Road Trip: The Day We Saw it All

One of my favorite photos from the trip

Tooling around South Dakota and Wyoming, I felt the spirit of America out there. Not the politics or the government or the bullshit - but the beauty of the land that America the Beautiful describes in its lyrics, the old and true wisdom of the Native Americans, and the spirit of the frontier - the enterprise, the work, the cunning, the determination. It was like sitting next to the heartbeat of America. I kept imagining what I'd think of the news out of the big cities if I grew up there, and I couldn't really wrap my head around it. But that's a post for another time.

Both of us were astounded by the beauty of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. I guess it's just not something we think about much over here on the east coast, but the landscape we saw on the road for 10 days made my heart swell. Simple and complex, vast and empty, mountainous and flat, stark and open, so many different kinds of beauty.

Every time I plan a trip, I need to account for some MFD wild cards. This trip was no different but this day stretched us. The original plan was to leave the Badlands, see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, and drive about 3.5 hours to our hotel for the night to get a good rest before getting up early and getting to Yellowstone. When I do my itineraries, I estimate times we'll spend in places and use Google maps to see how long travel will take. Here's the story of how this day went down much differently than planned.

We left the Badlands a few hours earlier than anticipated but had to stop by the side of the road so MFD could work where there was cell service a few times. We got to Mt. Rushmore in about the time we thought we would (2 hours from the Badlands) and spent about 20 minutes in there. You really don't need more than that unless you hit it at night, when they do a ceremony and light that baby up.

While we were on the way to Rushmore, MFD got a wild hair up his ass to get to Deadwood. I was all what the hell is in Deadwood? but said okay, this is what road trips are about - side trips off the route. We figured out the route and proceeded to Crazy Horse from Mt. Rushmore. It's right down the road, not even a half hour away. If I had to do this again, I would've photographed it from the side of the road, which you can absolutely do. We wandered in the little museum (lots of contemporary pieces in there, not old stuff) and were out in about 15 minutes.

We proceeded on to Deadwood, which took us about an hour and a half from Crazy Horse with a few stops. We had to take in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota a little bit. The drive is so pretty it doesn't even feel long. No drive out there feels long in the daytime, there's so much to look at as you're driving.

Pactola Lake, Black Hills

We arrived in Deadwood to the entire town under construction, it seemed like. It was a dirt road all the way in. We paid $5 to park, walked through some buildings, and came upon a fake looking Main Street. No wonder it's fake, the town has burnt almost totally to the ground and been completely flooded since its inception and had to rebuild both times. We did a tour in the Number 10 Saloon where Wild Bill was shot and killed. It was so awkward, just a few of us in a basement room with one of the workers telling stories, while wearing a corset costume, seemingly reluctantly.

We wandered around town for a little and got some coffee, but it felt sad there. Like a lot of drinking and gambling and pretending to be old west sad. So we headed back to the car.

MFD pressed ahead with another wild card: Devil's Tower. An hour and a half from Deadwood, it was worth it. The light was perfect and you could feel that it is a sacred space. We spent some time here, walking up to the lookout to see the valley. It was awesome.

HOWEVER...when we got down and out, it was like chasing daylight. It was over 2.5 hours to our hotel. We saw open road and the sunset on the side of nowhere, Wyoming.

We stopped at Hertz in Gillette, WY, to add further collision to the car because good Lord the animals out there in the pitch black night. This relatively short drive felt like it took forever. I had the wheel in a death grip and was afraid to do the 80 MPH speed limit because I couldn't see jack shit. It literally felt like we never got any closer to our destination. When we finally did arrive, I made MFD go inside and just had a moment alone out in the parking lot. Sometimes you need a few deep breaths - harder to get in the higher altitude - and a minute alone.

We hadn't eaten lunch or dinner, so we ended up eating vending machine food in the hotel room at 11 p.m. That's life on the road, man, when you're in a hurry to see see see and forget to eat. That was the last time we made that mistake.

The dirty details - if you'd like a full trip itinerary, please comment below or email me at lifeaccordingtosteph@gmail.com
Day 2: Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Black Hills, Deadwood, Devil's Tower. Continue on a few hours into Sheridan, Wyoming before calling it a night.
Hotel: Hampton Inn Sheridan in Sheridan, WY ($137/night using AAA rate)
See Roadtrip: Badlands National Park 

Up next: Little Big Horn and the Beartooth Pass into Yellowstone