Day 11 | Rapid City to Sioux Falls
This morning in Rapid City it was raining but still we were at breakfast and soon ready to go. Today's trip is due east to Sioux Falls five hours across the whole state of South Dakota (license motto – great faces – great places reference to Mt Rushmore). Stepping outside the hotel – brrrr, 5 degC!
We stopped a couple of times and have been impressed by the friendliness of the staff and Angus is impressed that there is constant immediate coffee available for a less than a dollar fifty, Rosie not so much as it is the nasty drip kind.
One stop was at "Wall" with one big store called “Wall Drug” or at least a whole lot of smaller stores connected. They have hand painted and cartoon roadsides signs all over South Dakota. After the first couple of hundred we felt we needed to stop. If you ever need a feather-dream-catcher festooned taxidermized bison-headed waistcoat - this is your place. Great tourist trap for all these towns that are just off the highway. Fascinating.
We crossed the Missouri River at lunch time and the weather cleared a little but still cold. At Arby’s the guy serving trying to be discrete telling off his work mate, kind of whisper-yelling (“Where have you been?”, “Bathroom?”, “You should have told me! I was here all alone!”). All of us customers just smiled at each other.
It was almost sundown as we came into Sioux Falls and checked into our hotel which is overlooking the Big Sioux River. The guys at the front desk seemed fascinated we were from New Zealand (we have to show passports for identity purposes) and wondered why we were in South Dakota.
Before dinner we raced out to the ruins of the Queen Bee Mill adjacent to the Big Sioux River. It was freezing and as the last light dropped and the falls lights came on we shivered back into the car and returned to the hotel.
Highlights:
Rosie | The (not) passive aggressive guy at Arby’s
Angus | Crazy Wall Drug marketing