Day 18: 6/19/24
From: Sheridan, WY
To: Badlands National Park, SD (Cedar Pass Campground)
Distance: 322 miles
Up at 8:30, showers again whoo! 2 in 12 hours and I relish every drop of hot water. We mosey out of the hotel and head to Perkins for breakfast. Bad news. They don’t have gluten-free pancakes so Older Child goes hungry until we get to the car for GF snacks. They also seem kind of down today, ready to wrap up this trip and head home. We offer to send them on a plane, but they just kind of look at me like I’ve lost my mind… Guess we’ll keep driving.
Before we leave Perkins, Husband decides he absolutely must play the claw game. It’s 5 tries for the price of whatever one credit card swipe gives you and he ends up scoring two stuffed animals on his last two tries. He celebrates his win on the way out as I nod to another parent waiting to be seated and tell her this is actually my third child.
When we get on Rt 90, Siri tells us we have 312 miles to go on this road. Well. At least we have no twisty-turny-windy roads today. But the wind is vicious, with 40 mph crosswinds. Driving the speed limit at 80 mph, it’s a lot to fight against.
Along the way, we pass The Cowboy Church, which intrigues us enough to look up online. Husband thinks it’s a place where cowboys learn to cowboy. I think it’s an actual church. Turns out it’s a Wesleyan church, not a place to teach cowboying. I win.
We see a Cabela’s (which might be the tenth one we’ve seen or the twelfth or the fifteenth; we’ve lost track) and we stop so Husband can pick up sandals since he’s finally worn the old ones out beyond repair. Younger Child says he’s like a “new man” with his new shoes. He thanks the old pair for being good to him for six years, then tosses them in the trash outside the store.
About 45 miles out from the town of Wall, South Dakota, we start seeing signs on the side of the road for Wall Drug, where you can get a milk shake, root beer, coffee for 5 cents (free with a donut if you’re a veteran or a honeymooner), western wear, bison burgers, jewelry, gold, homemade fudge, an 80 ft brontosaurus, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. And the signs never stop. For the next 45 miles, there are signs every half mile or so. Wall Drug has been featured in Parade magazine and People magazine. It’s been mentioned in the New York Times.
At this point, we do exactly what they want us to do. We say, “Okay, I’ve got to check this place out.” So I look it up online and find out that Wall Drug sees upwards of 2 million tourists per year. Fine. We’ll go. But only because I need Ibuprofen for a headache and they do, at least, actually have a drug store. It’s a quaint old-style “town” and I could see how people could get sucked in for hours.
But I’m done with Wall Drug after just two of the many, many, many stores. I have to remind Younger Child that we cannot possibly look at every item here, but I think they might be trying anyway. So I sit on a bench out front, type up today’s experiences and wait for the family to be as done peopling as I am. (I waited until it looked empty to take a photo, but nothing about this place was empty. So many people!)
We get to the campground in the Badlands National Park around 5, set up our tent in the wind that’s still blowing, and make a quick dinner from dehydrated camp meals. Then we head for a drive through the park to see the rugged landscape, gawk at barn swallows that have claimed an entire shed as their nesting ground, and watch the sunset. The sky is mostly overcast and rain is predicted tonight, but there’s a sliver of cloudless sky on the horizon and it’s enough to make for a spectacular sunset. In fact, it creates a rainbow in the storm front moving in from behind where we stand and sets the grassland glowing. You’ll have to wait to see it, of course, as I’ll be spending the next few weeks processing the photos. But when I do, they’ll all be here on the website. Plus, let’s be real, I’m sure I’ll share them on social media.
Back at the campground in the dark, we get ready for bed. But first? A game of Oregon Trail. I “die” on the second card played— a whole 4% into the game. Younger Child “dies” on the next card. Husband declares this is stupid and we must start over. We do.
Guess who’s the first player to die? Husband “drowns” 20% into the game. We mourn his loss and I follow him to the grave a little after 80% into the game. As we play, we hear coyotes in the distance. It’s an incredible sound. Both kids make it to Oregon in the game, so we celebrate for them, call it a night, and head to bed. After tonight, we have only one more night in a tent. Then we’re into three nights of hotels before heading back home. I’ll miss camping!
Artistic Earth Photography 