Day 20 - To Kansas City

Sioux City - Cloudy, cold no drizzle.  Going to Kansas City, MO.  There's a Kansas City, MO and a Kansas City, KS.   Right next to each other.  People who use Google Maps over here must be going mad each time they cross the state line and Google Maps says welcome to Kansas or Welcome to Missouri.

First stop at Overland Park (Kansas City, KS) Costco for gas - and yes! we see a bunch of Desi's - the Desi concentration in Kansas City, KS, is in Overland Park, like in Fremont, CA.  Bunch of Desi grocery shops and restaurants too.  We did some shopping - munchies for the trip.  Tomorrow we plan on going to Urbana-Champaign, IL, to visit Madhu's niece.

Filling gas in these states as we go on our journey - I am amazed at how different they are from California.  After crossing Nevada, gas prices in any one city are almost identical between different vendors - Exxon, Shell, Philips66, Conoco, Sinclair, QT, etc... Maybe sometimes there is a difference of a 1c - if ever.  Even Costco has no advantage - the price differential is 1c max.  What is it with California?

Day stats: approx 350 miles

Road to Kansas City

Day 19 - Sioux City via Sioux Falls

Murdo - Cloudy and cold. We start towards Sioux Falls, with a slight drizzle keeping us company until we pull up at Sioux Falls Costo with 31 miles left in the tank.  We fill up and have lunch.  Next, we make a stop at Falls Park - the only spot worthwhile for pictures and such.  We are graced by a break in the drizzle - but no sun though,and still miserably cold.

With a quick walk to the falls, we take a few pictures, then go to the observation tower and again a after few pictures, are back to the vehicle. Brrrr - shivering due to the cold. 

From here, we go to the next night halt in Sioux City, Iowa.  Check in, have dinner, read/relax for a bit and call it a night.

Day stats: approx 300 miles

It's cold by the falls

Sioux Falls

Panoramic View

Day 18 - South Dakota Badlands & Minuteman site

Wall - Cold but no rain. Not much driving planned for the day.  Drove over to the actual Badlands area (7 miles away from Wall).  The North Dakota Roosevelt Park Badlands are known as the Little Missouri Badlands.  The South Dakota area is the official "Badlands" area.  Yes, it's much larger than the one up North with more massive colorful sand and rock formations.  Drove onto the Sugar Creek trail - unpaved mud road which resulted in crappy mud crust onto the vehicle (praying it rains some time so it can all get washed away).  But got some nice pictures.  Turned back at the overlook point and drove on the scenic Badlands road (highway 240) from the Pinnacles Visitor Entrance to the Ben Reifel Visitor Entrance.  Nice photo op overlooks on the way.

Exited the Badlands National Park and drove on to the Minuteman Missile Visitor's Center.  Learned that if we rushed we might make it to Delta-09 missile Silo (which closes at 3pm and is 15 miles away).  So mad rush and we make it into the area to see the Silo.  While it's non operational, we still are not allowed to enter the actual Silo - only see the missile from above as it is displayed in a glass encased top cover.  But still very exciting seeing an actual Minuteman missile.  Tens of thousands of them were deployed in the states of North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Missouri during the cold war.  After the SALT and START nuclear disarmament agreements - these have been reduced to a few thousand - but there are still active missile sites in the five northern states.

Our night halt is in Murdo - we check-in and go to a small diner for dinner.  I have the South Dakota specialty - Authentic Indian Taco - which is nothing but what we in California refer to as a Taco Salad with meat.  Instead of a hard shell in which the salad is served, this is a soft fried thick tortilla which reminded me of a Bhatura.

Today, on the 18th day of our travels, we enter Central Time...

Day stats: approx 140 miles (including the mud track trip towards Sugar Creek.

Goats blocked our way for some time in The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

The Badlands

Minuteman Missile site

The Minuteman Missile in the SILO - with a dummy warhead - nuclear one has been removed

The Glass enclosure for the Minuteman Missile

Day 17 - Roosevelt National Park - South & North Units

Medora - It's freezing cold. Early start off to the South Unit for the Scenic Drive - a 38 mile loop.  Nice views of the Badlands of North Dakota.  Back to the Visitor's Center, spent time learning about Roosevelt and visited his Lodge.

From there drove to the North Unit - about 75 miles north.  Drove on to the scenic tour - another 28 mile return trip.  Saw prairie dogs, deer and bison.  Plus some nice scenic views of the Badlands.

Done with Roosevelt National Park, we started south towards Wall.  Encountered some rain (happy that vehicle got washed) and we reached Wall around 8pm.

