The Badlands and a Really Big Drug Store

I woke up bright and early as usual. As my whole family continued to sleep I quietly stepped out of the RV to enjoy the sun rising over the distant hills of the Badlands. I checked on our laundry hanging on our makeshift cable cord clothesline only to find that the morning dew had thwarted our efforts to dry them. By now the good dryer had been vacated so I stuffed our remaining quarters in so that we wouldn't have to travel with bags of damp clothes.

Early mornings had become a favorite part of my day. My body clock never adjusted to the time changes so I was up before the sun most days. Some mornings I took advantage of this to go running and keep up with my marathon training. Halfway through the trip I finally learned how to brew coffee in the coffee press (usually John's job). We used the outside plug to turn on the electric kettle and brewed the coffee on a little folding table. There's something calming about doing typical kitchen things outdoors in the fresh morning air. I miss it now that we're back into the thick of school and sport activities.

So that particular morning I brewed the coffee and enjoyed the quiet of the campground. Eventually the bikers woke up as well and the air was soon filled with the roar of motorcycles. I began to sense that our tour of the Badlands would be another exercise in biker dodging. Once everyone else woke up I tried to instill a sense of urgency in them by saying things like "Hurry! We need to get into the Badlands and do our parking and hiking before the bikers get in there!" The kids grumbled and complained in their typical fashion but complied with my instructions and got themselves together. And off we went.

As we entered the Badlands National Park we realized that our gas tank was bordering on 1/4 full. Uh oh. RVs burn through gas pretty quickly but there was nowhere close by to refuel. The one gas station we'd passed on the way was of course jam packed with bikers and there was no way we'd get our gas anytime soon. So we took a chance and entered the park in the hopes that we'd get out with enough gas to get us to our next destination.

We drove to a spot that I'd read about in the guidebooks as being a moderately strenuous but relatively short hike. We parked our RV and set off into the dry brush, passing warning signs for rattlesnakes that Jack went out of his way to point out to his nervous sister. We made our way through rocky outcroppings and dusty hills. We climbed a treacherous wooden ladder up the side of a steep incline and then gingerly walked along the edges of steep drop-offs, following random arrows that pointed the way. It had an other worldly feel to it, reminiscent of the Petrified Forest in a way, moon-like in appearance. We did pass other hikers but thankfully the trail was not clogged as we had expected. We eventually made our way to a scenic overlook and took in the view.

We got back to the RV after sweating our way back through the late morning sun and chatting to a man who happened to know a lot about Ukraine. We pulled onto the scenic road through the Badlands and began praying that our gas tank would hold out. As we wound our way through scenic badland vista after another, we decided not to pull off anymore due to the sheer volume of motorcycles taking up the parking spaces at all the overlooks. The kids had plugged back into their devices having grown tired of us saying "Look, kids! Another cool land formation!" The miles kept on coming, the gas gauge kept on lowering and I had visions of one of us having to hitch a ride on the back of a bike with a bearded, tattooed friend in search of fuel.

At long last we exited the national park and began seeing signs for Wall Drug, the famed store of stores that we'd been told by several people that we just HAD to visit. Huge billboards advertised the free coffee, the 25 cent donuts, the western wear, the ice cream; the list went on and on. Finally we entered the town and once again found ourselves navigating through a sea of bikers to reach a gas station. We managed to wedge ourselves into a gas station and finally filled up the massive gas tank to the tune of $100, standard for the size of the RV. The kids were starting to complain about being tired and hungry so off to Wall Drug we went, along with who else? You guessed it - all our biker friends. The novelty had definitely worn off at this point.

We visited the famed Wall Drug, toured the place in search of a souvenir for Ella who chose that particular time to be as indecisive as possible about what she wanted to buy with her own money. She finally settled on an owl pendant "mood necklace", which of course caused Jack to interject with his own thoughts about her mood. Things were getting a little tense. We cut the tension with a cheap, delicious meal at the Wall Drug cafeteria - homestyle cooking at its best. John got a meatloaf sandwich that was floating in about a gallon of gravy. We ate, took a quick look around and then hit the road.

Next stop: Laura Ingalls territory! And no more bikers.