Breaking Bad ...lands

There was a light rain overnight, but the storms stayed away.  We departed Mitchell SD in a light drizzle and with an ominous forecast.  The overnight temperature was 61 degrees, but as we drove west on the the longest highway, it plunged to 51.

A necessary evil: the sewer dump station at Cabela's

At this point our itinerary is not set.  Options include destinations of Badlands NP, Rapid City SD, Grand Teton NP, Yellowstone NP, and/or Glacier NP before crossing the border into Canada.  The weather is an issue.  It has been cold with snow and ice in the rocky mountains parks, and the forecast is the same for the next few days.  We'll take it one day at time.  Actually, the weather could be worse; there have been severe tornadoes north, south and east (behind us).  Today we plan to overnight in either Badlands National Park or Rapid City, depending on the weather.  We have been bucking strong head winds, about 20 mph out of the west and north, making driving tedious, and destroying our fuel mileage.

We continue to experience the check engine light indicating lost rpm signal.  I consistently record a single event about 5-10 miles after starting out in the morning and when starting after a long stop.  It is a bit worrisome, but I don't think it is a problem ... yet.  I will continue to monitor its frequency and duration.

The Missouri River

We took a long break at the Lewis and Clark Information Center at the Chamberlain rest area, which is a stop on the Lewis and Clark Trail, overlooking the Missouri River.  The visitor center here features exhibits depicting the Lewis and Clark expedition and a life-sized replica of their keel boat.  It also features the new 50 foot stainless sculpture "Dignity of Earth and Sky", depicting a native American woman draped in a star quilt.

"Dignity of Earth and Sky"

We stopped for a short visit at the Minuteman Missile NHP Visitor center.  The park has exhibits on the nuclear arms build up during the Cold War years.  There were a number of missile silos in this area, as well as other sites across the Midwest.  You can visit an old missile silo where a pair of young missileers worked 24 hour shifts, with their fingers on the trigger.  We didn't drive out to the silo since we did that once before during a trip in 2007.

A guiding principle of the Cold War was "Mutually Assured Destruction" or MAD.  There were enough nuclear missiles that both the Russians and the US knew that a first strike would result in a deadly counter strike, like resulting in total destruction of both countries.  Sun Tzu predicted the development of weapons that would make hand-to-hand combat obsolete.

We elected to spend the night at Badlands Nation Park, after a 311 mile day.  The Cedar Pass Campground there is a frequent and favorite stop for us when passing through the area.

We scored a site with 50A electrical service and hunkered down for a cool night.  There was a forecast of rain tonight and for the next day.

We both slept soundly, while the temperature dropped to 41 degrees overnight.  We broke camp and headed out on the park loop road.  One of the first stops highlighted the fossils found in the park.  As the prehistoric subtropical climate changed, all the species highlighted either adapted to the new climate, moved to a new region or died out.  Exhibits showed replicas of fossils found in the park and how that species fared as the climate cooled.  Alligators existed here and apparently moved to Florida.

We have always seen bighorn sheep when visiting the park.

It was a cold and blustery day

Prairie dogs are also common in the park

Another prairie dog?  Matilda has been very frisky in this cool weather.

Mule deer

Dorcas turned 62 last week.  That qualifies her to buy an "America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass", better known as a "Senior's Pass" or simply the "Geezer's Pass".  Use of this pass qualifies the user to free entry into most National Parks and National Forests and other federal recreation areas.  It also qualifies the user for half price camping at most federal campgrounds.  Acquiring this pass is a major rite of passage in the RVing community.  We memorialized the event with a photo.

After leaving the park we continued westward on I-90.  We drove into Rapid City and had lunch at The Firehouse Brewing Company.  We visited this micro brewery and pub in 2013 and really liked it. It is located in a former city firehouse.

Rapid City has placed statues of presidents throughout the downtown area.  We visited with a few of them.

Dorcas sitting with Martin Van Buren

We departed Rapid City intending to stay in Sturgis SD only about 30 miles away.  The forecast predicted an overnight low temperature of 37 degrees.  We wanted to stay some place with power in order to stay toasty warm.  There were 8 RV parks in the Sturgis/Deadwood area that are members of Passport America, meaning half-price camping.  We picked Days End CG and signed up for one night.

Our itinerary is still up in the air.  We want to spend time in Yellowstone NP, but they have had a lot of snow and ice and, when we looked this morning most roads in the park were closed.  Tonight, however, many of the roads have opened, so it may still be a viable destination.

We can view current Yellowstone conditions here.  The weather forecast can be seen here.  Tomorrow afternoon we will need to either layover again  and drag our feet or commit to a more easterly route north.  To be continued ....