Day stats: approx 490 miles (including scenic drives)

Roosevelt National Park - South Unit 

Roosevelt National Park - South Unit

Roosevelt National Park - South Unit

Roosevelt National Park - South Unit Wildlife - Bison 

Roosevelt National Park - North Unit

Roosevelt National Park - North Unit Wildlife - Bison

Day 16 - Off to Roosevelt National Park via Sturgis & Deadwood

Rapid City - We should have left for Sioux Falls today - but courtesy my cousin Madhav Mohan, who insisted we have to visit Medora, ND - we changed plans and left for Medora.
Route is via Highway 85 - one of the most desolate roads I have seen - you can go for miles and miles and not come across another vehicle or town.  Made the stop at Sturgis Motorcycle Exhibition to spend some time looking at the various bikes on display.  Then I could not resist making the side trip to Deadwood - the Old Wild West town that features in so many western legends, including stories of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamaty Jane (both of whom are buried there).
This done, off we were towards Medora, which is on Interstate 94, and is true Roosevelt town.  Everything here touches on Teddy Roosevelt in some way. Staying at the Rough Riders Hotel as recommended by Madhav. Fantastic historic place.

Evening dinner in the dark at Little Missouri Saloon & Dining Room, with a power failure shutting down lights all over town.  Fun! The picture of the ceiling in the saloon shows signed dollar bills from visitors all over.

Day stats: approx 250 miles

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum

Sturgis Motorcycle Museum - Harley Trike

Deadwood

Deadwood

Little Missouri Badlands - Roosevelt National Park

Roosevelt National Park's Badlands (South)

Roosevelt's Log Cabin

Roosevelt National Park

At the Rough Rider's Inn

Little Missouri Saloon & Dining Room in Medora.  The $ bills are signed by visitors from all over the world 

Sights around Medora

Sights around Medora

Day 15 - Mammoth site, Wind Cave National Park & Mt. Rushmore

Hot Springs, SD - Chilled! While it was a bit cool when we got into the hotel last night, it had rained and this morning the temps were low 40's - brrrrr.  You'll notice that the jackets have come out.  Gone are the shorts too! Went out alone early morning to get tickets for the 1pm tour of the Wind Cave National Park.

Visited the Mammoth Paleontologist's site.  Very cool! 140 thousand years ago there was a hot spring pool lined with slippery limestone into which the scientist's believe that the Mammoth & Woolly elephants and other animals slipped and fell and could not climb out, resulting in their drowning.  Thousands of years later, geological transformations dried out the lake which got filled with limestone and sand and rock layers built up, preserving the bones.  Almost a hundred elephant's and other animals' bones found.  Excavation is an ongoing project and is expected to continue for another couple of hundred years!  Mind boggling dedication of the scientists...

From the Mammoth site, off we went to the Wind Cave National Park.  The world's sixth largest complex cave system - 148 miles within 1 square mile, going up to a depth of 640 feet!  And discovery is still on.  Another very cool site.  Among the unique features are Cave popcorn with Frostwork and Boxwork which are type of Speleothems (calcites) that are found only here in abundance.

After the Wind Cave tour, left Hot Springs to go to Mt. Rushmore near Rapid City, SD.  Awe inspiring sculpture of the four presidents,  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, symbolizing the Birth, Growth, Development and Preservation of the United States of America.

Day Stats: about 80 miles

Jackets are on - it's Chilly!

Hot Springs Downtown

The Mammoth Dig

Mammoth Museum

Wind Cave

Going Down inside the Wind Cave

Mt. Rushmore International Walkway

The Four Presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt & Lincoln

The Presidents - Up Close

Day 14 - Road to Hot Springs, SD

Wheat Ridge, CO - Only a single picture of an empty Wyoming road - as today was mainly driving up from Denver area to Hot Springs, SD.  About a six hour drive via I-70 East and I-25 North. Then County Road 18 to Hot Springs, SD.  Stayed on I-25 North too long (missed taking 85 North and added 50 miles to the drive)

Day Stats: 350 miles

Lonely road in Wyoming

Day 13 - Grand Junction to Wheat Ridge (Denver), CO

Grand Junction, CO - Driving on I-70 all day, no stops for sightseeing.  Saw some interesting views, so  a couple of pictures from the car.  Stopped by Costco in Gypsum/Eagle for gas.  Passed ski resort towns of Glenwood Springs (gateway to Aspen), Avon, Vail, etc.  Traffic approaching Denver on I-70 rivalled Bay Area's 880!  Took more than two hours for the final 40 miles.

Dinner at an Indian restaurant in Arvada.  Surprised to see so many varieties of Amrut!

Day Stats - 250 miles

On the way to Denver

On the way to Denver

Amrut Varieties

Amrut Varieties

Day 12 - Kanab to Grand Junction, CO

Kanab - Just fascinated with the place we spent the last couple of nights.  The Hollywood history and folklore is overwhelming.  Nothing much on the agenda today - just a drive to Grand Junction, CO, up US89 North and the I-70 East till we are there - about six and half hours.  On our way at Circleville, UT, we did come across something interesting - "Butch Cassidy's childhood home"!  There's even a restoration project underway...

Tomorrow we start on Leg-2 of our journey, Central and Easter

Day Stats: about 375 miles

Kanab - Recognize them?

Kanab -Movies Filmed here

Butch Cassidy's Childhood home