May 7, 2008

We departed the Country Squire Inn shortly after 10AM and saddled up (because we’re almost out West…) for a long day of driving.

Almost to Badlands National Park.

11 hours and hundreds of Wall Drug billboards later, we arrived to a very closed Wall Drug. A woman on the street said that the national phenom had closed literally minutes earlier. All around us travelers were overcome with grief (ie. Ethan and I). “We drove all the way from Maine just to see Wall Drug… and… it’s closed,” I said with a somber face to the woman.

I do not know whether she thought I was joking or being serious because she simply climbed back into her baby blue mini-van and drove off. There were no words of sympathy on this day. Ethan and I both knew she had seen this far too many times before and was numb to the deep, emotional pain that ran through our arteries and veins.

Ethan’s whip feeling the defeat outside Wall Drug.

Ethan reminded me that the only good things about driving through that portion of South Dakota are the billboards for Wall Drug and the fact that the speed limit is 75 mph (versus 65 mph in Maine). (We apologize for the above if there an any South Dakotan’s out there following the blog.)

Devastated by a closed Wall Drug, we departed the town of Wall with heads hung low and drove into the beautiful Badlands National Park. We paid $10 for campsite #3, threw the football around without getting bitten by a country rattlesnake, made a mac n cheese dinner with an apple sauce for dinner (what else is new?), and made our way into our sleeping bags.

Our campsite in the Badlands.

I should probably state that each night we wash our faces, brush our teeth, use the bathroom, etc. Showers come every day or two. We have yet to hit the three day mark but hope this will be a reality soon.

Sure it looks beautiful… immediately before a rain storm rolled in.  I woke up sleeping in a river.  Perfect.

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