find a level spot facing away the way I like, but I did. 20 yards from the shower, my angle blocks out both the rest of the campers and I think the morning sun, and good wifi. Woo!
Pretty substantial thunderstorm took up around 11pm. Thunder and lightning and wind and lots and lots of rain. I had to shut my roof vents and decided it wasn’t worth it to hop over to the bathroom to brush my teeth, otherwise it was a wonderful night.
Sunday
Enjoy that sweet, sweet wifi until 12:40, then hoof over to the clubhouse to see what’s for eats – coffee, pulled pork sando and baked beans for $4!!! Like I say, I could live here.
I have been following State Route 30 through South Dakota ever since I left the interstate at the Missouri River, and I continue with it into Minnesota. Shortly thereafter, it veers northward and thus no longer meets my needs. I curve south to rejoin the stupid interstate again. Endless cornfields everywhere.
When I reach the freeway I for some reason go into Perkins. Actually wifi was the reason, but in retrospect I’m not sure it was a good enough reason. Actually, I’m being a hater, it was just fine … although my tummy didn’t feel right the rest of the day.
Just as the lack of wifi+food choices let to Perkins, the lack of camping choices led to ….
WHUFU page for: Myre - Big Island Campground
Not real happy here. I am tired and there's no other good options around here, but this is a lot to pay for a place to park. Once I get past check-in, it turns out that the mosquitoes are almost too vicious to deal with. Despite the heat and humidity I live with all doors closed.
On the other hand, it's nearly full moon, and along with mosquitoes they have fireflies! So I bundle up i my long pants and hoodie and go on a delightful moonlight walk around the gravel roads of the park. Staying in the open fields of course - the bugs are truly unbearable when you venture into the wooded areas.
There has been a LOT of rain around here this week, and it shows here. Some of the campsites are unusable because of standing water. There is a small instant pond next to mine, which is part of one of the least enjoyable nights of the trip. On the upside, the moonlight and fields of fireflies will be a memory forever while the constant warding off of mosquitoes will be forgotten. But it really sucked at the time. I find that I did not take even a single photo of this night, not even the obligatory ‘picture of the picnic table from sitting in the van’. I was under attack by the insect world the whole time.
Monday
Don’t feel real good this morning. When I do open the van door to engage with the world the mosquitoes take up where they left off last night driving me crazy. I could not finish putting in my contacts because I’d get the lens almost to my eye then in the mirrow I would see be a creature sucking blood out of my forehead. I punted on trying to exist in my soggy hellhole of a campsite and drove out onto the ridge where there was better light and a little breeze and finished the contact routine, then got the hell out of that useless place.
Back up to Albert Lea (what an odd name for a town), and east to Austin, where I have a date with Spam!
Soon after Austin I drift south into Iowa. It really is all about hard work out here. There’s those grain silos adding huge cylinders and cones to the flat landscape. Each of the bigger small towns has a farm equipment dealer on the edge of town that takes 3-4 acres of open field with rows of tractors and all those strange specialized harvest machines.
Then ten miles from the Mississippi the terrain suddenly breaks up. Not into hills, I would have seen those coming. Rather into valleys – the road falls away towards river level and looks like a more prosperous West Virginia for a while. Ridges and valleys to the horizon.
As I approach the river I come upon Effigy Mounds. I do a quick drive by but don’t feel like I have time to stop. After that I am on the river, a very interesting few miles with the river and marins and wharves and small houses and commercial establishments to the left and a steep hill immediately to the right. Then it opens up for the town of Marquette (Iowa), western terminus of the bridge I will take tomorrow, then a little more river and the town of McGregor. I was here once before so I’m ready for it’s funky charm. I do identify a wharfside fish joint that I hope I can come back to.
Exit the main road and continue out back side of town and up the hill to…
WHUFU page for: Pikes Peak Campground
Beautiful location high on the bluffs above the mighty Mississippi.
Nice set of trails with awesome vistas on the river bluffs
tonight:
Back again after six years! I liked the site I had last time near the front edge, but I was in a tent then. Now it is apparent that those sites are really not level. The host clued me in that there is a run of level-ish tent sites at the far back of the campground also, and that is where I am.
There was a little drama finding a site that is good AND level AND does not have hookups. The camp host pointed me at a row of sites in the back with such features and made me happy. After backing into my nice level site, I drive back out again – four miles down the hill to the riverside diner I spied on the way up. It was overpriced ($4.65 for cole slaw?) in the way you’d expect from the best location in town, but my bratwurst was very good and watching sunset from the deck was worth every penny.
Drive back, back in again. I still want to take advantage of that waxing moon, so a little moonlight stroll down the hiking paths. Some dorky teenagers were hanging out there being very loud with their scooters and skateboards. I gave them my stone face for a while, but they were nice kids so I eventually my usual friendly face. There was a large racer-type snake at the overlook, got everyone excited. Also, the moonlight view over the river is spectacular!
i started down the hundreds of wooden stairs that comprise the first park of the nature trail here. I wenyt pretty far, but at some point it just seemed silly. It is after all long after sunset and I am walking by moonlight, which isn’t very strong under the forest canopy. At some point I decided to just be glad I hadn’t sprained an ankle yet and come back up.
I am still hypersensitive about any hint of a mosquito attack, but really, they weren’t too bad up here on the well-drained heights.